I think I’m done, hit my mental energy limit. I have a very small 3d design company, where I started by taking small projects, making the design and then selling it on either Etsy or Artisans coop. I’d also attend local craft fairs, or makers markets.
I’ve had a lot of fun and satisfaction doing this, solved some cool problems for people and made a small amount of money. (Mostly just paid for the printers)
But, the last three craft fairs I’ve attended I sold literally nothing at one, and only a few dollars at the others, Etsy sales have dried up and Artisans coop never got off the ground for me. I know I need to market, but I’ve been doing it without Meta/deadbird etc which is so tough.
So I think I’m done and just want a way out.
If anyone either has advice on how to sell this company (its an LLC) or if you are even interested in buying it, maybe DM me. I’ve got tons if filament, a pair of nice printers, probably a few dozen 3d designs plus a bunch of replacement parts for the printers. PrusaXL2T and Vivedino Troodon300 heavily modded.
Have you considered lasercutting or CNC milling as well? And what about lithophanes?
3D printers are highly accessible to people, even people with no technical knowledge can just buy one, download models and have it print successfully. Selling 3D printed parts pretty much only works if you do design as well and not many people request something like that. I don’t think you can make a feasible business out of 3D printing alone.
And there is mechanical design and aesthetic design, which both are completely different practices. I mean things like making a TV mount or a tube holder vs making a detailed Warhammer 40K model. You need different software and skills for both of them and it consumes a lot of time to do well.
CNC milling and lasercutting is not as wide spread as 3D printing is so you could still end up finding people interested in objects made this way.
Wholesale is where you make the money.
Talk to local business and try to find places that see you as a cheaper option than injection molding.
Recently have been working with a truck company who needs mounts for cosmetic pieces.
Local businesses is how you grow your business
Interesting, how did you get in contact with them? Did you have some marketing that worked better for you?
The only person I ever met that made money printing was ignoring copyright and trademarks. Mostly sports team logos on man cave stuff.
Yikes, going to pass on that.
I’m an engineer not a business person, but it sounds like the business itself isn’t worth anything. No sales means I have no reason to believe the IP is financially worth anything. Registering an LLC is pretty cheap. The hardware and filament could maybe be sold for a few grand, but it doesn’t sound like you have a massive print farm or much infrastructure. Sorry to be a downer.
I’ve heard that some people are interested in buying existing companies just so that they can have a company with some tax history. Maybe for slightly sketchy reasons. Almost like some people will buy old social media accounts.
If you are parting things up, I’d consider buying the Prusa XL and maybe a dozen or two kg of filament, but I probably wouldn’t go above half the price of a new printer, and the filament I buy is already cheap. You may be better off keeping the printer to just have fun with it.
So you’re saying you have a worthless business you want to sell?
deleted by creator
Hah, when you put it that way… But no, it still has some repeat customers, that buy custom trophies, I’ve got a customer wanting me to make molds for them to use for jewelry making, the etsy shop has close to 1000 sales and like 250ish 5 star reviews.
But I’m guessing with a statement like that, you aren’t someone motivated to build on that and take it to the next level
Glass houses.
In my experience selling it as a whole never happens outright. Buying someone out goes the other way around. I’ve owned my own business twice.
You will honestly be better off holding your accounts if you ever change your mind or direction. You will get stuck with junk or make selling off stuff your career for a time. If you cannot keep your tools, make some impossible to pass up deal in bulk lots divided so that there is a good distribution of value.
If you placed everything on eBay piecemeal, you will never sell your last item before you die. That is the case on any single platform. I was the buyer for a chain of bike shops for several years. I have sold over $136k on eBay, and I used swap meets to offload overburden too. If anyone consigns for you, if their business model is viable, they will take at least 40% out of the gross margin.
All of eBay’s fees, shipping, taxes, all combined with an account in perfect standing came out to 39-42% of the total sale price. So with consignment, you will actually get around 20% of the total sale price or a little less. It is not at all sustainable and why no one runs successful businesses doing eBay consignments. eBay should be less than half their present fees, especially considering the poor quality of service.
Think of offloading stuff from the perspective of the interested individual, not like a business. Part out and sell your excess tooling while still running your business with what you have.
Personally, I don’t paint cars any more and if I could physically do the work, I still wouldn’t want to. However, many of my tools and stuff are still kicking around and something I do not regret keeping. Quite the opposite, I really wish I had kept what remained of my mixing system, and all of my welding and polishing gear.
This is really thoughtful advice. I super appreciate it. I don’t know what to do, I’ve had a lot of fun making stuff to solve peoples needs, but this year it’s all dried up and I’ve been spending the reserves to get into shows, pay for marketing etc…
Maybe I’ll just put everything on pause for a long time.
Everyone is bracing for the economic free fall that is going to be the next 5 years. We are still at the upper end and it’s only going to get worse under this administration.
So, I have no doubt that people just aren’t spending money on the kinds of things that they were even just last year. I wish I had something better to tell you, but it is going to be a while before we see people having the money to spend on custom designing anything. As the previous poster pointed out, you need to either decide to get rid of stuff and then sell it like you want it gone, or accept that now it is just a hobby that basically paid for itself.Yeah, I know you are right. Just makes me sad.
I fully understand that feeling. Of course there’s nothing that says you won’t be able to start it up again at a later date. 3d printing is seeing a seismic shift right now with cheap and reliable multi-tool systems showing up, by the time the economy recovers, efficient, fast, multi-color, and multi-filament will be the norm. And with some of the more industrial plastics and even metals available through specialty printing services, I think we were already going to see a bloodbath amongst the smaller printing services out there no matter what. So maybe right now isn’t the worst time to dip out of the market anyway. I would suggest that you take this time to hone your design skills or focus on the more niche aspects of the market. You got the opportunity to learn and sample the market while money was gushing into it market, but it was a bubble that was never going to last. So, now you have the choice to take what you have learned and find something sustainable, or just run the other way and do something different.
I can personally tell you that having the market you are in ever so slowly shrink and die under you while you try to squeeze just a bit more out of its husk all the while feeling trapped because you have employees and customers depending on you… it’s fucking brutal. My family and I are doing well these days, but I can only imagine how much better I would have been doing if I had just called it quits much earlier.
Maybe stop printing so much and just sell stl files on various platforms like printables, thangs, Etsy, etc. They say sell shovels in a gold rush.
He can do both.
He can sell the STL to someone willing to print the thing himself and there are people who prefer to let someone else print the thing. One thing do not exclude the other
You can probably blame the people selling 3d printed dragons and other slop at conventions for your sales drying up, assuming you don’t sell those. That fully made people think that 3d printing was a novelty, unfortunately.
3D printing is extremely more accessible than it was 5 years ago. Most people who go to these craft fairs probably know someone who has, or has access to, a 3D printer. They are available at local libraries in many places. And most importantly, even $200-300 models are very reliable and easier to use now. These businesses are a dime a dozen on Etsy. YouTube has been flooded with videos of people saying “I made X in just one year 3D printing.” Since OP knows how to design they probably should have focused on 3D design and printing services for businesses using engineering materials instead of craft fairs.
But that type of 3D printing is already ruled by CNC companies who can invest hundreds of thousands in the equipment, and have CAD experts. But even that has changed, as many companies are bringing engineering printing in house.
Rule of business: don’t get into something anyone can do easily. This is why almost all restaurants fail within the first two years.
Yeah there have been a few tables with that no commercial license stuff. For sure.
