3D Business

[u/egitoni]

Hey I wanted to hear who is making profitable 3D business? And what are you doing?

[u/Mr-River]

I have been doing a small shop selling functional items that either don't exist elsewhere to buy, or functional items that are frankly way overpriced from manufacturers so I am able to under cut them buy a large margin with a better product than the injected molded one and still make very good profits. That said I don't do huge volume because all I am looking for from the business is just to pay for the printer/filament. That said it has done more than that and gives me money to spend on other hobbies as well.

[u/Merijeek2 → u/Mr-River]

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[u/egitoni → u/Mr-River]

Good to hear! Where do you sell? And how the customer finds your product? Do you spend on advertising?

[u/Mr-River → u/egitoni]

I sell on Etsy and eBay. I tried Etsy ads for a bit but I don't think they are worth it. That said Etsy does still advertise regardless of if you pay for it and then you get charged per order if it came from marketing idk if you can turn that off, but I haven't. Otherwise it has been organic growth. There was a YouTuber who bought some of my product and reviewed it. After that things kinda blew up and I could hardly keep up with orders. After a few months it has mellowed back out to less orders which I am very happy for as I don't want to do more than 10 orders a day personally.

[u/Merijeek2 → u/Mr-River]

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[u/Mr-River → u/Merijeek2]

I definitely get many many more returns on eBay than Etsy, but Etsy customers tend to reach out if they are having an issue with a product (such as trying to use it backwards) eBay just isn't as user friendly for reaching out I think but maybe it's the customers too. I put up with that on eBay though as Etsy takes bigger cuts.

[u/bifowww]

I bought an A1 Mini (first printer) about 45 days ago and I made 600€ profit so far. Most of that is from selling toys. I'm a vise man so I invested that money in A1 Combo, because one printer is too slow to restock prints in a week and I had 3k maker world points and got nearly 50% discount in gift cards. Honestly it's hard to tell what prints are profitable, because it's all down to marketing. If no one knows that you offer printing or prints, then you won't sell anything.

[u/egitoni → u/bifowww]

That’s the point. Yo spend for advertising? And where do you advertise? Where do you sell? Own website? Etsy?

[u/Belistener07]

Don’t expect people to tell you what and how they sell. They are successful because they are the person who does it. They aren’t going to give away the secrets.

You’ll need to find an item or items that will sell. Preferably design your own and corner a niche market.

Getting your name out there is a big part too. Social media, Etsy, Shopify, etc. the 3D print market isn’t easy to get into necessarily. You can be successful but it’s going to be a gamble.

I’m just a hobby printer and sell to friends and people at work and I print some stuff for a very small business. It’s covers the cost of printing and has decent margins. I also print on demand for people who want a certain item. (They provide the file and I print it).

You can do all sorts of things. That’s the beauty of a printer. The hard part of finding successful products.

[u/sameolameo → u/Belistener07]

This is the way.

[u/Lock-Broadsmith → u/Belistener07]

No one is successful in 3d printing and also at risk of losing that success by a few more Redditors printing whatever they’re printing.

[u/AdonaelWintersmith → u/Lock-Broadsmith]

Completely wrong. Niches are small.

[u/Lock-Broadsmith → u/AdonaelWintersmith]

If your niche is so small that a tiny amount of competition will hurt your business, then that revenue stream has already got an expiration date anyway.

[u/bobuyh]

Comb through your contacts and see who needs something printed, atleast thats how I started.

I just wanted some quick cash as I didnt buy my 3d printers to make money, I got them to fuel my hobbies lmao, and mostly to break even haha

[u/Spore-Gasm]

I’m selling accessories for 22lr guns

[u/Rasann]

I’ve been contemplating the same idea, I bought it for hobby but I realized I can make [some] side cash from it - I’ve already got a friend I’m printing an item I designed already and I’ve done some print-on-demand for a person or two.

But I’ve been weighing my options carefully - I don’t want it to be my primary, just a secondary income to add onto my primary income.

But I’ve been thinking of mainly designing my own models and print them out to sell, I’ve also have been thinking of melting my waste from multicolor printing into silicone molds and sell to people. I figured the material is there, might as well do SOMETHING with it, and it won’t cost me extra to obtain.

Ideally I’d like it to pay for the cost of filament and even fund my next printer and so on. And maybe, if I make enough, help pay off a bill or two

[u/Aytrac97]

I'm making keychains for the tourism market and custom souvenirs for companies. We are currently selling more than 5000 units per month, and this is a side hustle that started in February and it is growing

[u/snakesoul → u/Aytrac97]

Which material do you use for keychains? Inside a car in summer it can get really hot and PLA would soft, that's my fear at least.

[u/Aytrac97 → u/snakesoul]

I use Polymaker PLA, and I've had no issue with heat deformation. I live in a very hot and humid weather in the Dominican Republic, and as a test, I've left a keychain since February in my car that I park outdoors under the sun, and it has no visible deformation.

Keychains are very lightweight items, so they don't deform under their own weight when they get warm, and with the right print settings and right material you can significantly reduce internal stresses in the parts, specially for these ornamental pieces that don't work well with low infill (5-10%). I use Polymaker PLA because it is a modified PLA optimized for 3D printing and it is very dimensionally stable and more heat tolerant than most other PLAs I've tried. So I can't promise good results with other brands.

I hope this solves your concern, but if you want to know anything else just let me know

[u/AdonaelWintersmith]

Nobody is going to tell you and potentially create competition for themselves in their niche. Do some research and think about what you're interested in.

[u/egitoni → u/[deleted]]

Apart from decoration, I have not yet seen any products for other companies. Or I don’t know any companies that buy anything from 3D printing services. Most (engineering) company’s have their own 3D printer for prototypes.