Whats dictating the price of filament now?

Im wondering as to why the price is so high for filament. It seems like its an expensive hobby? New to 3d printing. Thank you in advance

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2014 05:44AM by Chicagoan86.

The dictating factor is how much it costs to ship it from China.

Hi,

I'm not sure if thi could be the right answer, but maybe the companies that supplies the filaments are trying to earn as much money as possibile now, while 3d printing is still a hobby for "few" people. So they don't sell that much. This is true of course if we compare this market, with, for istance the pc market. I hope you understand me!
Think about "maker-bot", they advise to buy their filament for printing, because it is better. Maybe it is, but this is a nice way to manipulate the market.

But maybe this is just my idea ^_^

Thank you for the feedback i agree with both of your responses. All the big companies are trying to corner the 3d printer and filament market.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2014 05:51AM by Chicagoan86.

One shop here in the Netherlands sells filament for 27 euros/kg.

Now, another shop started selling filament of the same brand, also 1kg, for 22 euros/kg.

This shows the first shop thought they were the only reseller of that brand and made the priceas high as they could without losing buying customers.

It's always finding a balance between how much you can 'ask' for a product before you lose buyers.

How to price:

Customer smiles, too low
Customer doesn't buy, too high
Customer grumbles but still buys, just right!

I would say the British VAT (value added tax). Anything under 15 pounds or 24.50 US dollars is not subject to it.

Quote
garyhlucas
How to price:

Customer smiles, too low
Customer doesn't buy, too high
Customer grumbles but still buys, just right!

Customer laughs - are you taking the p*ss mate?

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Waitaki 3D Printer

The only thing I find expensive about filament is the initial cost for the variety I have. As for actual usage, for me , a spool lasts a long time. My prints are never really 'large' so I may get 25 or more parts from a single spool. Don't actually know for sure. Havent finished a spool yet.
Relative to the time I have invested in those 25 or so parts, electricity to run the machine, etc. the cost of filament seems miniscule to me

Hello Chicagoan,

Just for your information, even the most expensive suppliers of filament for RepRap printers, which sell at $40-$50/kg (ABS/PLA) at the upper end, are many times cheaper than the big commercial companies. Filament cartridge for Stratasys machines go for $200/kg if not $250. Those cartridges have electronic chips that make it impossible to reload them with cheaper filament without going through hacks. If you look at it that way, then filament for us is not so expensive.

I'm not sure why a few of those RepRap vendors have such high prices... Maybe because their suppliers are domestic (USA) rather than in China?

Quote
Bill Clark
The only thing I find expensive about filament is the initial cost for the variety I have. As for actual usage, for me , a spool lasts a long time. My prints are never really 'large' so I may get 25 or more parts from a single spool. Don't actually know for sure. Havent finished a spool yet.
Relative to the time I have invested in those 25 or so parts, electricity to run the machine, etc. the cost of filament seems miniscule to me

Electricity to run the machine is about 1 cent per hour.

I would say time spent on building, setting up, calibrating, maintaining, troubleshooting the printer is the highest investment.

Thanks guys. Appreciate every ones help. You guys are really helping.

Quote
Bill Clark
The only thing I find expensive about filament is the initial cost for the variety I have. As for actual usage, for me , a spool lasts a long time. My prints are never really 'large' so I may get 25 or more parts from a single spool. Don't actually know for sure. Havent finished a spool yet.
Relative to the time I have invested in those 25 or so parts, electricity to run the machine, etc. the cost of filament seems miniscule to me

I bet is you print small parts you get around 35/40 parts out of one spool. You can see the weight of your part im Cura for example and the parts I print are usually around 25~35 grams.

On the other hand, the last spools I bought apparently were 750gram/spool so that gives me less prints.

I expect the CoreXY parts I'm now designing and printing will be less than 500gr together so they will surely all be the same color

Printing prices are dirt cheap, when I charge someone for a print it's usually the manhours involved in making a file print-ready and the cost I calculate to maintain my machine.
Meanwhile I've ordered 24 extra bronze bushings that I can use in both of my printers, and buying parts in bulk always gives a good price. Probably can even make my own sintered bronze bushings with a lathe and some hot oil...

Chicagoan86 there are a few factors, most of which have been covered here. What seems to be missing is that nobody is talking about filament quality and resin. The PLA I sell on my site is made of Natureworks PLA and is manufactured in the USA. I have compared it to a few other Chinese brands and have found it to be vastly superior, which means you spend more time getting quality prints and less time playing around. That is not to say that there aren't good brands from over seas, it's just there is a lot more hit and miss. I sell my filament for $32.99/KG and feel that is a fair price. If I were to stock products from overseas I could lower my prices but then my quality and customer service may suffer, not something I am willing to risk at this time.



FYI I am located in Brookfield, IL so if you are looking for a local dealer please feel free to contact me.

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