Make Money With 3d Printer Domain_10

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Besides many test devices, Martin now has his fourth own 3D printer running and prints as a hobby for friends, family and himself. He is happy to share his experience with each new article.

Disclosure: Links marked with * are Affiliate Links. I earn from qualifying purchases if you decide to make a purchase through these links – at no additional cost for you!

The good news first: making money with 3D printing is possible, but in reality, there are a number of hurdles that need to be taken into account.

So if you're thinking about making money with your 3D printer, ask yourself some questions and think about the answers.

First, you should ask yourself how much electricity your device actually uses per hour or per day? Some 3D printers (especially older models) often consume quite a lot of power when they run for several hours.

These costs should definitely be taken into account in your project!

The material is also a factor that should not be underestimated. Because here, too, you always have to allow for a little more material than expected. You will have the odd misprint and you will need more material than expected.

Other questions that might be added are for example: What do you have to replace over time? How much does the filament cost and which do you want to offer for printing? Where can you sell your prints and what about licenses?

Well, you should answer these questions before you start your project. This is the only way to make a meaningful calculation!

Contents

1 One or More 3D Printers?
2 On Which Platforms Can You Sell Your Prints?
3 Sell Your Own 3D Models
4 What You Should Consider for the Correct Marketing of the Idea?
5 Innovation and Attractive Pricing
6 What is the Current Situation for Newcomers and How Can You Best Earn Money?
7 What You Should Consider to Earn Money with Your 3D Printer
8 The Most Interesting Earning Opportunities with 3D Printing and Printers
- 8.1 3D-Hubs
- 8.2 Azavy
- 8.3 Etsy
- 8.4 Fiverr
- 8.5 Trinckle
9 Learn More about 3D Printing
10 Conclusion

One or More 3D Printers?

Of course, there is also the question of whether you should work with only one device or with several devices. A factor for this is of course also the number of customers. If you only work with one printer, your customers will have to be prepared for long waiting times. Every misprint costs time and you also have a high risk of failure if your printer becomes defective. Furthermore, you can only produce in small quantities, but the initial costs are relatively low.

With more than one device, many projects are possible at the same time, which gives more flexibility, higher production and maintenance can be faster because problems with the same printers are already known.

On Which Platforms Can You Sell Your Prints?

There are many platforms available for selling your prints because you can and should post your prints at several providers at the same time. Among the different ways of selling your prints are platforms like:

Facebook
Ebay
Etsy
your own website

Of course, you can also use your circle of friends to advertise to your friends or to sell your products through your friends.

Alternatively, you might consider offering a repair service for 3D printers. Not everyone is able to service and repair their 3D printers themselves.

So if business with your 3D printing doesn't pick up right away, you can consider this alternative to make money on the side.

Etsy's platform is particularly well suited for selling 3D printed things. This website is designed for the sale of self-made and handmade products. Therefore this platform is very suitable for the sale of own creations.

Sell Your Own 3D Models

If you have been working in this field for a longer time and have enough experience, then the sale of your 3D models is a good idea. It is important that your templates and models are easy to print for everyone. Not everyone has enough experience to create and print complicated models.

Simpler models are also easier to sell, so you will collect many positive reviews and other customers or buyers will notice you.

It's best to upload a photo of an already printed model so that others can get an idea of what the finished 3D models will look like.

To draw more attention to your projects, simply use platforms like Facebook or YouTube.

There are different ways to offer your 3D models, including Etsy as well as cults3D, sketchfab, or myminifactory.

When selling 3D prints or templates, licenses must also be considered. You should therefore always pay attention to what you print and be aware that you also have the right to sell.

There are separate companies and organizations on the Internet for this purpose, where various forms of licensing are offered.

What You Should Consider for the Correct Marketing of the Idea?

3D printing is an industry with great future technology. It is currently still in a growth phase with a lot of potentials.

That's probably why you think that you just have to start doing it to make money. But you shouldn't forget that the 3D printing business is quite saturated, despite the continuing growth.

There are already companies that specialize in a certain area for almost all concerns.

Japanese companies specializing in 3D printing, for example, print action heroes with the buyer's personalized face and these characters sell very well.

Other companies print detailed weapons and also other figures or shapes.

So it takes a very good idea that covers a niche market that does not yet exist.

The good thing about it is that mankind hardly ever runs out of new ideas. But just one good idea alone is not enough to sell a product. Because just as important as a good idea is the good marketing of the product.

Often only small changes in an already existing market are sufficient to develop new own and licensed products.

You should, therefore, do your own research to find out which products are not yet available and could sell well.

Innovation and Attractive Pricing

Innovation and not staying with the same idea for too long can make a big difference. If you want to make good money with your 3D printing, you should always work on new ideas and make them work.

The right elaboration and attention to detail can decide on success or failure.

For this reason, you should never stick to the same idea for too long, because it is very difficult to make good money with the same thing in the long run.

A constantly growing market also brings with it the problem that there will be more competition over time. This in turn affects the price and the price pressure is at a very high level in this industry. Furthermore, this high price pressure has a negative effect on the margins, so you can assume that the earnings will be relatively low. In addition, the purchase of a 3D printer is quite expensive, not to mention the repairs that may be required after a certain period of time.

You should consider all this before the production because every unnecessary misstep costs time and therefore in the end also money.

What is the Current Situation for Newcomers and How Can You Best Earn Money?

"First come, first served", that also applies to this area. Even in the early days of 3D printing, many companies and individuals recognized the enormous potential and made good money from it.

This is what happens in many areas and also in 3D printing. In today's world, the right idea can still make good money in this industry, but it's a lot more difficult.

Many people who came too late put a lot of money in the sand for equipment that they could not compensate for with sales.

Nevertheless, it is still true that with a good idea money can be earned even in a saturated market, you should always strive for good marketing.

If you want to make money from your 3D products, you should (especially as a newcomer) turn to interesting platforms that cover all aspects of 3D printing.

This way you get a good feeling from the start for which prints are interesting for customers and buyers.

What You Should Consider to Earn Money with Your 3D Printer

If 3D printing is more than just a hobby for you, you can start by printing 3D objects for family, friends, or acquaintances. A good idea would be to make toys for children in the family, or smartphone cases for friends and acquaintances. With these models or objects, you will get personal feedback from familiar people. In addition, even as a beginner, you will get a feeling for which prints have a use case and are well or less well-received.

A very interesting idea is also the do-it-yourself solution, where the 3D printer is, so to speak, rented out for a fee.

This has the advantage that customers can print the desired object on-site themselves.

The Most Interesting Earning Opportunities with 3D Printing and Printers

There are innumerable possibilities to earn money in this area. The platforms for this industry are getting more and more every year, so there are even more possibilities than 5 or 10 years ago.

Therefore, we would like to present to you a few possibilities here to give you a more detailed overview of what is possible in this area.

3D-Hubs

So-called 3D Hubs are sometimes the best and most popular way to make money with 3D printers.

If you own one or more 3D printers, you can easily register your location in the 3D Hubs database. You then specify the service you offer, which could be printing model airplanes or toys, for example. Customers can find you and the service you offer in the database and a business transaction between two people can take place later.

It makes it easy for you to make money with your 3D printer and 3D printing.

You should consider the price calculation carefully because only if the effort after deduction of material costs, time expenditure, etc. is worthwhile, it makes sense.

Related article: Calculate and Reduce Filament Costs in 3D Printing

Azavy

As a CAD designer, you can earn money on this platform with your self-designed 3D models. To do so, you simply offer your models for sale via Azavy. As soon as there is an interested party, they will contact you. It should be noted that you do not need to own a 3D printer to sell through Azavy. On this platform, the buyer only purchases the building instructions for individual parts.

Etsy

The platform of Etsy has already been briefly mentioned in this article. This platform was developed especially for handmade products. On Etsy you can sell your products directly from the 3D printer, of course, you can set the price yourself.

With this supplier there are no specific requirements regarding the product, as long as the objects are artistic and handmade, they can be offered for sale.

Fiverr

Fiverr is not directly a platform specialized in 3D printing, but rather a provider of various services.

The special thing about this provider is the uniform price of 5 dollars. The services can include a wide variety of items from all areas, including 3D printing of toys or logos.

To earn money on Fiverr, you just need to register and log in and you can start making money with your products and services. You can even build your own customer base on this platform to sell your products to "regular customers" on a regular basis.

Trinckle

Trinckle is another place where you can showcase and sell your creative designs. This provider acts as a large marketplace where sellers have the opportunity to offer various 3D prints and templates for sale.

Another advantage at Trinckle is that there is a large community to share information about 3D printing. This gives you more food for thought and can broaden your horizons in this area.

Learn More about 3D Printing

Simply register in communities and forums to exchange your plans and ideas with others. This can help you to see in which direction current trends are going.

Especially in communities, news and trends on this topic spread very quickly. This means that you are always up-to-date and can quickly adapt your work or ideas to the current status.

Be aware that you should always follow the guidelines of creative commons. Get an overview of the different license types, non-commercial (nc) products are not allowed to print under any circumstances.

This tells customers and sellers that they must first obtain the designer's permission to legally print and purchase such a template.

If you now intend to earn money by printing templates, the customer sends you a template with the request to print this model after an estimate for him, then you are legally liable to prosecution.

Always protect yourself by clarifying the legal situation before making a deal. The safest way is to sign a declaration of consent with a signature, with this you have something useful in case of problems.

So if you want to make money with 3D printing, you'll be on the safe side if you choose or even create your own templates.

To protect your own templates, you should add copyright to them. If someone else uses your templates without permission, you have the possibility to take legal action.

Conclusion

Whether the costs are worthwhile for a commercial operation must be determined on the basis of a cost-benefit calculation. The competition from low-cost countries never sleeps, and in order to be competitive, the effort must also be worthwhile.

Above all, competition from Asian and Arab countries could become a major problem in the long term with their cheap electricity.

Above all, you should also see that price dumping in this area has increased very sharply in recent years.

That's why in our fields it's rather rewarding to offer 3D printing for small or medium series. Possible problems that may occur can be minimized in this way.

If you are trying to retain your customers for the long term and are aiming for long-term cooperation, then architecture could be the right branch for you.

Architectural firms are constantly looking for good 3D models for the next pitch. You should pay attention to the often short deadlines, which are also associated with a very high-quality standard. If you create or print 3D models for architects' offices, you should be aware of this.

As far as earning money with such orders is concerned, they can be particularly profitable for you. If it has to be done quickly, you can ask for a surcharge, because speed and high quality must be rewarded accordingly.

You can also work with special materials like sand or metals and create 3D prints for the industry. This market is not yet as saturated as the traditional one and you can certainly get the odd job.

This market also has more potential for development and it can be assumed that it will develop better in the future.

As you can see, it depends a lot on your ideas, your innovation and your skills. The more special and unique your templates and 3D prints are, the more customers and buyers you will attract. Also, set a reasonable price for your products and, especially as a newcomer, demand a reasonable price.

If you follow these tips, you'll be able to have a successful career as a 3D printer!

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