Looking for opinions, tips, suggestions, and help on selling lasers

Hi everybody, I've been planning to sell a few of the same lasers on here, in order to raise funds to open a website "shop" selling the laser as a "kit". Now I put kit in "" because, well, a caveman could put it together.

The laser will use a host that is not popular around here, think I have only seen it once.

I have purchased 20x of the hosts.

I have planned to build and use a boost driver for of it, and components are on the way.

All the heatsinks will be made by me. And will not just be a standard heatsink. It will have a bit of a taper going to the focus adapter because it does have a crown, and otherwise would be hard to focus.

Starting off, I will only offer these in 445 at 1.2W minimum. Meaning they will all be run at ~1.3A and will be tested before selling. They will be tested on my kenometer USB, that seems to be spot on that I can tell! If they are lower, they will probably be sold at a slight discount. And I soon hope to expand to offer it in 405, 635, and 660.

The laser will come with a foil warning label, nice box, 2 chargers (car and wall), and an 18650 battery.

I will not claim to be a pro, but I do trust myself to sell reliable products. I have not been here for too long, but have read a ton of the vast amount of tips on this amazing forum, and have learned the proper procedures to build a solid laser. Since my stay, I have built a few 445s and 405s, that today are still going strong, and have yet to fry a diode. :bowdown:

I will use a middleman if requested.

Lasers include 1 month warranty.

Proof of goggles must be provided prior to ordering.

I will ship a laser to be inspected by any trustworthy member of the forum.

At first, I will probably only have 2 to sell. But once those sell I'll build a few more. Then repeat till I have the assets to safely open up my store.

I plan to sell these at $150+shipping at first. Then after that I do not know. Depends on the market.

I have already invested countless hours researching, building, and machining.

I have already invested a good amount of money into this.

I will post a thread with pictures of the build before selling to get your advise on my build capabilities, and any suggestions or tips.

I have opened this thread to get advise from all of you prior to doing this. I don't want to go about it all wrong, and have another forum incident like we have seen in the past.

Thank you all for your input. Have a great day :beer:

P.S. If you know the host, please do not post it just yet. Keep it a secret to yourselves, or pm me

You're right, The skillset is basic yet "the kit form" will be popular.. such as no soldering required etc..
A whole webstore "www.webstorenamehere.com" is not yet necessary because all you need is a thread is a b/s/t section at first.. and trust me if you have a great product to offer and you beat the quality and price, people here are with a keen eye and know the difference between certain stuff.. they'll be more than happy to give you business.

Then IF the popularity is immense "and" you couldnot handle all the pm's incoming that'll need a webstore..

I would suggest you to sell a couple of kits first.. one step at a time and see where it goes..

Since most people mistake this hobby with a "sales and profit" kind of thing which sometimes it IS.. but as have said many times donot make a business out of it, hence it should be taken as a hobby and a fun thing to do.. You might not get what you expect for a particular product of yours, that's when you know what i'm saying just now.

Thanks for the input sinner. Anybody else?

Machinist Joe;

Your biggest challenge will be from one or two of the established builders on this forum.

They believe they invented everything you will offer.

Good luck,

& don't let them affect your design decisions.

The 1.2W laser you are planning to sell is also dangerous,

from a liability standpoint.

Make sure your customer is safe & responsible.

LarryDFW

I agree with sinner about keeping it for fun, not for business. Your hobbies should be kept separate from your primary source of income, (your job).

You've been here for half a year, and obviously read more than you post (which is always a good thing). You want to start selling laser kits to people that might want to find ways to blame you for things that are not your doing.

So, be prepared to take flak when you don't deserve it, being prepared to do this at a financial loss, and make sure you have the time to dedicate to it. Mailing items and processing individual PP transactions though handy, can still be a long hassle.

Lastly, I hope you would only do this if you really enjoy doing it.

If there's anyone who has mastered this, it both Jayrob and Flaminpyro. Two starkly different personalities that can each do what they enjoy- even if they have had to do it at a loss.

Ask them for advice if you really need it, but to begin with, use them as models to follow.

Hope this helps.

-Tyler

Flaminpyro is a good model to follow.

LarryDFW

Be VERY careful when/if you decide to go with a website

These are the ones who tend to get visits from the FDA

Peace,
dave

Thank you all so much for your input. I am soaking it all in.

Dave, is this a problem when selling them.in kit form?

daguin said:

Be VERY careful when/if you decide to go with a website

These are the ones who tend to get visits from the FDA

Peace,
dave

Click to expand...

Machinist Joe said:

Thank you all so much for your input. I am soaking it all in.

Dave, is this a problem when selling them.in kit form?

Click to expand...

I don't beleive a kit is illegal :beer: but I'm not 100% sure

It would be just like purchasing a laser module, and a host. I don't think there should be a problem with that. Ill try and do some research.

Machinist Joe said:

It would be just like purchasing a laser module, and a host. I don't think there should be a problem with that. Ill try and do some research.

Click to expand...

If you sell them separately then there is 100% no problem :beer:

I'd be a little cautious of the web store, even if we all think selling as a kit is legal, it could still attract unwanted attention and you might have to defend that stance, which might end up being expensive. You might consider sending a PM to Garoq. He runs a web store that sells "fool proof" kits and might be able to address the legal questions better then we can.

The only other tip I can suggest is to make sure you are only selling products you have in hand and have tested. I would suggest staying away from having customers pay up front before you have everything in hand. It doesn't sound like you were planning on that, so I think you should be good.

Thanks. Yeah, I was in no way planning to sell in advance. And would will never sell any lasers that I don't currently have. No pre ordering allowed. I've seen that be the fall of some once great sellers before.

jcranmer said:

I'd be a little cautious of the web store, even if we all think selling as a kit is legal, it could still attract unwanted attention and you might have to defend that stance, which might end up being expensive. You might consider sending a PM to Garoq. He runs a web store that sells "fool proof" kits and might be able to address the legal questions better then we can.

The only other tip I can suggest is to make sure you are only selling products you have in hand and have tested. I would suggest staying away from having customers pay up front before you have everything in hand. It doesn't sound like you were planning on that, so I think you should be good.

Click to expand...

The biggest suggestion I can give you is to showcase your work and let business come to you.

I do not currently advertise my self, yet every week I get 10+ PM's asking for something to be custom made or for a kit to be assembled.

This way you will not need to advertise to people that might give you a nasty knock on the door.

Secondly, have patients. People are slow to make decisions, especially with the US dollar being a roller coaster. You will sell what you have eventually... just don't get desperate and sell at a loss.

But you probably already know this... So in any case, good luck! I hope your endeavors work out well!

Just a little bump with a teaser.



I currently have a pretty neat boost driver in the works too

Machinist Joe said:

Just a little bump with a teaser.

I currently have a pretty neat boost driver in the works too

Click to expand...

Are those heatsinks or focus adapters? Either way very nice :beer: