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Junior

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$20 for a beer mug?   Yeah, uh, no.

You want to jump from a hobby to a business, maybe consider looking more closely at your competition?  Etsy (the premier marketplace for custom-made items) has several of these types of mugs for about half that price.

Anyway, as long as you're having fun and keeping busy with friends' requests, that's important, too.

 

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slice&dice with Etsy people charge for shipping also which is any where from $5.85  to $17.00. With the $20.00 shipping is included. So should i lower the prices. As i want to make money not keep doing it for friends for next to nothing or free. I like for advice as you all been doing this a lot longer than i have. Just needing your advice as with Etsy they charge for shipping my prices is included in the shipping. Please i am asking for your advice. As you all been in this a lot longer than i have Thanks    

As seen here  https://www.etsy.com/listing/184559560/la-dodgers-sandblasted-mug?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=sandblasted+beer+mug&ref=sr_gallery-1-10&organic_search_click=1

Ready to ship in 3–5 business days

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if you are selling the same thing as everyone else you will only make sales to friends or make no money - trick is to have unique items that the other 200,000 people with plotters and heat presses aren't making.   heck I did a sign 6 years ago for a local business and found out the person that redid their sign (due to change in business partners , hair salon) after I said I would do it again with a new substrate used a cricut to redo the big sign and when they couldn't clean the substrate good enough they tried to recover it - saw it afterwards and looked the part.   don't even try to compete in a flooded market - find your own thing

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Dakotagrafx No body is doing sandblasting in or around my local area. Every body is doing screen printed t-shirts or vinyl decals or signage on business or car magnets. No one is doing sandblasting. I use my MH 721 vinyl cutter to do my stencils then i weed out what is needed to weed out then i put it on the drinking glasses or mirror or what have you. Then i put it in my Harbor Freight sandblast cabinet and blast away then i soak it in hot / warm water for about 20 minutes and peel it right off then rinse it with warm / hot water to clean it. Dakotagrafx thanks for the compliment thanks.    

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so that is how you did those flutes with the differential blasting?   I was referring to selling nationally which is how most people set up their site for - selling locally is great 

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referring  to these, usually people can't get that definition with regular mask and a blast cabinet



image21

 

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so these are all your images and work?   Being on the news with those images will bring more scrutinization of your business - just a heads up

 

Copyright © 2020 sandblasting engraving - All Rights Reserved.

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Yes it was a royal pain in the as_ I had to do it so many times trying to get it right went threw a whole roll of vinyl 14 inches wide by 10 feet long. As i posted in another thread how to do it on a round object and some one said about cutting out the unnecessarily things ( wasted extra areas ) then place down in the middle then smooth outwards. I went threw 14 inches wide by 10 foot long vinyl.  The NC glass is mine WITH A BLACK RUBBER  I HAD FOR A BACKGROUND. I hAd John at US Cutter help me with the home in the middle of the Nc state loco l even used a dimmer tool as John even said to use to go deeper

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1 hour ago, Junior said:

Dakotagrafx No body is doing sandblasting in or around my local area. Every body is doing screen printed t-shirts or vinyl decals or signage on business or car magnets. No one is doing sandblasting. I use my MH 721 vinyl cutter to do my stencils then i weed out what is needed to weed out then i put it on the drinking glasses or mirror or what have you. Then i put it in my Harbor Freight sandblast cabinet and blast away then i soak it in hot / warm water for about 20 minutes and peel it right off then rinse it with warm / hot water to clean it. Dakotagrafx thanks for the compliment thanks.    

You state no one is doing sandblasting. Maybe for a reason. Is it worth the time that you have into it? Your time plus supplies. Is there even a profit? You really need a special customer base to be buying from you. I would not be in your customer base, even as an impulse buyer. Plus possibly breaking your supplies, before even sold. I only sell decals, and I don't have a problem selling. But I rarely mess with anything below $15 up to $150.  free ship.  I sell USA wide.  I have been at it since 2006. 

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MZ SKEETER what kind of decals do you sell.

no one is doing sandblasting. Maybe for a reason. THIS POSSIBLY WHY NO ONE IS DOING SANDBLASTING.  Is it worth the time that you have into it? SERIOUSLY THINKING NOT WORTH IT...  Your time plus supplies. Is there even a profit? THINKING NOT NOW SINCE THERE IS NO ONE DOING SANDBLASTING

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18 hours ago, Junior said:

MZ SKEETER what kind of decals do you sell.

no one is doing sandblasting. Maybe for a reason. THIS POSSIBLY WHY NO ONE IS DOING SANDBLASTING.  Is it worth the time that you have into it? SERIOUSLY THINKING NOT WORTH IT...  Your time plus supplies. Is there even a profit? THINKING NOT NOW SINCE THERE IS NO ONE DOING SANDBLASTING

I cannot tell you what I sell.  I created my own niche'. So that others don't have what I sell.  That is why I still keep selling after all these years. Plus many repeat buyers.   You have to get some experience,  go buy some good designs that you can make decals out of.  Some that you have the rights to resell the decals.You have to mess with trial and error on which designs will sell. Work up to a better cutter with a servo motor.  People like to buy very detailed designs. They are more unusual. And be prepared to like weeding them.   Shutterstock.  Legal clipart. etc. Create your own niche'.  My average sized decals are 20" w 90" L  up to 27" w x 16ft..L  Your not going to do that with an MH cutter.  

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just got back in town, what process did you use for the elk and fern glasses - how did you get the 3d effect without the iconics film?

 

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I have a HF cabinet and do a little blast etching here and there. I found it was NOT a money maker for my business platform. WAY too much time investment to make it work out for me but that's just me. I now mostly do personalized gifts that I give to people from myself not as business. (although it has occasionally generated some interest that I ended up doing) For instance, I have a friend who brings over pies and I always etch her pyrex pie plates before I return them. Stuff like that. Customized wedding Pyrex sets are great gifts too. I usually do them mirrored so you can read them from looking into the pie plate or pyrex cookware. Cheap glassware from the dollar store suddenly turn into sweet personalized Christmas candy jars. Fun stuff but I can't afford to try and do them to sell. Maybe you can find a niche there, good luck. 

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6 hours ago, Junior said:

slice&dice with Etsy people charge for shipping also which is any where from $5.85  to $17.00. With the $20.00 shipping is included. So should i lower the prices. As i want to make money not keep doing it for friends for next to nothing or free. I like for advice as you all been doing this a lot longer than i have. Just needing your advice as with Etsy they charge for shipping my prices is included in the shipping. Please i am asking for your advice. As you all been in this a lot longer than i have Thanks    

As seen here  https://www.etsy.com/listing/184559560/la-dodgers-sandblasted-mug?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=sandblasted+beer+mug&ref=sr_gallery-1-10&organic_search_click=1

Ready to ship in 3–5 business days

I would drop the free ship and be closer to the competition. Most people see the bottom line before calculating the shipping. 

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don't forget you can do mirrors for people - this is one I did.   blasted from the back, black paint for the filigree and gold leaf for the lettering and then coated all for protection - used some cherry wood milled from out yard for the frame but it was a special piece 

P6070004.JPG

P6070007.JPG

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15 minutes ago, Junior said:

Dakotagrafx  blasted from the back, black paint for the filigree and gold leaf for the lettering and then coated all for protection

How do you protect it... I was thinking epoxy is this correct or what would you suggest to protect it ThanKS

just a thick black paint over back when done

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On 11/21/2020 at 1:33 PM, Dakotagrafx said:

if you are selling the same thing as everyone else you will only make sales to friends or make no money - trick is to have unique items that the other 200,000 people with plotters and heat presses aren't making.   heck I did a sign 6 years ago for a local business and found out the person that redid their sign (due to change in business partners , hair salon) after I said I would do it again with a new substrate used a cricut to redo the big sign and when they couldn't clean the substrate good enough they tried to recover it - saw it afterwards and looked the part.   don't even try to compete in a flooded market - find your own thing

Good advice Dakota  you have to be competitive because people look for price and assume the quality is all the same....which we all know the cheapest use inferior  material and methods. I priced a sign with new substrate and premium vinyl and they wanted me to use the original substrate remove the cracked sun dried vinyl and clean up... I tried to explain that would be very labor intensive and not turn out well because of ghost shadowing ( lexan) so They got someone to do it their way ....lol then in about a month they called for me to do it right.

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