What quantity do yo want to buy your 3D printer filament in?

[curious aardvark]

Actually, as long as the price corresponded to the weight, 500gm spools would be cool as I could buy more colours for the same money. And that's still a fair amount of plastic.

Just as long as the manufacturers use 30mm holes down the middle. In the past I've made my own spool and respooled for taulman nylon. Cut out the centre of a spool of filaflex witha rotary tool, because recreus think 10mm is going to fit everybody's spool holders - oh really !
Or like the poxy laywood filament, actually put the damn stuff on a spool, as it comes in a big tangled reel without any spool.
That stuff is brittle as hell and spooling it by hand was a frigging nightmare.

So on reflection. I'd buy smaller quantities just so long as they were on a decent spool that doesn't cause me more grief than getting the filament to work :-)

So 1kg, 500gm and 250gm spools and 5 & 10 metre samples. 10 metre if you can only have one length.

I don't care if the spools are made of cardboard or recycled yak hair. Cheap is good, as long as it works and has a decent sized hole down the middle :-)

We were talking to a filament manufacturer and supplier at the tct show. He was using really narrow cardboard spools and we asked if he had a machine specificially to load them.
Yes he said, it's called a lithuanian woman. Small hands and cheaper than a machine.

[Wolfie]

Really we just want to know what are the best quantities to sell filament in. We stock in 1kg spools but think some people may prefer to buy smaller quantities. Rather than make up our own mind we thought we would ask, carry out, dare I say it, some market research.

And that is, the proper thing to do. And the answer is...ALL of it.

Supply, 1kg spools of everything (not odd weights like 750g, be consistent PLEASE). Also offer short run sizes in 1m, 5m or 10m of everything. Larger sizes are good too for those bulkers. Also be willing to send a couple inches of something out for color matching (am finding this rare) and be willing to do it without purchase, maybe a nominal shipping fee.

Analyze the various situations.

Why 1kg spools?
1. The customer doesn't want to fool with small pieces
2. The customer knows the filament
3. The customer knows they need large amounts of it
4. The customer has storage for the larger spools.

Why short pieces?
1. The customer doesn't know the color/properties of a filament and wants enough to print tests with
2. The customer doesn't need a lot of a specific one because they are doing a one-off project.
3. The customer doesn't want to store big spools, they want to buy as they need it (think small apartment dwellers).

Why short (almost) free samples?
1. Because yall (as in filament makers/retailers) almost never provide accurate color information.
2. Customer may need to get their client's approval of a color before purchasing a large quantity.
3. Customer may need to provide choices (ala a color swatch book) to their client for proposals or to choose from.
4. Maybe they are an artist/decorator type and want to look at other materials it will be used with (paint, stains, wood, tile, etc)

[GOC]

Really we just want to know what are the best quantities to sell filament in. We stock in 1kg spools but think some people may prefer to buy smaller quantities. Rather than make up our own mind we thought we would ask, carry out, dare I say it, some market research.

- Your taking the right steps to becoming a great retailer; being that your reaching to the community for what they want in a desirable product. The answer to that question on the other hand for me is varied by the simple fact I desire both. I want to sample some product before committing to larger purchases. More product choices can only expand your customer base.

*Side Note: As a US customer you should try to get your shipping calculator expanded, it's a deterrent in having to send an email to get shipping costs.

And that is, the proper thing to do. And the answer is...ALL of it.
...
Analyze the various situations.

Why 1kg spools?
1. The customer doesn't want to fool with small pieces
2. The customer knows the filament
3. The customer knows they need large amounts of it
4. The customer has storage for the larger spools.

Why short pieces?
1. The customer doesn't know the color/properties of a filament and wants enough to print tests with
2. The customer doesn't need a lot of a specific one because they are doing a one-off project.
3. The customer doesn't want to store big spools, they want to buy as they need it (think small apartment dwellers).

Why short (almost) free samples?
1. Because yall (as in filament makers/retailers) almost never provide accurate color information.
2. Customer may need to get their client's approval of a color before purchasing a large quantity.
3. Customer may need to provide choices (ala a color swatch book) to their client for proposals or to choose from.
4. Maybe they are an artist/decorator type and want to look at other materials it will be used with (paint, stains, wood, tile, etc)

- Very well put, couldn't of said it better.

[curious aardvark]

Oh yes one other thing (lol)
You're pla prices are currently among the highest in the uk. Drop them :-)
At the moment if I'm looking for good filament not just cheap. 3dfilaprint offer me reprappertech ltd for £18 a kg.
The cheapest I've found on your site is £22.80 for the same amount.

That's a significant difference. And unless there was some really obscure filament type I was looking for I'd go with the reprapper tech pla as that is very nice stuff indeed.

So there are more things to consider than just amount of filament - you need to be competitive price wise as well. At the moment you're one of the most expensive for basic filament.
That said I might by a 250gm roll of something I didn't need a lot of.
There are a lot of parameters you need to take into account :-)

[iDig3Dprinting]

Oh yes one other thing (lol)
You're pla prices are currently among the highest in the uk. Drop them :-)
At the moment if I'm looking for good filament not just cheap. 3dfilaprint offer me reprappertech ltd for £18 a kg.
The cheapest I've found on your site is £22.80 for the same amount.

That's a significant difference. And unless there was some really obscure filament type I was looking for I'd go with the reprapper tech pla as that is very nice stuff indeed.

So there are more things to consider than just amount of filament - you need to be competitive price wise as well. At the moment you're one of the most expensive for basic filament.
That said I might by a 250gm roll of something I didn't need a lot of.
There are a lot of parameters you need to take into account :-)

Very much appreciate the input. We will update the prices to make them more competitive (£18.35). We will do that over the weekend. Our aim is to gear our offerings around what people want so asking questions and canvassing opinions on forums like this are a great tool for us. The idea is that everyone gets what they want out of the relationship between buyer and seller.

Thanks,

IDig3Dprinting

[sn00zerman]

I think you can divide 3D printer users largely into 2 groups:
- The ones that print "something" from time to time, nothing to big, like gadgets, arduino cases etc ... I think those people prefer 10m and 0.5kg etc ...
- The ones that print 24h/24h - 7d/7d (I have 3 printers up and running, 24 hours a day). I do really big projects. (trains and buildings for garden modelrailroads for example, objects with a few hundred pieces, sometimes between 10 & 20 kg per project) As said before, for me, a spool can never be big enough :-)
I even set my alarmclock in the middle of the night, to empty printbeds and start new printjobs :-)

[Mjolinor]

I think you can divide 3D printer users largely into 2 groups:
- The ones that print "something" from time to time, nothing to big, like gadgets, arduino cases etc ... I think those people prefer 10m and 0.5kg etc ...
- The ones that print 24h/24h - 7d/7d (I have 3 printers up and running, 24 hours a day). I do really big projects. (trains and buildings for garden modelrailroads for example, objects with a few hundred pieces, sometimes between 10 & 20 kg per project) As said before, for me, a spool can never be big enough :-)
I even set my alarmclock in the middle of the night, to empty printbeds and start new printjobs :-)

At which point one wonders if a 3DAA (3D addicted anonymous) group should be formed.

Hello, my name's John and I have a printing problem.

[iDig3Dprinting]

So far our sample size of 11 does quite clearly favour larger sizes (1kg). But, as you all say, it does depend on what you are buying. People do appear to like the idea of being able to buy samples. The other thing mentioned was that you thought our filament prices were too high. so in response to these points:

1. We are going to sell filament samples from the website. this should be available this week, in limited colours initially.
2. We have dropped our prices in-line with expectations so that you can get both ABS and Ingeo PLA fro £18.35 Kg

[curious aardvark]

cool - I'll try a roll and see how it compares to the reprapper stuff :-)
I need some blue pla.
Keep up the good work !

[iDig3Dprinting]

cool - I'll try a roll and see how it compares to the reprapper stuff :-)
I need some blue pla.
Keep up the good work !

Thanks that would be much appreciated. It would be great, if you are going to buy some filament, if you create an account first so that you can write a review of the filament. Hopefully you will find it better than the PLA from reprapper