Best PLA - Colorfabb, Formfutura, 3DOM, Polymaker or ...?

[BSCdan]

But we'd have to raise prices or charge the customer for shipping, custom charges, etc.

[curious aardvark]

you're prices are pretty high in the states. By the time you'd added vat and p&p you'd be totally priced out of the market.

So yes you can sell to europe - but it's doubtful anybody would be buying.

[BSCdan]

I don't think our prices are high, especially considering there are many more expensive filaments that are of far inferior quality . We're not selling standard filament. We're selling a biodegradable ABS filament. We're selling a PLA with PHA additive. We spool our filaments in a manner that avoids tangles, knots, crossovers, loopbacks. We don't use plastic spooling, but a biodegradable recycled cardboard. If none of those things are important to you, yes, we're going to be more expensive than your standard filament. But to say we're expensive when we're less expensive than the most popular selling filament in the world, which we score higher than across the board, is kind of an odd statement.

We sell to Colleges, Universities, Fab Labs and Makerspaces who want a better quality filament. Can we compete with Hatchbox? Price wise, of course not. I'd love to buy a BMW, but I certainly wouldn't expect to get one for the price of a Kia.

[curious aardvark]

when we're less expensive than the most popular selling filament in the world, which we score higher than across the board, is kind of an odd statement.

who is that then ?

And value for money is not the same thing as being inexpensive :-)

Price comparison to what I buy.
your pure pla is £26.50 for 750gms.
The reprapper tech pla I buy is £18 for 1 kg - I'd stack it against any pla in the world in every category and I've tried more than a few.
The cheap pla I buy from amazon has been as low as £10 for 1kg - while not as good as the reprapper, it's useable for big stuff with out any issues.

Your pla/pha is $39.99 = £30.28 (the pound really sucks at the moment)
That's actually cheaper than I can easily buy colorfabb pla/pha - so thats good :-)
Cheapest I've been able to find is £32 - all my prices do include p&p

However I can get pet-g for around £22-28 per kg, depending on brand.
And I can get ingeo based pla for £22.50 for 750gms.

Abs I just don't want in any form.

So okay, some of your stuff is NOT EXPENSIVE :-)

But P&p and tax would still kill you outside the states.

[BSCdan]

From what I understand it's Makerbot. That's what I've been told, but I don't know accurate or up to date that is.

ColorFabb is a good filament. In a recent testing comparison of 6 different lines of filament, they scored #2. As you said, it's expensive (more so in the US) and it's difficult for people in the US to get. But again, as you said, shipping would just be too expensive outside of the US. And longer. In the US, we
are able to ship anywhere and get it to the customer within 2 days. That's a big reason people like us.

I've never used RepRapper in either form, but on the testing, they scored very low across the board. Their ABS score the lowest in each category - Ease of Use, Visual Quality, Geometric Accuracy and Impact Resistance. They actually scored slightly better on PLA. They scored #3 right behind ColorFabb in Impact Resistance on both the X/Y and Z axis. However, they both scored far below PLAyPHAb in that category.

[uncle_bob]

But we'd have to raise prices or charge the customer for shipping, custom charges, etc.

Hi

The customer pays customs (if it applies) when the package is delivered. In most cases there is no customs duty assessed. There is paperwork, but not a lot of it. Shipping is what it is. That is no different than shipping things the other way. I buy quite a bit of stuff from "over the ocean". It is not all that hard.

Bob

[curious aardvark]

In most cases there is no customs duty assessed.

Depends entirely on the value stated on the packaging and whether it's labelled as commercial package or a present. And in the uk the 'paperwork' costs the recipient £10. Yep they charge you £10 for the privilege oif chraging you 20% of the value stated on the package. They also ignore currency. So the bastards will charge you 20% of whatever the number listed is in pounds.
ie: some idiot (my mate as it happens) after being told to make sure the label says: present, value $5 - which would have been duty free.
Instead puts: commercial, value $40.
So I pay 20% of £40 plus £10 for the privilege. another £18 on top of the original cost.
I was not happy.

So if the shipper is prepared to put the right things on the shipping lable - it would just be p&p.
The limit for commerciasl packages before duty is charged is £10 (or 10 dollars, sheckels, euros etc) The limit for gifts is £30.

Inland revunue and customs are just total bastards.

To give you an indication of postage costs. For me to send a tracked package to the states, the last one I sent weighed 50 grams and cost £8 about $12.
Untracked is cheaper, about half the price.

When you consider I can order something from china that weighs 100gms and pay £1.60 INCLUDING post and packing.
It's no wonder the chinese are so good at selling goods overseas, china post has to be heavily subsidised by the chinese government - something all governments should do in my opinion.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

On another forum, we just went through a whole bunch of information on what various countries charge as customs. There is a wide variation, even within Europe. None of that side of it accrues to the seller. It all comes out of the buyer's pocket. It is a reason why a buyer might go shopping in one country vs the other. It is not a reason why a seller can not sell to a given part of the world. If you wonder why shipping from one place is so cheap, the answer in some cases is that the government pays for the shipping on certain exports ....

Bob

[curious aardvark]

Yep - go china post !

[uncle_bob]

Yep - go china post !

Hi

At one time shipping from the US to Europe was a lot less. Then the EU complained and the "rates were normalized". I have no idea how China Post gets around that sort of thing. Part of it is the direct government payment of shipping, but that is not the whole story.

Bob