3D Printed Merchandise is too expensive

[Rainday21]

Does anyone else find that all the 3D printed merchandise on the market today is way too expensive? I'm talking $50 for a toy key, or $3000 for a gold ring. Do people really pay these crazy prices? Why do people charge so much?

[The_Critter]

I've seen a lot of good deals on different merchandise on Shapeways.com. You will also see ridiculous prices but I think that is because some of these people made the item for themselves and then just listed it for the heck of it with a crazy price. They figure if they sell it at that price, they will take the money.

Some people do try and get more than their products are worth, but that is up to them to decide. Afterall, they are the designers

[Marcus]

The benefits of shapeways are materials like gold or full color prints...
else home printing is much cheaper ($0.03/cm3 instead of $1 or more for a cubic centimeter)
:-)

[MasonGerald]

The benefits of shapeways are materials like gold or full color prints...
else home printing is much cheaper ($0.03/cm3 instead of $1 or more for a cubic centimeter)
:-)

Some stuff on Shapeways is very expensive, but the quality is amazing! I've found some pretty good deals on Shapeways too.

[Marcus]

It really depends on the material and model; I compared the UP's prints to prints from some commercial, big SLS and FDM machines... The UP performs incredibly well for the low price, and so do some Repraps.
I also received some parts from shapeways that where bad compared to my own prints. When I print very thin parts, it's up to me to break it out of support structure and clean it, while some models at shapeway arrived broken.
Also the mesh medic preview showed me a intact model a few times, while the prints where faulty. Even with the great customer service at shapeways, it will increase the amount of time required from design to product...

[CreativeCoPilot]

I haven't ever received broken pieces from SW, however I have had them forget a part to my order. They were quick to correct the issue though. In terms of time- sure, they are pretty slow. I mean, they have to physically mail it to you after-all.

[crowbar]

Look at some of the Raspberry Pi cases. They cost more than the device itself

[CreativeCoPilot]

Sure, but you're making a case. You could make one just the same out of a couple pieces of scrap wood, or a container from the dollar store. If you were making one of these guys, you'd probably have a different opinion (same as MasonGerald's profile pic): http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyM...c/e75e5b97.jpg Again, the quality is on a completely different level. SW isn't a service you'd use to print a doorstop with.

[DrLuigi]

Does anyone else find that all the 3D printed merchandise on the market today is way too expensive? I'm talking $50 for a toy key, or $3000 for a gold ring. Do people really pay these crazy prices? Why do people charge so much?

Depending what you want i would advice you to ask someone here on the forums for example to print something ^^
Its alot cheaper,

Depends what you want of course, if you compare our prints with Shapeaways they are ofc alot better,

But our printers will do the job for alot of things ^^
Sadly enough not golden rings.... yet :P

[CreativeCoPilot]

Depending what you want i would advice you to ask someone here on the forums for example to print something...

Sure.. and a portion of the fourms has certainly been allocated to doing just that: http://3dprintboard.com/forumdisplay...ailable-Needed
Though, since membership is still growing, I would also propose checking on: http://www.3dhubs.com or http://www.makexyz.com/ Either way, your quality is a total toss-up.