Top 5 Tips for Making Money With 3D Printing in 2024
Here are my Top 5 Tips for making more money selling 3D Prints in 2024!
A big thank you to Fedex Office for sponsoring this video
www.office.fedex.com
Make sure to checkout www.3dprintforce.com/ to help figure out your 3D Print Pricing
3D Design Bros @3dDesignBros
www.3ddesignbros.com/3d-models
Hendricks Design @Hendricks_Design
hendricks.design/
thangs.com/designer/Hendricks...
ForgeCore @ForgeCoreCo
thangs.com/designer/forgecore
30% off 3 Months Thangs membership with code UJ30
/ forgecoreco
Help Support the channel & checkout my 3D Printer Profiles / unclejessy
Make your own Resin 3D Printing Timelapses with Resinlapse ➜
linktr.ee/resinlapse
@AndrewSink
Twitter / unclejessy4real
Instagram / unclejessy4real
Facebook / unclejessy4real
KZhead / unclejessy
Some links provided might be affilate links
00:00 Top 5 Tips for Selling 3D Prints in 2024
01:14 #1 Where are you selling?
03:32 Sponsor Spot
04:51 #2 Standing Out from the Crowd
06:49 #3 Don’t Forget the Shipping Costs!
08:53 #4 How to Price Your Products
10:57 #5 Ultimate Selling 3D Print Goal
12:58 Wrapping it Up
Thanks for watching!
#3DPrinting #smallbusiness #makemoneyonline
Thanks again to Fedex Office for sponsoring this video... the banner I had them make 3 Years ago (not in this video) is one I still use for my Makerfaire Booths!
I need help 😢 I don't know what setting is best for Super pla+ 😢 please help me out. I use orca slicer
Printing 'fad' flexi or the current meta and selling on Etsy seems like soul crushing race to the bottom.
Indeed however… they are still selling which is wild to me
Yup! That’s what I was trying to state with my 5th point. Amazing
They seam to sell best at local events... online is definately a race to the bottom
@@Kawalzki Yeah, I'm seeing them everywhere these days. I think I'm seeing the saturation point.
I complete agree about the thermal printer. I waited way too long to pick one up. On the other hand, I tried posting a set of models on Printables under a non-commerical license and selling them on Etsy... never again. Not only do people ignore the non-commerical license, I actually got threats from multiple people selling my designs on Etsy to take down my shop or they'd report me for stealing their IP. It was just a very negative experience.
I would’ve shut down their shop instead
@@jesushernandez7802 I get it and in the end I did file some complants with Etsy, but it just soured the experience, at least to start. I was hoping to give a little back to this generally awesome community and have fun with a small side hustle which, if nothing else, would justify my ever expanding collection of printers and filament. Thankfully, things have calmed down a lot. When it started, I was one of the only people filling a very small niche. Now there are at least a dozen designs filling the same function.
Just one comment, because your videos are not normally misleading. You really need to differentiate between turnover and profit. Those numbers you are showing at the beginning aren't income, they're turnover. And the two figures tend be very different!
Tip #1 Make a video about how to make money 3d printing
😂 sharing is caring… “now sign up for my 30 day online class” 😂
Thank you. Several good tips. I am glad YT actually notified me (they haven't lately) but several others I watch have had negative things to say (mainly too saturated so don't waste time and do something else) so a positive video is uplifting.
Lots of great tips here! Thanks for sharing :D
Danm, Perfect timing, I put some stuff up the other day, figuring I have spare room on the build plate and can always throw some stuff on for people who want it, got a sale last night, thought my conversion rate was me doing bad, but seeing that 1% on yours during the intro makes me feel a bit more comfortable in that its probably just the way it goes.
Thanks for sharing 🤘🤘
Yes the painter paper! huge savings!
Great advice regarding camera gear. Lighting is by far the MOST important part of product (and really, all) photography
grateful for where i work when it comes to shipping materials, free boxes and so much free kraft paper
Thank you very much Uncle Jesse!! This is super helpful for anyone that wants to sale at Etsy.
Great Video! I've been designing some R/C products and selling them here locally and been toying around with opening an Etsy store and trying to sell them there as well. Thanks for the Information!!
Thanks for the video UJ! I have my first local booth next month and was ordering tables and a canopy this morning, so this video couldn't have come at a better time. Making myself a banner on FedEx office as I type this!
Love that this came out as I’ve been mulling over selling 3D prints! I’m curious how many printers you started with vs how many you’d recommend starting with for printing and selling stuff? Love the content by the way, keep up the good work!
I make jack. I spend an insane amount of time cleaning and sanding my resin prints so they are pristine when they go out. My competitors win though because they sell lower and don't spend time cleaning up. I ordered from multiple other sellers who sell the same stuff before i started selling in order to test the quality. Models were rough and covered with support blobs and holes, packed with minimal padding and thrown in a envelope. I'd be embarrassed to send stuff like that out But these listings say they have sold loads with great feedback. I don't understand it..
If customers are buying and satisfied without sanding resin prints, then sell like that and save the time and money. Quite often, and since you say this is resin, many are okay putting in a bit of time finishing miniatures or statues. Surface finishing is part of the prep to paint.
You could offer 'raw', and sanded versions and have pictures of the difference. I'm not sure on the legality, but maybe you could include photos of competitors products for the customers who aren't, or wouldn't be satisfied with that level of quality and are happy to pay a premium for sanding or extra packing material, etc.
@@EffinWit It's legal to show competitors work, and most likely within the rules of Etsy, as long as competitors aren't singled out by name, and their photographs are not used. If you take pictures of their products as you received them, and don't name them, then should be safe. However, perceived attacks on competitors may turn away some customers, or be written off a marketing BS like we too often see with scam products. Usually better to show why yours are better than show why others are worse.
"When everyone is looking for gold, it's a good time to be in the pick and shovel business." Selling prints (aka gold) is the sucker's move unless you had first mover's advantage, large amounts of equipment etc. Shovels and picks in the 3d space would be things like selling 3d designs, or equipment for 3d printers like Uncle Jessy's ResinLapse cable. Cover all your bases and do all 3!
For selling on eBay, one thing that I use for in-box packaging is plastic bags. It sounds crazy, but they do actually provide pretty good cushioning, and it's a way to put them to use outside of a being used as a small trash can bag. I also tend to save boxes that are shipped to me as I'm not a fan of recycling boxes and then needing them. You do need to be a bit careful to not go too crazy with hoarding and some Amazon boxes rely upon the paper tape to close gaps inherent in the box. (I always hate it when I run into one of those!)
Tried selling a bit on Etsy but the fees were killing any motivation. Keep the prints simple might be a good suggestion as well. My model was made of 4 interconnecting parts that needed to be printed separately. This increased my production time. Also be prepared to take criticism from people that don’t understand the limitations of 3d printing. I was using a Bambu Lab printer at a very fine setting and I still had customers complaining that it didn’t look as nice as they had hoped. It hurt a little but I know it wasn’t personal.
Etsy fees are wild. And yeah, in every listing I include a line that explains they are printed and you will see layer lines or potentially small imperfections
Great stuff, your the best Jesse
You rock!
I know this is a video for selling online but also look at selling in craft fairs and markets. Its more work to pack, setup, be available and teardown, but I can make more in a day than a whole month selling online and i dont have to worry about shipping.
Great advice, thank you very much
Glad it was helpful!
@@UncleJessy do you know the maximum file size that can be sold on Ebay?
first time I've seen a fedex add block
It's a good thing machines like the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra and Bambu Lab P1S is a thing. You can use the time lapses as part of making the videos.
Great video with a lot of useful tips! I am wondering about the electricity cost for a print. Is that significant to the total cost of the sale?
Great video!! I don't think this advice works for other countries. I'm wondering, any other 3D printers from Mexico have any tips you could share to start making sales of 3d prints here? I'm not having the best of luck making sales.
I love to save Amazon boxes. They are great for shipping.
im curious if the earnings shown are gross or net profit
Could you make a video on your top picks of resin printers top buy, legit wise as well as for beginners
It should be mentioned that if you look up someone else's rates for commision printing you should also take note of the printers they're using. In my local area it's common to provide rates per hour of printing, but obviously if your "competition" prints on Prusa 3 and you use similar or lower rate per hour you may end up undercutting yourself if you have a much faster printer. Sure you can print a higher volume and if you have buyers for that then fine, but if you print single items or very low volume make sure not to blindly copy someone's rates, but adjust them for your printer's speed otherwise you may get very small profits.
Agreed! The 3DPrintforce app is great for that
I build 1:32 scale model railroad cars and hope to sell them soon, gotta learn to improve my work though.
with 3d print force, where do you put in things like power costs, any other consumables used in 3d printing?
You ever get those profiles posted??
I need help 😢 I don't know what setting is best for Super pla+ 😢 please help me out. I use orca slicer
Great video! Do you find that more people buy the files to print themselves or the actual physical 3d objects? And do you sell your prints globally on etsy or just US and Canada?
From my experience doing both. It’s about a 100:1 ratio of people that would prefer to buy the actual item vs buying the files. Selling physical items is far easier because you market is everyone vs just people with printers
@@ForgeCoreCo Excellent point. And do you sell on a global market or just US? I know there can be some paper work for over seas customs, duty, etc.
@@Will_Huff I did international for a bit, but switched to just USA after awhile because there was more issues with international shipping
1000% I only do Canada now. It takes 1 month+ for anything international and buyers will ask platforms for chargebacks
Its all fun until you have to pay American taxes on this. Ive run storybookarmory for two years now (19,000 first year and $49,000 last year) and the taxes just absolutely wreck the enjoyment.
Taxes are for sure a thing you have to keep track of and pay! Tax man cometh
UncleJessy got that big boy sponsor today. 😏👍
You forget to price in your packaging materials, your actual time investment on getting them ready and working to pack everything up and take supports off and sanding. You are pretty much working for free. Then you have printer costs, design costs. What happens if a printer breaks? You just not taking into account everything. I guess people will learn themselves when they find they have invested loads of money on all the small bits and end up with working for penny’s. Price higher people, deliver quality
Does anyone know if Uncle Jessy has Orca slicer settings for Elegoo Neptune 3 plus?
I’m saying
See, I made the mistake of deciding that the corner of the market that I wanted to carve out was resin printed and painted 16" statues of movie and comic book characters. Print time is about 12-18 hours per order but it's the painting time takes all my personal time. Most of these shops out there that have huge sales numbers merely pop off the supports and pack it for shipping. Once I clean my prints I have another 3-5 hours per order to go before it sees a shipping box. If only I didn't enjoy the entire painting process so much.........
Oh wow! I hope you are charging well for your time for the painting. That’s why I almost never sell finished painted props. I tried that once & immediately changed it to raw prints
Ah yes, converting your relaxing, fun hobby into a business. Such a great idea! 😂
3Dprinting its not relaxing, if you are relaxed when you are printing, you are doing it wrong
@@rafaelalavez4422 the point is that you can print what you want and it's not a job.
@rafaelalavez4422 Huh? Actually, if you're doing it right, it's quite relaxing, because your failure rate is in the single digit percentile. For example, I haven't had a single FDM or resin print failure in over 3 months, nearly 80 prints. It's all in the experience level you have, and the time spent tuning/maintaining your equipment.
@@rafaelalavez4422 what's the mood you should be in when 3d printing ? Do you need to be stressed the whole time for better results ?
This dude still has ender 3 😂
I also wanted to say that I'm looking towards selling, I only have that one printer and I am trying to get the second (in my last comment) do you think this is good enough to start selling?
Never know until you give it a chance. start small and buy more equipment when it's needed as you scale.
hey, Uncle Jessy, I have an ender 3 pro and I've been looking to buy a new printer and I'm not sure which one to buy I want to get into selling things not necessarily cosplay but something even for a few extra bucks. What printer would you recommend is best for $700 dollars I have available. It would be better if it were a xy core, but any is fine. Thank you for your help.
Bambu P1S, but that may be a bit over the price limit. In that case, Creality K1C would be the best option in your price range.
Two Flashforge 5M's as they are so affordable and the same print quality as the K1C! I have both :)
@@ScytheNoire @AlexanderSmith600 Thanks I will look into that
what t rex model is that. thanks. love the chanel
I see you just posted this, I have an Ender 3 Pro at the current moment. I've been having issues. I want to upgrade to either the Elegoo Neptune 4 Plus or the Elegoo Neptune 4 Max. I don't know which way to go. I want to get into cosplay, making helmets and suits. I want the Max for it's size. I don't know if the size difference between the two is worth the one hundred dollar price difference, could you help me out Uncle Jessy?
4 Plus over the 4 Max. I love the Max but its HUGE and I have no where other than the floor that it will fit. Plus I can pretty much print most cosplay stuff on the N4Plus. Also, I would recommend ditching the big fans. I've found they arent really needed and just add more noise to your print space.
@@UncleJessy Thank you for responding, I really wasn't looking forward to that $470 😂😂 Have a great day! (thanks for the selling and printing advice in the video)
Before you buy, look into strength etc, I've heard that resin prints are not as durable when dropped.
I saw you didn't include cost of packaging for shipping in the demo quote.
where can i find the file for that skeleton?
Do you sell on etsy using an LLC or do you sell as an individual?
I started as individual but switched to LLC 2 years ago
@@UncleJessy Thanks! I have been curious about starting one. Thanks for another great video.
what models are your top 2 sellers?
is there a Site that compares the Speed of Resin Printers?
Ohhhh now that’s a cool idea! Not that I know of
@@UncleJessy Thanks
So what if you implement a lot of these tips, but still are having little success with the over-saturated market? Do you have to make an individual listing for every single model you'll be selling or having a generic made-to-print approach and letting people tell you what they want printed?
I list individual items but I also have people message me on Etsy or dm or email for specific requests that I try to fulfill. That’s where sites like 3DPrintForce come in handy with helping with calculating how much to charge
Are you talking about FDM or resin prints? I only have 2 FDM printers & to get an item that I feel is sellable takes a huge amount of time & effort. Also, as you know, if left outside or on the dashboard of a car on a hot sunny day the object warps. Layer lines are another factor as well as strength. There is a lot to consider when trying to sell 3D printed objects. I have heard that resin prints are brittle & can break if dropped. So many obstacles. I use PLA for ease of use.
PLA softens in sunlight. ABS and some of the other materials are more stable at higher temperatures.
Resin print durability depends on the resin used. I use a custom blend and have prints I can drop from 6 ft multiple times and not show any damage.
I wish I could sell on etsy but no one in the USA is going to want to buy from a seller located in South America and have to pay like $20 for shipping and have to wait over a week for the item to arrive.
There is a company called Slant 3d that can print your design and handle shiping. I never used them but i watch their youtube channel.
Hi Uncle Jessie, thanks for a great video highlighting all the potential avenues for selling 3D prints!
Trying to share what I can 😬
Question if I buy STL files from someone or subscribe to them to get STL files monthly am I able to 3-D print those STL files paint them and sell them not sell the files but sell the prince themselves
Yes you can! It just depends on the creator and if a commercial license is included
How do you make sure you can use people’s 3d models
There will be liscensing information associated with the design. If you look at model in Thangs, they make it really clear
@@ForgeCoreCook thanks
A video not sponsored by elegoo!😱
😂🤣 a few here & there Saturn 4 Ultra video this weekend then something BIG next week 🧲🤘
Having half a million followers on one platform helps a lot too
You can get boxes from the post office for free.
Yup if you’re shipping via priority mail
@@UncleJessy I use the free USPS ones for box in box shipping. I get the free Priority ones and put my statues in them with brown packing paper, reused bubbles wrap (every bottle of Sunlu comes wrapped in bubbles), and recyclable packing peanuts. Then seal up that USPS box, put it in a 18x13x11 double corrugated from Walmart and fill that Walmart box with reused huge Amazon bubbles and more packing peanuts. Box in box has definitely saved my resin statues in transit.
Trying to do that but not so succecessful lol
Haha I feel ya. It definitely comes in waves and sometimes its just a matter of trying to find them and ride along ;)
I could not stop staring at her T Rex!! How do I make one?!
Wassup
I usually find videos like this don't really help the average person only because if your watching this not making money the market is already saturated and itll be next to impossible for you to capitalize like Jessy has, not saying its not possible just very unlikely. You kind of have to be a head of the game so to speak to really make money off it, for me when i look up local 3D printers there is about 15 listings for separate 3D printers that will do the job, have products listed and have the equipment to make everything you want. So for me, these are good tips but no way for me to "break out" or really profit from my area. Ebay is great if you get a good enough rating most likely from other sales but again this all might just apply to my area, and milage may vary (especially if youre in a smaller town with a low population, there is a chance youll be the only one and farmers dont realize how much 3D prints they could actually use!
$90,000 over what period of time ?
Does your eyes go cross when you blink? Not hating, just kept noticing it and had to stop the video to ask
But you should talk about unhappy customers or difficult customers.
You dont include electricity ?
American electricity is cheap... in UK it's 30p (40 cents) per kWh so we have to include it....
You included it when you calculate using 3DPrintforce website calculator
great information that I had never considered. thanks PLEASE PLEASE put shorts on the naked manakin. he is very distracting and I am not even _ay.
😂🤣😂🙈
Dang that’s crazy, what else would be crazy would be posting the Neptune 3 plus / max .6 orcaslicer profiles you’ve mentioned/promised for 3+ weeks for your patreon subscribers.
90k$ in revenue or 90k$ in net profit? Come on man.
Have to be carful of the rights associated with printed items if you dont design the items yourself. They will ban the store.
I agree with most items... But you have become large enough free equipment and filament make it much easier. Issue is majority of prints now is made from farms and dropshipped. ruins the small business as we cant keep up... secondly stay away from tiktok... Its a horrible place to sell and you get burned by people telling them it doesnt make it. or they never received money.
Tik Tok is banned in the US now.
You can’t make much, if any, money - if someone on youtube is broadcasting it. 🤷🏽♂️
Sad thing is 99% of people selling 3D prints are selling designs that they have stolen and downloaded.
I don’t know if it’s that high but for sure is still a problem and really really sucks
82% percent of percentage statistics are made up on the spot
@@UncleJessy Agreed. Thnx for the response Jessy 🤙
Pure plastic crap. Sand, finish and paint….be original instead of multi colored cereal box toys.
He makes more than you do because he has to spend less time, dont be so bitter missy.
@@NimVim Learn to man up. Print worthwhile stuff
Will never understand 3d printing these junk toys adding more trash to the world's pollution scale. Useful prints yes. Multicoloured dragons nah.
It’s no different than kids toys or people buying figures or funko pops.. could argue in some cases if you sell locally it’s better for pollution to 3D print.
Lots of people have kids & look for unique gifts, or some people just like fidget toys.
Only 1 view... oh nevermind...
Don’t forget to undercut everyone’s prices 😂😂