I'm thinking about selling complete DRO kits (with scales)...

ycroosh

ycroosh

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I've been getting a LOT of requests to sell complete DRO kits. I've mostly brushed them off, since the whole idea of TouchDRO was to let the customers choose the components. Today I had a conversation with a gentlemen that is warming me up to the idea (very slowly), but I'm curious to pick y'all brains if I may.
The benefit of me selling the whole kit is basically having "one neck to choke", so to say. In other words, the scales would be fully tested, etc. and if things didn't work, I'd take care of the issue.
The drawback will be the price (in a big way):
If I went with glass scales, I'd need to stock at least a dozen different sizes to cover the usual suspects (a few Bridgeport/clone sizes, various SIEG mills, etc.). I trust Ditron scales, so I'd probably stock those. My cost (ordering directly from Ditron in China) would be around $140/scale (scale price + shipping + 30% tariff) if I order 100 of each scale size or more. I would need to sell them for at least $200-$240 to cover the labor, storage, breakage, packaging, etc. A 3-axis kit will need to sell for close to $1000 + shipping (2-3x what similar Ditron setup sells). Not to mention that I'd be sitting on 100K$ worth of scales in some storage unit.

Another option are magnetic scales. I don't trust Chinese scales, so it would need to be Electronica/EMS or RLS. Both will cost me around $250-$300/piece shipped here, but I can get the magnetic tape in bulk, so the cash outlay is only 30K$ and they are easier to store too. I'd need to sell those for close to $500 piece, though. This would push a 3-axis kit into $1500 territory. For a commercial shot this is still pretty reasonable. The "big boy" scales cost close to $1000/piece and up, but for hobbyists this is pretty "up there".

I'm really wondering if there is even any demand for a "curated" TouchDRO kit for that price range. I think part of my problem is that price-wise my competition is stuff made in China. Both EMS and RLS scales run circles around Ditron and Aikron magnetic scales, but at 2x the price, and I have US-based expenses and taxes to deal with.

Curios to hear your opinions.

Regards
Yuriy
 
I think at this point that would be a loosing battle as a sole proprietor, you will be left with excess inventory and unlikely you will get the volume discounts of buying and shipping, you also would not be able to compete with the Asian markets and major high volume US distributors The key to your success is the adaptability of the Touch DRO to different scales, cost and adaptability of the kit (along with your great support). Sell it as a kit and it will swamp you very quickly. I would suggest that an alternative is to maybe see if you can have preferred vendors for vetted scales that are known quantities and you can sell the kit preconfigured for the specific scale/vendor. Maybe have links on your site to those vendors supported, they provide a nominal discount to your customers that use those links and you get a fixed commission from the point of sale. You can have say 3 or 4 options based on price performance. But doing it all yourself as a completer DRO kit with scales, I can only see that as a complete disaster (and the wife/family might disown you).

I see this as a process development for the touch DRO and working out the bugs as well as the development path. At some point the next step might be to stay with a single turn key unit that either by software or dip switches can be configured for a particular type of scale. The things I think would be simple to include as options would be a Hall or optical sensor for RPM and a touch edge finder that works with your input. You can they say these work with your software/unit and not have to problem solve a zillion products.
Just my 2 cents.
Mark
 
ycroosh said:
I've been getting a LOT of requests to sell complete DRO kits. I've mostly brushed them off, since the whole idea of TouchDRO was to let the customers choose the components. Today I had a conversation with a gentlemen that is warming me up to the idea (very slowly), but I'm curious to pick y'all brains if I may.
The benefit of me selling the whole kit is basically having "one neck to choke", so to say. In other words, the scales would be fully tested, etc. and if things didn't work, I'd take care of the issue.
The drawback will be the price (in a big way):
If I went with glass scales, I'd need to stock at least a dozen different sizes to cover the usual suspects (a few Bridgeport/clone sizes, various SIEG mills, etc.). I trust Ditron scales, so I'd probably stock those. My cost (ordering directly from Ditron in China) would be around $140/scale (scale price + shipping + 30% tariff) if I order 100 of each scale size or more. I would need to sell them for at least $200-$240 to cover the labor, storage, breakage, packaging, etc. A 3-axis kit will need to sell for close to $1000 + shipping (2-3x what similar Ditron setup sells). Not to mention that I'd be sitting on 100K$ worth of scales in some storage unit.

Another option are magnetic scales. I don't trust Chinese scales, so it would need to be Electronica/EMS or RLS. Both will cost me around $250-$300/piece shipped here, but I can get the magnetic tape in bulk, so the cash outlay is only 30K$ and they are easier to store too. I'd need to sell those for close to $500 piece, though. This would push a 3-axis kit into $1500 territory. For a commercial shot this is still pretty reasonable. The "big boy" scales cost close to $1000/piece and up, but for hobbyists this is pretty "up there".

I'm really wondering if there is even any demand for a "curated" TouchDRO kit for that price range. I think part of my problem is that price-wise my competition is stuff made in China. Both EMS and RLS scales run circles around Ditron and Aikron magnetic scales, but at 2x the price, and I have US-based expenses and taxes to deal with.

Curios to hear your opinions.

Regards
Yuriy
Click to expand...
I would not be interested, as i see it that would be a move away from hobby into industrial. I also do not know how industrial clients would take to the android tablets.
 
I would not be interested even though I have a lathe that needs/wants a DRO.
+1 on the tach and edge finder option as those make more sense from an ancillary hardware perspective than trying to get in to the packaged DRO game.
 
I'm with Mark on this. I have no dog in this fight but as a small business owner I'd advise against it.

You could kill your business quick if you put yourself in the middle of being responsible in a warranty way for scales you don't make.

All the install issues, broken scales, support, used scales getting returned, etc etc.

There's a sub forum you have discussing low cost scales etc and it's pretty good. But you could take this to the next level so people don't have to read so much or guess. Pick some scales from Amazon, ebay, major vendors etc and test your product with them. Provide a more refined sticky right at the top... "Don't know which scale to choose? Try one of these." Keep the top post current with current links to products that work. Also put that same list on your website and keep them both the same and up to date.

Then revisit that list frequently to make sure the links to the pages selling them always work, and add or remove scales as needed and vendors change.

That's a big service to your customers, without you getting into actually selling scales.
 
Hi, Yuriy,

While I like the idea of a "one-stop-shop" (when I did construction management for cold storage buildings we did everything we could to get the roof & panels from one contractor – no finger-pointing), I think the financial burden and customer support for you would get old pretty quickly.

I'd suggest more a consulting service that would recommend a combination of scales & TouchDRO for particular machine, along with X number of follow-up hours to advise on the installation and startup. You would want to develop contract language to limit your liability ("Hey, the scales cost more than you told me six months ago"), but I believe that this would be a more enjoyable operation.


Best regards,


Charlie
 
Vs carrying an inventory of Scales..... what if you had some form of relationship with a DRO scale vendor. One where you've tested and approved their scales, and for your referrals to them, they give your customers a discount and give you a commission?
 
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