What would be a good shop price for a custom disc?

[JohnnyB]

Played a round with a local shop owner last week and he really digged the custom discs I was throwing. So much so he offered me a shelf at his store to sell them. Of course I want to make as much as possible and after working out cost of discs, art supplies and talking with a few artists on price per use of their work I've worked it out to be around $15 to make a disc and the rest would be profit/my time.
I'm just not sure what people would pay.
For normal single color discs I'd like to sell them at $20-$25 and the big elaborate multicolor discs at $35-$40.
He also came up with the idea of being able to do ace discs in the store. Have a variety of ace designs pre-cut and a small dye set up in the back room that people could bring in their ace discs pay five bucks and get them marked.
Do these seem like fair prices? Would people be willing to pay that much?
I don't want to rush into things and do it wrong. So all input would be greatly appreciated.

[curt]

I think that it is unlikely you'll get someone to pay more than $25 dollars for even an elaborate design. Considering that the factories will do dye jobs on discs that only add 1 or 2 dollars to the price of the disc. Sure they may not be super custom, but they are pretty good looking when considering the cost difference b/t adding $1 or upwards of 20.

[emiller3]

You could monitor eBay for a while and see what the going prices are, then take a dollar or two off of that price and give it a try. Ask the guy at the store to keep track of when discs were sold so that you know which ones are more popular, then you can raise future prices as you get an idea for what type of dyes sell well.

Specifically, if it were me, I'd start off at $20, get popular discs and do popular dyes (which I could determine based on eBay activity), and let those customers spread the word. If it caught on, I'd raise my prices on the more popular dyes and see how much I could get away with. I'd look to find a way to get all of my dyes up to that higher price point if they kept selling.

[Paintball1084]

i think 20 to 25 is a good price. A shop that i have gone to has a shelf of custom dyed discs and they sell for around that price. Some of the more popular drivers are a few bucks more, but I really have never seen anyone but one of the dyed discs either.

[Hoey]

MS had tons for $30 and they sold ok. They are now at $20 though because they didn't sell well enough and there's been some bleeding. Depends on what you put on 'em though.

I agree with the $20-$25 range. I think you may want to sell more at a smaller profit, than less with a bigger profit. Keep your work steadily heading out the door. This seems to be the tipping point price where ppl start to second guess the purchase... imo.

[hippiediscdude]

I think $20-$25 is more than fair for a custom piece of art. I sell my dyes for $25+ all the time, usually more for custom work and multicolor stuff. People seem to be willing to pay a lil extra for some thing truly unique.

I have been recently talking to a retail store about carrying some of my dyes. I have been exploring the option of dyeing their plastic. Keeps both of our costs down. You go from supplying a product to proving a service. The ace disc idea is pretty sweet. I hope to open a store some time in the near future. I had a vision of a same day dye service. Have a bunch of designs to choose from. Buy your disc, choose your dye, come back a couple hours later and pick up your fresh dye!!

I think the key to keeping the cost down would be repetition and simplicity in design. Being able to do more than 1 or 2 dyes an hour. Good luck! I hope you can find a happy medium so you can get your stuff out there, and make a couple extra dollars!

[AciDBatH666]

I charge usually around 20-23. And that includes shipping most of the time. I'm prolly one of the cheapest guys online. Yet still super detailed. I don't charge a bunch because I have a hookup on plastic to get it cheaper, and because I can produce the stencils super fast and efficiently with my plotter. I can set up 4-5 complex dye jobs in under an hour. And then dye em fast depending on ho many pans of dye I have out.

All of the above added up is why I can keep my price down. Personally I wouldn't pay more than $25 for ANY dyed plastic. It's just too pricey for a single disc that may get lost.
I do it more because I enjoy it, and I enjoy the reactions of ppl at tourneys when I donate. I don't really make a lot of spare money on my dye work, but I'll often get 1-2 people come up to me at a tourney inquiring about prices and wanting my email. I make a hell of a lot more money on the vinyl that I cut for ppl. Way less effort too. Locals, I usually charge about $20 for new plastic dyed. I make around 10 off it, and they get a custom disc for only about $5 more than a normal disc. The disc discounting is one of the only reasons I can charge so little

[emiller3]

Do you guys who sell dyes ever get complaints when the dye settles in and everything gets a little fuzzy? I was bummed when I pulled out a couple of my first dyes and realized they had lost their sharpness, and I've since done dyes that don't look so bad when they fuzz out...some of the more intricate/pointy stuff gets kind of ruined when it sets. I never thought about that with respect to shelf life, and I wonder if you'll get complaints from people who don't understand how the proccess works (unless I'm just doing something wrong and there's a way to eliminate that effect).