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FTO Mod Service!

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DNF_Cuber

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Hi everyone, I was considering making an FTO moding service. I noticed that no other place curretnly sells pre-modded ftos, resulting in the buyers having to spend hours to properly mod their FTO. I recently had the idea that I could start a service where I mod FTO, then sell them. I would price them anywhere from $25 (lowest level of mod, sanding, and cutting excess plastic) $35 (Highest level of mod, sanding, cutting excess plastice, puting springs and washers in, and a full setup & break in). Before I make a desision on rather I would do this though, I would like to hear some feedback on what you guys think. Thank you in advance!
that is a pretty reasonable price. IDK about any advice, though.
 

Jam88

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Hi everyone, I was considering making an FTO moding service. I noticed that no other place curretnly sells pre-modded ftos, resulting in the buyers having to spend hours to properly mod their FTO. I recently had the idea that I could start a service where I mod FTO, then sell them. I would price them anywhere from $25 (lowest level of mod, sanding, and cutting excess plastic) $35 (Highest level of mod, sanding, cutting excess plastice, puting springs and washers in, and a full setup & break in). Before I make a desision on rather I would do this though, I would like to hear some feedback on what you guys think. Thank you in advance!
Definitely. Who would pay shipping though?
 

2018AMSB02

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Hi everyone, I was considering making an FTO moding service. I noticed that no other place curretnly sells pre-modded ftos, resulting in the buyers having to spend hours to properly mod their FTO. I recently had the idea that I could start a service where I mod FTO, then sell them. I would price them anywhere from $25 (lowest level of mod, sanding, and cutting excess plastic) $35 (Highest level of mod, sanding, cutting excess plastice, puting springs and washers in, and a full setup & break in). Before I make a desision on rather I would do this though, I would like to hear some feedback on what you guys think. Thank you in advance!
I think I would get one!
 

Humble Cuber

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Okay it seems like there are many people that are interested in this service currently. I'm not 100 percent sure that this is gonna happen but here is what I'm thinking pricing would be like.

$25: Sanding down all pieces and cutting excess plastic, and moding the core (makes the cube turn a lot smoother and less lock ups)
$30: Sanding down all pieces and cutting excess plastic, modding the core, I also install washers and springs to improve the cube
$35: Sanding down all pieces, cutting excess plastic, installing washers, and springs, modding the core. And also setting up the cube and break in

What do you guys think of these prices? These are just rough estimate for the time being.
 

Humble Cuber

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If you are including the cube with the price, that is very reasonable and I would buy the $30 or $35 one.

Overall, it looks like you’d be doing some good work and your prices are very reasonable
Yes, the cube is included with the price, I will only be shipping these modded ftos in the US though sadly, there may be some exceptions but for the time being it's just in the US.
 

OreKehStrah

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Okay it seems like there are many people that are interested in this service currently. I'm not 100 percent sure that this is gonna happen but here is what I'm thinking pricing would be like.

$25: Sanding down all pieces and cutting excess plastic, and moding the core (makes the cube turn a lot smoother and less lock ups)
$30: Sanding down all pieces and cutting excess plastic, modding the core, I also install washers and springs to improve the cube
$35: Sanding down all pieces, cutting excess plastic, installing washers, and springs, modding the core. And also setting up the cube and break in

What do you guys think of these prices? These are just rough estimate for the time being.
Yo just a friendly math and economics major here. Just wanted to say as someone who has experienced the pain of modding puzzles, even with a dremel, those prices are too low to be economically reasonable for you. The FTO is roughly $12-14 and then add about $4 shipping to you. That leaves you with around $20 profit for the $35 option. Divide the $20 profit by minimum wage at iirc $10.50 and you get 1.9 hours of work time. If you wanted to make minimum wage at those costs, you would have to be able to complete each puzzle in about 2 hours, which is very unreasonable as it’s quite a lot of work to do, and asa consumer I would strongly worry about the variance in quality of the modding if it’s done in such a short time. Then when you factor in things such as shipping the puzzle out, human fatigue, etc it would be a very draining process. And with prices that low, you would likely get a decent volume of orders, which would lead to fairly high turn-around times. It just wouldn’t be a sustainable pricing structure. In my opinion you should charge more, have a smaller order volume, make more money, and be able to take your time to ensure a quality modding service on each FTO. I would personally consider $35 a reasonable servicing charge on top of the costs of shipping plus the puzzle itself leading to around $50 for a modded puzzle.
 

DNF_Cuber

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Yo just a friendly math and economics major here. Just wanted to say as someone who has experienced the pain of modding puzzles, even with a dremel, those prices are too low to be economically reasonable for you. The FTO is roughly $12-14 and then add about $4 shipping to you. That leaves you with around $20 profit for the $35 option. Divide the $20 profit by minimum wage at iirc $10.50 and you get 1.9 hours of work time. If you wanted to make minimum wage at those costs, you would have to be able to complete each puzzle in about 2 hours, which is very unreasonable as it’s quite a lot of work to do, and asa consumer I would strongly worry about the variance in quality of the modding if it’s done in such a short time. Then when you factor in things such as shipping the puzzle out, human fatigue, etc it would be a very draining process. And with prices that low, you would likely get a decent volume of orders, which would lead to fairly high turn-around times. It just wouldn’t be a sustainable pricing structure. In my opinion you should charge more, have a smaller order volume, make more money, and be able to take your time to ensure a quality modding service on each FTO. I would personally consider $35 a reasonable servicing charge on top of the costs of shipping plus the puzzle itself leading to around $50 for a modded puzzle.
eh. If he has a lot of time on his hands it could be okay to be not making a ton of money/hour. Also I would guess it is likely that he is <14 as many on this forum are.
Also I want a good FTO for cheaper.
 

Humble Cuber

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Yo just a friendly math and economics major here. Just wanted to say as someone who has experienced the pain of modding puzzles, even with a dremel, those prices are too low to be economically reasonable for you. The FTO is roughly $12-14 and then add about $4 shipping to you. That leaves you with around $20 profit for the $35 option. Divide the $20 profit by minimum wage at iirc $10.50 and you get 1.9 hours of work time. If you wanted to make minimum wage at those costs, you would have to be able to complete each puzzle in about 2 hours, which is very unreasonable as it’s quite a lot of work to do, and asa consumer I would strongly worry about the variance in quality of the modding if it’s done in such a short time. Then when you factor in things such as shipping the puzzle out, human fatigue, etc it would be a very draining process. And with prices that low, you would likely get a decent volume of orders, which would lead to fairly high turn-around times. It just wouldn’t be a sustainable pricing structure. In my opinion you should charge more, have a smaller order volume, make more money, and be able to take your time to ensure a quality modding service on each FTO. I would personally consider $35 a reasonable servicing charge on top of the costs of shipping plus the puzzle itself leading to around $50 for a modded puzzle.
Thanks for this, but I'm okay with not making a lot of money off this. Just thought it will be something fun, as I enjoy modding fto
 

qwr

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Yo just a friendly math and economics major here. Just wanted to say as someone who has experienced the pain of modding puzzles, even with a dremel, those prices are too low to be economically reasonable for you. The FTO is roughly $12-14 and then add about $4 shipping to you. That leaves you with around $20 profit for the $35 option. Divide the $20 profit by minimum wage at iirc $10.50 and you get 1.9 hours of work time. If you wanted to make minimum wage at those costs, you would have to be able to complete each puzzle in about 2 hours, which is very unreasonable as it’s quite a lot of work to do, and asa consumer I would strongly worry about the variance in quality of the modding if it’s done in such a short time. Then when you factor in things such as shipping the puzzle out, human fatigue, etc it would be a very draining process. And with prices that low, you would likely get a decent volume of orders, which would lead to fairly high turn-around times. It just wouldn’t be a sustainable pricing structure. In my opinion you should charge more, have a smaller order volume, make more money, and be able to take your time to ensure a quality modding service on each FTO. I would personally consider $35 a reasonable servicing charge on top of the costs of shipping plus the puzzle itself leading to around $50 for a modded puzzle.

I assume it's a "labor of love". Like producing youtube videos - it's for the passion and the little money earned is extra.
 

abunickabhi

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Nice initiative. I hope you make the current FTO hardware better.

Sadly, I do not own a FTO, as shipping costs for getting FTO in India is high.
Maybe one day I get a FTO and join the FTO community.

Good luck with your service!
 
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