| The Breakroom > The Water Cooler |
| Price of plans |
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| stevehuckss396:
--- Quote from: John Rudd on June 30, 2013, 04:11:53 PM --- but does anyone here have any comments to make on plan prices? I believe in free enterprise but taking the p*ss is beyond a joke.. Discuss if you wish --- End quote --- If you think the prices are too expensive just draw up your own. There is nothing stopping you designing and documenting your own project. That way you can avoid the drawings with the errors and save some coin for materials. |
| GordonL:
I have a different outlook on plans which I use for my hobby than I did when I was in business and time was money. As a hobby I am much more tolerant of mistakes in free and cheap plans than I am in plans for which I have paid a rather high price. Some of the plans and/or kits which I have paid a goodly price are the worse. I have found that it usually pays to redraw plans using MY cad system. I not only pick up mistakes but I have a much better understanding of how the thing works and goes together. |
| Pete49:
I happily pay a fair price for plans as I can't do it or because others more clever than me have drawn them. Why re-invent the wheel. Yes some people ask high prices for plans but if you can't draw what you want to build then buy them not get copies from a friend of a friends cousins uncle. I find most plans in our hobby reasonable priced an example is the Upshur farm engine plans I dealt with his daughter who couldn't have been nicer and happy to accept $Au20 cash mailed to her. She would deal with the change over to local currency. Another good set of plans was the hoglet. Cost me a little more with the purchase of the back issues that the full size plans where in. Its horses for courses and the value in what the buyer thinks is right. my -02c worth. Pete |
| Davo J:
Hi, I have spent many hours designing things over the years and just gave the ideas and pictures away to forum members friends etc. The now ex wife and a few others used to say you could patent them etc and make some money. Maybe I am stupid, but I could not be bothered going down that road as it was something I needed at the time and if it helps someone else out down the track all well and good, by the time it was all working and tested I had moved onto thinking of something else to design and make because I enjoy that part of it. For others making and selling plans it's up to them, and then up to the buyer to think what they want to pay for a plan. If it's too expensive don't buy it. As for the designer it is really up to him, but taking the example above at $3.33 a sheet, he is not making much at all and like said above it's probably only covering costs. Dave |
| stevehuckss396:
Maybe the high cost of older plans is from not keeping up with the times. I sell plans for a V8 and there are 2 things I do to keep the cost down. First I supply the 87 pages in PDF format. The drawings can be given on a memory stick or simply emailed to the purchaser. Saves all the printing. As said in other posts, printing is not cheap. Second I send by email the electronic version. No postage. Postage can be more than the plans if sending out of the country. I use Paypal for the transfer of money. Sure they get there cut but I don't have to deal with credit card numbers. I have had on more than one occasion received money and had plans to the new owner in just a few hours. Send me a check and it could be weeks. Also the plans being electronic, the sheets can be printed by the user, used in the shop, and then tossed in the trash. Print as many or as few as you want and the originals stay on the computer in mint condition. I also maintain a list so if your computer crashes and you loose the files just email me your name and email address you used when you bought them and i send out the latest version. If errors are found or an extra is added to the drawing, the updates are emailed to the entire list so you always have the latest set. Those are some of the ways I have tried to address some of the problems mentioned earlier and keep costs down. |
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