Questions on marketing stompbox PCBs

[Kevin Mitchell]

Hey gang. I have a few projects tucked away and some time soon I hope to release them to the public for sale. I'm wondering what advise the experienced folks on this forum may lend. Also - I figured it would be best to consider any legal precautions I should be aware of. Here are a few brief questions I'd like some clarity on... I intend to distribute PCBs and maybe parts kits. Also worth mentioning I live in the US.

-I'd want an inexpensive way to make these available for online purchases. What would be a safe and manageable method of doing so? Put up my own site? Word of mouth and a pay-pal?

-Are there any electrical or sales regulations I may have to adhere to?

-In what case should I consider filing any profits? (like, taxes and stuff)


I just don't want some stranger throwing paperwork at me later down the road  Best to avoid trouble before it comes knocking. I'm sure I'll have more questions later. These are just the ones that currently come to mind.

Thanks!
-KM

[pinkjimiphoton]

ahhhh,,,, the stompbox builder's dream...

a dream because you have to be asleep to believe it...lol <with apologies to george carlin>

imho, you're better off just building stuff. its a big world, and every single one of us i think at some point
figures we'll come up with THE circuit everyone will want, or good, cool, toneful vatiations on preexisting ones.

the problem is, you can lead a horse to water, but even if its the sweetest, coldest water, ya can't make 'em drink.

most of the successful people doing this stuff have whole teams of people working behind the scenes, and its a lot of work and dedication... and even more, luck.

its stupid hard to sell pcb's. i have friends doing it successfully, but they struggle to keep the whole thing afloat and its painful to see the crap they go thru.

paypal is good, but understand, if there's any dispute with a customer, they tend to side with the customer and that can result in frozen accounts.

if it were me, i'd put up an etsy page maybe, and tie it to a facebook page as well. get worked in with paypal, but understand, for most of us, its a losing proposition. i worked for a respected boutique company for a short time, and they couldn't even justify having some of their products in stock ready to go.

its wicked tough. if ya go down that road i wish you luck, but just like being a musician, either you'll do it or it will do you. keep safety nets in place, and don't go crazy with offerings until you know what people will buy, and for how much.

the worst thing in the world is thinking, wow, my new design is incredible!! i'll get a thousand boards burned, and sell 'em!!!

usually ya end up with 994 boards that nobody wants. so be careful

not trying to deter ya from your dream, not at all... but be aware of all the bad shit that can happen in the pedal game, watch out for the pitfalls and cover your ass. do it for fun. if ya make some coin back, invest it in, and grow it... but if you aren't selling, don't sink too much into supplies.

i got enough shit here to build stomps for the next 20 years. i doubt i'll even live that long. i have stock i will never use, that nobody wants... but it seemed like a good idea at the time. just be careful!!!!

[ElectricDruid]

I've had a more positive experience of selling PCBs than Jimi has, by the sounds of it. Sure, it's not the meat of Electric Druid's business, but we've sold quite a lot of Flangelicious and Digidelay boards. The Druid business model is that we sell chips, and in some ways for us the PCBs are just a means to that end.

Paypal has worked well for us, but it's expensive - several %. The ease of use means it's still worth it - we can accept payments from pretty much anywhere without any complications.

PCBs are a good product because they're very easy and cheap to ship (stick it in a cardboard envelope and it probably doesn't even count as a parcel/package) and pretty difficult to damage in transit.

As far as regulations goes, you want to make sure the boards are lead-free for shipping to Europe and elsewhere, but that's easy these days. There isn't much else applies to a PCB. And don't buy a 1000 straight up, like Jimi says. Start with 50 or a 100 and see how long it takes to shift them. After the first batch of Flangelicious boards proved reasonably popular, we were able to get a larger batch made and drop the price significantly, which always helps sell anything.

For a website, if you don't have one of your own, you could do worse than offer the boards on the various forums. Many people do this anyway for one-off runs. Or Reverb.com or somewhere would be another obvious solution. Even eBay. Etsy don't like electronic stuff, even if it is handmade. People have had their accounts shut down for offering boutique pedals on there. They're all crafters who don't understand light switches let alone op-amps is what I've heard

HTH,
Tom

[Kevin Mitchell]

Thanks guys! It's refreshing to hear your experiences on the matter. The idea isn't to open a store front and hope sales take off. It's more for making my work more accessible to those interested.  I'm not looking to succeed in the industry but rather help those who don't make their own boards - as long as it doesn't put me in a money pit. Just gotta take it slow 

It's best to do it more as a hobby and not as a business. Less to worry about as well.

Much appreciated 
-KM