UPSCALE: What do you think of my invention?

[AppMan]

Thanks MJ for allowing us to post our product on your forum. There's a lot of knowledge and talent here. In the name of transparency, as much as we'd like to sell our product, our product, website and my wife and I are very new to this business. We could really use any feedback on the product and the website that this community has to offer.

The problem: My wife and I were trying to manage our weight, but we just didn't have a place to keep our bathroom scale where it was convenient to use. We would stand it on edge, but often it would slide down the wall and break a foot off the bottom. We never would have even considered getting a larger, nicer, glass scale. We usually just skipped weighting ourselves.

One day my wife asked why couldn't I make something that could store a scale off the floor and out of the way? This got me thinking. After several years, countless CAD models and prototypes, my wife and I are proud to present:

UpScale

UpScale keeps your scale off the floor, out of the way and ready for use.

View attachment 26508

View attachment 26509

View attachment 26510

We believe UpScale can work in even the smallest 1/2 bath. It can even attach to the back of a door.

View attachment 26511

View attachment 26512

We hope once your scale has been UpScaled, you may want to decorate the bottom of it to enhance any bathroom! We use laptop decals, but, leaving it plain it fine too.

View attachment 26513

UpScale is made in the USA (my wife and I rivet them in our garage) and has a lifetime warranty.

As our introductory offer, we're discounting UpScale 10% with free shipping. We're also giving an additional $10 off if you use the checkout code Fastlane.

As I said earlier we welcome and appreciate any feedback. At the moment we're only offering it for sale in the US, but would love to here from forum members outside the US whether or not this product is useful in your country.

TheUpScaleScale

Thanks again MJ and Fastlane community!
Brian and Lisa

Good idea , however the price is far of what I would expect from such tool , I would buy it from $10 but no way more than 20 ,
Are you getting any sales with that price tag ?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Thanks MJ for allowing us to post our product on your forum. There's a lot of knowledge and talent here. In the name of transparency, as much as we'd like to sell our product, our product, website and my wife and I are very new to this business. We could really use any feedback on the product and the website that this community has to offer.

The problem: My wife and I were trying to manage our weight, but we just didn't have a place to keep our bathroom scale where it was convenient to use. We would stand it on edge, but often it would slide down the wall and break a foot off the bottom. We never would have even considered getting a larger, nicer, glass scale. We usually just skipped weighting ourselves.

One day my wife asked why couldn't I make something that could store a scale off the floor and out of the way? This got me thinking. After several years, countless CAD models and prototypes, my wife and I are proud to present:

UpScale

UpScale keeps your scale off the floor, out of the way and ready for use.

View attachment 26508

View attachment 26509

View attachment 26510

We believe UpScale can work in even the smallest 1/2 bath. It can even attach to the back of a door.

View attachment 26511

View attachment 26512

We hope once your scale has been UpScaled, you may want to decorate the bottom of it to enhance any bathroom! We use laptop decals, but, leaving it plain it fine too.

View attachment 26513

UpScale is made in the USA (my wife and I rivet them in our garage) and has a lifetime warranty.

As our introductory offer, we're discounting UpScale 10% with free shipping. We're also giving an additional $10 off if you use the checkout code Fastlane.

As I said earlier we welcome and appreciate any feedback. At the moment we're only offering it for sale in the US, but would love to here from forum members outside the US whether or not this product is useful in your country.

TheUpScaleScale

Thanks again MJ and Fastlane community!
Brian and Lisa

Cool product. I would suggest listing it on Amazon. You don't address if this device skews your weight in any way. Is it held by tape?

Thanks biophase, we are planning to list it on Amazon. There's so much to learn and we've been so busy assembling that I haven't figured out how to get my product on Amazon. I know Shopify can coordinate it.

The device does not skew your weight (we're going to add this to our FAQ page!). The mechanism locks and unlocks with about 1/2" vertical sliding motion. This provides some slack in the mechanism so the mechanism isn't pushing down or lifting up skewing the results in either direction. There is about 1/2 pound of mechanism on the scale, but digital scales will zero it out if you zero it before using each time.

We do use double sided tape to attach to your scale. We also include more double sided tape as one of the wall mounting methods. We only recommend taping to wall if your wall is stone or tile. Sometimes you might not want to drill a hole in it.

Thanks for the comment! Brian

This is a super neat product. I wonder if there's any way to eliminate those divots in the back, and maybe replace the black rubber pieces with white ones. That way it would just look like a piece of art on the wall.

Cool product! Honestly, I went to your website to buy it... IMO, you will have to get the price point down. It is a problem solved, but I couldn't pull the trigger at that price. If you can move this thing out of your garage and reduce your cost, I think you could sell a ton of these.

Do you have a thread here at the forum discussing this product?

It looks super cool and convenient, just don't know if the need its solving will be worth $90 for most folks. It's hard for me to judge because I'm used to large bathrooms and don't mind a scale on the floor, or shoved in a corner somewhere.

 

[ChrisV]

Thanks ChrisV. I don't sell the bathroom scale with UpScale. Those divots are finger grooves built into the bottom of the scale. Same goes for the black feet. I have talked to American Weigh Scale (AWS) and they could make me a scale with a bottom however I would like. I'm sure they could even do white feet. In the future I would like to have a scale made with a slot that UpScale could just plug into and eliminate attaching it to your scale with double sided tape.

Post it here:

The innovative, value-skewed product thread. List interesting, innovative products here.

I thought it would be cool to have a thread of products that are innovative and value skewed. Cool spins on old products, or even completely new innovative products. It could serve as inspiration and reference points for people who want to come up with their own stuff to show them how easy it...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[BrianLateStart]

That in a nutshell, is the huge issue with this. Not to mention, it's a one-off (maybe twice) product. I'll post a CENTS Grade here soon...

Thanks MJ, I'd love to see your CENTS grade!! Some additional information to consider. I'm 55 and have lived in many different states, in houses, apartments and condos. To date, I've never lived in a place that had room to leave a bathroom scale out. I know that this is a statistic for 1 person, but I pay attention to the bathrooms of friends and family. I almost never see a place for a scale to sit out.
I don't think it being a one-off product is an issue. A lot of products are one-off (one-off or close). I know an appliance manufacture that sells 1 million dishwashers a year in the USA. This is just 1 manufacture, there's a lot of other companies selling dishwashers. Other home appliances, refrigerators, ovens, washers and dryers outsell dishwashers by a comfortable margin. In my 55 years, I've never bought a new dishwasher (they've already been in the homes I moved into). Appliances aren't exactly one-off, but they're close. The US market is very big. Bigger than I realized. I'm not looking to sell a million UpScales a year. A few thousand would be nice.

 

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[ChrisV]

I don't know if it's worth $90 for most folks either. Still testing pricing. Was hoping that a lifetime warranty would ease the pain a little. Most people will buy only one, maybe two at most and have them forever.

I can't imagine why this is so costly to produce. Maybe @Walter Hay has some advice?

 

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[devbe83]

@BrianLateStart i would buy one right this instant if it was a caddy that was $15-$30. Would be an absolute no brainer for me.

It doesn’t need to fold down so I can use it then fold back up.

Just needs to hold my scale on the wall so leaning it on the side doesn’t scratch my bathroom paint and cause it to crash down when my kids tear through.

Im fine to lift the whole thing up, put it on the floor etc.

Look, a second product that can serve as the base model, and the original one being the "pro" model.

 

[Raveling]

Hi Brian,

I'll help with feedback and ideas if I can and you're open to it. I've been inventing since childhood and will continue until death. I've made it to the edge of a significant license deal once and to the start/ middle 3 ish other times, but not to the end YET.

As for your product, it looks really cool, but honestly I'd never buy it because scales don't tell me anything useful about my fitness that my eyes can do better, so I wouldn't be a customer. That's an advantage in that I can give you an outsider's perspective.

I won't give any further feedback unless you verify that:

1) You're open to honest unvarnished feedback, both good and bad because I've discovered some
members on this forum are very sensitive and by feedback actually mean praise, agreement and ego
validation only, and that won't help you succeed.

2) You're honest about how much detail you're willing to share because the more information I have,
the better I can help you, and I won't ask anything that isn't relevant and necessary to helping you with your product.

timbgreen

 

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[Danny Sullivan]

Neat idea.

What i recognized is, there's a lot of bending over required to open and close it. It's especially painful for people with high weight (or the eldery) to bend over or pick things up, because their back tends to hurt quite often. Yet this might also be target audience if they want to manage their weight or lose some.

Maybe that's fuel for another value skew.

Best of luck.

 

[BrianLateStart]

Just going to post my thoughts on testing pricing because I’m not sure what you read but in my opinion it is terrible advice.

1. Gary halbert worded this the best. He said you want to test your best price, best copy, best placement, best ad first or you’ll end up spending more money later trying to work out oh maybe it will work if I drop the price or get better photos taken.

2. If you run Facebook ads you want purchase data so your ads can optimise, you can get this by having a lower price to start and that way Facebook can quickly find who if anyone will buy this.

3. If you start with a high price and lower it later you upset all your customers who purchased at a higher price. If you do it the other way around you can use the price increases as scarcity.

4. You can keep increasing your price until purchases stop being cost effective.

5. Just general thoughts on this product, you’ve solved a problem that people probably aren’t willing to spend a lot of money to solve. People hate being fat that’s why supplements can be sold for so much even though they cost nothing to make. This costs heaps to make but that doesn’t make it worth more money. I would get rid of the lifetime warranty and try to make it cheaper in China. The price needs to reflect how much people care about solving this problem. The added costs of a lifetime warranty and being made in USA aren’t enough to justify the value they add to the customer. (It may not be cheaper to make in China tho). Also in future let this be a lesson that you could have had one made or even just some mock up images and run ads to see if it will sell before investing too much money.

This is some amazing advice, thanks for taking the time!! I'm going to spend some serious time and come up with my best price.

I understand what you're saying about the lifetime warranty and being made in the USA. The lifetime warranty is kind of a bonus. There's a minimum structural strength it needs to be to work with a 6 pound bathroom scale (glass scales can be very heavy). When you're actually using UpScale, your hand is doing much of the lifting so the mechanism isn't really stressed. I can look at what can be done to remove some of the cost. At my Lowes, they're selling toilet paper holders for $15-$24 that are very simple parts that have to support a 3 ounce roll (maybe people aren't buying them from Lowes). Making them in much higher volume would reduce the cost considerably. Thanks again.

 

[csalvato]

I looked at making a simple pocket, like a magazine rack you see at a doctors office to put your scale in that's mounted just above the baseboard. I thought that was going to be the perfect solution for me. For some people it probably is, but I'll explain why it doesn't work for me.

I don't think this explanation is something I can quantify and show as a true benefit to the customer. It's all about degrees of freedom. Objects not attached to anything have 6 degrees of freedom they can rotate about the X, Y & Z axis. They can also be translated in each of those directions.

People don't realize how much coordination it takes to pick up a 5 pound scale, rotate it around and place it in that pocket attached to the wall. It takes coordination to get it out of the pocket, flipped around and placed on the floor. I'm not saying it's difficult. It's not. I don't think most people would do it with one hand. But, how many times do you need to repeat this motion before you accidentally bang it into the wall and chip your paint or crack a wall tile? Same goes when your putting it down. You're tired, it's first thing in the morning and you bang the corner of the scale into your tile floor when your setting it down. Maybe you didn't break a tile or crack your glass scale this time. But if you're older, a little shaky or if your kids want to weigh themselves. I'll bet an accident is likely to happen. This manual manipulation of a scale was more than I wanted to do every morning (I'll admit, I'm lazy).

Back to degrees of freedom. A hinge is a simple mechanism. Your bathroom door opens and closes with just the push of one finger. It goes to its fully open to fully closed position with great ease. This is because it only has 1 degree of freedom. Now, remove one of the hinges (or both) and try to open and close it. Not so easy, but it can be done. Too many degrees of freedom.

UpScale is not a hinge. It rotates your scale while guiding it above the baseboard. When you want to use your scale, Upscale rotates it, lowers it towards the floor and pushes it out from the wall (you can't use a scale that is tight to the wall). UpScale's greatest benefit is that it has 1 degree of freedom. This 1 degree of freedom means this entire motion can be done with 1 finger(with the biggest, heaviest scale you can find). It can't bang your scale into the wall and the control you have with only 1 finger allows your scale to be gently placed on the floor. Even when you're not fully awake.

People buy things that they think they're going to use (like a bathroom scale). But, if there's too much resistance to using it, it just sits unused. UpScale makes your scale very usable. I like to compare it to a coat hanger vs a coat hook. A coat hanger is very easy to use, but takes two hands. A coat hook is a one handed operation and is simple and fast. That pocket scale storage shelf is like a coat hanger. UpScale is like a coat hook.

I understand where you’re comping from from a product design perspective. However if that’s the case then this is prohibitively expensive.

As someone in your market I’m telling you I don’t care about any of that and am ok with the awkward situation of pulling it out and putting it back.

Also one of the problems you mention is paint chipping, and that can be solved with a larger backsplash around the caddy.

If you’re going to do B2C then this price is just too high for me.

I like the idea of B2B at this price point.

 

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[Raveling]

Neat idea.

What i recognized is, there's a lot of bending over required to open and close it. It's especially painful for people with high weight (or the eldery) to bend over or pick things up, because their back tends to hurt quite often. Yet this might also be target audience if they want to manage their weight or lose some.

Maybe that's fuel for another value skew.

Best of luck.

Good point Danny,

That's a real issue with your probable target market. I have some solutions to offer, let me know if you're open to real feedback about some solutions.

 

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[Stargazer]

Looking at the picture, it looks as though it has to be screwed into the wall.

Does it?

Dan

 

[csalvato]

I'm likely in the minority on this and I really like the creative thought, but is this really solving a need for anybody?

It is for me, for sure.

 

[Walter Hay]

I can't imagine why this is so costly to produce. Maybe @Walter Hay has some advice?

Thanks for heads up, but I think @Arun Siva is more likely the one who could solve the cost of production problem.

Walter

 

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[BrianLateStart]

Looking at the picture, it looks as though it has to be screwed into the wall.

Does it?

It does attach the wall. Attaching with screws is the standard method of attaching heavy items, such as towel bars and large mirrors to walls in the bathroom. I do include several types of fasteners to attach many wall/door surfaces. One of those is double sided tape. I only recommend using it on stone and tile. Even then, you have to be very careful if you ever want to remove it from the tile. You may end pulling the tile off with it. I've used a putty knife behind the it to cut the tape from the wall without scratching the tile several times.

 

[BrianLateStart]

Awesome!! First, I respect your accomplishment Brian. Most people CAN lose weight but find excuses why they can't, you're a doer

Your point is well taken, if weight loss is made more visible for heavier people, it may keep them on track and motivated to see a number when 1,2, or 5 pounds of weight loss is hard to see. For me, if it's not a six-pack, I want to lose more, so all I need are my eyes. And it's been years since I last had one:-?

Regarding Danny's point, a simple mechanism that allows the UpScale to be actuated from a standing position would be a real value add for your likely target market. I've thought of a few potential solutions, but either private messages might be better, or Skype, just because talking is faster than typing, either way, I have some ideas for that.

Second, I've intentionally NOT looked that carefully at it yet, to give my immediate elevator impression. It's cool, but seems unnecessarily complex wrt mechanism, which will add MAJOR cost to production. I will look through again in more detail another day, but that's my immediate impression.

Even if you've spent tons of time and cash getting it to where it is, it may be worth reimagining it in it's most simple form without losing its primary functionality. Even if you decide not to change it, it can be a great exercise and may lead to huge unexpected cost reductions and production insights with no loss of function.

On the flip side, you may want to go the exact opposite direction, giving it powered actuation up and down, make it light-activated or some other crazy high-end feature for a high-end market who'd pay for such frills. That said, I think you should stay Uber simple for now, get it working and get some kind of feedback from real potential users as soon as you can.

That's always tricky because it's a balance of disclosing the product to others who may try to steal it, yet you'll need the feedback eventually. You may be able to get people to sign an NDA, but that may kill your potential for feedback pool. Honestly, I've never done any focus group/s so I can't help you with how to do them except to say I think you'll have to do them for a product like this because it's novel and there ( probably ) isn't an existing equivalent product on the market to demonstrate demand.

To that point, you should put in a solid day or so searching for prior art on Google patents, the retail market ( Amazon...) and possibly Alibaba to see if you can find anything similar. It may save your butt down the line if your current design infringes on some prior art.

Alibaba would do you double duty if you haven't looked into sourcing yet because at least you'd have some ideas who could manufacture it for you when you get to that stage.

Thanks again for the feedback. For some background info, I do have a utility patent. It was issued Tues (Aug 6th) and a very competent patent attorney did extensive searches for prior art so there's at least one thing I don't have to worry about . I also have an international patent application filed that included an international search. I have about 8 months to file in other countries if I want. My patent covers a couple of designs. One of them is significantly less complicated, but I liked the compactness of the current version.

I do need to reloop and look at less complicated ideas. That is a good idea.

One of my original designs had dampers so it lowered to the floor slowly on it's own. Dampers were fairly expensive and I was surprised how much force it transferred to many of the links. A couple of them were really bowing under the force. Parts of it would have to be made much stronger. The extra cost was only beneficial when lowering and I gave up that idea. I had though about a possible cable driven version that you didn't have to bend over to raise and lower. My still look at that again in the future.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

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[Johnny boy]

Got a utility patent already issued. So, 1 is covered. What do you think about 39.99?

If I was at the store and wanted to buy it and saw $39.99 I would make a groaning/humming noise and make a face and walk away because it’s just a little too much but just barely.

But that’s a focus group of 1, so who cares what I think.

See what the market thinks. See who will pay money for it. Or sell 2 versions, a regular and deluxe. One is manufactured cheap and the other is very nice. Just my .02, I’ve never had a successful product business so my opinion is on par with a regular consumer in this area.

 

[1step]

As I am sure you know there’s a scale rack/clip for the wall that serves a similar purpose (as many above has described) as this on amazon for $15. That product looks to be some of your only competition but that price difference is going to be tough to beat (at least on amazon). I think to compete on amazon you’ll really need to close that price gap.
Even if you don’t focus on amazon, I think decreasing your costs and product price have to be #1 priority. I’m all for premium products but I think this is going to be tough to convince there’s $80 worth of value for the vast majority of buyers

 

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[csalvato]

I just bought this for $16.

Amazon.com: Bathroom Scale Storage Bracket, Bathroom Organization for a Convenient Out-of-The-Way Scale Location : Health & Household

Buy Bathroom Scale Storage Bracket, Bathroom Organization for a Convenient Out-of-The-Way Scale Location on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

www.amazon.com

Would have bought yours for $30-40, for sure. Because I prefer the way you solve the problem, $39.99 (an extra $24 on the $16 I spent) is totally reasonable to me.

If you are firm on that price you will need to talk to a market where there is more value ... like the elderly or disabled who really can’t bend down. Perhaps selling this as a medical supply makes more sense if you’re firm on that price

 

[Sheens]

Way to go on your progress and hope this evolves into a great success for you Brian!

Smiling at the thought of not stubbing toes on a scale and bathroom interior design feature keeping the floor visually clear and sleek.

Your toilet paper holder comment and a mechanism for those with difficulty in bending over combined into an idea for you that may also appeal to hotels as easy for anyone cleaning without much risk of damage to floor or walls in handling it. I'm imagining a product and mechanism that holds a scale under an included toilet paper holder made to be against the wall which also contains the button/lever/device to lower the scale to the ground and raise it back up to rest below the holder (without interrupting any use of the tp holder in either position). Have the exterior/bottom/all visible of scale matched to options for bathroom fixtures to help blend into all decor?

 

[Private Witt]

Dig this product as just started to diet and exercise again and started to use a scale again. Like many have stated a $20 price range is where I'd hover around, couldn't drop 90 on it.

 

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[ChrisV]

I'm thinking your best bet might be B2B -- hotels -- where you can be flexible on the price point as sales would involve a sales process and an negotiation. Instead of selling 1 to a consumer (1 order) you sell 1 to a buyer and get (200).

Gotta love this guy. Great idea.

Also when consumers see the product in their luxury hotel, they might learn of the product generating other interest.

Make the branding prominent so they know exactly what it is.

 

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[Brewmacker]

Hi Brian,
Impressed to see you have taken action to develop something from scratch and your product photos look really professionally done. Well done. A few points

Price?
Enough said above.

Function:

• Scales are pretty sensitive for domestic use, are you sure this device could not lead to false readings due to the hinge and support?
• The underside of most scales are ugly and gather dirt and dust, not aesthetically appealing.
• Could incorrect installation result to damage to walls/paintwork if installed incorrectly and the user stands on them? (personal liability)

Personal use:
Personally I just set my scales €30 against the wall when not using them and this normally works fine. Maybe a bit of a balancing act. Sometimes in the middle of the night they slip and go bang. But it is not enough to motivate me to go to amazon to find a solution.

Therefore you need to think "cheap as chips" or impulse buy.

See the attachments for some ideas - maybe these could help you.

Fancy Wooden/Bamboo shoe = €14.99
Rubber Feet = € 4.99
Wall Mounted Basket = € 8.99
(costs are estimates)

 

[BrianLateStart]

Gotta love this guy. Great idea.


Make the branding prominent so they know exactly what it is.

I have talked to a couple of high end hotels a little over a year ago just to get their impression. At the time I was a long way from having a product to sell . Neither hotel had scales in the rooms, but I would have to talk to the corporate office to see if there is any interest. Now that I have products ready to sell, I need to take a serious look into this market.

I haven't put any branding on my first lot of products. I debated this a long time and decided not to add it at the time I had them manufactured. If the product is successful enough to order a second batch, I'll definitely include branding on it.

For hotels, I would need a very small sticker to put on the bottom of the scale or on the wall next to it because it's not an existing product, the guest wouldn't know how to operate it. I could include some branding on this sticker.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll definitely look into the B2B market.

 

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[ChrisV]

This product may also do well in high-end stores like Williams Sonoma. I mean spatulas there cost 70 bucks for God's sake. I think that market may be perfect for something like this until you can get your prices down.

 

[BrianLateStart]

Impressed to see you have taken action to develop something from scratch and your product photos look really professionally done. Well done. A few points

Price?
Enough said above.

Function:

• Scales are pretty sensitive for domestic use, are you sure this device could not lead to false readings due to the hinge and support?
• The underside of most scales are ugly and gather dirt and dust, not aesthetically appealing.
• Could incorrect installation result to damage to walls/paintwork if installed incorrectly and the user stands on them? (personal liability)

Personal use:
Personally I just set my scales €30 against the wall when not using them and this normally works fine. Maybe a bit of a balancing act. Sometimes in the middle of the night they slip and go bang. But it is not enough to motivate me to go to amazon to find a solution.

Therefore you need to think "cheap as chips" or impulse buy.

See the attachments for some ideas - maybe these could help you.

Fancy Wooden/Bamboo shoe = €14.99
Rubber Feet = € 4.99
Wall Mounted Basket = € 8.99
(costs are estimates)

Thanks BrewMacker for taking the time to provide feedback and include some additional ideas!

As far as price goes, I've heard this forum loud and clear. I've taken this advice, looked over my numbers and came up with my best price of $39.95. The market will let me know if this price is too much or of the product just doesn't solve a need. I'm OK with that. This was something I really wanted to try and I didn't want to look back and gave regrets later in life for not giving it a shot. I've already learned so much since starting this that it will be beneficial in the future.

Leaning a scale up against the wall was one of the reasons I invented UpScale. Ours slid down frequently too, but on a couple of occasions broke a foot off.

There is already a low cost hanger that sells for $15 on amazon. I've considered a basket idea too. Both of these items would be functional and a great low cost alternative. The reason I didn't follow up is because most scale are glass and fairly heavy. When manipulating them, it's very easy to bang them into a wall or the floor when setting them down. Especially when you're trying to do this while bent over and not awake first thing in the morning. UpScale makes this lifting and rotation effortless. One finger can raise or lower it with complete control. For the moment, I'm happy with UpScale being the premium to these alternatives. Hopefully the market will agree.

UpScale has a height adjustment that has to be adjusted to the height of your scale. This puts slack in the system. Imagine in an extreme example, you mounted it way too high and the back feet of the scale didn't reach the ground. You won't get an accurate reading and you could be pulling on the wall. If you adjust the height and zero the scale every time you use it, the readings will be accurate.

I agree that the bottoms of scale aren't' always aesthetically appealing. We've test over a dozen scales and have found some that are very smooth and clean on the underside. We plan to have scale reviews on our site and recommend scales that we find that we like. We also plan to rate the scales seperately on how well they work with UpScale. Whether the bottoms are more appealing, weight rating for using on a door, how well that attach to to our mounting bracket, etc, etc.

 

[BrianLateStart]

This product may also do well in high-end stores like Williams Sonoma. I mean spatulas there cost 70 bucks for God's sake. I think that market may be perfect for something like this until you can get your prices down.

That is a good idea. Is $39.95 till too high? If that price is ok, I'd have to look at much cheaper manufacturing to ever sell it retail. But that's an ok problem to have. I just need to see if this fills a need first.

 

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[BrianLateStart]

Fair enough mate, this is your journey and you seem well on your way i wish you the best of luck!

One more suggestion if I may, in regards to:



You maybe could throw in a few stickers for the bottom side of the scales like you have on your pictures. Or sell them as an additional add-on to boost your revenue .

That's an awesome idea! My wife was trying to come up with a thank you gift idea to include. Stickers might be perfect!

We do intend to have affiliate links to some of our favorite decals and scales.

 

[csalvato]

As far as price goes, I've heard this forum loud and clear. I've taken this advice, looked over my numbers and came up with my best price of $39.95.

OK, I'm returning the one from Amazon and will buy yours. I am going on vacation next week, and don't want it sitting on my patio all week for a porch pirate to steal, so will order when I get back.

 

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[ChrisV]

That is a good idea. Is $39.95 till too high? If that price is ok, I'd have to look at much cheaper manufacturing to ever sell it retail. But that's an ok problem to have. I just need to see if this fills a need first.

What I would do is make different variations for different price points. You have the 39.95 version, but people who shop at places like Williams Sonoma or Brookstone will pay an extra 50 bucks just because it looks 15% nicer. Give one version a nice, modern, smooth finish, and maybe that version can have 2x the markup.

I don't know why, but the style of Eva from Wall-E came to mind:



I'm thinking something smooth and modern for the higher end crowd. But go with your gut.

 

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