Tips On Selling Pedals

[deadastronaut]

buy 14 quid donner pedals, and re-box them, done..

[digi2t]

A hobby is no longer a "hobby" when deadlines, costing, and profit margins enter the equation. Then it becomes a "job". If you have a job that pays the bills, then stick to it, and don't put any reliance whatsoever on possibly trying to make any money selling pedals.

Do you see what I'm doing here? It's called, "Don't raise your hopes above zero, so you don't have too far to fall".

Do I sell pedals? Yes. Only on commission. If I feel like it. And I have to REALLY feel like it, to take one. Then I price it into what may seem like the stratosphere for most. Why? Here are the reasons;

1) Because I can.
2) Because it's my hobby. Not my job.
3) Because if your job pays $20/hour, then why would you bust your ass for some cheese eating teen for less.
4) Because it gets rid of the aforementioned teens, and leaves only the serious people that will REALLY appreciate your work to deal with.
5) Because.... see reason 1).

Not only that, but I refuse to do any artwork whatsoever on them either, other than control labeling. If you want a turtle to look at, then buy a turtle. You want artwork, then take painting classes. If it's a sound or tone you're chasing, then buy a well built stompbox. Something that survives not only your stomping, but also falling out of the van at 60 mph, and can sit quite happily on a dark stage where no one will see it. Eye candy isn't going to contribute anything to your sound anytime soon.

[declassified]

A hobby is no longer a "hobby" when deadlines, costing, and profit margins enter the equation. Then it becomes a "job". If you have a job that pays the bills, then stick to it, and don't put any reliance whatsoever on possibly trying to make any money selling pedals.

Do you see what I'm doing here? It's called, "Don't raise your hopes above zero, so you don't have too far to fall".

Do I sell pedals? Yes. Only on commission. If I feel like it. And I have to REALLY feel like it, to take one. Then I price it into what may seem like the stratosphere for most. Why? Here are the reasons;

1) Because I can.
2) Because it's my hobby. Not my job.
3) Because if your job pays $20/hour, then why would you bust your ass for some cheese eating teen for less.
4) Because it gets rid of the aforementioned teens, and leaves only the serious people that will REALLY appreciate your work to deal with.
5) Because.... see reason 1).

Not only that, but I refuse to do any artwork whatsoever on them either, other than control labeling. If you want a turtle to look at, then buy a turtle. You want artwork, then take painting classes. If it's a sound or tone you're chasing, then buy a well built stompbox. Something that survives not only your stomping, but also falling out of the van at 60 mph, and can sit quite happily on a dark stage where no one will see it. Eye candy isn't going to contribute anything to your sound anytime soon.

exactly, however the artwork is almost as important in my opinion, great sounding OD's are a dime a dozen the art work is what really sells for us, we've been selling for 4 years in our local area and have a lot of repeat business. we finish the hell out our pedals multiple coats of finish they are almost bomb proof, we dragged one on the ground and it only got minor scuffs.

I wasnt exactly asking for advice since me and friend do this in our spare time and for only push sales once or twice a year for a convention or  get together, but rather to show how you need to set yourself apart if youre going to do this right, since like i said earlier great sounding OD's are a dime a dozen and sizzle sells the steak. I guess I just forgot the write that part (was long day yesterday)

[DavidRavenMoon]

$900 in parts? That doesn't sound right. Where are you buying parts?
If you are planning on doing this to make money, you won't.


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[HeavyFog]

My best advice is to try and find a way to make your pedals stand out in a unique way. Something that people will associate with your creations. Most often this ends up being a visual thing rather than something to do with the sound. Take a look at various boutique brands and builders and look at how some of them build pedals in such a way that when you see one, you immediately know its that brand. I build all my pedals with a swirl paint job and a light plate not only because i think it looks neat and people like it, but also because it makes my pedals stand out from others, especially when sitting next to empress and tc pedals in the local music store i sell my stuff in. There are an endless amount of things you could do to make your pedals unique and finding a neat style paired with a great sounding pedal can really make your stuff stand apart from the competition.

[digi2t]

like i said earlier great sounding OD's are a dime a dozen and sizzle sells the steak.

Hmmm.... not that I've tried this, but an educated guess tells me that a lump of dog shit on a hot grill will sizzle too. Be pretty tough to sell though. Never knew "sizzle" to be a visual sensation either. Last time I checked Klon Centaur prices weren't suffering either.

With that, I'll stand by my "great OD beats great paint any day of the week, and twice on Sundays" argument.

[karbomusic]

With that, I'll stand by my "great OD beats great paint any day of the week, and twice on Sundays" argument.

Hehe, too bad humans aren't built that way - to buyers/average consumers, a vast majority of them will buy the better looking product provided it isn't massively substandard to the other one it is competing with - but the winky makes sense. To give a more jaded response - we're just selling imaginary mojo, hopes and dreams for the most part anyway.

To the OP: If you want it to be a bit of a paid hobby as in getting you a small 'net' return. Go for it, but it's hard to break even (if we truly account for all costs) meaning the joy of doing it needs to be high. I just stopped a long running relationship/deal building my own OD for a boutique amp builder - the reason was, it was just taking up my spare time, I was able to turn a small profit per pedal but it wasn't enough to justify coming home from my real job everyday and spend that time building pedals.

Above all of that, you have to remain at some small potatoes level or it becomes a business and you get dinged by the government (depending on where you live). I won't knock anyone for flying under the radar but as soon as it becomes anywhere towards significant, you need to plan and account for that too because getting dinged isn't fun. To that end, every bit of my pedal selling venture was turned in as part of my normal expenses and income.

Either way, it is an extremely saturated market (as bad as getting a record deal) which totally goes against the time-proven "find a need and fill it" quote.

[Marcos - Munky]

With that, I'll stand by my "great OD beats great paint any day of the week, and twice on Sundays" argument.

Just my 2c: great paint does draw more attention in a shop window. But if I ever wanna buy a pedal, I won't do it before I plug it in and play with it for some time. That's where all the magic lays in. And also, I would ask the seller for other pedals with the same purpose. Between a great sound and a great paint, I go for the great sound. By the way, there's some beauty in simple looking things too, but the Klon. It is way ugly

I don't take orders, just build them for myself. I really don't care too much about the finishing, as long as it sounds good, but once in a while I try different finishes just for the sake or learning. If I'm ever gonna build something for somebody, I prefer to go with a simple visual. If the guy wants some artwork, I won't refuse to do it, but there'll be extra costs .

[declassified]

With that, I'll stand by my "great OD beats great paint any day of the week, and twice on Sundays" argument.

Just my 2c: great paint does draw more attention in a shop window. But if I ever wanna buy a pedal, I won't do it before I plug it in and play with it for some time. That's where all the magic lays in. And also, I would ask the seller for other pedals with the same purpose. Between a great sound and a great paint, I go for the great sound. By the way, there's some beauty in simple looking things too, but the Klon. It is way ugly

I don't take orders, just build them for myself. I really don't care too much about the finishing, as long as it sounds good, but once in a while I try different finishes just for the sake or learning. If I'm ever gonna build something for somebody, I prefer to go with a simple visual. If the guy wants some artwork, I won't refuse to do it, but there'll be extra costs .

nothing says you can't have great paint and great sound.

Im sorry but 90% of the Od's on the market today sound the same being tube screamer copies, at least in my neck of the woods, some people are doing great stuff but a lot of this business is just clones, and thats okay. its not a put down. theres always a market for good Dirt.

[Marcos - Munky]

Well, if you can get both paint and sound, then that's great. I just agree with Dino that "great OD beats great paint any day of the week, and twice on Sundays". And I agree with you that almost all the ODs today are tube screamer clones, that's one of the reasons I build my pedals rather than buy them.

[amptramp]

One thing that has been discussed here before is if you have an oscillator in the design that runs above 8 KHz, you have to get FCC radiated emissions testing, so delays, digital effects, switching regulators, inverters or even an ICL7660 negative voltage generator will force you into a test program.  A few thousand dollars worth, but only if you sell it.  It does not apply to stuff you make for your own use.

[darron]

$900 in parts? That doesn't sound right. Where are you buying parts?
If you are planning on doing this to make money, you won't.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

that's a very negative thing to tell somebody. it could even be crushing to hear.
some people take it as a serious career. if you live remotely, like me in australia, then you have to be even trickier as all of the expensive parts need to be delivered and cost more.

your whole life people will tell you what you can't do. getting past them is the first step to actually getting things done, if you think it's worthwhile doing.

[HeavyFog]

I agree. A pedal can look great but if it doesn't sound good what's the point. Sound should come first over visuals. There's nothing wrong with having a neat looking pedal at all and perhaps what I wrote earlier made it sound like its the only thing that matters, but never forget that the reason we use pedals in the first place is for their sound and not because they're visually pleasing.

[digi2t]

One thing that has been discussed here before is if you have an oscillator in the design that runs above 8 KHz, you have to get FCC radiated emissions testing, so delays, digital effects, switching regulators, inverters or even an ICL7660 negative voltage generator will force you into a test program.  A few thousand dollars worth, but only if you sell it.  It does not apply to stuff you make for your own use.

I'm goin' to bed less stoopid tonight. Thanks Ron!

So much to learn.... so little time. 

[EBK]

More great info on the FCC requirements (and non-US equivalents) here:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=42399.msg306539#msg306539

[amptramp]

Sorry, I typed 8 KHz instead of the correct 9 KHz, but it makes no practical difference for our use because no one would run an oscillator at 8 or 9 KHz in an audio application.  For FCC testing, it is not clear whether the test has to be run in each mode where a device can be run in different modes, so an operator may have to be present.  If you live in the boonies, this becomes an extra cost because a test operator may have to be there.  This is to avoid the case where you have a multipart pedal with, say, a booster and a delay.  Operating in just the boost mode where you can stop the delay oscillator would obviously not constitute a proper test.

I have been a test conductor / witness for MIL-STD-462 military EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) testing and this sort of thing has to be addressed in the test plan (which lays out what you are going to do to prove compliance with requirements) and the test procedure (which tells you what equipment to use and what operating conditions have to be maintained and what to do down to the "which switch to flip" level of detail).  In some cases, we got away with just using one test mode when there were many but there may be another level of detail in the FCC regulations about that.

[BubbaFet]

The humorist Dave Barry says...
"There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'.

Have fun, but do what is your best interest financially.

[DavidRavenMoon]

$900 in parts? That doesn't sound right. Where are you buying parts?
If you are planning on doing this to make money, you won't.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

that's a very negative thing to tell somebody. it could even be crushing to hear.
some people take it as a serious career. if you live remotely, like me in australia, then you have to be even trickier as all of the expensive parts need to be delivered and cost more.

your whole life people will tell you what you can't do. getting past them is the first step to actually getting things done, if you think it's worthwhile doing.

It's not negative. It's honest. Clearly he's paying retail prices for parts. Probably buying kits.

You can't do that and make any money. That's a fact. Otherwise you aren't getting paid for your time and effort, or you have to charge too much.

You need to buy parts cheap, and from an electronics distributor. Someone like Mouser or Digikey.

I'm a pickup maker. But I also make preamps for bass. My costs for parts for a preamp is about $25. I charge $120 for the preamp. What money would I make if I paid $900 for the parts for 20 preamps?


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[darron]

$900 in parts? That doesn't sound right. Where are you buying parts?
If you are planning on doing this to make money, you won't.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

that's a very negative thing to tell somebody. it could even be crushing to hear.
some people take it as a serious career. if you live remotely, like me in australia, then you have to be even trickier as all of the expensive parts need to be delivered and cost more.

your whole life people will tell you what you can't do. getting past them is the first step to actually getting things done, if you think it's worthwhile doing.

It's not negative. It's honest. Clearly he's paying retail prices for parts. Probably buying kits.

You can't do that and make any money. That's a fact. Otherwise you aren't getting paid for your time and effort, or you have to charge too much.

You need to buy parts cheap, and from an electronics distributor. Someone like Mouser or Digikey.

I'm a pickup maker. But I also make preamps for bass. My costs for parts for a preamp is about $25. I charge $120 for the preamp. What money would I make if I paid $900 for the parts for 20 preamps?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey David.

Maybe I misunderstood. Being different lines of texts, I read them different matters. As in $900? that'a not right and then separately if you plan on making pedals to make money you won't. heaps of people told me that, and it stuck a nerve. but i see now you're saying you need to be generally smarter about spending to turn a better profit, which is impossible to disagree with.

my bad.

and again, if it's a dream you'll follow it regardless

[superferrite]

I've built maybe 50, sold like 25, and had to fix maybe 8 or ten.  If you sell to locals and friends, warrantee work will kill ya!
As long as you're having fun, it is a worthwhile experience, but for every Zvex there are 1000 guys reading this forum and building much like myself.