I ordered and received your first less than adequate small ones that fit under but don’t really work. will be be sent these improved versions?
As I said to others - please DM me with your order # and I will refund v1 if you didn't like v1, so you can re-order v2 if you want it.
Thank you for making a product and being realistic with the price. I am ordering them right now
Thank you!
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i would order it immediately. Was looking for center caps and bolt covers in Amazon. I would test it for you and share the results (I will pay the full price).Thank you!
Not that anybody asked me but now that you brought that up I wanted to explain how I've been doing this so far...
Basically, since I insist on manufacturing everything in-house, and since we are bootstrapped (no investors), and since we're just 2.5 years old as a company (no prior manufacturing experience...I come from software startups) my only option to get this off the ground has always been 3D printing. Now that we are getting some maturity I am now looking into molding but it has to be In-house. I bought our first molder a little over a moth ago actually, but so far I found about 30 ways to make a mold that doesn't work, so I need more time before that thing goes in production.
The reason that matters is something that most people don't realize - 3D printing is A LOT more expensive than injection molding. And I mean A LOT! For instance, retail price good ABS is about $25/kg. Buy it by the ton (as we do) and it goes down to about $13. Buy a ton of ABS pellets (for a molder) and it's $0.5/kg. That's 26 times difference in material cost. Then there are the failures of 3D printers (molders fail less) which is just wasted material (looking into building a recycling station in-house for that too by the way). And that's not all - 3D printing consumes more energy per product (higher electric bill) and requires a lot more labor (do that in California and you are in for a treat come pay day). Last but not least - the machines are a lot more expensive. We have almost 50 printers now, worth over $60,000. My output is about 150 products per day. I can buy a used injection molder for $30k and output 500+ products per day with it. Of course I'd need to buy at least 3 such molders for redundancy, at which point we overpass the printers investment but with 10 fold difference in output (assuming we can sell that much). I'd say the rest of the expenses are of course comparable between the 2 technologies (packaging, shipping).
So, in terms of our pricing - I am basically pricing everything based on how much it costs us to get it to you + a little margin that covers our future development and other business expenses (lease, insurance, returns, fraud etc).Shipping being a very very notable part of the price. Since the beginning of this year shipping costs have skyrocketed. For instance, shipping these door inserts costs about $8. Shipping the floor organizer is about $12-$16 depending on where it's going. And then there are platform fees...Amazon starts at about 20% and caps at about 40% so you can see in the end not much is left as profit:/
I know many sellers price based on how much they can yank for something, but I personally am against this approach and prefer to keep the prices as low as we can, although I realize that if that was molded I can go sensibly lower (as foreign, mature manufacturers can do it). Hopefully one day when I finally figure out how to make molds for the molder (as I am keeping the tooling design & manufacturing in-house too!).
PS I will be releasing wheel covers soon...likely next week. Will be priced at about $100 or less for all 4 and cover the entire hole, not just the lug nuts and the cap. Here is a preview (final design won't have the CT logo so I don't get sued...this is just a "for me" version
Yeah, I was asking about the lip. I guess I understand the need for it. Too bad the FS only has white interior. It would be a total non-issue if the white interior didn't make the lip so obvious.
That looks amazing.Thank you!
Not that anybody asked me but now that you brought that up I wanted to explain how I've been doing this so far...
Basically, since I insist on manufacturing everything in-house, and since we are bootstrapped (no investors), and since we're just 2.5 years old as a company (no prior manufacturing experience...I come from software startups) my only option to get this off the ground has always been 3D printing. Now that we are getting some maturity I am now looking into molding but it has to be In-house. I bought our first molder a little over a moth ago actually, but so far I found about 30 ways to make a mold that doesn't work, so I need more time before that thing goes in production.
The reason that matters is something that most people don't realize - 3D printing is A LOT more expensive than injection molding. And I mean A LOT! For instance, retail price good ABS is about $25/kg. Buy it by the ton (as we do) and it goes down to about $13. Buy a ton of ABS pellets (for a molder) and it's $0.5/kg. That's 26 times difference in material cost. Then there are the failures of 3D printers (molders fail less) which is just wasted material (looking into building a recycling station in-house for that too by the way). And that's not all - 3D printing consumes more energy per product (higher electric bill) and requires a lot more labor (do that in California and you are in for a treat come pay day). Last but not least - the machines are a lot more expensive. We have almost 50 printers now, worth over $60,000. My output is about 150 products per day. I can buy a used injection molder for $30k and output 500+ products per day with it. Of course I'd need to buy at least 3 such molders for redundancy, at which point we overpass the printers investment but with 10 fold difference in output (assuming we can sell that much). I'd say the rest of the expenses are of course comparable between the 2 technologies (packaging, shipping).
So, in terms of our pricing - I am basically pricing everything based on how much it costs us to get it to you + a little margin that covers our future development and other business expenses (lease, insurance, returns, fraud etc).Shipping being a very very notable part of the price. Since the beginning of this year shipping costs have skyrocketed. For instance, shipping these door inserts costs about $8. Shipping the floor organizer is about $12-$16 depending on where it's going. And then there are platform fees...Amazon starts at about 20% and caps at about 40% so you can see in the end not much is left as profit:/
I know many sellers price based on how much they can yank for something, but I personally am against this approach and prefer to keep the prices as low as we can, although I realize that if that was molded I can go sensibly lower (as foreign, mature manufacturers can do it). Hopefully one day when I finally figure out how to make molds for the molder (as I am keeping the tooling design & manufacturing in-house too!).
PS I will be releasing wheel covers soon...likely next week. Will be priced at about $100 or less for all 4 and cover the entire hole, not just the lug nuts and the cap. Here is a preview (final design won't have the CT logo so I don't get sued...this is just a "for me" version
Any plans for under seat storage for the rear seats?Thank you all for the very nice comments!
To clarify my issue with the wheel covers is no longer the design...I reached a design where these are inserted easily, there is a way to remove them, they stay securely and look nice. The issue is manufacturing them - I am still getting some unwanted artifacts in the process and I am trying to fix that :/
@Cyber_95 - to your question about the floor organizer - yes, a redesign is on my todo to add optional cup holders and a higher profile version possibly (not sure yet) with privacy lids. Not sure when I will be done with that but I can confirm that I will be making a redesign for sure
Yes, but no ETA yet...I need to get our vacuum forming machine up & running for that, 3D printing is not feasible (it's too big). Hopefully in a few months.
What about front underseat storage?Thank you all for the very nice comments!
To clarify my issue with the wheel covers is no longer the design...I reached a design where these are inserted easily, there is a way to remove them, they stay securely and look nice. The issue is manufacturing them - I am still getting some unwanted artifacts in the process and I am trying to fix that :/
@Cyber_95 - to your question about the floor organizer - yes, a redesign is on my todo to add optional cup holders and a higher profile version possibly (not sure yet) with privacy lids. Not sure when I will be done with that but I can confirm that I will be making a redesign for sure
Also on todo... this will be sooner though!
Thank you so very much. I have already received your refund for the first version of door trays and have ordered your newer version. I also ordered TWRAPS screen protectors. when I get them installed I’ll leave Review on Amazon.
