RESIN TAX = Lost Customer

General Discussion
1

I know this topic has probably been posted more than ever but as a brand new person to the 3D Printing space this is absurd and abuse. Here is what I did and where I ended up.

I have been researching 3D printers for a while now and one I never considered was a resin printer. So two weeks ago I have been researching printers to narrow it down to what I need.

So I went to AI and leveraged several AI engines and input the same prompt.

PROMPT

I need to narrow down which 3D printer I should buy. Here’s what’s important to me and the weight each item holds. I will measure the weight between one and 10 one bean doesn’t matter at all 10 meaning that it is very important number one item to watch out for.

1. Printer type is unknown, I’m open to resin and filament type printers.

2. Smell and noise reduction is important to me. I will be running this in my basement and I have people living in bedrooms in the basement. Weight is 8.

3. I do not like the lines that are seen on the side of 3-D printed objects. I’m not a huge fan of that but I can deal with it if I need to. Weight is 6.

4. Speed and quality of the print is very important. Weight is 6.

5. Easily switch between colors or materials. Weight is 7.

6. Build volume is very important. The larger the better, weight is 8.

7. Print precision is very important. Weight is 7.

8. Reliability and support are very high on my list. Weight is 9.

9. Very wide range of filaments or materials printing with is very important. Weight is 9.

10. Reviews I’m looking for something that has several high reviews from several sources. Let’s say 4.5 starts or 9 out of 10 score is very important. Weight is 10.

11. My budget is around from $2,000 to $10,000.”

END PROMPT

The #1 printer that was returned is the FormLabs Form 4 which I went in on 100% and was ready to purchase until I came across the “Resin Tax”. This is absurd and as bad as paying taxes on a bonus I’ve already been taxed on.

So two days ago I was ready to buy the Form 4 but every time I looked at the $2,400 price tag to use someone else’s product really got me.

Imagine buying a brand new car and right when your in finance ready to sign they hit you with “Oh BTW if you use our gas “Lexus Fuel” it’s $9.00 a gallon but if you want to go across the street to Maverik which is $2.24 a gallon you MUST pay a fee of $2,400 in order to use their fuel.

This more is ANTI Community, ANTI-Customer Friendly and makes you look like you’re so GREEDY that you are going to rob your customers.

I was looking at the Form 4L and after looking at the prices and there’s a RESIN TAX of $5,000?!!?! Are you kidding me?? So if my income is a higher I have to pay more??

Whats the reasoning for this tax? I’d love to hear this justified. This is simply just wrong in every way. It’s the same process for the Form 4 so why is it 2X the price?

This is just disgusting and I wish I could add my receipt for my new 3D printer that I wish was the Form 4 but it’s not and the ONLY reason I didn’t buy the Form 4 was 100% due to the RESIN TAX.

2

Material is an important recurring revenue for Formlabs. This “resin tax” that you are mentioning is probably linked to how much Formlabs will “lose” if their customers decide to use materials from another supplier.

The Form 4L will consume more resin, and that could also explain why it is more expensive to buy the Open Material license. Look at the license for the Fuse, which is an even better example, at roughly USD 12k.

This is only a theory, but it makes sense to me.

3

The argument I’ve seen on this forum a few times is that FL can sell their printers at a lower price than much of the industry because they make it up on material revenue. I’m not sure whether this is truly the case, but it seems logical. I’d agree with @Edouardh that the OMM cost is likely tied to the expected lifetime profitability of material purchases.

It might be useful to revisit the analysis with material cost, the OMM fee, and a rough estimate of expected usage factored in. In my case, it would take roughly 2.5 years to see any ROI on OMM for my Fuse 1+ (based on 150 kg/year and additional savings of $35/kg).

Another important nuance with OMM is risk: there’s the potential to damage your machine and have nothing to show for it. As FL states, “When using Open Material Mode, some failure modes that are more likely to be caused by third-party materials are excluded from our standard warranty.”

4

Hi @FreeRide !

Thank you for sharing your feedback! We’re sorry to hear about your frustration regarding Open Material Mode.

Generally, offering our printers as a closed ecosystem by default helps us ensure that customers can rely on dialed-in settings and get reliable results out of the box. For most customers, our existing material portfolio without OMM should be enough to cover different printing needs, while allowing us to deliver a seamless ecosystem: materials that are tuned for each printer, software that ties everything together, and qualified support when things don’t work as expected.
When non-Formlabs materials are used, we lose the ability to deliver the same reliable, seamless experience. Offering OMM as a separate add-on helps us limit this and keep the default printing experience on par with our expectations. It’s intended for experienced users who are conducting R&D with resin or need material properties that Formlabs doesn’t provide.

Keeping a business model sustainable is obviously an underlying consideration in any decision, but it is not the main factor for our approach to OMM - the reasons mentioned above are the key drivers.

Thank you nevertheless for sharing your thoughts - feedback is always valuable!

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