| Immersiveunreality said: Where would you get plastic that cheap? I'm unaware of laws regarding the place you live so that could be a difference,but to get the cheapest resources here you need to have a company otherwise only option is retail prices + heavy tax. |
First off, sorry about all the typos, my keyboard is acting up. And at times I am too lazy to proofread.
The simple answer to your question is; China. But don't just get the plastic there. Get everything there and have it shipped to you in a container.
There are tons of companies in China that specialize in these things. injection-molded components with varying degrees of complexity. Either I material or design. There are even agents you can use and the entire process could be done over a couple of phone calls, emails, WhatsApp and/or skype. Or you can forgo the agents entirely and just travel there yourself. Probably save you a third of the revenue.
You can even make them there and sell them from china directly, just that it would cost you more for shipping and take longer getting to your customers, which could end up costing you even more cause you are losing a competitive advantage and YOU WILL have competition.
Seriously, take it from me, plastic is cheap lol. Another thing to consider is that you are looking at a BOM + Shipping cost of no more than $3 (here is a set of 6 plastic trays on amazon for $18 for eg) per faceplate. Including the packaging. No matter how bad taxes wanna be, you aren't gonna be spending more than another $3 on tax per item. So worst-case scenario you are $6/plate all in. And selling them for $10+, and this is an excessive estimate, you are more likely going to be at $4.50/faceplate replacement.
But as I said, this is a bad thing to get into, mostly because its too easy and there will be a lot of people doing it. And with companies like Dbrand and Nyko, that I can promise you already have case dimension and specs from sony right now (or at least would 2 months before release), there is no point. They have the tools, the connections, and the resources to do stuff we can't. And everyone would sooner buy a Dbrand faceplate for $15/$20 that has some awesome pattern or color than buy one from a nobody for $10.
