SDC Handmade Blades

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Hello, Sergio is a great person. He doesn't want more money. He wants more time. This proposal is to have more time. This extra time is needed to make the more complex handles. I don't think it will affect us buyers. Also, Sergio gives a lot of importance to transparency and responsibility. For that reason he has told us that he lacks time. And the proposal of two lists, one that requires more customization and another with the simplest handle. It's about having more time to do your job and your hobby well.
A hug.
Time, that's precisely it.

Unfortunately, at this point, the only way to have more time is if I buy it from someone else. Maybe in the future I will be asking for candidates to work at SDC 😁.
 
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I am big fan of your work and I feel your pain, but that having been said I am not a fan of the priority line concept (despite it being used extensively by people like Disney) - I simply don't like the idea of being able to buy oneself to the front of the queue.

If I were in your shoes I would consider re-pricing all my blades in order to better align price with value and the time and effort you put in. Your base blades, without anything fancy are still amazing and represent better quality than almost any (all?) mass produced blades. You could very easily charge more and still be great value for money. You could then obviously charge higher prices for any number of menu items for customisation over base blade.

In this way you would naturally regulate your order flow but not lose revenue - you are not a volume product but a niche, high quality product. Make less blades, charge more for them and build up a waiting list.

I am a guitar player and see this pricing model in many boutique, small volume luthiers, who would never allow anybody to buy themselves to the front of the queue. They will focus on their core product (albeit with different woods but not design or customisation) and then charge more and take more (much more) time if special requests are made.

My 2c - good luck!
 
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I whole heartedly agree with @Wrighty67 (among others) that your product is worth more.
In most sectors, handmade, artisan products go at a significant premium compared to mass products. Double the price is not that strange at all.
Given that Butterfly charges what, 179 euros, for an innerforce ALC (and that's the simplest and cheapest variant) I would expect your price for a baseline inner fiber blade to be above that.
I'm not saying here that your quality surpasses what is basically the premium table tennis brand. From what I know, you are up to par though. The extra cost is because you single handedly make a custom item to the specific requirements of the client.
Heck if you want a hand picked weight, Butterfly already charges €5 extra.
 
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I'm getting a lot of feedback that I should just raise my prices.... The priority line is not something very comfortable to me too, I do feel like I'm selling my soul a bit and that it's unfair to customers who don't have the same financial resources. I'm just not a fan of the comparison with the boutique builders, that's not the way I see myself at all, I'm just a guy in a garage doing what he loves!

Having a single line would be the most time-efficient solution, that's for sure. Ok, so this is my beef with raising prices. I already have a bunch of customers lined up, that more or less know what they are going to spend, if I raise my prices with immediate effect, is that fair to them? If I do this starting from the bottom of the list, it will only have an effect in a few months. I get really upset when I go to the supermarket and I see they raised the price on a product that I usually buy, but if it's something I really love, I buy it anyway 😅.
 
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I'm getting a lot of feedback that I should just raise my prices.... The priority line is not something very comfortable to me too, I do feel like I'm selling my soul a bit and that it's unfair to customers who don't have the same financial resources. I'm just not a fan of the comparison with the boutique builders, that's not the way I see myself at all, I'm just a guy in a garage doing what he loves!

Having a single line would be the most time-efficient solution, that's for sure. Ok, so this is my beef with raising prices. I already have a bunch of customers lined up, that more or less know what they are going to spend, if I raise my prices with immediate effect, is that fair to them? If I do this starting from the bottom of the list, it will only have an effect in a few months. I get really upset when I go to the supermarket and I see they raised the price on a product that I usually buy, but if it's something I really love, I buy it anyway 😅.
I do see you as boutique, and your description is exactly how I see most boutique builders of any artisan product - I recently picked up a high end classical guitar from a small UK boutique builder and he makes them in his workshop at his home and sells from his garage showroom! (>£2.5k)

Price increases are always emotive but perhaps shouldn't be - don't your costs of living (rent etc) and materials go up year on year? What is the real value proposition of your blades - certainly should be priced at or above mass produced options in my opinion.

I really don't think the majority of your customers would object, but you could always consider a compromise position for those who have already committed to a price with you?
 
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I just read last few pages and I feel so bad about sending blades back just to make slight adjustments to the handles...
I tried few custom blade makers, as well as a lot of butterfly blades (and Jang Woojin's w968) and nothing could compare to the blades I got from You. Sure, w968 is amazing, but I get tired after 5 min of playing with it while Sergio built exactly what I was looking for, so I always felt the prices were way too cheap compared to known brands.
 
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I'm getting a lot of feedback that I should just raise my prices.... The priority line is not something very comfortable to me too, I do feel like I'm selling my soul a bit and that it's unfair to customers who don't have the same financial resources. I'm just not a fan of the comparison with the boutique builders, that's not the way I see myself at all, I'm just a guy in a garage doing what he loves!

Having a single line would be the most time-efficient solution, that's for sure. Ok, so this is my beef with raising prices. I already have a bunch of customers lined up, that more or less know what they are going to spend, if I raise my prices with immediate effect, is that fair to them? If I do this starting from the bottom of the list, it will only have an effect in a few months. I get really upset when I go to the supermarket and I see they raised the price on a product that I usually buy, but if it's something I really love, I buy it anyway 😅.
An immediate price adjustment should be fair enough for everybody who didn't yet transfer the money. I don't see a big issue here. If they mind, they can still step back, assuming you haven't started working on their blades.
 
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I first posted this in another forum.

"I have 2 SDC blades, and it seems like I have had them forever. Of course, this is not the case, but the wait for delivery, though irksome, has been forgotten. I don't know if I will need a new one, not getting any younger. Unless you ever manage to get some Willow veneers, which I would still like to try."

I should add that the quality and service from Sergio is the best, and yes, his products cost way less than might be expected. When my friends ask what blade I am using, and I say a custom made by SDC, they often express their feeling that it must be very expensive. These are people using BTY ALC blades and the like. My current blade, with which I am playing all league matches, is as close to a Matsushita Special as Sergio could do. Currently on 83% win rate.

The prices could go up 15% without impacting sales. But also without impacting waiting lists I feel, so Sergio's dilemma is not solved.

And I really would be interested in willow veneers
 
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I think reserving x priority spots for premium per month would work fine. Then You could charge whatever +% You want for those spots, even if there are more people interested in them than spots itself it could still be by first come first served basis just like current normal waiting line.
 
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Keeping your prices low is kind. But keeping your prices static is a mistake,

All prices change, all the time, on everything; and no price is forever -- this is the nature of trade. Ignore it at your peril.

For example, have you been putting your prices up every year in line with local inflation?

If not, then you're already actually charging less money for your products, not more....and the discount you're offering has been growing automatically every year.

My advice is start charging the real price of what you do, not just what you think the client will pay.

The only real issue you face is determining what the real price of your work and labors are.

Only you can determine this because only you know the real numbers.

Don't overthink this stuff too much -- you're currently in a position where setting your prices is actually very easy.

- If your prices are too low, you'll know through being unable to either pay all your bills, or being unable to maintain the same product and service standards.

- If you charge too much, you'll know by sering your sales volumes drop over time,, or by watching how much shorter the waiting list is getting.

When your work is excellent, when your skills and knowledge are genuinely rare, and when hundreds of people are willing to wait six months or more for your product, then you and your products are in high demand, and you *must* proce accordingly.

You are already in this position listed above, but you're not coping currently with all the work, because you're not charging accordingly.

High demand + scant supply = higher comparative prices.

Lower demand + higher supply = lower prices. These simple truths transcend time and culture, and remain true today for every product type, product category, and price point, of every product in every industry in every country on the planet.

It's also a simple truth your clients are *already* facing these rules, with every single other purchase they currently make.

You don't have to defend your prices, or any subsequent price rise, to people who are already willing to wait half a year or more for a chance to own your product. They get it.

Break either of these rules however, and your business won't last.

My advice Sergio is charge the real price and be happy -- anything less than that is sadly unsustainable

You must always charge enough for your business to survive comfortably, not just scrape by -- otherwise your business simply won't survive at all.... and that would be a tragedy. The world needs more high quality Bladesmits in it, not less. Raise your prices for everyone equally, reward yourself properly, and be happy. 🙂🙂

Good luck with it.
 
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Money isn’t everything, The customers will have to wait as long as it takes. I would work in my own tempo. Much much slower than you. There has to be time to live too…

Cheers
L-zr
TRUTH!

I have a rule of not quoting myself in my posts if I can possibly avoid it... But on this occasion I'll make an exception.

From my own (horribly out of date 🤣🤣) website:

"We work steadily. diligently, and carefully, on every order we get, and every blade we craft. But we do not work on weekends and holidays, we do not work to a deadline, and some days are more productive than others -- the work will be done, when it is done.

We always do our very best to keep clients and customers informed of any delays during the construction process regardless, And for their part, they understand our unique way of working, and appreciate some things cannot be rushed, as it only makes the end result poorer.'


Your blades are not the only thing your customers buy from you.

The whole experience of dealing with you from start to finish is included as part of the basic exchange.

This HAS to be the case... otherwise why would they be willing to wait so long?? What exactly is it, that everyone is waiting for?

They are waiting because that is also just another part of the experience of dealing with you. They are paying you for the blade, AND for the experience of waiting.

Or in other words, they value being in the queue, just as much as they value your blades... because in both cases, the end result is worth it.

Raise your prices man 😂😂 Be kind to yourself, as well as your customers
 
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Again, thank you all for your contributions and different points of view in this situation. This has to be a first, no? The customer base trying to convince the manufacturer to raise its prices 😆.

Yesterday I went for a cheeseburger, I don't go there often but not many months ago the price was 1€, last time I had one it was 1.5€, yesterday I paid 1.7€... It's like McDonalds also decided to contribute to this discussion.

I gave this some more thought, I apologize for going against my own word but I decided not to have a priority list. There is another factor that made me rethink the decision. I don't feel entirely comfortable doing it (morally speaking), and although I could make it work time wise, these blades would also consume resources. I work with a lot of different stuff (wood, fibers, handle material, etc...), and sometimes I have limited amounts of it. Ordering more may take a little time because I normally try to group some things I will need and make bigger purchases. I don't want the priority line affecting the regular line in terms of resources.

I don't accept down payments from the customers waiting, only when I actually start building their blades, so I think it will be fine to implement a price increase, as long as the customer is previously informed. I did have a price raise a few months ago, but it was not that significant. I will start with a 20% increase on the base price of the 5+2 blades, maybe a bit less for other compositions, and see how it goes, maybe some months from now I will need another price adjustment. Many of my customers are already waiting much more then what I told them it would take, I don't think they will be happy with the price increase and I might lose some of them, but that's a risk I have to take. Implementing the number system is also much easier this way, every costumer will receive a message explaining the system, their corresponding number, and an information of the price increase. I will start sending some emails this weekend if I have the time. I'm even thinking of automating the access to tickets, you would go to the website and get your number, even if I don't reply right away, you at least know you have a place secured.
 

jar

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Hello,

I just discovered your work, and I just want to say that its really fine work! I love making things myself too, and the fact that your blades are as good if not better than commercial ones is really impressive.

I think a price increase is completely fair, as many have already said. Handmade products have to be more expensive, its just the reality.

But the main problem you seem to be having, aside from money, is lack of time, and you mention talking with the client and discussing details of their blade as very time consuming.

I assume that customization is important in your process, but in order to save some time, you could offer less custom freedom to clients, have a few different "models" that people can order without changing anything to the design.

That could also (not necessarily) be a way to introduce different price range, so if someone who is not rich wants one of your blades, they can get the standard one without any customization, where as someone who is willing to pay more can choose their own details...

Anyway, hopefully that makes sense. Congratulations on your success and good luck !
 
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I assume that customization is important in your process, but in order to save some time, you could offer less custom freedom to clients, have a few different "models" that people can order without changing anything to the design.

That could also (not necessarily) be a way to introduce different price range, so if someone who is not rich wants one of your blades, they can get the standard one without any customization, where as someone who is willing to pay more can choose their own details...

I made the same suggestion as you have, and I do think it would help Sergio, but it sounds like part of the appeal of the whole enterprise, for him, is the process of customisation.

Sergio, if you don't mind me picking up on jar's post to raise this thought again, I really do think this is a route you might consider. Not only to save you time and improve the efficiency of your output, but also from the customer's point of view.

What I mean is this: One of the appeals of going with a mainstream blade over a custom blade is that I can have reasonable confidence that I can replace the blade with another of the same if the current one gets damaged, or if I just want a spare to try different rubbers with.

If I knew that, at any time, I could order an "SDC Viscaria" (of course, you'd give it a cooler name!), and that all SDC Viscarias are going to be very similar to one another (say, within a weight range of +/- 3g, and a frequency range of +/- 75Hz. I'm just making these numbers up, I don't know what a reasonable range would be, but you get my point), that would make getting an SDC Viscaria even more appealing.

And, really, two standard models would meet the needs of a high percentage of players:

Viscaria
Innerforce / Long 5

Note: I'm not suggesting that you'd need to mimic these precisely, but rather that your own, "standardised" interpretation of them would be appealing—at least to me!

For example, you might decide that the SDC Viscaria interpretation uses Innegra-Carbon instead of ALC.

Food for thought, I hope, but whatever you decide, you have our support!
 
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Again, thank you all for your contributions and different points of view in this situation. This has to be a first, no? The customer base trying to convince the manufacturer to raise its prices 😆.

Yesterday I went for a cheeseburger, I don't go there often but not many months ago the price was 1€, last time I had one it was 1.5€, yesterday I paid 1.7€... It's like McDonalds also decided to contribute to this discussion.

I gave this some more thought, I apologize for going against my own word but I decided not to have a priority list. There is another factor that made me rethink the decision. I don't feel entirely comfortable doing it (morally speaking), and although I could make it work time wise, these blades would also consume resources. I work with a lot of different stuff (wood, fibers, handle material, etc...), and sometimes I have limited amounts of it. Ordering more may take a little time because I normally try to group some things I will need and make bigger purchases. I don't want the priority line affecting the regular line in terms of resources.

I don't accept down payments from the customers waiting, only when I actually start building their blades, so I think it will be fine to implement a price increase, as long as the customer is previously informed. I did have a price raise a few months ago, but it was not that significant. I will start with a 20% increase on the base price of the 5+2 blades, maybe a bit less for other compositions, and see how it goes, maybe some months from now I will need another price adjustment. Many of my customers are already waiting much more then what I told them it would take, I don't think they will be happy with the price increase and I might lose some of them, but that's a risk I have to take. Implementing the number system is also much easier this way, every costumer will receive a message explaining the system, their corresponding number, and an information of the price increase. I will start sending some emails this weekend if I have the time. I'm even thinking of automating the access to tickets, you would go to the website and get your number, even if I don't reply right away, you at least know you have a place secured.
Great idea Sergio -- now you're talking about a price point that's sustainable, and actually reflects your costs and local trading environment.

Only other thing I could add is maybe consider the idea of in a few years time, aim to charge enough to empty a part time apprentice. It'll boost your production capacity and free you up to put more of your time towards high value tasks, rather then low value stuff like prep and maintenance tasks.

Good luck!!
 
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Hello,

I just discovered your work, and I just want to say that its really fine work! I love making things myself too, and the fact that your blades are as good if not better than commercial ones is really impressive.

I think a price increase is completely fair, as many have already said. Handmade products have to be more expensive, its just the reality.

But the main problem you seem to be having, aside from money, is lack of time, and you mention talking with the client and discussing details of their blade as very time consuming.

I assume that customization is important in your process, but in order to save some time, you could offer less custom freedom to clients, have a few different "models" that people can order without changing anything to the design.

That could also (not necessarily) be a way to introduce different price range, so if someone who is not rich wants one of your blades, they can get the standard one without any customization, where as someone who is willing to pay more can choose their own details...

Anyway, hopefully that makes sense. Congratulations on your success and good luck !
I'm not sure if that's exactly what you meant, but that's essentially how my process works already. I have a base price for certain types of composition, then all the customization features are charged separately. However, even for a standard blade I still need to know the client's wishes: composition, weight, balance, shape, handle shape, etc... This is what I mean when I say that communication takes time, but it's a part of the process and impossible to bypass.

I'm still not sure if I want to have models of blades or not, but even if I did, it would completely impossible for me at this point, I simply don't have the time. All of my work is custom, and I have a big backlog of orders, if I'm focusing on this I don't have the time for anything else. I have turned out the offer to make hundreds of blades (more than once), because I just don't have the time for such work. At the moment, the best I can do is to put some blades for sale every now and then on my website's shop.

I made the same suggestion as you have, and I do think it would help Sergio, but it sounds like part of the appeal of the whole enterprise, for him, is the process of customisation.

Sergio, if you don't mind me picking up on jar's post to raise this thought again, I really do think this is a route you might consider. Not only to save you time and improve the efficiency of your output, but also from the customer's point of view.

What I mean is this: One of the appeals of going with a mainstream blade over a custom blade is that I can have reasonable confidence that I can replace the blade with another of the same if the current one gets damaged, or if I just want a spare to try different rubbers with.

If I knew that, at any time, I could order an "SDC Viscaria" (of course, you'd give it a cooler name!), and that all SDC Viscarias are going to be very similar to one another (say, within a weight range of +/- 3g, and a frequency range of +/- 75Hz. I'm just making these numbers up, I don't know what a reasonable range would be, but you get my point), that would make getting an SDC Viscaria even more appealing.

And, really, two standard models would meet the needs of a high percentage of players:

Viscaria
Innerforce / Long 5

Note: I'm not suggesting that you'd need to mimic these precisely, but rather that your own, "standardised" interpretation of them would be appealing—at least to me!

For example, you might decide that the SDC Viscaria interpretation uses Innegra-Carbon instead of ALC.

Food for thought, I hope, but whatever you decide, you have our support!

I get your suggestion, and going the "standardized" route is much more time efficient and profitable, however, as I already explained above, it's just not an option at this point. This idea already came to me two years ago, at the time I was still working out of my parents' garage, so I needed something bigger. I did get a bigger space (where I am now) but it needed a lot of work. Well, fast forward two years and a looot of personal issues, I'm just now getting to the point where I can rebuild the workshop and make it a true working space. Mass production requires more resources, tools, and most importantly someone to help me. So, until my workshop is done, and those conditions are fulfilled, it's just not possible. However, as you say, custom work is the essence of my business, and I don't want to lose that. Creating a range of blades or models would be an option, yes, but only after the custom work part is running smoothly.
 
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Great idea Sergio -- now you're talking about a price point that's sustainable, and actually reflects your costs and local trading environment.

Only other thing I could add is maybe consider the idea of in a few years time, aim to charge enough to empty a part time apprentice. It'll boost your production capacity and free you up to put more of your time towards high value tasks, rather then low value stuff like prep and maintenance tasks.

Good luck!!
I already have one! But she seems more interested in playing or sleeping than doing some actual work. Now that I think about it, every since I hired her, my work efficiency has decreased 😂.

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