Have any of you had experience with selling items on Ponoko.com - or similar type sites? I am trying to figure out the best way to sell a few furniture pieces I have designed and fabricated.
Any advice and/or ideas would be appreciated!
Thanks
I’m interested in this as well. The picture frame idea I have in my folio I think is ideal for this, and it would be a great way to build my resume while looking for pre-graduation internships.
i’ve had alot of success selling on ponoko and also received alot of press exposure via the site. (way way more then etsy)
i give them a big thumbs up! 
Ponoko is good place to create AND sell stuff.
But the thing there is that on Ponoko, you sell stuff made at Ponoko - so in that way it is not like Etsy where you can sell anything. That doesn’t mean ALL needs to be made using Ponoko’s laser-cutting service. You certainly can get base pieces laser-cut there… and then add you own details and send it off to customer. They offer extended service called Prime.
But what IMO is different than etsy is that Ponoko is having retail catalog with selected items from their users and then they promote that to bunch of retailers in US and elsewhere. IMO that’s a first. (if you know otherwise let me know)
Stuff they made for me was pretty much flawless and response time from the team really quick.
Some my lighting / jewelry designs here:
Igor | Alienology
I have had no problems at all with Ponoko, they cut the stuff (sometimes not as fast as I would like) but their customer service is awesome!
I sell most of my stuff through my own site and I would say that although Etsy does have traffic, hasn’t been very good for me order wise because my stuff is more on the expensive side. I have made more sales through Ponoko than Etsy by far as a result.
I would recommend Ponoko to anybody looking to have some stuff laser cut.
But what IMO is different than etsy is that Ponoko is having retail catalog with selected items from their users and then they promote that to bunch of retailers in US and elsewhere.
Now you have me interested igorknez. Could you expand on your comment about what, and how, they promote to that “bunch of retailers?”
Is there a particular section on their website that covers what you are referring to?
Thanks
Ponoko is such a rip off.
Costs are outrageous, especially shipping
my 2 cents.
You can see a snippet of explanation at their blog here:
Essentially, what it means, is that if you submit your made stuff for them to consider - they will place selected items in their catalog and show it to “over 200” retaliers. If you search on their blog you will find some success stories there. Say…jewelry by Nervous got up to speed with Ponoko (as far as I know).
As far as I know you will have to be a Prime member at ponoko and that means monthly subscription, to get into retail catalog (I may be wrong - but I am a member). Also items need to be for sale in their shop too (meaning ready to go) but do not need to be sold there exclusively.
Some of my stuff is just about to go into catalog. SO I hope some retailers may pick some up. We’ll see.
BTW as a memeber shipping and cutting costs are MUCH reduced.
Search more thru their blog and there more info there + some audio interviews.
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Ponoko is a cool service, but it’s not a very cost efficient way to just get stuff laser cut if that’s what you’re looking to do. If you need to do secondary operations, you should find a local place to do the cutting.
Its like having this big bargain sale…
everybody would like to pick of what is more beautiful…
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