Read the statement by Michael Teeuw here.
Survey: Decreased interest in my mirrors
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@goldjunge_chriz honestly speaking and at least imho your glass price is too expensive compared to what is ie the price of similar products (Pilkington MirroPane/MirroView or Saint-Gobain Antelio) by a local glass store.
I don’t know in Germany, but I can get here at a local industrial glass company a 130x80 cm 6mm Pilkington MirroView or a Saint-Gobain 6mm Antelio “Havana” for about € 120,00-130,00 instead of spending 400-500 for your glass (and we still need to add the shipping costs).
Not to mention that if we add the shipping cost again it becomes even more expensive, so expensive that someone might think 10 times before spending soooo much into a glass.
Please understand that I am just replying to your question and there’s no will to sound harsh. ;)
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@cr4z33 said in Survey: Decreased interest in my mirrors:
@goldjunge_chriz honestly speaking and at least imho your glass price is too expensive compared to what is ie the price of similar products (Pilkington MirroPane/MirroView or Saint-Gobain Antelio) by a local glass store.
I don’t know in Germany, but I can get here at a local industrial glass company a 130x80 cm 6mm Pilkington MirroView or a Saint-Gobain 6mm Antelio “Havana” for about € 120,00-130,00 instead of spending 400-500 for your glass (and we still need to add the shipping costs).
Not to mention that if we add the shipping cost again it becomes even more expensive, so expensive that someone might think 10 times before spending soooo much into a glass.
Please understand that I am just replying to your question and there’s no will to sound harsh. ;)
with this size it would be 370 euros ;) Please do not forget that your said mirrors weigh about 16 kg and my mirror in the mentioned size does not even weigh 8 kg ;) just to mention one of the advantages…
Of course I can understand that, but the price I can only change very little and have little room for maneuver. It is just a very special glass that is perfectly suited with its features for our mirrors, but if the users doesn’t want to afford this anymore and would rather make a few cuts here and there, I have to stop selling just as I wrote above. That’s why I’m doing this survey here to find out if I should continue my efforts or let the sale be entirely.
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@goldjunge_chriz just saying mate.
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I think here in this forum most of the people are only active as long as they have a problem or question. As soon as the mirror is up and running the users disappear again. The users that stay active, mostly have a mirror already, so they also don’t fit in your range of customers.
MagicMirror is also not the only project of it’s kind, so it’s probably worth it to post also in other forums about your product.
I also remember that you planned once, to create a dedicated online shop for it, which in my opinion would also be more profitable for you, as a lot of people google for mirror shops and don’t look up the forum if someone is selling it there. With seo you can also attract more people that way.
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I agree to @strawberry-3-141
The active people in here build a mirror and continue supporting the community with new modules and error handling. But most likely they won’t build lots of mirrors. Other people around the world join the forum, ask some support questions and disappear once they are happy. And I’m pretty sure there are several people being interested in this project in the beginning but lose interest with time going on or their priorities change.
I ordered a mirror in your first batch of mirrors and it still is stored in the crate you used to send it. I don’t know if I ever will create a mirror and if the mirror glass will still fit the project, as the layout in my mind evolved.
Additionaly I think people are tempted buying a real mirror glass but are afraid of the costs compared to the usability factor. Investing several hundred euros in a project you don’t know if you will really use it is a show stopper.What happened to your plan creating a webshop? Based on your revenue you could operate it as a Kleinstunternehmer.
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@yawns said in Survey: Decreased interest in my mirrors:
I agree to @strawberry-3-141
The active people in here build a mirror and continue supporting the community with new modules and error handling. But most likely they won’t build lots of mirrors. Other people around the world join the forum, ask some support questions and disappear once they are happy. And I’m pretty sure there are several people being interested in this project in the beginning but lose interest with time going on or their priorities change.
I ordered a mirror in your first batch of mirrors and it still is stored in the crate you used to send it. I don’t know if I ever will create a mirror and if the mirror glass will still fit the project, as the layout in my mind evolved.
Additionaly I think people are tempted buying a real mirror glass but are afraid of the costs compared to the usability factor. Investing several hundred euros in a project you don’t know if you will really use it is a show stopper.What happened to your plan creating a webshop? Based on your revenue you could operate it as a Kleinstunternehmer.
I have already registered a “Kleinunternehmen” for the mirror sale. The idea with the webshop has died, as another user from the forum (who wanted to build this together with me) left me in the lurch. Unfortunately, I myself have no experience in creating a webshop.
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I see, that’s bad. What kind of webshop do you need, or what kind of features? There are several free shop solutions out there. All you need is a hosting provider and a domain.
Maybe Jimdo is a starting point: https://de.jimdo.com/website/onlineshop-erstellen/ -
@goldjunge_chriz I’m in the UK and I just googled companies in the UK and getting it from a reputable manufacturer that I’ve heard of so I went for Pilkinton. And for the UK as if it arrived broken, damaged or not as described I would have my consumer rights and long distance selling laws that I could fall back on if things didn’t go right, have not had to use it for that glass but having the backup was piece of mind. They could also be the reasons for other people also
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@yawns said in Survey: Decreased interest in my mirrors:
I see, that’s bad. What kind of webshop do you need, or what kind of features? There are several free shop solutions out there. All you need is a hosting provider and a domain.
Maybe Jimdo is a starting point: https://de.jimdo.com/website/onlineshop-erstellen/Thank you. I already know such pages. The problem is that I need someone who is familiar with e-commerce. otherwise, such a relatively unprofessionally created site brings me nothing, since nobody finds it …
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I would wonder, the requests in past - how much you had recurring clients vs new ones?
Could it be seasonal - less diy activities in winter (don’t know why though :D).For myself - I ordered one from your previous “left overs” - was quite pricey,have to admit. But I spent a week of very intensive research of local capabilities in Latvia and the best what I could found was - applying film on regular glass.
Once received, the quality of mirror was outstanding. My first experience with them, but is such a wow feeling. (plus shipping packaging was perfect either - can understand it costs what it costs, but then it gets safely delivered).
Don’t know if/when I would be coming back ordering another one. I have a feeling I may eventually, but don’t know when. Long answer short - maybe need to be looking on smart home enthusiasts who has diy installations (like openhab and has), raspberries hanging around and have not thought of MM idea? Maybe having MMM binding in openhab/has libraries would provoke them to coming in magicmirror.builders community and users of your outstanding glass-mirrors? just 2c for brainstorm.
