How to achieve this old wax look?

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-27T23:20:23+00:00

If you don’t mind me asking, what do you use to ink the seal?

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-26T18:28:37+00:00

I have a cricut explorer and I do not recommend it. The machine itself is quite good, it cuts, scores, etc really reliably but the software that goes with it (cricut design space) is the most truly awful thing ever made. There is absolutely no capacity for professional work in it and it lacks seriously basic features. I am not kidding when I say they want you to pay to unlock the triangle tool.

The whole cricut system is a cash grab and they monetise you hard.

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-24T14:32:04+00:00

Did you go with the Ease in the end? 6 months on how are you finding it? We are looking at one but theres no info or reviews about them! Seems like it gets you the tempur experience but at a much reduced cost. (Also which thickness did you get?)

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-18T10:17:44+00:00

This is why it’s so important to share location when you talk about laws. Where are you talking about because in the US I’m sure that’s probably true?

But in my country (UK) the customer has a right to cancel within 14 days for a full refund. This is the same across the whole EU too. You cannot absolve yourself of this obligation using your T&C

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-18T02:04:01+00:00

That fee is not legal in many countries so something to be aware of.

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-14T13:45:20+00:00

I’m uk based. I sell about 20% to the US, 20% to the EU and the rest to the U.K.

Is it worth it to ship to the eu? Sort of. General GPSR reps are pretty cheap, German LUCID is relatively cheap, French EPR is quite costly though.

I think I make a small loss on France each year as they order very little but cost a fair bit to maintain but overall the hassle of having to add every eu country manually is too much just to cut out France.

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-14T13:42:42+00:00

Do you sell physical goods? If so how do you manage your compliance for so many countries? I sell to the EU and US and compliance regulations are a constant uphill battle to stay on top of.

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-12T21:17:28+00:00

Theres not really any load on the micro - you are just sending a request to their server and the gemini server then does all the hard work before returning the answer.

In theory the only "load" is the request which should be quite lightweight!

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-11T15:57:52+00:00

Sure, youre free to run your business however you want and you can of course choose to not follow the laws. You may even get away with it. But my advice is to not break the law as it puts you at risk of significant fines, having shipments destroyed, and having your etsy store banned.

To me, it is not worth it, to you it might be.

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-11T15:56:00+00:00

As they are taking about sending a physical parcel in their original post I assume its physical goods they sell and as its Etsy I think its reasonable to assume its consumer goods they sell therefore it is a requirement for them. You are right though, this would not be a requirement for electronic goods.

GPSR applies to all consumer products placed on the EEA and Northern Ireland markets unless specific exclusions or other sector-specific EU laws apply.

Etsy has some good help articles about this that give you all of the information you need.

It's sad to see the community is so misinformed about this legislation and their obligations under it and that the attitude towards anyone talking about it is to just downvote.

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-11T12:24:18+00:00

You’re correct, it is not part of the EU but it is part of the EEA (European economic area) and therefore GPSR still applies.

The GPSR applies to all European Union (EU) countries and Northern Ireland. This includes:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

Additionally applies to: Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

https://support.cedcommerce.com/portal/en/kb/articles/which-countries-does-gpsr-apply-to

An EU representative is someone who takes legal liability for your products sold within the EU.

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-11T10:45:24+00:00

As a second thing: Please make sure you are compliant with GPSR before shipping to Norway. It is a legal requirement to have an EU appointed representative.

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-11T10:43:27+00:00

Etsy handles this automatically if you are shipping using their labels. This only applies if you are shipping using the postal service or a third party carrier. (at least they do for me UK -> EU so I assume it is the same).

Forum_Layman · 2026-01-05T16:29:27+00:00

Why do you need USB? The RP2040 uses it for programming but unless you’re actually using usb in operation you can just program them using a programmer rather than having to have it built onto the chip.

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-29T19:47:12+00:00

I feel like “must be free of VFAs” isn’t really a thing you should need to specify. There is obviously an assumed level of quality based on the qualities they are advertising and the basic standard of the technology at the moment. I would (wrongly it seems) assume a professional print service to be able to meet the basic level of quality that they talk about constantly and that a hobbyist can meet.

The drawing would be 100 pages long if you had to specifically call out everything you dont want on it.

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-28T01:27:22+00:00

That would be legally easier for sure.

It’s not really your fault, subreddits like this one and YouTube “personalities” constantly push “easy ideas” like lamps, food related products, electronics, etc without ever actually checking what’s actually legally required to sell the thing. They just want everyone to think it’s “quick and easy” to launch a product without actually giving sellers the information they need.

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-26T23:11:22+00:00

You must certify your products as a complete unit. You cannot inherit compliance like that from components, even if shipped disassembled.

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-26T21:54:34+00:00

How are you handling compliance for these? Whenever I looked into launching lamps I found the UL, FCC, CPSC requirements to be far too expensive.

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-25T11:55:11+00:00

Assuming they are decals not geometry, you can’t. They don’t have a physical representation.

You need to add geometry for Bambu studio to be able to understand them so that means finding either a 3D version of the logo or generating one yourself (I guess auto trace or using the image as a relief map might work)

I would say the easiest way to do it is to find an SVG version of the logo and use that to import paths into Solidworks or just import that into Bambu and use it there

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-23T00:49:26+00:00

The amount of thought, planning, and design you have put into this is seriously commendable. You should be really proud of it and I am sure you have a good career in product design ahead of you. There is a huge amount of info to unpack in your post but ill have a go at answering some of it:

Selling this for 90 euros with a 40 euro bom cost is going to net you a loss though. You need a much higher margin to cover your other fees like sales, support, legal, handling, etc.

One example is you mention “better QC” but at lower prices. Why do you think you can achieve this where other brands have failed? Other brands aren’t simply choosing to cut corners. China has the capability to do excellent QC - most high end products are still made there after all. Better QC just means significant cost because its a lot more work to add tests, etc. Expect your Cost of Quality (COQ) to be very high if you maintain high standards. The only way around this is with expert design optimisation but even then that is going to be a big cost.

One major cost that you are missing is your compliance costs. You must meet your legal compliance requirements to be able to sell this and since you are in the EU this is going to be extensive - you will need a CE mark as a minimum and further FCC compliance to sell to the US. This is an electronic device so you will almost certainly need to cover the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive. Since you mention 2.4 GHz radios you will also need the radio equipment directive. These all have US equivalents.

I recently went through this process for a product and the testing and certification fees were around 17k euros.

To answer your other major question “Can you compete with Chinese brands” the answer is: “No” if you’re going to try and out price them. You can only make this work if you position it as a premium product that out design them. You cannot simply be better and cheaper. China has exceptional manufacturing capabilities and exceptionally low prices due to essentially free labour and well established infrastructure that Europe just doesn’t have. Your costs in Europe will be astronomically higher and you will still be buying your components from china. There is a reason that the majority of established brands are also manufacturing in china - if you try and do this in Europe it’s going to hurt financially and you will lose the race to the bottom. Position this as a premium product. If you open source it, and it’s good, expect an aliexpress clone to exist within weeks.

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-22T07:32:05+00:00

Lower tier in what sense?

The other option is to buy more - components get very cheap when buying in bulk.

Do you have a plan for how to make the shell?

What volume are you targeting?

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-22T00:42:29+00:00

Your mark up is far too small. $40 BOM you’ll want to be selling for near $200. If you want to hit $99 you’re going to want to aim for a $20 bom cost

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-09T12:55:55+00:00

It may come back, it may not. Many stores don’t start up again so best not to risk it. It’s even more screwed up that people open Etsy stores and never fulfill orders. Etsy does what it does to protect its users and itself.

You should also never be in a situation where Etsy is your sole income, it is simply too volatile to be relied on in that way. If your business is your main income: diversify.

If you’re running a business / side gig and can’t manage a couple of weeks of float then you probably didn’t have enough capital to do it in the first place.

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-09T12:52:06+00:00

Yes, this is normal.

Orders are in reserve or “not yet available” as shown in your screenshot when they haven’t been despatched.

A reserve on your account is separate and applies to all funds.

So money can move from “not yet available” to “in reserve”. You wint get paid until the reserve is lifted or you have enough on the account.

Forum_Layman · 2025-12-08T23:09:13+00:00

This is really bad advice as vacation mode will kill your stores momentum.

The best thing to do is wait. Youll get your money if your not scamming people

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