Anno shop questions - look inside if you're into custom markers

[shatter_storm]

What do you guys look for in a custom anno shop? What's the minimum and maximum level of service you'd expect when you send your marker in? Would you deal only with paintball-geared anno shops or would you take your business to a commercial plant? How about a home brew setup?

Obviously, quick turnaround is nice, but how long would you wait for your marker to be anodized? Would you pay extra to have it done within a week?
Would you put up with having to pull the marker apart yourself before you send it in?

Would you send your stuff to a shop that only does single color? How about a limited selection of colors?

I'm asking because I've got a home-made anodizing line set up for myself. I've done a few projects but nothing major and nothing fancy. At some point in the future I'd like to expand what I do enough so I could offer it as a service to the general paintballing community - but I'm not about to invest more money into it unless people would be willing to put up with just the basics.

Thanks for any and all replies.

[SuiciDal Sn Y p ER]

Reliability
People want great ano jobs at a decent price.
Samples is what many people ask for (pictures of fades, splashes, acid washes, etc.)
Many people want to stand out and try to go for a custom look. So you might want to experiment :)

1 week turnaround is GREAT, so great that extra money should be paid.
2-3 weeks is the normal turnaround time

Communication
Costomers want to know what is going on with their marker. So keep in contact with them or send them a email every few days to update them

Quality
The anodizing has to be good. No chipping or any damage from stripping the ano.
(Package the parts well, shipping isn't always reliable)

Price
If you charge $300 for some ano people might as well buy themselves a new shiny marker
Make it within a reasonable range. Have a set limit on how many parts someone can send in. The more parts they want anodized, the more money.

Don't have any hidden charges. Tell your costomers exactly what you're doing and exactly how much it's gonna cost em.
Price for stripping, price for fades, fast turnaround, how much just to anodize a barrel, etc

Garage anodizing - don't be surprised if people are hesitant at first. I'd be scared to send my baby to a garage anodizing also. Get feedback, show samples, maybe you can have your previous costomers share their experiances with others.

Always give the costomer a way to contact you

[Bad_Dog]

ease:
when you're someone like me and you've got some idea how the process works but dont understand it completely, a simple explination by someone about whats goping to happen and how long to expect to wait, and all that information is very usefull (like an overview).

communication:
when you pay someone for a sirvice or work to be done on a piece of your marker, its always good to be updated (daily if possible) on the status of your parts... I know that I personally go nuts when I'm left in the blue wondering about my stuff.

[NJPaint]

It really depends on the quality of work you pump out. I've seen home anodizers that really shouldn't be doing anything with acid. Then again, when my brother's friend started experimenting with it, I wouldn't trust him with my e-mag, but minor stuff here and there was alright. (drops and the likes). Anyways, you need a selling point. Having fast turn around time is a HUGE plus (some places have no guarenteed return). Price is another factor and then of course quality. You can easily get extremely high level annos at a fast speed if you pay $500. You can get a quick anno for cheap, but the quality will lack. And you can get a cheap, quality anno, but you gotta wait months.

So here is my simple way of putting it, three things: Speed, Price and Quality. The GENERAL rule of thumb is that you can only have two of those three. The trick for business is to fit into one of those "2 of 3 niches" or go for the trump, all three. The only way to make money is to be the best in one of those niches, or beat everyone out (requiring more than likely a fairly extensive setup.

[slade]

you should only go for it if you can do an acidwash and fade job. anyone can look online and figure out how to do a single color ano job, but if you can do a more complex ano reliably then go for it. as for the other questions, everyone else seemed to answer perfectly.

[thecavemankevin]

2-3 week turn around is normal and customers likely would be erked if they have to wait any longer.

Fades and dust style ano's are a must right now due to current trends. Decent price packages are needed too. For instance all of the gun parts plus like three/four pieces (2 piece barrel and drop) for one price makes sense.

Quality and reputation is key. therefore, if this is a garage style annodizer (which i don't have a problem with if it is good stuff) you might have to do some heavily discounted jobs at first in order to build a rep. You will also want a nice web site with samples of your work.

communication is also a necessity because ballers want to know when their junk is going to be done.

Most ballers know how to completly disassemble their stuff, so if you charge extra for disassembly then i don't see the problem with that. Same for stripping the current ano off. If you charge a small fee for stripping, i also don't see a problem with that.

If you are up and running and willing to do a gun in a month or so, i want to get my gun reannoed (if you can do white dust like those vikings) pm me. I might be willing to be one of your first customers

[slade]

yeah, if youre willing do do a red/black acidwash for cheap to build up your reputation pm me ;)

[Tunaman]

ease:
when you're someone like me and you've got some idea how the process works but dont understand it completely, a simple explination by someone about whats goping to happen and how long to expect to wait, and all that information is very usefull (like an overview).

communication:
when you pay someone for a sirvice or work to be done on a piece of your marker, its always good to be updated (daily if possible) on the status of your parts... I know that I personally go nuts when I'm left in the blue wondering about my stuff.Daily updates? You are kidding right? Chill and let the guy do his work. Who has time for daily updates? ;)

[Willystyle21]

How's you anno business going. I want my Xmag annoed. What's your normal cost for it?