Thoughts on selling B&W Piezography?

[dgberg]

Getting excited about adding another Epson solely for Piezography. Either the P6000 or P9000.
The price of the 9000 is the same as the 8000 right now which is a pretty good deal. Presently I only have several interested parties wanting these prints but I think they will sell.
Hoping to add a Print On Demand print service where my shop will do all the printing and am hoping to add Piezography prints.
My biggest concern is moving enough prints to make it worthwhile financially.
The P9000 with printer, inks and carts is $7375. The smaller P6000 for everything is $5100.
If we fill the carts with 700ml we have 7000ml of ink sitting in the printer.
More than several years worth for sure.
A better route would be to get the 350ml size for half that cost.
So the big question of the day is how many clients are out there that will pay a premium for these prints and it is a premium.
It seems that many photographers that know about Piezo are already setup to print their own.
We will be ok with one offs but our target market will be photographers selling their work online and at shows.
Thoughts?

[Bozzdivine]

Really exciting to hear about your plans for introducing Piezography to your shop! It's definitely a niche market, but the quality is hard to beat and there are certainly customers out there willing to pay a premium for that.

I think your approach of aiming at photographers selling their work online and at shows is smart. They'd be more likely to appreciate the quality difference and could justify the cost if it helps their work stand out.

As for the P6000 vs P9000, it might be worth starting with the P6000 to see how the demand is and then scaling up if necessary. The initial investment is less and it might be easier to move the volume of prints needed to make it worthwhile.

Best of luck with your venture, it's an exciting field to be in!

[dgberg]

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. I just received the quotes for inks, carts and a P6000.

[NAwlins_Contrarian]

Presumably you've considered that the Piezography website links to the Cone Editions website, which includes a service providing Piezography prints (https://www.cone-editions.com/piezography). I don't think I've seen its current listing of the sizes / prices offered. However, as a business matter, on what basis you'd compete with the company that created the system is surely worth considering.

FWIW, that website is not a model of transparency. On that basis alone you might compete.

Also, the chart (https://piezography.com/choose-piezography-printers) seems to indicate that the P6000 is compatible only with the Piezography system for printing digital negatives, not with the ones for making photo prints. The P9000 is showed with wider capability.

[dgberg]

Not sure where you got your printer info. The P6000 is compatible with the Piezo Pro inkset and carts and uses all the channels. The p9000 is still locked out on the orange and green channels as they have not been able to crack those chips. So you would end up with the same Pro inkset I will be getting with the P6000.
I already have 2 P8000's with their one chip carts.
Curious where you read that incompatible info?
If it is that list, it is not up to date. Shows only up to the 7900, 9900 models.
The link also explains how the P7000 and P9000 can be used but without their green and orange channels.

https://shop.inkjetmall.com/Piezography-Pro-Kit-350ml-for-EPSON-SureColor-P6000-P8000.html

I agree their website is not always up to date and tough to follow.

[mcbroomf]

Dan, if you buy a new P6000 it might come with the new firmware needed to read the new chips in the Epson ink cartridges.  Might be worth checking with inkjet mall that their one time chips will work OK with the new firmware.

[dgberg]

From what Jim Doyle from Shades of Paper told me the P6000 and P8000 are discontinued and no longer being manufactured so we are limited to finding one in the system. From the sounds of this they have not put any of these models out on the street with the new firmware. That sure would be a kick in the butt if I spent all that money and the refillable carts would not work. I am going to triple check before I write that check. Thanks for the heads up.

[NAwlins_Contrarian]

Not sure where you got your printer info. The P6000 is compatible with the Piezo Pro inkset and carts and uses all the channels.

I got it from the Piezography web page I linked to--using browser search-the-page for "P6000"--but upon checking again just now, indeed the P6000 as listed for Piezography prints. Either I was tired and had a major brain lapse (seems likely), or they've changed the website since I checked it (not impossible). Regardless, the P6000 is there now, so I withdraw my previous caution.

[dgberg]

Quite a few areas of their website that don't seem up to date.
Can never be too cautious.

[Jeff Magidson]

Dan: Were you able to get Piezography up and running? I was thinking about converting one of my printers or shopping out some prints.

[dgberg]

No I went another direction and ended up purchasing the new Epson P5370. (Love it) The cost was getting out of hand for a dedicated B&W unit and it was getting harder to find a P6000. Refillable carts and 700ml ink for all channels plus the printer was pushing $5000 really hard. I miss that it is not 24" but can now use the 5370 for color and B&W.