Discussion thread for the March update:
do you know how hard it is to clean up after kittens explode, let me tell you.
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With the upcoming raise in prices, I would like to know if the original offer of $500 including shipping for a tube replacement (or probably a refurb in exchange) is still going to be honored. My basic which is inching up on being 5 years old, will eventually fail and it will be nice to be prepared.
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it really seems like you’re trying to discourage people from buying a basic. the price for the basic has gone from $2500 to $3000 to $4000. the plus and pro have gone up $1000 total since release. this price hike bumps the basic cost up 33% and the pro up 16%. GF is moving away from entry level.
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FSL’s clone of the Glowforge Basic costs $5000+ today. Gweike’s clone straight from the China factory is $3150 on up. Makebox Laserbox, which is what that looks like when someone imports and brands it, is $3700+. Glowforge at $4000 including US-based support and warranty is still very much entry level to me. What the price increase says to me is that the margins aren’t there at $2500 – which would be hard to imagine with today’s input costs and supply chain, and especially with today’s shipping costs. Every time Glowforge has to swap a machine under warranty, it now costs them $600ish, where a few years ago it was under $400… before you factor in a penny for the actual hardware being shipped and repaired/replaced. About $300 of the price increase since 2019 is simply inflation – loss of purchasing power of the dollar – as well.
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I believe so - let me check with the team.
Unfortunately the cost to build all three units went up (by over $1,000) - so it’s not so much us implementing a clever strategy as us just doing the addition. 
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if that’s truly the case, then the plus and pro have always been overpriced comparatively to the basic. the price difference between the three models has gone from 2.4X to 1.5X.
my point is that the cost of the basic has gone up precipitously compared to the plus/pro.
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“Overpriced” is subjective. Product pricing is only related to manufacturing cost insofar as the cost sets a floor. $3 fountain sodas at the restaurant that cost a nickel in styrofoam and 3 pennies in syrup to make and all that. A GF Plus may well cost $0 more to build than a GF Basic, nobody’s identified any hardware differences between them at least. The Pro has probably <$50 in extra hardware. So at much higher prices, they represent much higher profit margins, and they can do that because customers are assigning three and four figure values to longer warranties, faster shipping, the passthrough slots and the slightly faster cutting speed. Nothing wrong with capturing that value, and those healthier margins probably allowed them to avoid raising prices on the Basic years earlier.
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I think they were massively under-pricing the Basic originally in order to boost sales early on in order to build up the company quickly.
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I wouldn’t be surprised.
No more need for a loss leader at this point.
Makes me wonder when this company will IPO, or be acquired, so @dan can move on to his next startup.
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Never say never, but… Glowforge feels like my life’s work. I don’t plan for y’all to be rid of me any time soon. I love what I do.
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That’s a pretty cool place to be in your life! I love everything you’ve built here and kinda hope the “we’re a creation company” means new hardware (something other than a desktop laser cutter) might be in the pipeline some day.
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also possibly true. but it comes across poorly, imo. the price of the basic has actually gone up more in actual cost ($1500) than the price of the pro ($1000) over the past few years, not just percentage.
Apparently there are some free ones at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean somewhere! Who wants to launch a search? Lol
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I am also curious on This one…
Jonathan
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IMO, I should say perception, that is a reflection of the solid value in the basic. To me, 5w more and a pass-through for the price didn’t compare to the value of the entry-level. A 40w laser at the price I paid was a pipe dream. Plus the innovation of connectivity has made the machine more than it was when I bought it. I feel for those who missed out on the opportunity I had.
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Just to be “that guy”, any thoughts on that cardboard globe from the original promo we were told we’d have?
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I have not printed this. Could not find a reliable source of flat cardboard (that I was willing to pay).
Cardboard Globe.pdf (1.6 MB)
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It’s been a very rough year. Glowforge has held out exceptionally well (and long) given the challenges.
(And your attitude continues to be inspiring @dan. People need that right now. )
Hang in there. (We’re down to nubs on our fingernails.)
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Can we talk about the very “UN-Glowforge”-like step about the NFT stamps? A company and a machine that thrive on creativity and replication are endorsing the ability to manufacture ONE of something (ostensibly that you even “own”). In what world does GF want to be part of the ownership of a design that can only be made on their laser once?
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