Optimum acrylic

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Terry Hart cpf

Terry Hart cpf

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Sep 23, 2003
Posts
2,087
Loc
Excelsior, MN
I've never sold it but I'm going to go ahead & get my freebie & do a sample. Couple of questions about it. First, does it cut the same as the other acrylic varieties using the score & snap method or is it more difficult? The tiny scratch test sample somehow feels harder. Is it more brittle & prone to cracking away from the score? And regarding pricing, what are you doing? It seems to be about 2 3/4x the price of museum glass. Are you selling it for that much more? Or do you find you have to use a lesser mark up than museum glass? I guess I can see possibly using a lesser make up as the profit could still be pretty attractive (assuming no screw ups)
 
optium museum acrylic

Terry,

We sell a lot of it and have had no issues with breaking or scratching. I love the fact there is no static charge. We price it based on our costs....so you'll need to do the same.....

Sue Davis, aka Gadgetgal,
Master Framers, St. Paul, MN
 
I love this stuff! Easy to use. Even the barrier paper comes off easier than the OP3 or regular acrylic I sometimes use. It is a bit of a hard sell sometimes because it is expensive.

Since I am having a much easier time fitting, have next to 0 chance of damage or waste, I am willing to make less of a markup in order to use it instead of OP3 or another alternative. Most of the time we are talking about large, oversize items where weight is a significant consideration.

I usually quote it full price, then after the gasp, offer to discount it since it will not only be the best option but will make my life much easier. I usually discount it to the point that it is 10-15% more than Museum Glass.

Maybe I am a chump, but I am really satisfied with a job that is easy instead of hard and which allows me to make plenty on the glazing, while selling a high-end frame. I often make more on the glazing than I would normally make on a frame and regular glazing. I easily exceed my margins on the job, which is how I measure success. I see it as the rare win-win.
 
wvframer said:
I usually quote it full price, then after the gasp, offer to discount it since it will not only be the best option but will make my life much easier. I usually discount it to the point that it is 10-15% more than Museum Glass.
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Wow, that is quite a discount. If it seals a big sale, but if my math is right, like I say, looks like it's 2 3/4 times the cost of museum glass. Anyone else going this deep to sell it? I'd think I'd want to sell it for double of museum glass. One slip up, & they do happen....................................
 
I got the same call from Tru-Vue today and asked to
be sent the sample. Of the three suppliers we have
who carry it, last I checked, only one would cut it.
It gave me pause that the other two were too spooked
to even try. I'll be interested to see what others say
about it here.
 
Terry Hart cpf said:
Wow, that is quite a discount. If it seals a big sale, but if my math is right, like I say, looks like it's 2 3/4 times the cost of museum glass. Anyone else going this deep to sell it? I'd think I'd want to sell it for double of museum glass. One slip up, & they do happen....................................
Click to expand...

If it costs that much more than museum glass, and I have to discount it down to just above the price of museum glass, I would be losing a lot of money on this product every time I sold it. I can't markup my museum glass that much, it just doesn't sell then. Believe me, I tried. (With our pricing, messing up a piece of museum glass = money lost on the glass portion of that sale, so we are VERY careful.)

I think I'll pass.
 
I would like Jim Miller to chime in on this. I have found his strategy of pricing Museum Glass in relation to CC glass interesting, though I've yet to follow his example and would like to see how he approaches Optima Acrylic pricing.
 
Dave said:
I would like Jim Miller to chime in on this. I have found his strategy of pricing Museum Glass in relation to CC glass interesting...
Click to expand...

Well, OK.

I stock Museum Optium Acrylic and love it for DCO (Direct Contact Overlay) mounting. It is truly amazing stuff. Its abrasion resistant surfaces, anti-static properties, and optical coatings make it easy to use and almost invisible in the finished framing. When I frame a document, textile, or whole newspaper using a Museum Optium Acrylic DCO, it looks like it is just floating by levitation, and it is simpler & easier to construct than most other frame assemblies. The labor savings of a DCO offsets a good part of the price difference for the 99% UV filtering Optium, and it is worth every penny of the retail price I charge for it.

The pricing strategy I use is the same as for Museum Glass. That is, I price it to yield three times more gross margin than same-sized Conservation Clear. Note: That is not a 3X markup. It is 3X more gross margin dollars, which scamper directly to the Net Profit line on the Income Statement.
 
The way Jim said it makes more sense (he nearly always makes more sense than I do), but that is essentially how I am pricing it. It is worth noting that now is a good time to try it.

There is a very generous rebate offer from TV. The way it was explained to me this afternoon, the rebate applies on a pro-rated basis even if you buy it cut to size from your distributor. I think the offer is on for several months.

I know I sound like I work for them, but I don't. I just love the stuff and think everybody ought to give it a try.
 
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