Selling Prints: Expectations, Failures and Disclosures

Selling a print turns a hobby result into a promise to someone else. Many problems start with a gap between what the buyer imagined and what arrived. This lesson covers closing that gap, pricing in the prints that fail, and telling buyers what the material can and cannot do. It is general information, not legal or tax advice; rules for selling goods vary by country and state.

Set expectations the print can meet

• Photograph your own prints. Show the actual item made on your printer, in good light and from close up, not a render. If FDM layer lines are visible, the photo should show them.
• Say how it is made. "3D printed in PLA" tells the buyer to expect layer lines on curves and a slightly textured surface. Resin prints have finer detail but may show small marks where supports were removed.
• Give real dimensions. State the overall size in the units your buyers use. For anything that has to fit, state what it fits and that fit depends on the buyer's measurement.
• Describe what is included. Painted or raw, assembled or in parts, hardware included or not.
• Describe variation honestly. If parts are printed to order, small differences between items are normal. Say so.

Lead times you can keep

Printing time is easy to underestimate once you add failures, finishing, curing and packing. Quote from your own records, not from the slicer's print time alone.

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule requires a reasonable basis for any shipping time you state or imply. If you state no time, you must expect to ship within 30 days, or 50 days when the buyer applies to you for credit to pay for the order. If you find you cannot ship on time, you must tell the buyer before the promised time runs out, give a revised date, and offer the choice to accept the delay or cancel for a prompt refund. If you cannot ship anything, the refund is the full amount the buyer paid, including shipping and handling. Other countries have their own consumer rules; check the ones that apply to you and your buyers.

Failed prints are overhead

Every printer fails sometimes: a print detaches, a support breaks, a spool runs out. Those failures use material, energy and machine time, and the only place that cost can be recovered is the price of the prints that succeed. Treat them as part of the cost of doing business rather than as bad luck on one order.

1. Log every print. Date, file, material, settings, pass or fail, and why it failed.
2. Work out your rate. Failed prints divided by all prints, over enough jobs to mean something Measure it.
3. Price it in. The Print cost calculator on the Calculators page has a failure allowance field for exactly this. Working Out What a Print Really Costs explains the arithmetic.
4. Look for patterns. If one file or one material fails often, fix the cause. Formlabs notes that more layers mean more chances for something to go wrong, so long, fine prints deserve a larger allowance.

The SBA distinguishes fixed costs, which stay the same whatever you produce, from variable costs that rise with each unit. Failures behave like a variable cost: more prints, more failures. Track them per job, not as a lump.

Tell buyers what the material can take

A buyer cannot see what a print is made of, and most do not know that plastics differ. A clear material note helps prevent "it broke" and "it melted" complaints:

Material	What to tell the buyer, based on Prusa's general material guides Rule of thumb
PLA	Softens and can deform above about 60 °C, so keep it out of hot cars, dishwashers, sunny windows and away from heaters. It is brittle and can snap if dropped or bent. It degrades in UV light, so it is not for outdoor use.
PETG	Tougher and more heat tolerant; Prusa's guide rates PETG for most exterior use below about 80 °C.
Resin	Properties vary widely by resin. Use the resin maker's technical data sheet for heat and impact claims.

The figures come from Prusa's general material guides; individual brands and blends differ, so base your notes on the data sheet for the material you actually used. See PLA and PLA Blends, PETG and Resin Types.

Include simple care instructions with the item: how to clean it, what temperatures to avoid, and whether it is for indoor use only.

Do not call prints food safe

Prusa advises against printing dishes or other items that touch food in any filament, PLA included, because the small grooves between layers can harbor bacteria. Do not describe a print as food safe, and do not sell cups, plates or utensils as food items. Cookie cutters, planters and similar items need careful, honest wording about how they should and should not be used.

Only sell what you have the right to sell

A file you downloaded or bought usually comes with a license that says whether you may sell prints of it. Many do not allow it. Characters, logos and brand names belong to their owners. Read Model Licenses and Intellectual Property Basics before listing anything you did not design yourself.

Keep records

Keep each order's details, what you promised, when you shipped, and any messages about delays or refunds. The FTC notes that a seller who cannot show records of its shipping systems may be presumed not to have had a reasonable basis for its shipping claims. Good records also tell you which jobs make money.