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Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

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Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#61

Post by primitivesuave »

Reading the article gave me the impression that this was going to be cheaper than going to a framer. I plugged in some numbers and settings for an almost identical 36 x 24 frame I had made a couple months ago, and the price was about the same ($200). It also seems like you can't make larger frames (beyond 36 x 24), which is where about 80% of my frame expenditures go to. I once paid that same framer a lot to frame, deliver, and hang a 4' x 9' piece of art. If you could make a frame and ship it to me for less, and I could use the cute interface to do it, I'll hang it myself and not have to spend all that time interacting with a framer.

Maybe I am subject to some sampling bias here, but people who spend real money on frames usually have large custom framing needs.

It also seems like shipping contributes a lot to the price, have you thought about offering an option to deliver the frame unassembled with a lower shipping rate? I'm sure it costs less to mail a long square tube than a flat box.

I liked reading about how this idea captivated you - best of luck with it!

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#62

Post by jhubball »

noir_lord wrote: post #59

Have you considered letting the customer upload an image of their artwork so they can get an idea of what it will look like even better?. Love the UX btw.

yes, working on it, and right now can do it manually if someone emails the site or uses the chat box. very nice and richer experience when you have the image (e.g. - https://www.levleframes.com/artists/joey-roth/frame?levle_id...)

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#63

Post by jhubball »

stevelosh wrote: post #30

Will these frames work with mounted photo prints like styrene or masonite mounted prints from https://www.whcc.com/products/prints/photographic-prints#det... ? All I can find in the FAQ is "Artwork should be paper-based".

Haven't seen that yet but we can probably accomodate -- would just need you to email/chat and specify what you are framing.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#64

Post by vinceguidry »

It's rapidly becoming a pet peeve of mine whenever someone calls an unexpectedly hard domain and the appropriately high-priced businesses that grew around servicing problems in that domain a "racket". It's just plain intellectual laziness.

My mom recently finished a framing seminar that cost her a lot of money to go to, invested a ton in equipment, and talked my ear off for two hours about why custom framing costs so much and why there's only a handful of framers in any area, and it gave me the impression that this isn't a market that's going to be disrupted any time soon.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#65

Post by nayton »

This is becoming a very competitive space recently, We launched http://www.mountary.com in March (yes I am a founder) to address the same problem and have been shipping orders across the US for that amount of time. A lot of people we have dealt with wouldn't know where to start when looking to frame a piece. We are making it super easy.

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#66

Post by noir_lord »

jhubball wrote: post #62
noir_lord wrote: post #59

Have you considered letting the customer upload an image of their artwork so they can get an idea of what it will look like even better?. Love the UX btw.

yes, working on it, and right now can do it manually if someone emails the site or uses the chat box. very nice and richer experience when you have the image (e.g. - https://www.levleframes.com/artists/joey-roth/frame?levle_id... )

Yeah that is pretty much what I was thinking.

Also might be cool to have a variety of stock images of different types for those who don't have the image but can try it with something similar :).

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#67

Post by drone »

To the OP, have you seen Pictureframes.com? I ask, because if you spend a few minutes here:

http://www.pictureframes.com/personal-frame-shop/set-size

... you can quote a custom frame for a 20x16" print, with no mat, a black wood 7/8" frame, and "standard glazing" (which by that, I presume you mean acrylic) for $61.55.

If the effort is just to be inexpensive, I think long-time online custom retailers like pictureframes, and related (whom I've been buying my frames and mats from for years) may be able to beat you there. Certainly, if I switch to a metal frame, the price starts dropping.

Now, if you're focusing on a better user experience, that could certainly use some improving with existing sites, but I don't know that you're really disrupting the price of online custom frames?

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#69

Post by dj-wonk »

vinceguidry wrote: post #64

It's rapidly becoming a pet peeve of mine whenever someone calls an unexpectedly hard domain and the appropriately high-priced businesses that grew around servicing problems in that domain a "racket". It's just plain intellectual laziness. My mom recently finished a framing seminar that cost her a lot of money to go to, invested a ton in equipment, and talked my ear off for two hours about why custom framing costs so…

It is hard for people to understand why custom framing costs so much. Can you explain why it is often so expensive?

Re: Why I took on building a better way to frame any poster, print or photo

#70

Post by jhubball »

dj-wonk wrote: post #69
vinceguidry wrote: post #64

It's rapidly becoming a pet peeve of mine whenever someone calls an unexpectedly hard domain and the appropriately high-priced businesses that grew around servicing problems in that domain a "racket". It's just plain intellectual laziness. My mom recently finished a framing seminar that cost her a lot of money to go to, invested a ton in equipment, and talked my ear off for two hours about why custom framing costs so…

It is hard for people to understand why custom framing costs so much. Can you explain why it is often so expensive?

So it's traditionally been a very high-touch service with the need for retail overhead. Most frame shops carry way too many supplies/options, and outsource a portion of the work (which accounts for the delay). They are also geographically limited in terms of the business they can do, and get most of it on the weekends when people have time to stop by. So there's a lot of margin in the price above the cost of the components. Having said that, custom framers can do amazing things, and the word "racket" was used mainly for the headlines. The fit for Levle is creating a super high-quality and great looking frame for that $20-$60 print or poster that doesn't need the expertise of a master framer.
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