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My brother and I figured out a way to make a nice lava table that's very durable and easy to ship (only 1/2 inch thick base), so we made one for e-bay. I'm interested in what people think its worth. What does a 4x6 painted table go for? We have some ideas for other themed tables as well. Thanks!

Tables are tempting purchases until you figure out shipping. Even if light, it tends to take a big box, and bigger boxes cost more, even if they are light. It is the issue of "is this cool enough to pay for PLUS shipping?" I don't know what that price point is, personally.

That's nice and all, but I don't know that I would pay for a table
made out of puzzle floor mats. At least, I wouldn't pay that much.
If I paid for a table, it would be because the work is so much
better than what I could do myself.

If you need a number I might give you 10 bucks for the floor pieces.

 Mattlov wrote:
Tables are tempting purchases until you figure out shipping. Even if light, it tends to take a big box, and bigger boxes cost more, even if they are light. It is the issue of "is this cool enough to pay for PLUS shipping?" I don't know what that price point is, personally.

I found this out the hard way when ordering Battlefoam trays. Shipping is how much for a few grams of foam?

 malfred wrote:
That's nice and all, but I don't know that I would pay for a table
made out of puzzle floor mats. At least, I wouldn't pay that much.
If I paid for a table, it would be because the work is so much
better than what I could do myself.

If you need a number I might give you 10 bucks for the floor pieces.

I didn't realize that until your post.

I probably wouldn't pay more than like 10 bucks for the floor pieces.. Though to be fair, Walmart is charging 18.97 for a 6 piece Gold's Gym puzzle mat... which looks almost exactly like yours. Did you paint it? or just smooth everything out, carve the lava flows, and paint those?

Does the underside of the board have a textured surface?

Note: I like the idea, innovative for sure, and you're right it is a nice, cheap way to do build a lava board.

I love the idea. I think I'm gonna give this a go myself at some point.

Which means I personally wouldn't buy a finished one.

You aren't going to make good money selling tables.

If I were you, I would focus more on the terrain people put on the table....

Unless I want to game Anakin vs. Obi-Wan, there's not much draw for a lava world for me. Neat use of the mats though for storage.

And there are no couches to jump across from. Everyone knows you need couches to jump to when the floor is made of lava.

12thRonin wrote:
Unless I want to game Anakin vs. Obi-Wan, there's not much draw for a lava world for me. Neat use of the mats though for storage.

And there are no couches to jump across from. Everyone knows you need couches to jump to when the floor is made of lava.

Huh. I used to do that, too!

That's an awesome idea for a table. Knowing shat it's made of I'd think it'd go for $90-100 before shipping. Although TBH I'd probably just make one myself. Shipping on that has got to be a beast just because of size.

But once again, kudos on thinking of puzzle floor tiles. Thats awesome.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 -Loki- wrote:

I found this out the hard way when ordering Battlefoam trays. Shipping is how much for a few grams of foam?

Yeah totally. With Battlefoam a $20 tray is never a $20 tray. Order in bulk to avoid the buyer's remorse. I just got some trays and I found myself wanting one more, but buying one tray makes me sad.

The matts we used were green originally, so they're painted black. Because its thin, shipping is about $35 on the whole thing, which isn't great obviously, but isn't as bad as most. Still, I think the issue is that most people enthusiastic enough to buy it could make it themselves, as was pointed out. I think it has a lot going for it because of the ease of storage and the durability factor. I can't decide if I the "zipper" bugs me or not - with terrain on it it isn't too obvious.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
If you were going to buy a complete table, what kind of features would you look for, other than just complete awesomeness?

For shipping materials, you could stack the foam peices, put carboard on the sides to protect it, then shrink wrap it up real tight. UPS and FedEx will ship this way (at least they used too).

But its still large, so shipping is going to kill your profit margin.

The storage potential for these is awesome though.

People have used them for ship games before. Blue tiles = blue water!