BadgeAminit, Badge-A-Minit - whichever way you spell it. Is badge a minit worth it?
This is a guest article written by The Button Guy. Checkout his blog TheButtonGuy.net
Badge-A-Minit products are prominent in the market place and if ever you purchased something from badgeaminit, they are like old friends, they literally send you an email a day with a 10% of this or 20% of that. What amazes me is when their prices are 200 - 300% more expensive, how do they sell anything, even at 10% off. Basically they are going for the hobby market it seems to me. They sell button parts in 100's rather than 500's and 1000's so their pricing is geared to low volume. The buttons themselves are no different.
Prices taken from the Badge-A-Minit website. 1st November 2012
| 2 1/4" Pin-Back Sets | ||
| Sets | Regular Price | Sale Price |
| 100 | $45.95 | $35.95 |
| 250 | $114.95 | $69.95 |
| 500 | $229.95 | $116.95 |
| 1000 | $459.95 | $186.95 |
| 2000 | $922.95 | $335.95 |
| 5000 | $2307.95 | $809.95 |
| 10,000 | $4614.95 | $1539.95 |
| 25,000 | $11536.95 | $3773.95 |
On this day standard button parts are $21.95 / 100 $54/100 $81/1000 ........ I don't think I need continue.
The next question has got to be around their hobby kits. These kind of nasty plastic rings that you move around and squeeze together with another nasty plastic hand or bench press. I have spent a lot of time and effort trying to get these to work consistently. I can sometimes even make 3 in a row and then the 4th goes wrong. Other days I have just been unable to make a single button that is cleanly and properly crimped.
The BadgeAminit cut-a-circle gadgets are also another plastic gadget that has problems. Yes it cuts circle out of paper but what about a simple guide to help you centre the image. With all the plastic moulding going on they forgot to devise a way to centre the image. If you use a real circle cutter it shows you the exact window you are going to cut before you cut.
Badge-A-Minit Cut-A-Circle are cheap but have fundamental problems.
Lastly we can talk about the Badge-A-Minit metal button makers and I have used and tested all three sizes (BadgeAminit only make 1-1/4", 2-3/8" and 3") and the metal button makers work well. No problem! But look at the price, they are simply too much money and not as sturdy as a good old solid metal button maker. They've also got the same issue as the hobby button making kits above; that they take non-standard button sizes so YOU CANNOT USE STANDARD BUTTON PARTS.
Lastly I come to the "Piece de la resistance" "The Creme de la Creme." The BadgeAminit electric button machines. Well in all honesty I'm not going to comment. The $1200 price tag is enough. OK I will give you one small gem: When I received my sample BadgeAminit professional electric button maker kit the "automatic, professional, mostly plastic, plug in, electric circle cutter" it had a big label on it that read, "Wait 5 seconds before inserting the next button." That means for every 1000 buttons you make you spend more than 1-1/2 hours just waiting. I rest my case, with a good button maker you can make at least 2 or even 3 badges a minute not just a Badge-A-Minit.
But I know some people, somewhere must like Badge-A-Minit so if you have had a good experience with BadgeAminit please write and tell me about it. If loads of people write maybe I missed the point and should go back and test Badge-A-Minit stuff again.
Checkout my blog: Lot's of tips, advice, resources and videos for button makers. The Button Guy