Thank you so much for the kind words 
. well Iām definitely not the most knowledgeable with regard to e-liquid mixing or running a company 
so by sharing I get to know what mixers/users want from a service like this. so itās a win win.
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I was wondering how you get the values from the scales into the program because it doesnāt look like one with a port or interface. Are the scales and the OCR fast enough to make it a fairly quick process?
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The ideal case would have been a scale with USB or RS-232 connection. but they were either too expensive, too big or both. Yes it is fast enough. I wrote the code a few months ago so I canāt remember how fast it was exactly but it is definitely more than 20fps. It is a very simple OCR (if you can call it that). it only works with seven-segment displays and works only at a certain angle and distance of camera to the display. I first process the image so that it becomes black and white and then I read one pixel from each segment of a seven-segment digit and that way work out what the digit is. So in the image below, you can think of each blue dot as a pixel:
fortunately the pi camera has a burst mode which allows you to read images in very quick succession. This was one of the reasons I opted for a raspberry pi instead of Arduino
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OK the size of scales with an RS232 is probably an argument but Iām sure you had some moments during that process where you wished for a straight output of the values, even if it was more expensive.
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you bet I did 
. I even opened the scale to see if I can just take the wires that go to the display and instead connect them directly to the Pi. but after taking the outer casing of the scale. I couldnāt for the life of me figure out how to open the inner cover over the display. there was no screws (just like your phone). I tried really hard to just prod it open but couldnāt. Also given my lack of experience with these things, I wasnāt sure if I can make sense of the data that will be coming out of these wires from the scale. and I had some experience with image processing and recognition from a few years ago. So it actually didnāt take me that long to implement it. it took maybe 3 days.
but now the robot has gone through many iterations and I think the distance and angle of the camera is off so I might need to recalibrate it again.
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LOL 3 days is within an acceptable range for meā¦
The inside of the scales are probably just some pcb with no documentation at all, even if you could access any pins you donāt know if the data is presented in a way you can use. But i guess itās just outputting the display data itseld so youāll have to do something similar to your pxel approach anyway, who knows?
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Have a look at this channel. I have learned pretty much everything from this channel. He is my favourite Canadian at the moment 
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There is a business plan. It was one of the first things I did. Although might have to go back to it and revise it since it was written a year ago. And no I wonāt be working from home. I have already seen a few office spaces a year ago, but they were all in Greater London area and a bit expensive, so might have to look for a business park kinda place outside of London, but still within a maximum of one hour drive. Or I can relocate to midlands or some place where rent is much cheaper and I donāt have to drive two hours everyday! I have not yet given that much thought (too many other things to do still)
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Iām all advised fullfilment services, with them really all much easier?
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For example, the seller seeks to build a simple and efficient scheme of operation for his enterprise. It is often difficult for him at the start to understand how a ready-made business functions. Then there are negative feedbacks due to delays and mistakes by the staff at the assembly line. It is vital to establish a path from purchase to transfer into the hands of the consumer. But in doing so, difficulties and bad experiences should be avoided. The customer should be satisfied enough to write only positive feedback. At the beginning of the journey (and for online stores, this often remains for the entire time of their work), the company owner turns to the fulfillment house. Who solve all the issues and eliminate the problems.
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I looked into it. Based on Shopify " There are clear benefits to packing and shipping your own orders: itās flexible and cheap. For these reasons, businesses that are just starting out, and businesses that have unique product packaging needs, often handle their own logistics."
But thanks for the information, didnāt know about it. Also I have already seen a site and sort of agreed on a six month lease, starting from January 1st.
And just a quick updateā¦
we hope the website is done by mid December, although deadlines HAVE been missed! But I think it is worth it as we have spent a good amount of time thinking and experimenting how the website should work as a whole, but especially recipe creation and management. Also now the business logic can get the orders from the website and send it to the robots which fill the bottles. There is also another robot which is very similar but is instead used to refill the syringes. the design of this robot is done and I am just 3d-printing it. so production line is pretty much complete.
We have not yet given too much thought what flavour concentrates we should stock, which is a question I should ask the community soon. And please do let me know if you have any preferences (the list can be as long as you like) or any idea at all about this. you can either reply here or drop me a message.
Thanks 
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Iāll give you note on Shopify: The tracking is terrible. So, youād need to integrate your carrierās tracking into your confirmation emails. Avoids lots of hassle.
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Then good thing we use WooCommerce I guess 
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Instead of wasting your time on all the robots you should have started making your own e-liquid. To only offer 10% to a creator is awful seeing the creator has done all the work and put in more time creating it then you have playing with technology. I have spent months creating recipes and worked on some for over a year before it was perfected. And you want to just snipe from elr to profit. Why am i the only one thinking this is wrong. I have 80 private recipes for this reason. You will never pay anyone because they have no way to prove you used their recipe. Your business idea wont work in the uk. It will fail. I have created two vapes i sold and i get more royalty then you offer and they do all the work. Every month i get a report on what they sold of my creations. So i know exactly what i get. So yeah it wont work. Uk has so many distributors and manufacturers of e liquid you will be squashed. You canāt compete with the prices of most. Corner vape shop you will. But not a online retailer of e liquids. And with the vape equipment today you could never sell a mix from years ago. I hope you have a million pounds in the bank because you will need it all to stay open for 3 years before you turn a profit. Good luck but you chose the wrong business idea. It hasnt happened in a year it wont happen in the next year. In 5 years when you decide to get it up and running you will realize it will take you ten years to see a profit with all your money you put into this. Make your own juice and pedal it shops and hope they want to buy the recipe. You will make more money then maybe get your own line.
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You make a lot of unfair points.
No sure why the default cynicism! but here is how it works and itās very simple. you put your recipe on our website and every time your recipe is purchased you will receive an email about the purchase. so there is no way for us not to pay since you can easily place order from a different account and check if you get the email. and you have a panel which shows all the money you have gained from royalty so you can check it that way.
Do you really honestly think making a robot from scratch is easier than making a recipe?
you have a point regarding the royalty, but thatās because I have not yet shared the new royalty scheme. it is still 10% of the final sale price. but the royalty will always be 50% of the profit from that recipe. obviously at the beginning there will be no profit and in fact there will be losses, so thatās why it starts at 10% but will increase in line with the profit. I am HOPING that there will be a 60% profit margin down the line, so the royalty will increase to 30% of the sale price.
Originally, I was thinking that most of our customers are mixers who might wanna create new recipes without the hassle of making it at home. So, I was thinking to give discounts when you purchase your own recipe from us. But after hearing the community I realised that most people are not lazy like me and actually enjoy DIYing! So now my target customers are normal vapers who may have never done DIY before. so now instead of giving discounts on purchasing your own e-liquid, I give all the incentive in the form of royalty, regardless of who purchases your recipe.
In terms of whether a 50:50 profit split is fair, well, I think it is. I have looked at many examples. for instance, when you make an app, apple and I think also google, take a 30% cut from every download (at least they used to). now you can imagine that most of the apps in the app store are made by individuals and small companies, and their app will never or hardly become profitable. So in a way apple and google are taking 100% of the profit. Even if you get lucky and your app gets plenty of consistent downloads, apple will still end up taking the lion share of the profit. and they do absolutely nothing. all the development cost is on the developer.
On top of that, you yourself mentioned that this will not be ready even in 5 years and another 3 years to turn a profit. So which one is it, is my royalty unfair, or given that I am taking all the risks, a 50:50 profit split is fair do you think? Also I am genuinely interested how much royalty you get from your recopies that you mentioned. and whatās the name of this place?
not sure why you would say that. here is my pricing:
- Ā£2 for a 10ml bottle. although some flavour concentrates are more expensive, so some 10ml bottles might be more expensive, maybe 10p more.
- Ā£8 for a 50ml bottle.
- nicotine automatically get added to your cart if you have chosen nicotine for any of your recopies. nicotine will not be sold separately, only as part of the order, and it will cost maybe between 30 to 40p (I will not be making profit from nicotine, only from e-liquids)
And here is the prices in the UK:
Also I am thinking to give a free 5ml bottle with every Ā£10 spent. Although there is only a few select recipes that the customer can choose from since 5ml bottles are hard to produce, so I will select some recipes, make 50 ml of each and break it down to 5ml. these selected recopies will change every now and then. Also most likely free delivery for orders over Ā£20, which is pretty in line with other vendors.
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Also, wherever there is money, there is abuse. For example, someone can create a recipe almost identical to yours and get the royalty themselves. So instead any recipes that is more than 95% similar to your recipe, you will get the royalty instead of the duplicate. The 95% value is arbitrary and subjective and still subject to change.
I should also say that when I talk about recipe, I am only taking about the flavour ingredients. PG:VG ratio, nicotine type and amount, and bottle size are not part of the recipe.
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Like i said the fact you are profiting off the work of others there is no way creators will add their recipe for 10% unless you sign a contract stating the so called increase in royalty. Someone is not going to pay you to mix their recipe up at a discount. We as diy liquid makers wonāt waste our money when we are more capable of doing it ourselves. Hence the business model at the royalty you are offering isnāt worth it. Because once it fails all those recipes on your site belong to you. You would need a contract also stating when the business fails the recipe creator owns the recipe still. And it also needs to be stated you are not the owner of the recipes. But to make it even valid to someone even putting their recipe 10% royalty wonāt really work. This is why you need substantial capital to start this venture. Now if you said 30% royalty then thats getting people interested. Now on your price points they are not competitive in the uk market. You can buy a 100ml of any liquid at anytime online from Ā£3-Ā£6. No way people will buy 50ml for Ā£8. You have lost the plot. I can make 100ml for around Ā£1 and these bigger companies make 100ml for pence. Your whole idea is unproven and all speculation. You need to prove that it is a feasible idea that will turn a profit. And i can say your whole scheme and price points will not work in any country. Before you get started you need more then a few people thinking they might try you. You need to prove that there is a few thousand. Like i said your model is flawed. Studying this forum isnāt going to get your business up and running. I could give you ideas but i donāt want you wasting anymore time on this. It wonāt work. The idea is one of these flawed concepts that people go broke on.
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I also for got who is going to go to a website and plug in a recipe by picking flavors out of the air and have you mix it up for them? Do you understand how intricate building a recipe is? Because someone is going to just say one day omg this would be a awesome vape and have you mix it without ever knowing it is good. Your statement about people doing that is proof your concept will never work because no one will ever do that!!!
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Regarding some of the things you have said I feel I have already answered them.
Could you please share a link? because if this is really the case, then yes it is a problem.
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I am not sure what you mean by a contract, but it goes without a saying that all of this will be in the terms and conditions. Now how I prove how much profit I am making, I guess what I state in my termās and conditions, then I am legally bound to follow. But I donāt mind really sharing with mixers my income statements if thatās legally ok for a private company.
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