Hello All,

I am hoping that I'm posting this in the correct portion of the boards, as I didn't know if this counted as Hot Stamping or Dye Sub.

Is the Ballstars 5500 classified as a hot stamping machine? The basic functions are the same, but for it to work correctly you have to buy Ballstars transfer paper, their printer, and their treated balls to stamp on to. So if you have to buy all the special materials, is it then considered sublimation?

We have a BallStars 5500 machine that my boss bought locally from a woman who had purchased a package deal from the company. She sold us the machine and some of the accessories only, we didn't get the entirety of what came with the package deal. She had convinced him that we could use our regular sublimation materials to make it work, that of course wasn't the case.

For a while we contemplated getting into starting it up, but we just really haven't had the time to order all the extra pieces and set it up. And now we are doing major renovations to our building, and like with our Suregrave Rotation S(Dahlgren),

(www.engravingetc.org/forum/discussion.php?webtag=EE&msg=5845.1)

this machine is just sitting in it's box taking up space and needs to go.

The only problem is that I can't get a straight answer from Ballstars about how much JUST the machine and the few extras we have cost.

Has anyone purchased one of these machines that could give me an estimate about what they are worth, so I can get an idea what to mark it down to, so that we can sell it.

Any help or guidance in selling this machine would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Eliza

Why don't you have someone else call up Ballstars to get a quote on a new machine? That should give you a sense of where to start. If Ballstarts doesn't want to give you a price on new equipment, maybe they are getting out of the equipment business and focusing on the fulfillment and service end of things.

You may want to do a search on some of the past discussions here about Ballstars and their tactics. This may be a tough place to sell that machine.

Thank you. I'm still trying to learn to navigate the forum here. I don't think they are trying to get out of the business, the man who I spoke with at Ballstars was one I had met at one of the tradeshows that was trying to get my boss to buy the extra equipment that went with it. When I told him my boss wanted to sell it, he went from being the sugary sweet he had been to a bit gruff and short. And said that they weren't in the habit of buying back machines (even if they've never been used as this one hasn't.) or helping people sell them. And their website is no help at all.

But there was a wearhousing website that had some of the pieces on it, so I think I've found a good starting point.

I will check out those other threads.

Thank you again.

Eliza,

This thread details the controversy surrounding Ballstars:

http://engravingetc.org/forum/index.php?webtag=EE&msg=4161.1

Opportunists, or simply a company playing hardball, in today's business climate?

Read and draw your own conclusions.