Why don't they do much smaller paint testers for like 50p or £1?

[DaBuhDeeDahBuhDye]

I dont need a tub that big. I want to try different paints to see what works in my room.

Farrow and Balls testers are £6 each. No way I'm spending £30 quid to try 5 colours! I dont need 100ml?!

(Even the 30ml dulux ones have too much paint and are still £3)

Surely to test you only need enough to paint a small patch? You could do that for £1? Just a little 10ml pack with more economical packaging?

They could be like the little sachets of tomato sauce?!

There are so many colours I would like to trial but can't.

Why would they if they can force you to spend £6 each instead? To make the small ones costs probably 50p and to make a big one costs like 80p. Why make 30p profit at £1 when you can make £5.20?

People buy them for all kind of DIY things if they are cheap and small I guess.

Because they wouldn't make a profit if they only sold them for 50p.

In short: Their profit margin.

I think people use them for arts and crafts projects too.

But surely they aren't made for profit but for people to test to see if they want to buy big tubs of their paint?

Wouldn't it make sense to offer a small satchet size for testing? The 100ml still for people who need that too?

I really wanted a F&B colour but now I will probably go elsewhere to a different brand because trying out the amount of colours i want to is too expensive.

I would probably need a couple of 5L tubs so thats a lot more to them then a couple of testers?

And is everything about profits for companies? Surely they should see the value in customers being able to try multiple shades/products?

Testers used to be 99p!

Maybe I'm just getting old (and poor 🤣)

They'd make a loss if they made them smaller and charged less. It's not just cost of the paint and pot, it's the whole production/distribution chain.

It's the same reason why the likes of fish and chip shops serve huge portions. It's because the costs are in the staffing (prep, cooking, serving, cleaning), power, cooking oil, etc. If portion sizes were halved, the selling price couldn't be halved, so people would complain. It takes staff the same time to cook and serve a small portion, uses the same oil, shop is heating/lighted the same, bank charge is the same, etc.

If a current sized small pot of trial/sample paint is, say, a fiver, you'd be even more unhappy to be asked to pay £4 for one half the size. But that's the reality of how it would be.

Of course everything is for profit, lol. That's how business works.

You can get tester cards for free with the colours on at B&Q.

I agree OP. A small sachet for £1 would be a great idea, and they could still sell the regular £6 pots for all the other uses listed here.

I agree. I’ve not bought paint from certain companies before because I don’t want to spend £30 on testers. I’ve gone to places where it a lot cheaper or they send free paint samples. I used to use a lot of Coat paints (I am a consummate redecorator!) when they offered them free but now they don’t, I don’t!

Prossibly because the paint is cheap, it us the packaging, transport etc etc that costs?

Exactly. It's not just a case of using the same machines to make sachets of paint - they have to make small tins, make the labels, set up the machines to only dispense 500ml of paint (or whatever), manufacture enough samples of each colour to make it worth running the machine, pay to load them up and transport them - it costs a bomb and I would bet that £3 or whatever is barely breaking even as it is.

Remember the cost isn’t the paint, it’s manufacturing costs, container, distribution

My mind is boggling at the idea of the mess, spillage and wastage of have with a sachet of paint.

You're absolutely right OP. I think the cost would have to be a bit higher, maybe £1 to £1.50, but the paint manufacturers aim should be to secure a much larger sale. It's a marketing opportunity for them, and they are lucky if they are in the small mix of paints to be considered. Cost neutral would be the way to go at best, and I think your idea of sauce sachets is inspired. People could still buy the tester pots for touching up. I have been in this situation only this weekend, so I sympathise!

ETA a paint chart (when you can get them) or a screen shot are never as accurate as a sample.

Not at all - just cut the top, squeeze it onto a plate or something, and paint - far less waste than a plastic tub of paint which has only had a tiny amount used and then has to be disposed of properly.

I bought four dulux ones bad they were absolutely rubbish, they had hardly any paint in and the roller was terrible and so the patch looked awful. I had Kai bought one farrow and ball tester and it looked completely amazing next to the ravaged dulux ones so that’s what we got in the end. Five times more expensive.