Bought a subscription assuming 40 scans a month, did 11
Numbers first, because the whole thing was a numbers error and I want it visible.
I priced 3D walkthroughs at $220 for anything under 3,000 square feet. Camera and case ran $3,400. Subscription tier I picked was $99 a month for hosting, chosen because the cheaper tier caps active spaces and I assumed I'd blow through the cap by month two. I modeled 40 scans a month at month six, based on nine agents telling me they'd use it on every listing over $400k.
Actual: 11 scans a month, average across seven months. Revenue $2,420 a month at peak, $1,540 at the low. Subscription $99, insurance bump $41, and about 5 hours a week of my own time I never priced.
Where it broke was not the price. It was the trigger. Every one of those nine agents said every listing over $400k, and when I went back and counted, the nine of them together closed 34 listings over $400k in seven months. So the honest ceiling on that group was under 5 a month, and I built a 40 a month plan on it. I never once asked how many listings they actually do. I asked whether they'd use it.
The second thing is that four of the nine started using their phone. Not for the 3D, for a rough walkthrough that satisfied whatever itch the 3D was scratching, and once the seller had seen a phone tour nobody was pushing for the paid version.
So the loss. Seven months, $3,400 of gear, roughly $980 of subscription and insurance I didn't cover with margin, and 140 hours. Gear is worth maybe $2,000 now. Call it a $2,400 cash hole plus the hours.
What I'd do differently: get the listing count before the interest. Ask an agent how many listings they closed last year over the price threshold, multiply by whatever fraction they claim, then cut it in half. And I'd have rented or borrowed a camera for the first ninety days rather than buying, even at a worse per scan cost, because the thing I needed to learn was volume and volume doesn't care what camera it's on.