Ecotech Marine Vortech
- Thread starter Nemo2007
- Start date
All three shops I worked at marked up small/medium dry goods between 2.0 and 3.25 on sliding scales. Larger dry goods were marked up less. Larger items might have been marked up to 1.2 or so while tanks were in the 1.1 range. We competed with mail order at the time but it was before todays internet dry goods systems had really matured. I would imagine all three of my ex-shops are marking things up less these days...which sucks for them because only one of them was in the black (barely in the black) on livestock.
I had ordered the wet side assembly for the gen 1 I already have but they sent the whole pump by accident. They did not realize the mistake but I felt I had to to be honest and give them a chance to rectify their mistake. I will admit, I was hoping they would say just keep it but it was a $345 dollar mistake and these are tough economic times. In the end, I offered to buy it at cost and they said $300.00. The wholesale price is not listed on the internet so I came to reefs.org. I had not made a decision yet and they are sending me a return label while I decide. Thanks for the input everyone.
most retail businesses mark up a product an easy 100%.
i cannot imagine those pumps cost a lot to make once you ramp up production.
A little circuit board with nothing special on it... a few dollars in quantity.
wiring.. a dollar.
metal case... a dollar at most.
pump plastic parts... nickels and dimes to a dollar.
pump metal parts.. a few dollars...
etc... labor to put it together may very well cost more then the parts to
put it together if assembled in america.
this all assumes quantity though. not 100s of pumps a week but 1000s and
1000s if not 10000 a week.
if you can buy a whole computer for 300-400 dollars that shows how mass
production can lower the cost of things.
if their production is a measily few hundred a day... i can imagine the cost
per pump would quickly jump up to 100+ dollars for them. They turn around
and sell them for 200.. and the stores turn around and mark them up to
350-400.
i cannot imagine those pumps cost a lot to make once you ramp up production.
A little circuit board with nothing special on it... a few dollars in quantity.
wiring.. a dollar.
metal case... a dollar at most.
pump plastic parts... nickels and dimes to a dollar.
pump metal parts.. a few dollars...
etc... labor to put it together may very well cost more then the parts to
put it together if assembled in america.
this all assumes quantity though. not 100s of pumps a week but 1000s and
1000s if not 10000 a week.
if you can buy a whole computer for 300-400 dollars that shows how mass
production can lower the cost of things.
if their production is a measily few hundred a day... i can imagine the cost
per pump would quickly jump up to 100+ dollars for them. They turn around
and sell them for 200.. and the stores turn around and mark them up to
350-400.
FCmatt,
I doubt if the production of these is much over the 100's per week, not 100's per day, so there is no mass production.
When you look at online prices, very few items have over 20% markup other than some of the big brand names that really limit distribution and enforce map pricing.
But that is one of the reasons everybody complains about there LFS prices, they need more than 20% markup to pay for the expensive retail space.
Kim
I doubt if the production of these is much over the 100's per week, not 100's per day, so there is no mass production.
When you look at online prices, very few items have over 20% markup other than some of the big brand names that really limit distribution and enforce map pricing.
But that is one of the reasons everybody complains about there LFS prices, they need more than 20% markup to pay for the expensive retail space.
Kim
Well I feel for all you LFS retailers then, I am barely mantaining my toy store at a 100% mark up. In January I only did 20k (less then 10k profit) in sales plus employees and all those other pesty bills and had to pay 8k in rent. I hate the first quarter.....I wish it was 4th quarter already lol.
Nemo if you decide to get rid of it keep the wetside and I will send you 300 for the dry side?
Nemo if you decide to get rid of it keep the wetside and I will send you 300 for the dry side?
Sea Turtle":2jrb6ce1 said:
Agreed, I've never seen an LFS owner driving an M5. I would consider the owner lucky if he/she is driving a car that is less than 10 years old, no matter what kind of car it is. I would love (***LOVE***) to own/operate an LFS but it has always been a tough market and, like many markets, it's getting tougher and tougher with the rise of the web.
Eventually I spoke to someone who works for ECOTECH and they told me the wholesale cost varies depending on how many pumps the vendor buys. The range was $285 to $350. Of course they could not tell me what my exact vendor's cost was but I remember someone on the phone saying they sold a lot of them. Thanks everyone for all the input.
fcmatt":1zhuip7h said:
Your right if we consider a high volume firm, however as was pointed out earlier this is a niche product and isnt mass produced. The demand simply isnt high enough to produce vast units per day. If we were only talking in terms of variable costs like you pointed out (materials/labor) then you would be right, however its the fixed costs that are driving up the prices (rent, depreciation, overhead.)
If this company managed to impress the world and form a monopoly on product then perhaps it would be able to pump out thousands of units per day.
Sorry but thats an accounting students rant for you.
I'd be in heaven if I owned an LFS but it seems wholesalers/importers have the upperhand in this market as far as profit. Too bad I dont have the startup capital to form an LFS large enough to control/own my own importing....if however all of the LFS' here in Jacksonville combined and formed a Coorporation then they would be able to control pricing better. But thats just a dream 8O :wink:
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