I know China etc etc....
However I am recently putting in some extra ethernet sockets in my workshop and buying 5 metre ethernet cables from the poundshop. They are actually very well made and nice to work with. I simply leave one end with the RJ45 connector on and strip the other end in order to connect to the sockets via an IDC tool.
This cables are 5 metres long and doing a bit of research I have managed to find the wholesale cost, just 52p plus VAT! How is it possible to make such a cable so cheaply? There is 8 other cables inside an Ethernet cable which is 40 metres of cable for just 52p. Now of course the current that flows through the cables is tiny but I still just cannot understand how you can make the cables, import them, make some profit and still sell them at 52p?
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Aren't cables a pound at the Pound Shop? Two for £2?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 19 Nov 13 at 22:50
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They are indeed £1 still very cheap for a 5 metre cable but the wholesale cost is 52p, the actual import cost would be a lot less than still. I just don't know how they can make them so cheap. Also quite surprised just how much the pound shop makes on them.
I guess even cables have high mark up for poundshops, not just those in the IT industry.
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It may be that they are wastage or a by-product.
Imagine one is making 10,000 x 19m bespoke cables out of 20m pieces of wire and charging sensible money.
In your wastage is a whole ton of 1m lengths for which you have already paid and you're about to throw away. So getting 10p for them would be 10p profit (less labour).
In my experience, it is rare that fully allocated costing is used for low end products. Marginal costing tends to rule the day.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 20 Nov 13 at 00:39
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I used to buy retail packs of refillable piezo electronic lighters from a cash and carry for 88p including VAT - there were 11 lighters in each pack...:-)
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How can they make them so expensive?
The newly installed room lighting in this house is pretty crap. The bulbs cost 2.5 quid each, blow all the time and are very tiresome indeed to replace.
In this room the silly double dimmer switch got overloaded by the four wall lights and burned out. I'm hoping it was a badly secured wire arcing and burning through, rather than the solenoid. A new double dimmer switch about the same size and shape cost 19.5 quid in a local small town today. Damn thing can't possibly have cost a quid to make.
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How do supermarkets get pineapples in (from Costa Rica?) and make a profit selling them at £1. They are bulky and there must be three levels of profit involved, grower, wholesaler and final seller.
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>> How do supermarkets get pineapples in (from Costa Rica?) and make a profit selling them
>> at £1.
50P each at my local market this morning. Couldn't resist one at that price.
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>> How can they make them so expensive?
>>
>> The newly installed room lighting in this house is pretty crap. The bulbs cost 2.5
>> quid each, blow all the time and are very tiresome indeed to replace.
>>
>> In this room the silly double dimmer switch got overloaded by the four wall lights
>> and burned out. I'm hoping it was a badly secured wire arcing and burning through,
>> rather than the solenoid. A new double dimmer switch about the same size and shape
>> cost 19.5 quid in a local small town today. Damn thing can't possibly have cost
>> a quid to make.
>>
Go to LED Hut and replace with the wide angle GU10 lamps. £15 each but worth every penny. For kitchens get the cheap ones from Homebase, as the neutral white is a great colour but a little harsh for living areas.
Ps. Why has this bleedin' iPad started capitalising "white"?
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>> Go to LED Hut and replace with the wide angle GU10 lamps. £15 each but
>> worth every penny.
Rip off.
Get these. www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=100730
Brilliant things. Wide angle, bright, white (possibly too white for some tho), cool running and long lasting. Renewed my faith in GU10 light fittings.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 20 Nov 13 at 10:20
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SQ
>> Brilliant things. Wide angle, bright, white (possibly too white for some tho), cool running and long lasting. Renewed my faith in GU10 light fittings.
I have both. As I said, the Homebase ones are great in kitchens but the LED Hut lamps are a league ahead. Probably comparable to a 50W halogen in light colour and brightness with a slightly wider beam angle.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 20 Nov 13 at 14:00
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>> It may be that they are wastage or a by-product.
Yes. Add to this the £ shop merchandising model. They have planned product lines, stuff they stock all the time, that which they need to ensure regular footfall because their punters expect to be able to buy it there.
And then they have specials, stuff they pile high and sell cheap because they got offered a good deal, stuff they know they can sell. Once its gone its gone.
Except if the stuff they got cheap sold well, they might decide its needs to be regular, so they put out bids for more to be sold within their pricing model. The new stuff might be the same, better, or worse depending on what sources come forward.
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You can buy an excellent Costa Rican pineapple in France for 99c. That is remarkable for the country that defines 'rip off'.
While in the UK back along I bought a pack of 16 ballpoint pens at the pound shop. Amazing.
Mind you, I haven't tried them yet.
Edit: just tried one out of interest. Works OK.
Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Wed 20 Nov 13 at 10:47
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>> While in the UK back along I bought a pack of 16 ballpoint pens at
>> the pound shop.
Outrageous rip-off. They are free at Barclays.
But unreliable, and have a short life. :)
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they would, they are very short pens.
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>> they would, they are very short pens.
At least they haven't changed (yet) to pencils, unlike Argos.
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Not good to write a cheque with a pencil......
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The free pencils in IKEA are great for doing DIY work - short so they can put behind your ear (so you don't lose it) when wood cutting or marking out.
Even so, as every DIYer knows, we all keep losing them and so need to collect a handful at each visit to the shop.
The 1metre long paper tapes are handy too - I've always got one on me.
Ssh.....don't tell anyone.
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>> The free pencils in IKEA are great for doing DIY work - short so they
>> can put behind your ear (so you don't lose it) when wood cutting or marking
>> out.
>>
>>
For pens that fit snugly behind the ear the plentiful supply provided by betting shops can't be beaten.
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>>For pens that fit snugly behind the ear the plentiful supply provided by betting shops can't be beaten.>>
Probably in the long run vastly cheaper to buy them at W H Smiths.....:-)
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You would be astonished at the (Chinese) factory gate prices of some things. I knew a couple who imported knitted leg warmers that sold for around £8 a pair. The ex-works cost (which presumably included some profit) was 2p.
This will amuse you (and confirms my belief that the way to make money is in re-packaging):
www.maplin.co.uk/cat-5e-utp-network-patch-cables-44362
WRT mains-driven LED bulbs, a builder friend cautions against cheapies because the electronics need screening and if that's omitted it can knock out your WiFi...
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Maplin is just a complete joke. It never used to be so expensive but lately they have increased their margins to stupid amounts.
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I never expect Maplins to be cheap. They just frequently have stuff I want that you cannot easily get elsewhere.
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>> I never expect Maplins to be cheap. They just frequently have stuff I want that
>> you cannot easily get elsewhere.
More like, "stuff I need NOW"
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Maybe in smaller towns it is quite handy, but in my local store is Manchester city centre, it is just 1 mile away from Microdirect which is also expensive but much much cheaper than Maplin.
For mains electrical stuff any of my local DIY shops are far cheaper as is Wilkisnon.
I find most the electrical places do next day delivery too. The worse case of over pricing I have ever seen those is a kettle style lead in Tesco priced at £20!!
I also have RS Components just down the road in Stockport if I need any ICs etc although I no longer mess about with electronics as a hobby so rarely need that sort of stuff.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Wed 20 Nov 13 at 17:29
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>> Microdirect which is also expensive but much much cheaper than Maplin.
But Maplin do 'stuff' that MD don't. I often find Maplin has something I need and I'll pay a bit more to have it now rather than order online. Occasionally had to take things back and they have a good returns policy.
I don't tend to look at MD now - I did when they were on the A6 nearby but that's now an ALDI. And I go there a lot more often than I ever went to Microdirect :-)
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>>More like, "stuff I need NOW"
Pretty much.
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My son has an electronic drum kit ( trust me that is one of best inventions ever ) but anyway he needed a cable for it, big jack to little jack sort of thing. Fifteen smackerooneys in Maplins.
Only a desperate need to not go and spend any more time searching elsewhere for one convinced me to stump for it. That's two packets of fags worth, if I still smoked...
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"You would be astonished at the (Chinese) factory gate prices of some things"
I'm sure I would.
Lost the S-pen thing out of my work Samsung phone recently (You know, the thing you use to write indecipherably on a screen).
Went to Samsung website - £21.99 each.
Went to another site (UK something or other) and they were £2.99 each with free postage. I ordered 2 'cos I'm bound to lose another.
Didn't arrive for a few days and thought it must be slow service but when they arrived it had a Hong Kong postmark.
So 10% the price from Samsung and all the way from Hong Kong. Good value?
Yes, I know Hong Kong is not really "mainland China", but I bet that's where they came from.
Looks and works like the original article.
PhilW
(or DDD to Zero)
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How can they make them so cheap? - rtj70
