Is it just me

[Slick Fork]

Awesome that you jumped in Ian, and again I wasn't trying to single out the retailer as I'm well aware that sometimes you guys don't have any choice. I ran a business myself so I know all about slim margins and overhead and I appreciate that you guys don't necessarily always get to choose your pricing

I'll take a line to acknowledge that you guys and a couple of other retailers really do try to cut the costs and are not necessarily the root of all evil

But... Niche market or not, those prices are crazy for something that probably cost $3.00 to manufacture (if that), and no one will convince me that shipping one of those things costs more then $10 or $15. Essentially it's a rigid Canadian tire Juice Jug with a straw.

A large part of the blame falls on us for buying it, but I do shudder a little every time I hear of another product becoming "Exclusive" to one distributor or another or one retailer or another... to me that's just an opportunity for the consumer to pay more. Good for the manufacturer but pretty poor for us (again keeping it general and not trying to bash anybody!)

Originally Posted by OceanicCorals-Ian-

Something told me to look at this thread, since we are the company offering the containers on sale I would love to jump in here!

We too think the cost of dry goods on some occasions can be high too, especially in the case of the containers among others; however, every other dealer in the country is obligated to sell them for $75 for the 5L and $60 for the 2.5L. I would think we are doing our best here to make things hurt a little less......

I run the containers at home and they are actually really handy and work better than a plastic container with a loose airline sitting in the bottom. Are they worth $75 and $60 respectfully? No. But would I still buy them at regular price if I were a regular hobbiest? Yes. The reason being because they are exactly what I was looking for.

Some things to remember when questioning the cost of goods in our industry when gross margin and profits are concerned;

1. Niche Market lower production volumes
2. Cost of production
3. Cost of Marketing
4. Cost of R&D
5. Distributors of the items have to stay in business with "acceptable" margins.
6. Cost of shipping in minimum quantities
7. Cost of Duty and custom brokerage
8. Cost of utilities
9. Cost to run systems (Salt, Water, Food, misc supplies)
10. Paying employees
11. Paying for insurance
12. Covering costs of business systems including 2-3% for credit card processing and Paypal
13. Paying for websites and hosting
14. Absorbing livestock losses
15. Absorbing returns and defective goods
16. Advertising
17. The list goes on and on.....