I just posted this on another thread about a specific product, but reposting here with a bit of editing. I think it's important to say in general about things in our niche world of electronic toys, because I know I was shocked when I saw some prices of things, and I suspect others are as well. This has all probably been said before, and I don't claim to be an expert, but I have some experience with design and small scale manufacturing.
Speaking generally here about any of the "why does XXXXXXXX cost so much" questions, especially pointing towards the things that seem to be a lot more expensive than their counterparts. Fundamentally it's a case where people will pay a premium to have something that few others will.
It's 99% because of supply and demand. Limited run boutique sort of items are always like this. Think designer shoes or expensive watches.
Build quality has little to do with it, IMO. That all comes down to design (which only has to be done once, after a bit of prototyping) and QC which is either good or bad but doesn't really add substantially to manufacturing costs when done right. Sadly this is something that's often skipped over, especially by knockoffs.
Labor on most of this stuff is also generally very small. Most of the parts are machine made and either hand or machine assembled with very low levels of technical training required.
Materials has almost nothing to do with it, despite what so many manufacturers and owners like to pretend. If you take a look at ANY of the things used in vaping, unless someone is using a precious metals, these things have a material costs in the $1-15 range. That goes for attys, mods, anything, really. The price difference between something made of copper vs surgical grade SS, in the sizes and quantities used is negligible. Material costs would factor in more if things like Titanium (much harder to work with) or precious metals like gold, silver or platinum were used.
The biggest cost in making any of these small production quantity objects is at the front in. The design, tooling and prototyping stages. Some of this can be substantial, especially if things are designed well. Another thing that could factor in is if people are also offsetting the cost of insurance. Anyone smart about this stuff, if they are manufacturing in a litigious place like the US would want to get an insurance policy to protect themselves and their company in the event that they get into issues with lawsuits because some idiot uses a product wrong and burns themselves, or their house down or in 10 years decides that it was the last few years of vaping and not the previous 30 years smoking analogs that caused their cancer.
After all that, the per-item cost is usually nowhere near the end product price. A big part of the reason the chinese knockoffs can be so damn cheap isn't because they have much cheaper materials (though they do, to a degree) or much cheaper labor (which they certainly do, but again, it's a small factor in most of this stuff), but instead because they don't have to invest anything substantial in design or prototyping. In some cases R&D is handed to them when someone designs something and sends it to china to be mass produced. Doing that pretty much guarantees that there will be a chinese version of it done in short order. I also suspect that the chinese manufacturers spend pretty much nothing on insurance due to how it'd be pretty much impossible to sue any of them.
If anyone feels I am way off base on any of this, feel free to correct me.
Speaking generally here about any of the "why does XXXXXXXX cost so much" questions, especially pointing towards the things that seem to be a lot more expensive than their counterparts. Fundamentally it's a case where people will pay a premium to have something that few others will.
It's 99% because of supply and demand. Limited run boutique sort of items are always like this. Think designer shoes or expensive watches.
Build quality has little to do with it, IMO. That all comes down to design (which only has to be done once, after a bit of prototyping) and QC which is either good or bad but doesn't really add substantially to manufacturing costs when done right. Sadly this is something that's often skipped over, especially by knockoffs.
Labor on most of this stuff is also generally very small. Most of the parts are machine made and either hand or machine assembled with very low levels of technical training required.
Materials has almost nothing to do with it, despite what so many manufacturers and owners like to pretend. If you take a look at ANY of the things used in vaping, unless someone is using a precious metals, these things have a material costs in the $1-15 range. That goes for attys, mods, anything, really. The price difference between something made of copper vs surgical grade SS, in the sizes and quantities used is negligible. Material costs would factor in more if things like Titanium (much harder to work with) or precious metals like gold, silver or platinum were used.
The biggest cost in making any of these small production quantity objects is at the front in. The design, tooling and prototyping stages. Some of this can be substantial, especially if things are designed well. Another thing that could factor in is if people are also offsetting the cost of insurance. Anyone smart about this stuff, if they are manufacturing in a litigious place like the US would want to get an insurance policy to protect themselves and their company in the event that they get into issues with lawsuits because some idiot uses a product wrong and burns themselves, or their house down or in 10 years decides that it was the last few years of vaping and not the previous 30 years smoking analogs that caused their cancer.
After all that, the per-item cost is usually nowhere near the end product price. A big part of the reason the chinese knockoffs can be so damn cheap isn't because they have much cheaper materials (though they do, to a degree) or much cheaper labor (which they certainly do, but again, it's a small factor in most of this stuff), but instead because they don't have to invest anything substantial in design or prototyping. In some cases R&D is handed to them when someone designs something and sends it to china to be mass produced. Doing that pretty much guarantees that there will be a chinese version of it done in short order. I also suspect that the chinese manufacturers spend pretty much nothing on insurance due to how it'd be pretty much impossible to sue any of them.
If anyone feels I am way off base on any of this, feel free to correct me.
"Fundamentally it's a case where people will pay a premium to have something that few others will."
