Defense of Sticker Shock

Mike

Mike

Audioshark
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In Defense of Sticker Shock | Stereophile.com

There are faster ways to start an online fight, but not many. Say "$10,000 DAC" and watch audio-forum commenters descend like pigeons on a dropped hot dog, flapping and furious. They'll tell you the designers are crooks, the buyers are dupes, and anyone not DIY-ing with AliExpress kits is a poseur.
www.stereophile.com www.stereophile.com

I have the unique perspective of being in retail, distribution, manufacturing and trade show.

This article really does a good job explaining things.
 
brad225 said:
I always wonder how many of the people making the derogatory comments about designers and prices ever started their own business or created their own product?
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For sure. When you read many of their comments, they think the only costs are the actual component costs and they usually post something silly like "I can buy the parts and make it for less". LOL
 
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nc42acc said:
Not everyone Mike but you and Bart probably get a lot of that don't you? You should sell extended warranties for used gear like the car market.
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Will never happen. There isn’t the dollars in the used gear to extend warranty. Most of it we LOSE money on. We take it on trade, it sits, and then it loses value. Nobody will pay a premium for a warranty, they just want it.
 
I thought that was a very good article.

I’ve been in product development and manufacturing for my entire career. I started in radio broadcast equipment design. If you listened to FM in the 80’s chances are you were listening through something I designed.

I know what it takes to get a successful product to market. I never went into high end audio because the market is very fickle. One bad review and your’e pretty much screwed.

I respect the many talented designers and company owners who have created the successful products we enjoy And business owners who manage to remain profitable in a very difficult environment. Bravo!
 
Fantastic article. I've never understood the apparent anger, envy and jealousy directed at both someone who would dare charge what they do for a product and someone who is willing to pay that price, especially when it is born of complete ignorance of what went in to bringing that product to market and how hard someone worked and saved to be able to afford it.

Every time I'm on either end of a transaction, I experience the exact same simple rule in play: the product in question is worth what the seller is willing to accept AND the buyer is willing to pay. This is a basic truth that when understood and accepted, takes the emotion out of our (and hopefully our opinion about other peoples') transactions to a large degree.
 
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