Is It Worth It

[analag]

I recently contacted a Chinese company for a few U47 lookalike mic bodies. Turns out the want $66+ per and minimum 50 pieces to make the deal. How resalable are these things, should I risk it.

 

[MagnetoSound]

Two factors, I reckon ...

1) How good are they?

2) Can you put them out at an attractive price and it still be worth your while?

If you get the quality to price ratio right you should be fine.

They might expect you to haggle.

 

[dmp]

And how much time you want to put into it.

 

[Kingston]

I wouldn't worry about the resale part. Being a distributor is a job.  Got for it if you don't mind the effort.

 

[john12ax7]

I don't think resale on such a small quantity would be difficult. Probably not super profitable,  but recouping while making a few bucks certainly reasonable.

 

[iampoor1]

What would be the advantage of buying them from you versus the other u47 offerings already available? If you have a competitive advantage then I say yes, its totally worth it!

 

[desun]

If it all goes south, can you take a ~$4000 hit without being on the streets? I'm sure that for $100 each, you'd be able to get rid of a fair few fairly quickly on here, but could take a bit of time to get them all shifted.

 

[Moby]

I recently contacted a Chinese company for a few U47 lookalike mic bodies. Turns out the want $66+ per and minimum 50 pieces to make the deal. How resalable are these things, should I risk it.

It can be even cheaper. For 66USD it has to be almost perfect. Anyways, insist on the samples first.

 

[analag]

I did and was met with a lot of resistance. I decided on ten, but for some reason the rep kept going back to the number 50

 

[gyraf]

..resistance to providing sample often (not always) points towards poor quality - when they know that they only get one sale..

Jakob E.

 

[Jarno]

It's hard enough to get good quality at a reasonable price from local suppliers, let alone oversees. Definitely get a single sample upfront, and definitely get a sample from the production batch before settling the total amount. Too often, suppliers have "golden samples" that are different from regular production.

Do you have a drawing of the part that you want made? How are they going to make the part? Everything you don't specify goes wrong, so unevenness in anodisation, dimensions wrong, rounds where you do not like them, inproper fit etc etc.

If however, they make these bodies as regular production, indeed as Gyraf pointed out, not wanting to send a sample means they are not sure of their quality.

 

[Moby]

I did and was met with a lot of resistance. I decided on ten, but for some reason the rep kept going back to the number 50

Honestly that's the main reason I decided to avoid Chinese manufacturers. They have different  approach in business   If not, then they are too expensive for the quality they give. 

 

[Moby]

And yes, it's very hard to make a deal with Chinese quality manufacturers. My good friend is main eyeglasses supplier, reseller in Balkans region (55 million people) and he thought that he does "big" business with them until he met Russian supplier at the same China factory. Do I have to mention that Russian guy does 1000 times bigger purchase?