[ICOM] Markups on accessories

[Adam Farson]

Hi Mel,

(Dick, begging your indulgence for the OT)

<<...they can actually get away with selling a few feet of speaker wire for
thousands of dollars...>

Gold-plated speaker wire brings back a memory. A Hi-Fi dealer in Florida
once tried to sell me a 2m IEC mains cord with pure silver conductors for
around $200, because its "transient response" was allegedly superior to that
of your standard generic cord with stranded copper conductors. When I
mentioned him that one normally wished to suppress transients (via a surge
diverter) to protect the expensive electronics from mains spikes, he
recoiled in horror. "Oh no, a surge suppressor will make the exquisite
transients of a cymbal or snare-drum sound fuzzy". When I suggested that a
fuzzy transient or two might be preferable to costly repairs, the discussion
ended rather abruptly.
 
Mains surges are a huge problem in Florida, because of the frequent
electrical storm activity.
 
Cheers for now, 73,
Adam VA7OJ/AB4OJ


-----Original Message-----
From: icom-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:icom-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of Mel
Sent: 12-Aug-09 21:48
To: icom at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [ICOM] Markups on accessories

I have heard variations of this story before... and it creates the
impression that accessories have large markups. In fact... when I was an
Icom dealer... margins on accessories were a hair over 20% at full list
price. Given that most dealers discount I expect gross margins at 10-15%
were typical. True, it's better than they are getting on transceivers... 
but you would need to sell a lot of accessories to make a living. It's not
like the audio business, for example, where they can sell accessories at
very large markups. BTW... the audiophile business amazes me.. they can
actually get away with selling a few feet of speaker wire for thousands of
dollars. I don't think you could pull that on too many hams... well...
perhaps a few ;-)

Mel, VE2DC