Jinx wrote:
>> Now I've always thought that Jaycar's prices were a bit strange, but
>> it seems that Cat No AR1788 is a version of LC5416 that's ready-
>> built and with a nicer case (IMHO), and it's half the price of the kit -
>> it's even cheaper than the red LED version that you mention!
>
> Ah, the mysteries of the market. As you say, $120 (built) vs $228 (kit)
> is an awfully big disparity. You could buy AR1788s, strip them down,
> and sell them as KC5416s on TradeMe ;-)

Chinese-built device that our company was selling, cost $5 in large 
quantities. When a school requested a quote for the kit version of this 
device, we calculated that the parts alone would cost about $10 per kit, 
even in quantities of 100. There are of course other costs, for example 
packaging the kits, writing the assembly manual, maintaining adequate 
inventory of/reordering each part, etc. So just to break even, we would have 
to sell it for $15.

It is certainly understandable that the school thought it was a rip-off. :) 
The students would have to pay x3 for each kit, and then spend an hour to 
put the thing together.

Although it's not that we were trying to overcharge them for the kits, it's 
that economies of scale allowed us to sell the assembled device cheaper. The 
only reason oscilloscopes are so much more expensive than TVs (or computers, 
in case of digital scopes), is that there are fewer of them, and each scope 
absorbs a greater share of the overhead costs.

Vitaliy


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