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Only tangentially related, but has been bothering me: How does a simple rechargable bicycle light cost $20 upwards? - It can't be about chip/logic, as that's a

Only tangentially related, but has been bothering me: How does a simple rechargable bicycle light cost $20 upwards? - It can't be about chip/logic, as that's a commodity these days (as this post celebretes). - It can't be LEDs, because they are dirt cheap too, especially red ones. - Building the plastic case doesn't seem to warrant such a high price. - The battery needs very little capacity, magnitudes lower than e.g. that of a phone. - Is it maybe the charging mechanism through USB? Are there some crazy patent fees?

rwmj 5y ago
The price of something isn't (usually) the cost of the parts + a profit margin. There's a whole theory behind pricing.
lddemi 5y ago
"rechargeable bike light" on aliexpress (hell even amazon) yields several significantly below $20 options.
webinvest 5y ago
It costs $20 and up because somebody priced it at $20 and up.
Ekaros 5y ago
Because they can charge that much? Actually, I find funny that the traditional solution of light and dynamo is 6€+5€ shipping+taxes...
spython 5y ago
The bike lights that cost 15-20 € in Europe cost 2-5€ in bulk on alibaba. Literally the same model. I guess it's mostly shipping, import duties, taxes, marketplace fees, free shipping to customer, returns handling and profit margin.
chasd00 5y ago
the price will be what the market will bear. How could it be otherwise?
jccooper 5y ago
Low volume products need high margins to be worthwhile. Which is another way of saying "no one has found it worthwhile to sell a simple rechargable bicycle light for $18."
milesvp 5y ago
Generally you’ll find that the msrp is going to be roughly 9xBOM (bill of materials). That leaves wholesale prices to be roughly 3xBOM so that there’s some profitability at that stage. This is at least a common heuristic that I use when designing hardware. It’s easy to say, oh, this chip is way better and it only costs 1 dollar more in quantity, but now your final price is $9 more and you may have priced youself out of the market. These numbers change depending on volume, and how many zeros the final price has. And of course demand will also inform final price, but they’re numbers that seem to hold in a lot of manufacturing going back the early 80’s. As for the BOM cost, you’re right that for the board, the highest costs are probably the charge circuit followed by the processor. Battery probably costs the most, but don’t discount the cost of the mould for the plastic, it’s a high up front cost that needs to be replaced more frequently than you’d guess. In the end, that $20 bike lamp probably costs the shop $7-10 to aquire. And any shop that doesn’t charge at least 2x their average cost for small items will tend to find their profitability eroded by fielding returns and other hassle customers.

rwmj 5y ago

The price of something isn't (usually) the cost of the parts + a profit margin. There's a whole theory behind pricing.

lddemi 5y ago

"rechargeable bike light" on aliexpress (hell even amazon) yields several significantly below $20 options.

webinvest 5y ago

It costs $20 and up because somebody priced it at $20 and up.

Ekaros 5y ago

Because they can charge that much? Actually, I find funny that the traditional solution of light and dynamo is 6€+5€ shipping+taxes...

spython 5y ago

The bike lights that cost 15-20 € in Europe cost 2-5€ in bulk on alibaba. Literally the same model. I guess it's mostly shipping, import duties, taxes, marketplace fees, free shipping to customer, returns handling and profit margin.

chasd00 5y ago

the price will be what the market will bear. How could it be otherwise?

jccooper 5y ago

Low volume products need high margins to be worthwhile. Which is another way of saying "no one has found it worthwhile to sell a simple rechargable bicycle light for $18."

milesvp 5y ago

Generally you’ll find that the msrp is going to be roughly 9xBOM (bill of materials). That leaves wholesale prices to be roughly 3xBOM so that there’s some profitability at that stage. This is at least a common heuristic that I use when designing hardware. It’s easy to say, oh, this chip is way better and it only costs 1 dollar more in quantity, but now your final price is $9 more and you may have priced youself out of the market. These numbers change depending on volume, and how many zeros the final price has. And of course demand will also inform final price, but they’re numbers that seem to hold in a lot of manufacturing going back the early 80’s. As for the BOM cost, you’re right that for the board, the highest costs are probably the charge circuit followed by the processor. Battery probably costs the most, but don’t discount the cost of the mould for the plastic, it’s a high up front cost that needs to be replaced more frequently than you’d guess. In the end, that $20 bike lamp probably costs the shop $7-10 to aquire. And any shop that doesn’t charge at least 2x their average cost for small items will tend to find their profitability eroded by fielding returns and other hassle customers.