Everybody panic! PCB Einstein price increase down the road.

Cathpah wrote in post #9810696
It's interesting that his price is shifting this late in the game.

Me thinks that if he's still trying to figure out pricing....he's further from production units than he lets on. Did he not get exact costs for parts from these companies beforehand? What changed?

Most likely the development costs have been a lot higher than expected and need to be paid for. You don't know what it costs (to design) until you are done. And when you are dealing with new technologies that you don't have experience with the initial cost estimates are often too low.

At least that is my take on it after designing electronic for the past twenty-five years.

rudy_216 wrote in post #9811431
Most likely the development costs have been a lot higher than expected and need to be paid for. You don't know what it costs (to design) until you are done. And when you are dealing with new technologies that you don't have experience with the initial cost estimates are often too low.

At least that is my take on it after designing electronic for the past twenty-five years.

Certainly could be true, as I'll admit I have zero experience in the production of goods. I just figured there'd be a way to anticipate all the costs beforehand (good business decisions, etc). I guess these persistent delays would get pretty costly.

i love all this business management discussion especially since it also deals with photography.

I think Paul's commitment to customer service continues to show his effort and trust in his customers. At least he is at the level to take criticism and praise rather than to be just a company that sells various lighting equipment.

it's also the same drama that keeps the hype of alienbees and generates alot of interest. plus, you almost feel like you are part of the magic of making a product come to life through consumer demand.

c2thew wrote in post #9812528
i love all this business management discussion especially since it also deals with photography.

I think Paul's commitment to customer service continues to show his effort and trust in his customers. At least he is at the level to take criticism and praise rather than to be just a company that sells various lighting equipment.

it's also the same drama that keeps the hype of alienbees and generates alot of interest. plus, you almost feel like you are part of the magic of making a product come to life through consumer demand.

I'm not sure you're right here....but no need to turn this into a standard pro/anti PCB war. I think alienbees are a good product for the price, but I can't stand Paul or 95% of what comes out his mouth.

Cathpah wrote in post #9812315
figured there'd be a way to anticipate all the costs beforehand (good business decisions, etc).

Not always a business decision issue...sometimes parts costs go up, especially w/ how the value of the dollar has been dropping...just look at lens prices that are 50% more than last year in some cases

I suspect that the pricing increase, based on snippets around the vaious fora, is driven by component price increases. When the original bill of materials was created and priced for the initial price point things were apparently different than now.

I suspect the delay in back ordered Genesis units at Calumet may be caused by a similar situation. i.e. they have a contract with supplier at unit price X for certain quantity and now the supplier has found component cost have escalated and they are trying to get Calumet to share the pain.

And let's not forget that as these lights become more digital they are using parts that are in demand for other digital devices which further exacerbates the situation related to parts availability and price volatility.

kenyee wrote in post #9806934
Why would he try to induce people to buy now when he has 3000 preorders already w/o mentioning the price increase?

All companies try get induce people to buy now- it was what the entire field of advertising is designed to accomplish.

There is no more reason to believe than disbelieve any of the figures thrown about in terms of product pre-orders, past sales figures, or orders that will eventually come from this or any other product.

Hopefully this will be an well built product with many happy customers but if Paul announces a great way that he was able to keep prices contained down the road we might want be more inclined to see things differently.

good to know, thanks.

His cost must be higher than anticipated and/or he's cashing in on the pre-order game here. My brother owns a diamond/jewelry business and I must say, prices can change on you the next time you order something. We've had to charge repeat jewelry customers more than before on labor because our suppliers' prices went up. It happened at the last minute, when the customer already decided to do it. It's unfortunate. Business is brutal.

RichNY wrote in post #9815883
All companies try get induce people to buy now- it was what the entire field of advertising is designed to accomplish.

There is no more reason to believe than disbelieve any of the figures thrown about in terms of product pre-orders, past sales figures, or orders that will eventually come from this or any other product.

Hopefully this will be an well built product with many happy customers but if Paul announces a great way that he was able to keep prices contained down the road we might want be more inclined to see things differently.

He can get away with a lower price but like he said himself, "to make a decent profit." I hope nobody thinks that a business would like to barely make it by. With much more volume down the road, he should be able to get the parts cheaper since he may buy in larger quantities.

This will enable him to lower the price a bit but I doubt that he'll even do that because the volume can always decrease or the parts could get more expensive because of the world market.
It'd look out of character and stupid for AB to raise and lower a product's price over and over again. It doesn't speak reliability, which is exactly the opposite of the products and his customer service.

Hope that made sense!