Originally Posted by jesolins

Good point M. This "BG oops" also could have been a planned event

If it was a planned event, then it was a pretty foolish move. I will hesitate before I ever order from them again.

Actually it's much higher Jim. You can go to Alibaba and get price quotes, but generally the RTF micro quads cost between $23-30 per unit before shipping, taxes, and escrow, and usually you have to order at least 18 units to get that price.

Spare parts cost:

Motors $1.50-3 each
RX boards are ridiculous, betwen $8-14 depending on manufacturer.

Except for props and frames, it's cheaper to actually buy a RTF unit than buy individual spares which is why we won't be ordering seperate RX boards anymore, just part out whole units.

Banggood would be shelling money out at $26.68, at least 3 bucks a quad. That's before they have to ship it. We looked at drop shipping for our customers that wanted absolute lowest price and didn't care about being flight-tested, and our quotes were ~$25.00 per unit (but that's express shipping). I'm sure BG gets a better deal on volume non-express shipping, but it just proves the point tht BG's profit margins are really small and they rely alot on volume sales.

Originally Posted by jesolins

Gents,
Actually I figure that the BOM for these micros is less than $16ea, i.e., motors, .50cents/ea=$2, frame and canopy, $3, flight controller, $5, Tx, lipo $1, props x 8=$.50, charger, $1, build and packing $3, so total $15.50 and likely a bit less at higher volume. Consider that the higher volume includes the same clone parts already being made. Add the typical shipping costs of 0-$10 and even that would much less bulk shipments and lot buys for distributors around the planet.

They would not have made as much profit at the sale price, but they would have gotten some good words from the beta tester Gents that received them, and that is certainly well worth the cost of advertising Remember the WLToys V939 was about $32 shipped when it first came out too

Mind you I am not complaining, just offering some economic truth. The law of supply and demand is still in effect

Cheers,
Jim
Quadrocopter and Tricopter Info Mega Link Index

MO, that's very informative.

MO,
Actually you are looking at the distributor and general public prices for spare parts and extra value added middle-man costs. I was showing the manufacturing BOM. The materiel prices for these micros are much lower there than you realize. For example the micro multicopter builders are not paying more than .50 cents for a motor. Pick and place for the small parts amount and high volume of the flight controllers keeps those costs under the inflated $5 I mentioned. Throw in some small cost for the firmware and development and it is still reasonable profit for the distros and manufacturers. The shipping from China is a whole different topic. It is hard for the rest of the world to compete with government funded shipping.

Again I am not complaining,
Cheers,
Jim
Quadrocopter and Tricopter Info Mega Link Index

Originally Posted by MassiveOverkill

Actually it's much higher Jim. You can go to Alibaba and get price quotes, but generally the RTF micro quads cost between $23-30 per unit before shipping, taxes, and escrow, and usually you have to order at least 18 units to get that price.

Spare parts cost:

Motors $1.50-3 each
RX boards are ridiculous, betwen $8-14 depending on manufacturer.

Except for props and frames, it's cheaper to actually buy a RTF unit than buy individual spares which is why we won't be ordering seperate RX boards anymore, just part out whole units.

Banggood would be shelling money out at $26.68, at least 3 bucks a quad. That's before they have to ship it. We looked at drop shipping for our customers that wanted absolute lowest price and didn't care about being flight-tested, and our quotes were ~$25.00 per unit (but that's express shipping). I'm sure BG gets a better deal on volume shipping, but it just proves the point tht BG's profit margins are really small and they rely alot on volume sales.

M,
Yes that would have been a cheesy thing and a bad business practice for them to intentionally do. I will keep ordering from Banggood as long as they do keep offering great deals. They have satisfactorily completed over 20 shipments for me in the last 6 months now. It is worth the wait for me to stretch the value of my hobby fun budget dollars.
Cheers,
Jim
Quadrocopter and Tricopter Info Mega Link Index

Originally Posted by Murman

If it was a planned event, then it was a pretty foolish move. I will hesitate before I ever order from them again.

Actually you are looking at the distributor prices for spare parts. I was showing the BOM. The materiel prices for these micros are much lower there than you realize. For example the micro multicopter builders are not paying more than .50 cents for a motor. Pick and place for the small amount and high volume of the flight controllers keeps those costs under the inflated $5 I mentioned. Throw in some small cost for the firmware and development and it is still reasonable profit for the distros and manufacturers.

Yes but BG aren't the manufacturers are they.

MO runs an online RC shop. He knows his stuff.

Let's move on. All that speculation is not useful.

So to put both our takes into perspective:

So XYZ micro brushed motor manufacturer cost (hypotheical) =$.50
WL Toys\Benma cost (hypothetical) =$.60
Banggood or other reseller cost from WL Toys\Benma (realistic) =$1.50-3.00

Banggood or other reseller can go directly to motor manufacturer for spare motors but they probably won't have plugs on them and can't be used in conjunction with other parts to build a cheap RTF. The pricing WL Toys and Benma give us are made so that you can't build a RTF cheaper using spares pricing.

You were showing that the raw cost to manufacture a quad is dirt cheap, which it is, and I was showing that BG or other reseller\retailer doesn't get that price when buying them in bulk, so really we're both right.

Originally Posted by jesolins

MO,
Actually you are looking at the distributor prices for spare parts. I was showing the BOM. The materiel prices for these micros are much lower there than you realize. For example the micro multicopter builders are not paying more than .50 cents for a motor. Pick and place for the small amount and high volume of the flight controllers keeps those costs under the inflated $5 I mentioned. Throw in some small cost for the firmware and development and it is still reasonable profit for the distros and manufacturers. The shipping from China is a whole different topic. It is hard for the rest of the world to compete with government funded shipping.

Again I am not complaining,
Cheers,
Jim
Quadrocopter and Tricopter Info Mega Link Index

Double Post

MO,
As you know it depends on the manufacturer's policies, dealings and the partners they have contracts with. So yes for example if BG could purchase the bulk quantities of the 7mm x 20mm with 1mm motor shaft and ~20, 000kv motors, they could get them for ~.50cents and apply their own reasonable markup. ...or maybe they already do

Yes we are looking at this from two different perspectives. You are of course correct for the distro view
Cheers,
Jim
Quadrocopter and Tricopter Info Mega Link Index

Originally Posted by MassiveOverkill

So to put both our takes into perspective:

So XYZ micro brushed motor manufacturer cost (hypotheical) =$.50
WL Toys\Benma cost (hypothetical) =$.60
Banggood or other reseller cost from WL Toys\Benma (realistic) =$1.50-3.00

Banggood or other reseller can go directly to motor manufacturer for spare motorsbut they probably won't have plugs on them and can't be used in conjunction with other parts to build a cheap RTF. The pricing WL Toys and Benma give us are made so that you can't build a RTF cheaper using spares pricing.

You were showing that the raw cost to manufacture a quad is dirt cheap, which it is, and I was showing that BG or other reseller\retailer doesn't get that price when buying them in bulk, so really we're both right.

Originally Posted by XFM

Yes but BG aren't the manufacturers are they.

No sir, they're a retailer\reseller

Like you guys, i jumped on the wagon too when I saw the deal, but I'm accualy going to ask them to refund because I had my eyes set on other micro quads(NE ALIEN RCEYE ONE) and only got this one because of the good deal. I'll let you guys do what you do and see if i want to get one once you have posted your revews

The story is simple.
26 dollars is good deal, 36 is not(for me).
Think ......if you see this quad at the beginning with 36 dollars you"ll buy it or not?If the answer is yes than is a good deal for you, if not.....ask for refund.

Just google found this after heli-yeah mentioned it in the Hubsan X4 review thread:

http://www.modellers.com/Produkter/H...000018591.aspx



I like the green props. And even the cheesy ufo canopy.

That's an HJ-36 clone. It's funny about the 2Fast2Fun thing...........they also rebrand Joysway boats (amongst other things).

Originally Posted by variantman

Just google found this after heli-yeah mentioned it in the Hubsan X4 review thread:

http://www.modellers.com/Produkter/H...000018591.aspx



I like the green props. And even the cheesy ufo canopy.