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by jrockway
5097 days ago
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In this case, it's reasonable. There are many reasons to avoid China, very few of which are intrinsic to China. Manufacturing in the US means your manufacturer is in the same time zone and speaks the same languages. You both have the same understanding of contract law and a court system that you are both familiar with. Traveling to the factory takes less time. Honestly, I'm not sure why their made-in-china pens cost $50 each. It's a five cent block of aluminium that's been hit with a laser. That probably costs $1 to make in China and $20 in the US (worst case). Selling it for $50 still leaves plenty of money for the designers. Anyway, their decision is reasonable. Hiring people in your own country is easier than hiring people half the world away. If two Chinese guys wanted to make a similar pen, I'm sure they'd be successful in China. |
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Then you have to ship to yourself. And then re-package and ship out to your customers. And be ready to deal with people complaining about them. And some will get lost in the mail (not your fault, but if you want to be awesome, you treat it as if it is). And you have to pay yourself. And the person un-boxing and re-boxing the pens. And you worked on it before there was a Kickstarter for it, so you should probably pay yourself for that time.
And maybe, maybe, you want some money left over so that you can afford to front the cash for your next run, instead of always counting on Kickstarter projects. It's not always easy.