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Originally Posted by UberBlue
But he did say the price of the Laing was discouraging, and the Laing is cheaper than the RD. Perhaps the price/performance ratio of the Laing is what makes it dissapointing.
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Think about the target market. The US market is flooded full of AC pumps in the $30-70 price range.
The MCP600 is already $85. From the average buyer's perspective, about the only thing it has going for it is that it's 12VDC. From a quality perspective (initial teething problems with the thrust bearing notwithstanding) it's worth every dollar in comparison to the sub-$60 AC pumps, but that's not what people see. They just want the cheapest thing that pushes a bit of water in a semi-decent fashion.
The Laing costs $95 for 1-249 units, and $78 for 250+ direct from Laing, USA. There's an additional price-break somewhere further along but I never asked about it. It's probably far enough away to make it not worthwhile for Swiftech to buy that many up-front.
Add in shipping, having to employ people to fit 12V molex connectors, at least a 20% markup to cover Swiftech's inventory, labour, warranty and support costs, and add another 20% for the end-market reseller, and the D4 would come out to around $130US MSRP under a Swiftech badge. I'm just plucking percentage figures out of the air here.
Now how many people will buy a $130 12VDC pump when they think that a $30-45 AC pump is typically good enough for their needs?
Mind you, you could always buy the D4 for $95 each direct yourself, but shipping is via Fedex only, so expect to pay around $115 if you bought one from Laing and then you still have to fit your own molex connector.
Even if Swiftech cut prices further sold them for $120US to basically knock out the people who would otherwise buy direct from Laing, how many people will then buy a $120US pump? For what gain? 0.5-1.5C? Sure, some people will, but maybe not many hundreds.
Over in Australia and the UK/Europe, a $120-130US 12VDC pump is a relative bargain where decent AC pumps are priced from an equivalent $80-130US. Not in the USA though where the mass-market is.
Mind you, the above applies for any company, not specifically Swiftech.