Price of the Freerunner published?

[Stroller]

On 21 Mar 2008, at 10:01, Andy Powell wrote:

> On Thursday 20 March 2008 16:05, Stroller wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> But we must remember that an importer has to tie his own money up in
>> stock (money that could otherwise be earning interest for him) and
>> gamble with the currency exchange rates. If he buys when the dollar
>> is at  1:X and the exchange rate changes disfavourably to 1:Y, then
>> he has to swallow the difference on all his existing stock.
>
> <snip>
>
> Actually the best way to handle that is to buy currency at a fixed,  
> guaranteed
> price. ukforex (no affiliaton) do this sort of thing. I don;t  
> understand why
> more people don't do it. If you're importing stuff on a regular  
> basis it just
> makes sense..

Perhaps I'm failing to understand what ukforex does, but let's say I  
buy 100 units at $100 each, and buy 1.5 dollars for a Euro. I have  
spent $10,000 or €6,666 on the devices, or €66 each.

A month or two later the dollar falls to $2:€1 - everyone starts  
complaining that a $100 device "should only cost €50". That doesn't  
really help me, if I have 50 devices which I paid €66 for remaining  
in stock.

(I hope I got the maths right - it's a little early in the morning  
here).

Generally speaking currency fluctuations aren't so great over a short  
period, but nevertheless margins can be quite small, too (otherwise  
consumers start whinging about how they're being ripped-off!!).  
Consequently apparently-small fluctuations can make a big difference  
in the trader's pocket.

In another post the importer is quoted as saying "we're no bastards  
making a $100 profit with each box." Now I no longer sell or import  
hardware, and never did so full time, but I wouldn't bother selling  
the Freerunner unless I DID make the best part of $100 on each one.  
The Freerunner importer is CLEARLY no bastards!!

I used to sell wireless cards as guaranteed Linux-compatible and made  
a 33% - 50% markup on each one, but even with that markup it wasn't  
worthwhile. Actually, 33% - 50% is a naive assessment of markup,  
because Google Adwords took a massive chunk out of that, but  
nevertheless the size of the Linux market is too small to support  
much business; one has to pay one's employees, the 1% or 2% you lose  
because everyone wants to pay by credit-card is like being stabbed to  
death with sewing needles and finally the taxman wants a cut of one's  
profit!! Margins on selling hardware are just so small that I don't  
know why anyone would wish to expose themselves to this list's whining!

Stroller.