So had a look on ebay for ideas of something to design and came up with a USB oscilloscope. Seemed to be a reasonable profit in it.
So designed one with 2 megs sampling rate, wrote the software and popped a couple on ebay and both sold, great stuff.
Made a few more with different sampling rates with single and dual channel and popped them on ebay. No sales !
So had a look on ebay and someone has come in with a 20MHz usb scope for £12-33 ! I cant even buy the processor for that never mind pcb, components, CD, box, time, p+p etc etc
So a Chinese man has killed my business off.
So sounds fair enough, all fair in love and war.
But, that means I make no money which in turn means I don't buy anything. Ebay sellers have lost out, same with my suppliers ebay, Farnell and RS Components.
That sort of kills the economy really if you multiply it up.
Welcome to ebay China !
So designed one with 2 megs sampling rate, wrote the software and popped a couple on ebay and both sold, great stuff.
Made a few more with different sampling rates with single and dual channel and popped them on ebay. No sales !
So had a look on ebay and someone has come in with a 20MHz usb scope for £12-33 ! I cant even buy the processor for that never mind pcb, components, CD, box, time, p+p etc etc
So a Chinese man has killed my business off.
So sounds fair enough, all fair in love and war.
But, that means I make no money which in turn means I don't buy anything. Ebay sellers have lost out, same with my suppliers ebay, Farnell and RS Components.
That sort of kills the economy really if you multiply it up.
Welcome to ebay China !
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I hear you, but this has been going on forever. In the past, it was small shops being put out of business by large firms.
Electronics are almost always a race to the bottom. To have any sort of margin you need to compete on the high-end not on the low-end of the market. Or, add value in a way that can't be as easily duplicated, like software features. I appreciate that this is NOT easy to do in test equipment, as then you have to start competing with the big boys.
Electronics are almost always a race to the bottom. To have any sort of margin you need to compete on the high-end not on the low-end of the market. Or, add value in a way that can't be as easily duplicated, like software features. I appreciate that this is NOT easy to do in test equipment, as then you have to start competing with the big boys.
Your topic is so broad that it would take forever to discuss.
If you are just asking how you can have a successful product that competes with Chinese products, then from a marketing point of view you have to come up with a product or product experience that makes your product more valuable to a consumer than a cheaper Chinese made product.
If you are just asking how you can have a successful product that competes with Chinese products, then from a marketing point of view you have to come up with a product or product experience that makes your product more valuable to a consumer than a cheaper Chinese made product.
The internet makes the world a smaller place to do business, market products and music. There are just so many out there. You have to compete or make a product that is so superior to any product like that people are willing to pay more for the product. Sink or swim. Eat or be eaten. If it isn't the Chinese it will be someone from another country. Everybody wants the maximum for their money, a return on their investments. In the US, we sent work to China a long time ago, that ship sailed long ago. Sitting around waiting for a job at the factory, mine or steel mill is a waste of time.
As Leadbelly says- make a product more valuable to a consumer than a cheaper Chinese (or anywhere in the world) made product.
As Leadbelly says- make a product more valuable to a consumer than a cheaper Chinese (or anywhere in the world) made product.
If you are using a computer you already shot yourself in the foot, they are all made in China, same for Telephones.
Now so many products are high quality from China...
And most importantly not everyone has the time, discerning taste, and buying power to purchase all made in america/europe/
China is almost here too, I applied on a job at a PCB manufacture here and it is not better.
Now so many products are high quality from China...
And most importantly not everyone has the time, discerning taste, and buying power to purchase all made in america/europe/
China is almost here too, I applied on a job at a PCB manufacture here and it is not better.
I understand the problem has been going on forever.
I have been buying pcb's from China for many years so am partly to blame.
My point is, can our UK economy stand it ?
We cant just be buyers, we have to sell too.
A big con on ebay at the moment is Chinese buyers pretending to be based in the UK. Its only when the item takes weeks to arrive do you realise what has happened. Ebay have said they are clamping down on it but I cant see it, ebay makes too much money from the Chinese.
Even my software business has taken a hammering since December 2017.
Suddenly, a hundred other listings appeared from nowhere and killed it.
Add to that free offerings and things are bleak.
I am looking for a full time job at the moment.
Web design and software development starts around £20k+. Its better than digging around at the bottom of the pile for a pound here and there.
So it looks like my own enterprise is going to just become a hobby if I can still be bothered.
A lot of the problem is economy of scale as well.
You produce a handful of boards for X amount but then a Chinese factory then churns out thousands for X/1000. It still boils down to big production versus boutique/small scale.
For instance, I want to make a handful of small class A Bluetooth speakers. But to buy the power source (+/- 36v 120va) is going to cost around $50 - toroid or SMPS. So how is it possible to make any kind of money when the PSU is going to cost more than retail offerings? Well it has to be from the implementation of the design - make it look nicer than the cheaper (but just as capable) offerings. Not an easy feat.
Unfortunately that is the reality and it has been this way for a long time.
You produce a handful of boards for X amount but then a Chinese factory then churns out thousands for X/1000. It still boils down to big production versus boutique/small scale.
For instance, I want to make a handful of small class A Bluetooth speakers. But to buy the power source (+/- 36v 120va) is going to cost around $50 - toroid or SMPS. So how is it possible to make any kind of money when the PSU is going to cost more than retail offerings? Well it has to be from the implementation of the design - make it look nicer than the cheaper (but just as capable) offerings. Not an easy feat.
Unfortunately that is the reality and it has been this way for a long time.
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What is strange is the same item is on sale in a few other places for about £50.
I can only guess they are being dumped on ebay as they can't sell them at the higher price.
I can still keep doing a moderate amount of manufacturing, Guitar Amplifiers, but from the beginning I invested in machinery and processes to do everything in house, that gives me a huge cost advantage ... but of course production slows down and can´t have much output.
So far I make in house: PCBs, transformers, chassis, front/back panels, cabinets, speakers, plus have own dies for custom metal corner protectors, strip handles, rubber legs, horns, horn drivers, etc.
Used to make my own reverb tanks, but now switched to a chip solution.
Own 2 speaker magnetizers, currently building a third one.
Mumbling about getting a small but powerful desktop CNC machine, capable of working at least with Aluminum to make "short production run" plastic injection dies and a small plastic injector.
In a nutshell: constantly sell but work very long weeks and am constantly searching for new niches which are not profitable for the Chinese.
While any plain vanilla Chinese makes *anything* , original or copy, and instantly starts selling it on Alibaba or EBay; obviously they are doing the things right and we are wrong.
So far I make in house: PCBs, transformers, chassis, front/back panels, cabinets, speakers, plus have own dies for custom metal corner protectors, strip handles, rubber legs, horns, horn drivers, etc.
Used to make my own reverb tanks, but now switched to a chip solution.
Own 2 speaker magnetizers, currently building a third one.
Mumbling about getting a small but powerful desktop CNC machine, capable of working at least with Aluminum to make "short production run" plastic injection dies and a small plastic injector.
In a nutshell: constantly sell but work very long weeks and am constantly searching for new niches which are not profitable for the Chinese.
While any plain vanilla Chinese makes *anything* , original or copy, and instantly starts selling it on Alibaba or EBay; obviously they are doing the things right and we are wrong.
‘Are the Chinese going to take over’?
They already have done, but it is simply not recognised. If you look around and notice the scale of their infrastructure developments, the scale and skill of their manufacturing ability, their investment into countries around the world, you can come to no other conclusion that the Chinese are taking over. The ‘west’ has had it’s day. Good luck to them.
They already have done, but it is simply not recognised. If you look around and notice the scale of their infrastructure developments, the scale and skill of their manufacturing ability, their investment into countries around the world, you can come to no other conclusion that the Chinese are taking over. The ‘west’ has had it’s day. Good luck to them.
Nigel,
Your Chinese competitor may have had the same idea at the same time. It often happens, and is known as 'synchronicity'. This is why it is so difficult to come up with a commercial product that genuinely has a unique selling point. I wouldn't despair too much about it, just have another go with something else.
ToS
Your Chinese competitor may have had the same idea at the same time. It often happens, and is known as 'synchronicity'. This is why it is so difficult to come up with a commercial product that genuinely has a unique selling point. I wouldn't despair too much about it, just have another go with something else.
ToS
Look at Chinese history, how many nations have crapped on them over the last 100 years or so? It's payback time.....
This thread is pointless within the forum confines.
I understand that Italy have signed up for a load of investment from China for infrastructure development which will end up (as so many Chinese investments do) in the country not being able to pay back the investment in the required time frame giving ownership of the investment to the Chinese. Clever!
Well that's not really true. I expect the guy to sell tons of it, which benefits eBay, Farnell, and RS Components! And the droves of diy-ers who suddenly can afford a USB scope!
You are about the only one who lost out here, sad but that's what an open economy looks like.
Your consolation is that next time you buy anything on eBay because it is dirt cheap, you and a bunch of others are the winners and one other guy lost out.
Jan
I find it fascinating that China is able to marry a communist society to a capitalist economy. I don't think anybody thought that it was possible even a decade ago. But they seem to pull it off and doing quite well. Maybe they found the holy grail.
Jan
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