I 100% agree on what Daniel is saying...
Erich Kaiser North Central Tower [email protected] Office: 630-621-4804 Cell: 630-777-9291 On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 7:07 PM, Daniel White <[email protected]> wrote: > Forrest, > > > > Friendly advice – but look how the big boys do it. They sell on value. > People don’t question things like magnetics because they are not educated > on it (I’ve never given it any thought). You can explain why you have a > superior product without bad mouthing the competition. > > > > - Packetflux only uses the highest quality components to ensure > extended range operation for the harshest service provider environments > > - Made in the USA (yes there is value in this to a lot of people) > > - Write a simple, easy to understand whitepaper on PoE magnetics > and why Packetflux solution is superior > > > > End of day – its marketing. Create your value proposition. The crowd > that will only purchase on price will always only purchase on price. > > > > As the old saying goes, the bitterness of poor quality remains long after > the sweetness of low price is forgotten > > > > Thank you, > > > > Daniel White > > [email protected] > > Cell: +1 (303) 746-3590 > > Skype: danieldwhite > Social: LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwhite84>: Twitter > <https://twitter.com/DanielWhite84> > > > > *From:* Af [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Forrest Christian > (List Account) > *Sent:* Monday, August 3, 2015 5:37 PM > *To:* af <[email protected]> > *Subject:* [AFMUG] Competitor parts quality. > > > > This is somewhat of a vent/rant, but also I will also take suggestions on > how to handle this issue. > > > > Since I've been shipping gigabit injector products, I've struggled with > the pricing of the magnetics which are used to inject the power on the cat5 > cable. After a lot of time searching, I ended up using a Pulse branded > HX6096NL. This is a extended temperature range part (-40C to +85C), and > is rated for 720mA@57V per pair, continuous. This is the least > expensive part I've found so far which meets decent current rating and > temperature rating standards. If you're interested, the datasheet is > at: > > > > http://productfinder.pulseeng.com/products/datasheets/HX6096FNL.pdf > > > > Unfortunately, cheap is not cheap. These parts cost me around $4.25 in > quantity, EACH. (See http://www.findchips.com/search/hx6096fnl ). I > could buy non-temperature rated parts for a bit less, but I don't want to > not ship an extended temperature-rated product. This means on a 4 port > injector, the parts costs alone to add gigabit are $21.00. For a 12 port > injector, this ends up being $61.00. > > > > As a general rule of thumb, you need to multiply production costs by about > 2 or 2.5 to get the final sale price (and even at that I'm not getting > rich) (see > http://www.eevblog.com/2014/05/28/the-economics-of-selling-your-hardware-project/ > to understand why*)* - so using these parts effectively adds $42 to the > price of a 4 port injector, and $122 to a 12 port injector, when compared > to a non-injected version. > > > > The frustrating part of all of this is that I see competitors which are > selling products which are amazingly inexpensive. For instance, I > recently bought a 6 port gigabit injector for $37.95, hoping that once I > tore it apart, I'd find a source for an expensive magnetics. I should note > that just the magnetic costs for 6 of the magnetics that I use are $25.50, > leaving only $12.95 for everything else and profit. > > > > So, what did I find inside? They're using a cheap cheap > questionable-quality knockoff of a set of magnetics which (even if they > were genuine) are not only not industrial temperature range (in fairness > they didn't claim this) but worse, they're not rated for PoE at all - > signal only, no DC. I would never in a million years consider shipping a > product with this set of magnetics in it, and I sure wouldn't use this in > my network. Yet somehow I have to compete with this. > > > > I guess where I'm going with this is: I am starting to get pushback about > my pricing when compared to these low-cost options, and I'm sure that > they're making an impact into my bottom line - it's definitely difficult to > sell against a product which is so much less expensive, as long as the > perception is that the cheaper product isn't in any material way less > functional or meaningfully lower quality. Unfortunately, the other option > seems to be to start badmouthing the competition, which isn't something I > would ever stoop to. > > > > I'm not quite sure how to address this. Any suggestions? > > > > -- > > *Forrest Christian* *CEO, PacketFlux Technologies, Inc.* > > Tel: 406-449-3345 | Address: 3577 Countryside Road, Helena, MT 59602 > > [email protected] | http://www.packetflux.com > > <http://www.linkedin.com/in/fwchristian> <http://facebook.com/packetflux> > <http://twitter.com/@packetflux> > > > > ------------------------------ > [image: Avast logo] <https://www.avast.com/antivirus> > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/antivirus> > >
