[XXII]

Well you're certainly free to set whatever price you want and sell your cables on Ebay and Audiogon. I would suggest to see if you can aim for 50-60% of the price of major head-fi cable companies for a similar cable.
 
I agree with the others though: you shouldn't sell your cables for a profit on the FS forums. Not only because it's against the rules. But you're basically taking advantage of a free (courtesy) service provided by this website. If you sell something for a profit on the FS forums, surely head-fi should be entitled to a percentage of your profits? 
Quote:

Well, I respect those of you who do DIY cables and give them away for free or sell them at cost price; but I also strongly believe that a person's time and effort must be taken into consideration or else big names such as ALO audio, Jenna cables, Qables etc... will go bankrupt. Also, I am not here to sell tons and tons of DIY; it's just a hobby of mine that I do with my spare time and would feel encouraged to keep on making more by selling the cables and making some profit. I obviously wouldn't price my cables anywhere close to what the companies listed above are selling them for because I believe that the customer must get what he pays for to be as fair as possible. Thanks!

 

[boomana]

I encourage members to report anyone selling for DIY for profit (anything other than parts and shipping), be it in the FS forum or through PM.   I also encourage members to report folks selling their amps, cables etc. on ebay site, and using head-fi's resources to direct members to direct them there.  Those members are MoTs, and need to follow MoT rules here.  
 
I have no problem with folks choosing to sell anything they want for anything they want anywhere they want, but if people want to use head-fi to do so, which is also fine, they have to be willing to follow the rules of head-fi or lose the privilege of having access to head-fi's resources.  It's unfair to those MoTs who do follow the rules to allow folks to don't want to follow them to sell their stuff for profit.

 

[Trysaeder]

What is profit.

 

[boomana]

Anything above the cost of parts is profit. 

 

[Pars]

I disagree with this rule for one-offs, but understand it for flying under the radar MOTs. No way I would sell an amp or something I built for cost of parts unless that was all I could get for it.
 
And head-fi is a community for MOTs... they don't want the competition.

 

[weibby]

Problem is, applying for MOT takes so long.
If headfi wishes to be draconian about the ruling thats fine but at least provide an avenue to do an application with prompt response with a clear yes or no.
 
So far I have not seen one clear post from the mods or admin with regards to applying for MOT status.
Most of my understanding is drips and drabs from previous post from members asking on how to become a MOT.

 

[Trysaeder]

Quote:

Anything above the cost of parts is profit. 

So a person who lives in a geographically isolated area with 20 years' of electrical experience should sell the same as someone living in the US who makes things for a hobby?
 
How can you dictate the cost of parts that someone uses? The cost of an item is all of which is needed to get the item into a condition (and usually location) ready for sale. This includes freight in, cost of parts, freight out, and labour. Without any one of these, the item cannot exist.  How do you expect that people give away their labour for free? 
 
Selling at cost price is fine, but cost price includes labour. It is up to the buyer to determine what the labour is worth. Profit is the margin above the cost price, when the price asked exceeds materials cost and the labour cost. It is up to the buyer to determine what the labour is worth, therefore the cost price is variable. If I were to sell my cable at $400, you may think it is sold for 'profit', that is, above what my labour is worth. But someone else may see my work, and say that it is excellent, and he would gladly pay $500+ for it. Therefore my labour is worth $500 less materials cost to that person. 
 
If you force people to sell at strict parts cost, then people will just 'buy' more expensive parts or 'use' more expensive techniques, as seem with certain manufacturers. If you dictate what the prices cost, then you will see the availability of affordable quality diy products disappear and become replaced with black market 'awesomely treated' products using 'nanotechnology'. It is a reality already, you just have to see it.
 
I am not arguing that people should be able to sell diy products for profit. I am saying that cost price is cost of materials, freight, plus labour, as without any of these three elements, the product cannot exist. Labour cost is variable, therefore cost price is variable. That's why there is a difference between a $1000/hour QC lawyer/barrister and a $100/hour 'beginner' lawyer/barrister. People should be able to charge what they feel is reasonable for the use of their tools and their labour, it is up to the person to decide whether this is profit.

 

[mugdecoffee]

I think the idea is that selling DIY cables and amps should not be seen as a source of income and so you shouldn't charge for labor.  DIY is a hobby, not a second job and you should be making the cables for yourself, not to sell to others.  If I sold an amp I made at the full cost of all parts, I'd be rather pleased that I got to create it and listen to it all for free.

 

[Trysaeder]

includes freight in, cost of parts, freight out, and labour. Without any one of these, the item cannot exist.

 
Yeah. You should charge for labour. Whether you charge $0.02, $2 or $20 is up to the buyer.

 

[boomana]

Quote:

 
Yeah. You should charge for labour. Whether you charge $0.02, $2 or $20 is up to the buyer.

You can do whatever you want on your own, and that's fine and dandy.  If you use head-fi's resources to do so, you are in violation of the rules you agreed to when you signed up here, and may lose the privilege of being a member here at all.  

 

[n_maher]

I'm closing this thread.  The question has been answered.  Per the rules here DIY items are to be sold for the cost of parts only, labor is not allowed to be charged for.  If that does not sit well with you, you are not required to use the FS forums here.  Abuse or attempts to circumvent the rules are not looked upon kindly.