[AudioDwebe]

Wouldn't it be great if the more expensive custom makers (Ultimate Ears/Westone/Jerry Harvey Audio) had a 30-day return policy in case the improvement in sound quality isn't quite what you thought it would be?

I really think that if any of these companies offered something like that, with a "restocking" type of a fee of, say $150 or so to cover the cost of production, a bunch of us fence-sitters would take the leap without much hesitation. And chances are, once we've heard them, we wouldn't send them back.

My guess is that it would increase their overall sales by a substantial margin and the occasional return wouldn't affect them at all.

Any thoughts?

 

[Jensen]

A return would be a pretty massive loss. Much of the cost is in the engineer's time spent creating the custom molding... etc. I don't think it is really financially feasible.

 

[sugrhigh]

It would have to be more than $150 to "restock" although it's impossible to "restock" them. That may cover the materials, and I repeat, MAY cover it but it doesn't cover the time spend on molds, machine costs, etc like Jensen said.

I agree it would be nice but that's kind of like returning a used condom for a fee... it'll just go in the trash. (and sorry for the bluntness of this but it's the only example I can think of so edit it if necessary mods)

 

[AudioDwebe]

I used the term "restock" but understand it really can't be. I mean it just in terms of taking the item back.

As for the parts cost being more than $150, they very well could be, but I somehow doubt it. I just found out today that Livewires (I think) offers a 30-day money back deal, and their top of the line custom costs about $350. I don't see how they could stay in business with these prices if the manufacture is, in fact, that labor intensive.

I would imagine it would take about the same amount of time/effort regardless of the brand of the custom. Of course, this is all purely speculation on my part.

 

[MisterControversy]

I find it hard to believe that materials and labour exceed 150$, but i'm probably just being cheap, lol.

 

[boomana]

I don't see this happening and, yes, I think the materials and labor, and R&D add up to more than $150.

 

[hockeyb213]

well when your talking about upper iem's towards a grand or more there is no way parts cost is below 150 livewires is unique but a company is not going to reuse the parts so it would be a massive loss

 

[Gothamm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sugrhigh /img/forum/go_quote.gif It would have to be more than $150 to "restock" although it's impossible to "restock" them. That may cover the materials, and I repeat, MAY cover it but it doesn't cover the time spend on molds, machine costs, etc like Jensen said. I agree it would be nice but that's kind of like returning a used condom for a fee... it'll just go in the trash. (and sorry for the bluntness of this but it's the only example I can think of so edit it if necessary mods)

really? i suppose you know their true cost of production?

 

[Jensen]

The armatures aren't the main cost when it comes to a custom. You are paying people with "engineer" written on their business card (not $8 an hour burger flippers) to spend a fair amount of time creating and testing your custom piece.

 

[hockeyb213]

Well how long does it take to produce a iem? I am pretty sure it can be done within a couple hours so unless these people are being payed hundreds per hour there is no way what you said can be accurate. If you go on knowles website and look around balanced armatures are not that cheap.

 

[AudioDwebe]

I feel that if the big guns did have a money-back return policy, their sales would increase by a large margin. And I seriously doubt they'd have many returns.

Take myself, for example. I'm on the fence. I think the higher-end customs would outperform my IEMs (SE530/IE8/ER4B/5 Pros), but to what degree? I'm really curious about it, but truly wonder if I'm (essentially) $1200 curious.

If I knew that were the customs to not meet my expectations, that I could return them minus a certain dollar amount for fees (parts/labor/RD/etc), and that I could get most of my money back, it would make the purchase decision easier.

And in the back of my mind, I know that I would never return them because they (probably) will sound noticeably better than my current IEM lineup and I would listen to, and enjoy, my music to a higher degree. But $1200 is $1200 and a safety net would be nice.

And besides, what's to stop any of the companies from making "refurbished" customs from the innards of the few (my guess) returned IEMs to again sell at a somewhat discounted price?

To me it just seems like a "win/win" situation.

Having said that, I never took any business classes in college and have never owned my own business so I just might be expressing my ignorance.

Your thoughts?

 

[Jensen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hockeyb213 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well how long does it take to produce a iem? I am pretty sure it can be done within a couple hours so unless these people are being payed hundreds per hour there is no way what you said can be accurate. If you go on knowles website and look around balanced armatures are not that cheap.

Health insurance for employees, overhead for work environment, capital outlay for expensive machines/testing equipment - not to mention profit. All customs are a relatively low volume product. Economies of scale dictate a need for higher margins on each one. This isn't an assembly line in China that does a product runs in the thousands where everything can be streamlined. Naw mean?