[DARK_M3]

People practically giving away OEM parts as if they are worthless Chinese crap? (Disclaimer: not all Chinese stuff is crap )

I mean for example. OEM wheels, let's say, the stock 19" forged M220's. A full set of used but in practically perfect condition for... $700?! WTF? Yes they are used but a wheel is a wheel and if it's free from any damage be it structural as well as cosmetic. These things cost: $891 (set of 2) for the fronts and $953 (set of 2) for the rears from the factory! I mean I know you can't sell them for that used but even if you cut the price in half, you're looking at roughly $921 for a complete set. That to me seems like a pretty good deal... on a lightweight forged German made wheel.

I dunno... half seems pretty reasonable. When the wheel is stamped with "Volk" people don't have a problem selling them for $3K... same used wheels... same cosmetic blemishes.


Let's look at a stock exhaust system. Nevermind the "M performance" one... I'm talking the basic OEM which goes for $1,276. Used...? About $4-500 sounds reasonable to me. Stop giving this stuff away! The tailpipe tips alone (set of 4) go for $100 on top of that $1,276. Not to mention all the other stuff.


Your leather 6MT shift knob with boot is $225.

The list goes on and on.



Stop selling yourself out I say! I mean great deals are great but there's "great" and then there's "simply undercharging".

[tmppgh]

Anybody looking for cheap used parts is going to be pretty upset with you. May be time to change your name and move

[DARK_M3]

Originally Posted by tmppgh

Anybody looking for cheap used parts is going to be pretty upset with you. May be time to change your name and move

Haha right?! No, obviously people are free to do what they want on a forum and sell parts for whatever they want. I'm just saying there must be some pride involved here. Yeeesh!

[kyleb350]

What OEM stuff are you selling OP?

[NBK]

market prices buddy.

sucks to suck.

[yakev724]

Originally Posted by NBK

market prices buddy.

+1

basic econ, supply + demand, ...

[Litos]

anyone looking for a stock 07 335i air box ??

or a stock 07 335i FMIC !?!?

got them sitting in my garage taking up space.

[DARK_M3]

Haha... Not selling anything... Yet!

I agree with market prices and the supply and demand comments.

Hey on second thought, I do have that stock air filter just sitting around. $1,250 sound about right?

[NBK]

Originally Posted by DARK_M3

Haha... Not selling anything... Yet!

I agree with market prices and the supply and demand comments.

Hey on second thought, I do have that stock air filter just sitting around. $1,250 sound about right?

that was so funny i forgot to laugh.

[Rookie83]

The sad part about it is with factory OE parts, the dealer is going to sell you that exhaust for $1,276.00 and it probably cost them around $300-$400. Dealers tend to mark up anywhere from 200-400%. Its insane

[DARK_M3]

Originally Posted by Rookie83

The sad part about it is with factory OE parts, the dealer is going to sell you that exhaust for $1,276.00 and it probably cost them around $300-$400. Dealers tend to mark up anywhere from 200-400%. Its insane

Yeah but guess what? It costs Akra the same price to make theirs too... How about THAT mark up? It just doesn't make sense.

[CollinsE90]

Something is only worth what someone else will pay for it.

[DARK_M3]

Originally Posted by CollinsE90

Something is only worth what someone else will pay for it.

So the sum of the parts is expensive as hell. The parts themselves... meh. You are right though.

Problem is, we all paid for the parts (the sum) but when it comes to part out, we beat ourselves up. ? That's like buying an ice cream cone for $5 then selling the cone for $1 and the ice cream for $1 just because you touched it.

Makes perfect sense.

And the more I think about the mark up remark, the more I get to thinking there's noway in hell it costs... let's say a full Akra Evo (since everyone and their mother loves it) anywhere near $400 to produce. You got a few guys (machinists, welders etc.) making what? $20 an hour? That's probably too high.. but let's pretend. It takes each of them.. oh I dunno.. 2 hours each to produce the final product? I'm guessing here. Let's say 3 hours because cutting and mandrel bending tubing etc. involves precision (slight sarcasm). That's collectively, $160 + employer taxes, insurance and keeping the lights on (for those 9 hours remember) plus the cost of material (steel not gold). So let's put that number final number at say... $300.

Yeah.. I'd say they're not starving at Akra with those markups. And before you say "but R&D.. " R&D was done once, a long time ago and they've made that money back on the first system sold.

I don't mean to pick on Akra.. It could be any (name brand) manufacturer.


But hey.. things are worth what people are willing to pay for them right? I'm just ranting. Who's excited about Rolex this weekend!! Woohoo!

[NBK]

you are really dumb.

GOOD welders/machinists make very easy money.

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by CollinsE90

Something is only worth what someone else will pay for it.

This is all that matters,

Many times if someone if selling something and if they are replacing it with something else, usually people will sell the older more expensive item for around the same price as new if they can get it

Then you have the person who wants to just sell the item for as high price as they can get and get pissed off when someone is willing to part with it for less, which drives down the market price.

Also do not confuse the fact the company set the price higher than something is really worth, that is not the market price. Yes there are people who have far more money than brains or time so they can care less what something costs.

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by DARK_M3

Yeah but guess what? It costs Akra the same price to make theirs too... How about THAT mark up? It just doesn't make sense.

There is a saying the price is the price and that is all that matters, we live in a society that is always looking for someone to cut the price, and we have company who put more value on selling more at lower cost than sell less at a higher value. So would you like to be Apple or BMW over Dell and GM. Apple sell less by higher value and so does BMW and are must more valuable companies or would you rather sell lots of cheep stuff and struggle to pay their bills.

Everyone wants to buy the dell product until they are the one selling it and wish it was an Apple product.

[CollinsE90]

Originally Posted by DARK_M3

So the sum of the parts is expensive as hell. The parts themselves... meh. You are right though.

Problem is, we all paid for the parts (the sum) but when it comes to part out, we beat ourselves up. ? That's like buying an ice cream cone for $5 then selling the cone for $1 and the ice cream for $1 just because you touched it.

Makes perfect sense.

And the more I think about the mark up remark, the more I get to thinking there's noway in hell it costs... let's say a full Akra Evo (since everyone and their mother loves it) anywhere near $400 to produce. You got a few guys (machinists, welders etc.) making what? $20 an hour? That's probably too high.. but let's pretend. It takes each of them.. oh I dunno.. 2 hours each to produce the final product? I'm guessing here. Let's say 3 hours because cutting and mandrel bending tubing etc. involves precision (slight sarcasm). That's collectively, $160 + employer taxes, insurance and keeping the lights on (for those 9 hours remember) plus the cost of material (steel not gold). So let's put that number final number at say... $300.

Yeah.. I'd say they're not starving at Akra with those markups. And before you say "but R&D.. " R&D was done once, a long time ago and they've made that money back on the first system sold.

I don't mean to pick on Akra.. It could be any (name brand) manufacturer.


But hey.. things are worth what people are willing to pay for them right? I'm just ranting. Who's excited about Rolex this weekend!! Woohoo!

What if I told you OEM wheels are often made by AEM companies, and rebranded with a price increase. What if I told you majority of OEM parts in our BMW's were made by another manufacturer and rebranded. Like Hella, Lemfoerder, HRE, and so on.

[KingOfJericho]

Supply and demand. The reason you can't command high dollar prices on OEM items is because everyone already has them and they are bought and sold with high frequency.

[Templar]

Maybe they have a life situation that requires they get cash super fast, the easiest way to do that is to offer items that you don't need for much, much less than they are "worth."

We don't know, so who cares?

[CollinsE90]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

Supply and demand. The reason you can't command high dollar prices on OEM items is because everyone already has them and they are bought and sold with high frequency.

Not to mention the appeal factor, people want to look different.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by DARK_M3

Yeah but guess what? It costs Akra the same price to make theirs too... How about THAT mark up? It just doesn't make sense.

I was somewhat agreeing with what you're saying until I read this

Did you forget R&D? It's not always the cost to produce something....

Plus, everyone needs to make a profit.

And making Ti is more difficult (from what I've heard, I know nothing about the technical aspects of an exhaust) than making SS. Plus, Akra has to import everything to the US... which means customs taxes (do correct me if I've read wrong).

Look at Froyo shops... Menchi charges 49 cents an oz... it costs them no where near that

a $4 froyo costs them about $1 to make, if that.

Are you going to go in there and demand they sell it for $1.50?


OEM parts are "useless" until you need them. Everyone has an OEM FMIC... OEM suspension... people buy mods to upgrade, not do the same.

MSRP is useless anyways...who pays retail these days?
They have to list them up so high because people will lowball the shit out of them. This way, they have wiggle room to still make a profit.


OEM parts are worth what someone will pay for them...and most of the time, they're taking up space.

[DARK_M3]

Originally Posted by NBK

you are really dumb.

GOOD welders/machinists make very easy money.

Go back to youtube

Originally Posted by CollinsE90

What if I told you OEM wheels are often made by AEM companies, and rebranded with a price increase. What if I told you majority of OEM parts in our BMW's were made by another manufacturer and rebranded. Like Hella, Lemfoerder, HRE, and so on.

They probably are!! I know Rays Manufacturing makes a LOT of OEM wheels etc.

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

Supply and demand. The reason you can't command high dollar prices on OEM items is because everyone already has them and they are bought and sold with high frequency.

Pretty much this. I understand it. I also understand that unless people work collectively to change something it won't happen. But like persian54 said, these parts are pretty much just sitting around.