I suppose we could use Drake's Law: I'd estimate that perhaps only 1
in 10 Hams are interested in homebrewing, 1 in 10 have the skill, and 1
in 10 have the means to stock up a large parts library: basically an
interested audience of 1 in 1000 hams, meaning an audience of no more
than 700 hardcore homebrewers. Can that be right, only 700 of us
potentially on this newsgroup?

Although, if I provide the service of the homebrewer's parts library:
reasonable price, fast shipment, good ranges of discretes for 160-6 M
construction, then I could address up to 7000 hams who have both the
interest and skill who don't want to kit but do want to try something
new.

If I bundle the parts kits with the FAR boards, I suppose I could
address the 1-3 additional people on the bottom end of the skill scale.
Now we have an audience of up to 21000 hams, a nice healthy audience.

If only one of 100 hams in the kit audience buys a kit per year, then I
have only 210 sales per year. If the average parts kit cost me $50 and
I mark it up by $5 I only make about $1 of profit per kit after taxes
and expenses. 210 sales per year X $1 per kit is $210 per year. Not
good!

Or are there things of which I am not considering.

Yawn,

The Eternal Squire

wrote in message
oups.com...

than 700 hardcore homebrewers. Can that be right, only 700 of us
potentially on this newsgroup?

I don't know about "hardcore", but many AmQRP kits sell that many in the
first week. OK, you could say that a kit really isn't homebrew. But there
are a lot of people out there who like to melt solder.

and expenses. 210 sales per year X $1 per kit is $210 per year. Not
good!

Hardly cover the state's cut for licenses.

...

But then again, I dropped a zero because I was so tired writing the
letter. Would be 2100 sales per year, not 210. With 1$ net profit
margin on a $50 sale, that would be $2100 per year.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I suppose we could use Drake's Law: I'd estimate that perhaps only 1
in 10 Hams are interested in homebrewing, 1 in 10 have the skill, and 1
in 10 have the means to stock up a large parts library: basically an
interested audience of 1 in 1000 hams, meaning an audience of no more
than 700 hardcore homebrewers. Can that be right, only 700 of us
potentially on this newsgroup?

Although, if I provide the service of the homebrewer's parts library:
reasonable price, fast shipment, good ranges of discretes for 160-6 M
construction, then I could address up to 7000 hams who have both the
interest and skill who don't want to kit but do want to try something
new.

If I bundle the parts kits with the FAR boards, I suppose I could
address the 1-3 additional people on the bottom end of the skill scale.
Now we have an audience of up to 21000 hams, a nice healthy audience.

If only one of 100 hams in the kit audience buys a kit per year, then I
have only 210 sales per year. If the average parts kit cost me $50 and
I mark it up by $5 I only make about $1 of profit per kit after taxes
and expenses. 210 sales per year X $1 per kit is $210 per year. Not
good!

Or are there things of which I am not considering.

Yawn,

The Eternal Squire

Why limit your potential market to only the USA?

Because unless I know different from an authoritative source, US
Customs pretty much considers anything much above a transistor to be
military dual-use tech in the post 9/11 era. Take a look at the Ebay
ads these days... you'll hardly ever see a US Ebay willing to sell
outside CONUS due to export hassles.

Importing is almost as bad... Outside of NAFTA or CAFTA expect pay to
duties in excess of 12 to 50 percent above your $400 annual exemption
for gift items.

The Eternal Squire