Re: Repair business potential?



Trevor Wilson wrote:

<wizzzer@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1156357877.367945.114800@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Is there much room for new people to get into the business of repairing
tube/vintage electronic equipment? Or is this field overcrowded with
competitors or lacking enough customers like some other business
fields? I don't require making a huge amount of money at this, as long
as it's not extremely difficult to make money. I've tried a couple of
other home businesses in the last few years which were extremely
difficult to make money at due to the market being flooded with
competition, thus making it extremely hard to even get noticed by
customers.

**I've been in the repair biz for 30 years. I service some pretty exotic
stuff, along with a bunch of crap. The one common thing I have noticed, is
that the business is shrinking. In all areas. Sure, there will always be a
bunch of people who are dedicated to their equipment and will always want it
serviced correctly. However, I will relate a short story about a recent
client.

My client first met me, when I demo'd some expensive amplification about 10
years ago. He had purchased another brand and wanted me to trade the old
stuff in. I could not afford to offer him a reasonable trade in, so he
eventually purchased elsewhere. (Amplifier cost around AUS$7,000.00) A
couple of weeks ago, he presented me with his purchase, for me to repair, as
it had failed. Although the amp is worth around AUS$6k, he specified a limit
of AUS$500.00, since that is how much he needed to spend to give him music
from any of the mass market brands. As he said, since his children are
growing and home cinema is the norm for the family, critical listening to
music is less important than it once was.

Last week I received a fancy, Chinese CD player for service. It cost
AUS$3,500.00. It's construction is of an extremely high calibre. The finest
components are used in it's construction and it has a couple of tubes in the
output stages. Very impressive and I would estimate that if it were
constructed in a first world nation, it would probably cost AUS$7,000.00.
HOWEVER, here's the kicker: The FOB cost is around AUS$600.00. Factoring in
all the usual costs and mark-ups, the retail price SHOULD be around
AUS$1,800.00. That means someone is being very greedy. Ultimately, what will
occur is that another company will undercut the company with a similar
product. A round of price cutting will occur and consumers will be able to
buy very good products at very low prices. So low, in fact, that service
people will not be able to economically repair the stuff.

OTOH, I have good experience in a number of repair activities that many
people do not and have built up a clientele which enables me to make a
reasonable living. Not like it used to be, I might add. I used to buy a case
of French champagne every month. Now, I'm lucky to buy one bottle a year.

These stories are typical of what is occurring in the business.

I have a CD player in for service with a noise problem where thing has begun to
make a buzz
because the signal which I think goes to the platter motor is getting into the
audio path.
Its an elaborate and probably pretentious cd player and with two output tubes,
is circular
in shape and the base is carved from a heavy block of red coloured wood and the
top
is a circular block of aluminium, and it weighs about 20Kgs when 2Kg is all that
a CD player need weigh.
Its an absolute PITA to pull apart and service, and the fucking distributors
won't give any information support
so the after sales service is locked into their expensive hands.

The undercutting you speak of doesn't seem to stop guys from buying
such elaborate hi-end gear which fails just like the cheap *** that is
elsewhere and everywhere.


When you look in the back of a modern TV set, the electronics board is like a
cheap
PC motherboard, about $100 cost from someplace in Asia.
But the set might have cost $7,000 in a shop.
The issue of greed is a non issue since buyers don't mind a $7,000 hit for TV.
There is a very negligible relationship between the cost of production and the
shop price.
Hardly anyone likes paying to repair whimsical luxury goods they can do without.

As I mentioned in my other post, if you stay at the repair-of-old-junk trade
long enough,
the old junk will outlive its owners, and you'll get to outlive the other FOBs
in the business.
( FOB I guess means Fuckin Old ***, no?) .
In 20 years Phil Allison will be the ONLY count in the world who could repair a
Sony cd101 player.....

Anyway, youse must have been greedy to be able to afford a case of French
Champagne each month!

What a huge waste, no? I could never want to piss so expensively!

Patrick Turner





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Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

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