I did an experiment , to try and gain some knowledge on lipo pricing , and just how much money is being made on lipo packs.

This experiemnet was for 48 volt/20 Ah packs...coming from hong/kong.

I emailed the vendor , and asked them if I purchased 10 of them all at once, what is the lowest price he could sell them to me for..shipped..

his price came in around $420 each....but if you only buy 1 of them , the price is closer to $600 each...

now, lets keep in mind, even at $420 each , I am gonna assume they are at least making 2 x their money.....minus shipping costs...

I would imagine if I told the vendor I wanted to buy 20 lipo packs..the price may come below $400 a pack .

IMHO..this proves that their is still plenty of room for the prices of these lipo packs to come lower.... in 6-12 months time, I think we will see a reduction in price of at least 10-20% per pack.

I dont think 2 times the price shipped is what their making.
The $600 was for one prolly because they would air ship it. (expensive shipping)
$420 was prolly freight (boat and much cheaper shipping)

the shipping worked out to about the same..for 1 pack..as it did 10 packs....

The profit margins in these kind of things are usually substantial....if they werent, then manufacturers would not get involved in it. ...remember 5 years ago..your average laptop cost about $800 ? Now you can get them with more power ..and for a price of around $200..and even at that low price..there is a significant profit margin.

I just got a reply from another overseas vendor...this is for a complete kit -48 volt/ 1000 watt / 20Ah ....rear wheel kit with lipos...

one of these kits sells for $799 shipped....heres what they told me they could sell it for if I bought 20 kits.

"Ok,if you order 20 kits,we can give you a wholesale price .
The 48V1000W kit with 48V20AH lifepo4 battery price are 419USD/set.
the total shipping cost are 3150USD,shipping by DHL.
regards """

this works out to about $435 a kit SHIPPED ....and they are selling the same kit, individually for $799 shipped...

now, whos gonna tell me there isnt a SIGNIFICANT profit margin in these kits ? :**

If they are making a good profit margin at $435 a kit....then they are making a KILLING at $799 a kit....and $799 a kit is currently the lowest price you can find on ebay...

So Ive done some math :


20 kits purchased at $435 = a $8,700 investment

20 kits sold at $799 = $15,980

This represents about a 90% profit margin on your investment.

Thelowest price on this kit , on ebay, is currently $799 shipped..from Hong Kong

I would think that a person here in america, could buy 20 kits... and easily sell them for $799 and charge $ 45 for shipping , because most U.S. buyers would rather purchase from there own country , and not have to wait 4 weeks for delivery..etc...

Now do you see the profit margins involved ? and thats with selling the kits at a low price of $799....imagine the profits involved from some sellers who are selling at $900 or more !

3150 divided by 20 is 157.50 per kit for shipping. Making it 576.50 per kit shipped.

You also didn't consider customs brokerage fees and import duties in your math.

Now all you have to do is put up YOUR money, that you may have to pay interest on. Pay rent on a place to store the inventory. Pay for heat and electric for that place. Get a phone and maybe a web site and hope that you can somehow sell these. Don't forget about the warranty claims and other things you will have to deal with after the sale. You may want some kind of insurance for the ever possible lawsuit. Ebay, paypal and the credit card companies all like to collect their fees. Don't forget about all the time and hassle involved in keeping records for taxes and whatnot. Oh yes don't forget that you have to pay taxes on all of that excess profit.

you are correct....I did not see the 0 at the end..I thought he was saying the 20 kits would be $315 shipped....

so we can basically cancel out all the incorrect math I did using the $315 shipping quote.

My mistake...

well since I mistook the shipping quote wrongly...all my math is useless now..

It seems the shipping costs from overseas, are a real killer...even at 20 units purchased , you still get charged about 150 a unit for shipping...I thought it would be much cheaper, on a per unit basis, when buying in bulk.

90% mark up sounds great until you realize that its hard work to develop a business that sells these units in volume. I have a feeling that most vendors are still doing it with a hope that it will pay off for them someday, but that someday hasn't come for them, yet.

I would ask what the cost of shipping 20 of them by boat instead of air. Prolly half that price.

I agree...probably cuts the shipping costs by 50% or more...but the problem with shipping by sea is it can take 1-2 months to recieve it. I think this could only make it more possible to experience problems with the lipos....because if each of them isnt charged near full capacity , they would be discharging for many many weeks while being shipped . If they sit to long in a discharged state , there may be more risk of recieving damaged cells.

I agree...any business can be a pain in the ass and a risk to startup/run.