ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Safety for the price of a chewing gum

I found this on a market analyst site.

"A travel charger when exported to markets demanding CE or UL approvals will be sold at 40 cents to 70 cents each, FOB. Chargers without any approvals can go for 30 cents to 60 cents each, FOB."

Yes, really, the price of a safe cell phone charger is only 70 cents when bought in some quantity. You save a full 10 cents on an untested and probably unsafe type...

Hi C-H,
Yeah, that's quite true, but think of the profits you would make when selling the goods as approved stuff, with a fake UL or CE sticker.
Sadly, these types of people are only concerned with money.
What do they care if the thing injures you or sets fire to something.

Even at 70 cents, that's still pretty darn cheap. Still, given the final price in the stores, they'd have to be that cheap from the factory by the time each business in the supply chain has added its mark-up.

I agree Paul,
The mark-up between manufacturer and the retail store must be huge.
It also goes to show that the materials used in manufacturing devices like this must be pretty cheap when bought in large quantities, like this case.