IT's Most Outrageous Markups?

masteritrit asks: "I have seen some really outrageous markups from IT companies. Cisco sells memory for a router I have for $1500 bucks and I bought it directly from Kingston for $56 bucks. I also had someone at storagetec accidentally reveal that their standard markup is 700%. What are some examples of this that others have seen and how do you feel about it?"

Cpu markups

[revmoo]

Well, pretty much any cpu you buy is going to be marked up pretty heavily.

It costs Intel or Amd the same whether they are making a 1ghz or a 3, the differences in prices are just their way of recouping development costs.

And of course, specialty cpus are marked up anymore, for example Athlon MP's.

PRINTER INK!

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

Numerous stories have been posted on this - I'm surprised "Printer Ink" isn't half of the posts here...

Re:Most outrageous is...

[saden1]

Sun Microsystems is notorious for charging way too much for their products...so much so that some times their resellers and channel partners sell the same products for 200% less. They need to get their act together.

Re:CompUSA Prices

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait till you have to refill the printer.

You're complaining and you haven't even hit the trapdoor yet...

You have to make a profit somewhere

[Crashmarik]

The question seems to be talking about gross markup in I.T., the problem is I.T. is a very funny business where almost all the cost is in figuring out what to buy. A particular cable or part may cost 25 cents, having someone around that can tell the customer that its the cable they need is not cheap at all.

If the part is to be installed on site the actual profit becomes much less. There seems nothing a customer loves more than wasting a field techs time with little things after the paperwork has been filled out.

Oh and for most markup I once charged a customer $300 for a 20 cent fuse for a printer. Call it penalty markup for plugging the thing into an outlet I insisted was bad.

Consultant

[Anonymous Coward]

I work for a consultant firm that charges the clients 10 times what they pay me. That's a markup.

Markup != Ripoff

[NanoGator]

Listen dudes, just because it's got a high percentage of profit, doesn't mean it's a rip-off. It's an example of supply and demand. If $5 USB cables are being sold for $30, then it's because enough people are spending $30 a piece to buy them. When people stop paying $30 a piece, the price will drop.

It really is important to understand this concept of business. Just because they can sell it cheaper doesn't mean they should. Remember, they're not just selling you small quantities of material, they're selling you a tool that helps you do a job.

Re:Most outrageous is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sun Microsystems is notorious for charging way too much for their products...so much so that some times their resellers and channel partners sell the same products for 200% less.

Cool... I'll buy everything they have! So if Sun sells something for $1000, then 200% of that is $2000. So 200% less than $1000 is:

$1000
-2000
-----
-$1000

Cool... they'll pay ME $1000 to take it home. Got a URL?