| Here is the break down: Nissan List prices
Large O-rings list $9.12 each (requires 2) = $18.24
Small O-ring list $6.67 each (requires 1) = $6.67 Total list price for set = $24.91 The cost to SZ from Nissan is 10% over Nissan cost, to get the price we get, we have to buy 20K a month from Nissan.
Our actual cost
Large O-rings $6.02 each (requires 2) = $12.04
Small O-ring $4.40 each (requires 1) = $4.40 Total cost to us $16.44 We sell the O-rings on our web site for $17.50 a set Mark up is $1.06 for the set, or less than 7% mark up. As a business we have to pay for:
Rent
Business tax
Corp tax
Phones
Internet service
Fire dept annual fee
Building and safety annual fee
Credit card fee
Web host fee
Wed design fee
Email host fee
Insurance
Printers and paper
Credit card machine fee
Fax machine
computers
Power bill
Advertizing
Boxes and shipping supplies
Accounting fees
Employees and taxes for them
Work comp
The list goes on..... Basically the monthy cost without opening the doors, without paying cost of goods, without upgrading items as they age, without figuring fraud....
It costs over 15K a month to be in business before the business can me anything, again this is not paying for items being sold, strictly the cost of being in business. How many O-ring sets do I have sell at $1.06 over my cost to cover overhead before I make a profit? If my Wife did not make good money, I could not do what I do.
Many months I can not take a pay check.
I got very lucky in the stock market years ago, I also did well in the housing market (I was lucky and was in the right place at the right time). The Z business has only been able to tread water for me and allow me to do what I love.
I only want to do things right, I only want to sell high quality parts, because this limits the items that might cost less, but have higher mark up, and because of competition, it is difficult to mark up over 10% over cost and be competitive on most items we sell.
Most other types of retail businesses can mark up 30+ percent, some more than 50%. Anyone thinking we are making some killing is sadly mistaken.
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