$15 to ship a $30 pickguard

but they can pay their employees pennies and you have no customization options and they aren't running their own website and how long does the cheapest shipping from the Big C take to arrive anyway? a month? i dunno, man, i didn't have to think that hard about it
Correct me if I'm wrong, but employee salaries, product customization, website, etc. have nothing to do with shipping costs. How can the company sell for less than it supposedly costs to ship? I don't think they're selling those things at a loss?
 
Last edited:
They are part of the cost of operation, and therefore have everything to do with wether or not the merchant can absorb these costs into their sale price, of they post rates are applied to the order separately. See my earlier post with the breakdown.
 
That's my point. How would they absorb >$15 in shipping costs for a product they charge $10 for? I assume they're not selling for a loss, and I assume international shipping must be more expensive than domestic shipping, so I'm still not understanding.
 
Last edited:
A suggestion. Why not grab a pickguard, Box it up and take it to your local UPS and see what they charge you to ship to the W. Don’t forget to include the cost of the box, tape and your time. See if your number turns out radically different from there’s.
 
Exactly - that's part of why I'm so curious. Seems like it would cost me at least $10 to ship a pick guard domestically using any normal method. I'm perplexed at how these smaller (especially foreign) companies can sell products below the cost of shipping. What am I missing? Are they really eating the costs and taking a loss or is there some cheaper way to ship?
 
You don't know . .. someone is subsidizing them . .. probably our postal service. Try shipping something to one of those countries.
 
Our postal service would really subside foreign knock-off companies? Why would they put American businesses at a disadvantage like that?
 
Last edited:
Look on the bright side.
Prior to the internet, these pickguards as well as other parts from Warmoth would have retailed for twice as much, as Warmoth sold to wholesalers and music stores just like most other manufacturer. When the internet became more viable, Ken made the decision to be a DTC company, ie Direct To Consumer. Nearly overnight, the middle man was eliminated and rather than paying for a music store’s markup, consumers were now able to purchase directly from Warmoth for exactly what the music stores would have paid for it. The elimination of the markup allowed for direct relationships between Warmoth and its consumers.

TLDR; before the internet, consumers paid twice as much for Warmoth parts from retailers and still had to pay for shipping.
 
All I can say was the last time I ordered a $15 pickguard from Reverb (920D brand) it is was false bargain. The PU holes were all oversized and offset, and the pattern was printed on. I ate the cost because, by the time I paid for return shipping, it would have been a wash. I would have zero faith that a pickguard can be punched, packaged, and shipped all the way from China, and be of any quality.

Warmoth was selling direct to customer via mail-order catalog long before the mosiac browser opened up the internet.
 
Last edited:
Yep, I remember those days of reading a magazine, calling up the place, then writing a letter, saying enclosed herewith is a check for $, to cover the cost of the item, tax and shipping. Then popping the letter with a stamp in the post and sending it off. Hey Mr. Postman ...

I didn't know the quality of the 920d brand went down. I haven't bought anything from them since they changed to their off brand pick ups. I'm sorry to hear this ....
 
I just received a $15 made-in-China version (not from the Reverb link that was posted - this one is via Amazon). I'll report back once I get around to installing it, but it actually looks pretty decent out of the box.
 
Last edited:
I didn't know the quality of the 920d brand went down. I haven't bought anything from them since they changed to their off brand pick ups. I'm sorry to hear this ....

I bought the crappy pickguard in 2020 for a pandemic build, it was my first, and last, 920D purchase. I feel all they are good for is slick marketing.

920D got in a lot more hot water since then for selling fake PIO caps at boutique prices. Mojo Dijons are $1.25, 920D was shrink-wrapping over them and selling them for $28.

 
Last edited:
Back
Top