Why is the Tellstick so incredibly expensive?

[habermas]

Hey there

I've been following your brilliant product since 2007 and have always wanted to buy one yet been discouraged by the prohibitively high price of your little dongle. Thus I check back about once a year to see if - as with all other electronics products - prices would fall over time.

Strangely this doesn't seem to happen with your product. In fact the price seems to only go up and up and I'm at a bit of a loss as to understand why that is so. I noticed that you have moved to distributing only through multiple layers of middlemen ("distributors" AND "retailers") while the rest of the online world has gone towards centralised distribution and I'm wondering if these multiple layers of middlemen are perhaps charging a high markup on their "distribution service" to the consumer while providing little of actual value?

Anyway all the best to you and your product. I hope that I will one day win the lottery and be able to afford the stick or alternatively that you may sell so many that you will be able to lower prices.

Regards,
A home automation enthusiast

[daniel.wierup]

Hello.

Thank you for your interest in TellStick. Sorry to hear that you are not happy with its pricing.

Not sure what market you are looking at but in Sweden the product initially sold for 699 SEK and most Swedish retailer now sell the product for around 649 SEK. This is a result of us now exclusively working with distributors that move large volumes. Internationally the price of a TellStick may obviously vary depending on what currency exchange rate you are looking at.

You as well have to put the price of a TellStick in the context of other home automation products (not other "little dongles"). In comparison to similar home automation solutions TellStick is quite inexpensive.