Great example of this.

My friend approaches me: I am having a baby. Strollers are so expensive. I did some research and they only cost 1/4 of what they sell them for at the store.

I want to have some made and sell them for a reasonable price.

Me: ok.... https://twitter.com/girdley/status/1350930667299876866

1. You'll have to have dies made for all the plastic injection. Those can be 2k - 20k depending on all the design details, material flow, etc.

2. The suppliers that will give you the price you referred to, have min orders. So you'll have to fork over the money before they make.

3. You'll have to ship them here by boat, which takes 45 days after 60 days of production, after 30 days of tooling in which you are out of cash and waiting, plus paying 10-15% in total freight.

4. You need to pay a forwarder as well. And duties, and tariffs.

5. When it gets here you'll need to truck it from port.

6. Because of the min order requirement, you will have to rent a warehouse or room or something to store the pallets of strollers coming in. B/C they are pallets, you'll need a truck bay and pallet jack.

7. Now that they are finally here, anyone that will sell them needs a 100% markup on them, you are maxed out a 1/2 retail.

8. All of this assuming you picked a reputable overseas vendor, didn't get cheated, and the quality was actually what you pictured in your head.

But other than that??

Yeah, its a great idea! They are way overpriced!

So to answer @girdley tweet, what is not usually known?

For most (not all)
* product design & development has high upfront costs
* acquisition and storage cost is high
* supplier terms can be crushing to an upstart (MOQ and Credit)