Why do effect pedals cost so much?

[Pollinator95]

Ha! You're not alone...

You mean you didn't read it? That's the answer to your question right there.

 

[WilliamSandoval]

You mean you didn't read it? That's the answer to your question right there.

And so were the other 98 posts that just repeated what the first few people said. Don't worry, I skimmed; but everyday there are about 5 new posts that say the same thing...

 

[atomicdog]

Some of these pedals, like those made by Red Witch and other boutique companies, use high-quality airplane quality components, sometimes mined from old planes, and are virtually handmade, with the exception of the cases. You get what you pay for: Digitech and BOSS and the more commercial companies have some fine products, but when you shop around you discover that while a $25 Danelectro Chorus might be OK, and it will last a year or two, it's a shadow of what a Liquid Sky Chorus can offer, for instance. And once you put these onto a board and take them on stage, you want reliability (that said, I've had Electro Harmonix pedals that sounded great but were pricey and crapped out way too soon. And what's with the flimsy little toggle switches on their products?)

 

[Hopkins]

I don't see how the the companies selling cheap pedal companies can make a profit selling pedals for under $50. Say it takes $10 in materials and labor to make the pedal, I wont even count labor. They have to package and distribute their merchandise, which means shipping overseas, they then sell it to the vendors who have to make make money also. So the company who's pedal cost $40 in the store was probably sold for 20$ by the company who made it. There is not a lot of room there to make money.

I am aware that this is an over simplified scenario, but you get the drift.

 

[Nev375]

Because:

Parts
Workers hours
Tools
Rent/Lease/Property Payment
Insurance
Taxes
Social Security
Licenses
Electric bill
Water bill
Sewage Bill
Internet bill
Lawyers fees
Court fees
Injured Workers pension payments
Background check on new worker
Training classes/time for new worker
Time another worker has to spend training new worker instead of building pedals
Shipping
Sales efforts to get stores to carry your pedals
Advertising
Patent attorney fees
Patent application fees
Copyright fees
Lawyer to defend against another company who is suing you for copying their design
$1200 for blow and hookers
$1200 to pay off bookkeeper to list blow and hookers as "stress management therapy"

etc...

 

[lemongrenades]

A Robot, hahahaha. This kid is shot out. I'm picturing a caveman like character scratching its head, with the caption "Pedal small, bass big. Why pedals no cheap? I no get it."