They are definitely getting cheaper.
I'm guessing their cost on them is
BTC.10 so this is as low as it goes probably without paying us to take them!
I honestly think asicminer is producing these at as little as 0.03
BTC. They have no middle men for chips and other items so that brings cost down considerably.
They might be producing them at that amount but , do you work for free? I don't think they are going to sell AT COST
No I don't think they will sell at cost either. They will only continue to sell as long as they are turning a profit. I would assume the lowest they will sell at is 0.7-0.8
Their sales force (resellers) will drop out before it gets that low. If you can't make $5-6 a miner it's not worth the work.
I disagree the resellers will just force a minimum buy. A sealed box of 10 sticks will be the minimum buy. or 2 sealed boxes of 10
They must be sealed so the handling is easy. 2 boxes fit in a padded flat rate envelope. shipping is only 6 bucks 50 insurance and tracking for free in all 50 states.
so a 20 pack for 1.5 coins that the reseller paid 1 coin for gives him a .5 coin profit if the buyer pays for the label. I for one would love to be able to sell that.
The real problem is not the sticks the problem is the hubs. shit hubs burn up and good hubs cost a lot.
If 20 sticks cost the above price of 1.5 coins for 20 and 6 bucks to ship the miner needs 3x 7 stick hubs or 2x 10 stick hubs.
So far the cheapest I have seen is about 3 bucks a port so if you can setup that would be 60 bucks plus the 190 for the 20 sticks total of 250 for 20 sticks and hubs. frankly I went with good hubs and it cost more. I paid 6 bucks a port for much better gear. So my cost for 20 mining sticks would be 310 usd. vs 250 usd.
at 250 it comes to 12.50 per stick counting the hubs
at 310 it comes to 15.50 per stick with the hubs.
so the sticking point for sticks will be hub price. so whether you pay 3 or 6 a port or anything in between the port cost will be a big issue.
So a reseller could make money with sticks at .075 btc each. Now what can Am make on that in bulk I have no idea.
But I would think they could make a stick and get it to the states at .025 btc each with mass production.
going long term as a miner at 12.50-15.50 usd a stick when do they become useless? good question to early in the morning for me to do the math.