Would You Buy This Observation Hive For $500

[JordanM]

[BjornBee]

Can you tell us anything about it? Who made it, how old, glass vs plastic, etc.

[johnnybigfish]

Hi Jordan!!
 Mannn, is this a trick question? :-D
I wouldnt pay that much for an OB hive, but ive never bought one before...But,.......If I Thought you had made it, I might tell you I would pay that much cuz I wouldnt want to hurt your feelings! You know what I mean...a friend mite tell you something that they think you mite wanna hear but isnt really true.:'(..But...If your thinkin about buying this one...I dont know...It sounds kinda high to me.
Somebody will tell you better than me Im sure, here in awhile.
I think I'm gonna get one this year! I could build one, but Ive become pretty lazy this last year or two.I'll probably look around at prices..if you see any great deals let me know!
your friend,
john

[rdy-b]

check out the supper bee 10 frame- :lol: -RDY-B

http://www.draperbee.com/catalog/page7.htm#SUPER%20BEE

[MrILoveTheAnts]

What makes it worth $500? I could build that thing for less than $50.

[JordanM]

It was homemade by someguy. No i did not build it, but i will be building one like it and saw that Draper sell theres for $580 and was wondering how much they were worth.

And actually the wood in this hive would cost over $50.

[steveouk]

no i wouldn't pay that for that, but then i'm cheap anyway !

[BjornBee]

What makes it worth $500? I could build that thing for less than $50.

Material, labor, and profit....all figured in at less than $50....   :shock:

I'll make you a deal. Make two. Mark them up over 100% as I figure that's fair, and I'll buy them for $100 each. Take your time. I don't want excuses on a hurried job, or not having enough time. Let me know when they are ready. I'll send a check.

[BjornBee]

What is the top dollar that you would pay for this hive?

Well Jordan, I think your out of luck. If all goes well, I think I have a supplier that would make this observation hive, with more than 100% profit, and still sell it to me for around $100  :-D

So, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and since we must go with supply and demand, I'll offer $110   ;)

PS Jordan....for a young man, I think you have a business mind. Test the waters. Send up balloons and see what looks like a keeper. Keep asking questions. Look for the answers that move you forward, and chuck all the comments that are negative over your shoulder. And don't look back.... ;)

[Greg Peck]

Laughing at Bjorn...

Jordan I could not see spending more then 200 or 300. It is probably worth that once you figure in the time to build and so on. It is a cool thing but 580 is a lot of money for something to watch bees in. especially when you can buy stationary ones for near 100 bucks. I may be different then others because I have a shop and can build my own but that just seems very high.

[iddee]

There's a man in Eden, NC, that makes them from pure cherry wood. All brass hinges, hasps, and ornaments. They come in deeps and mediums that latch together as needed. He gets approx. 100.00 per frame. I will be getting a two frame from him at the NC spring bee meeting. I will try to get some photos of different ones at that time.

[BjornBee]

Greg, Your suppose to laugh "with" the other person.... :-D

Jordan,

In figuring out what you should sell for, and as Greg mentioned, figure out what it cost to make. If it takes $75 in wood, 5 hours to build (figure up a reasonable rate for your time as if you were making these on the side...like 20 dollars per hour), and all other costs including advertising, etc.

So you have something close to $175.00 dollars in investment. Would you then be happy selling them for 100% profit, and asking $350.00 If the answer is yes, then make one and see if you have any buyers. The nice thing is that you have less than 200 dollars in the unit. So you know exactly how much you can discount, etc.  If you sold one at $350.00, you made 150 on top of the bills already getting paid by the first 200. But if you sold for $250, you still are paying yourself, with profit on top.

Of course this is but one way of looking at it. But it shows the unit cost to produce, then factors in profit beyond that.

[tlynn]

Laughing at Bjorn...

Jordan I could not see spending more then 200 or 300. It is probably worth that once you figure in the time to build and so on. It is a cool thing but 580 is a lot of money for something to watch bees in. especially when you can buy stationary ones for near 100 bucks. I may be different then others because I have a shop and can build my own but that just seems very high.

I think Greg's right.  Looks to me like you can buy one new for that price.  Better yet I think I'd work a deal with MrILoveTheAnts!

[Greg Peck]

Sorry Bjorn....hope I did not hurt your feelings  :-D

[BjornBee]

Sorry Bjorn....hope I did not hurt your feelings  :-D

Yeah....you hurt me. My ribs are sore from laughing.... :-D

[johnnybigfish]

Holy cow!! Rdy!!!
Did you guys look at the link that rdy-b posted??? $2500.00.!!!
 I mean, sure, it looked like a big one.....but not THAT big!!!!
A person can buy a lotta bees and boxes with that kinda money!!
I guess tho, There are some people who have that kinda money, but I'm not one of them!
 I'm pretty simple....I remember getting old windex bottles(sort of shaped like an hourglass and made of glass) and filling them witth dirt, then putting ants in them...That was my ant farm!!
I dont think bees would like being in a five gallon carboy!!

your friend,
john

[Scadsobees]

Jordan,
Don't pin your business plans on us, as you can tell!  We're a bunch of cheapskates, do-it-yourselfers, and amateur woodworkers.  Don't get down about our light hearted responses.

Draper probably doesn't sell a lot of them for $580, but they have the advantage of having a lot of advertising potential to a wide pool of people.

I think you could probably sell a few for $500, but you'd have to work a bit harder to find an audience, and also have patience till you find the people willing to pay that. 

Or, if you want to make a few less bucks quicker, then consider selling them for less.

I'm a cheap-skate amateur woodworker and made my own as well.

[hollybees]

Jordan,
Take the bees out and sell it as a nick-nak display case then you'll find a buyer. 8-)
you'll certainly expand your customer range!

Good Luck
Paul

[beemaster]

My issues with the OB Hive is quality, Craftmanship and make sure it has escape ways to outside, tubing runs landing board. See to if that stool goes with it, they go together nicely.

But NO I WOULD NOT PUT $500 into that hive, YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN - not as curved, but extremely hndsome and durable by today's standards. I know Beesource had complete plans including an obhive.

Honestly, that is a $250 tops OB Hive and it is pretty dark, see how much work it might take to lighten it up if you want too. AS is No omore than $250 even if it is old. You can with practically a circular saw, a metal sheetrock square build an ob hive 0 table saw all the better - but most people own a basic cicular saw. You will need a 120 count blade to rip lengths, doesn't hurt to use that 120 tooth per single rotation on the cross cut ends.

Make your own if you are handy - offer $250 and you will both be happy althought I think it is closer to $200.

Basic aution rules state that minimum bidding shall never exceed 50% what the ventdor EXPECTS you to pay for an item. So think what it is worth and offer the seller 60 to 65% of what you think is the minimum saught. Be firm with that ammount and 85% of the time you will win a rummage sale, aution, art sale, any car auction and on and on - but offer 65% tops and be firm. If this falls through, another offer will come by.

Hope this helped.

[beemaster]

IT IS DOCUMENTED IN THE ARCHIVES OF THIS FORUM WHAT I AMABOUT TO MENTION AS AN IDEA FOR A PATENT - the date this post is uploaded, I am thus protecting my product idea.

We need a real arisan, wanting to work with Amish Craftsman who build OB Vives - you need to project on a full ob-hive hi-def screen and this HIGH DEF film of a beehive in as it goes trough it's life cycle.

It could require 3d glasses, but could easily have a fully interactive touch screen. Point toward the queen cell and watch it age a day ever second in a full screen ZOOM MODE. A digital one months of a behive in high def interactive touch

You FLIP SIDES of the unit by pushing the SIDE TWO BUTTON and see the other side, again zooming in, morphic time, tracking any bee during it's entire life (if numbered or barcoded I guess) but a cool DIGITAL OBSERVATION HIVE to add NEW DECORE TO PEOPLE'S HOME. Totally safe no bees, big screen, interactive videos. EVEN ADD a game of making the hive survive a years by adding plants in the yard, sugar water sources, etc.

Anyone want to make this QUALITY PRODUCT, I'll put my name on it and we'll make a fortune  X:X Beemaster's Virual Observation Hive - we could see it for THOUSANDS really - I just want residuals, someone else do the works.

Anyone THINK that would be a good product - honest, I think it could sell for up to $2000 as a hi-end piece of furniture with full interactivity like this. Imagine wattching a worker chew her way ouy at any speed and shown live, reverses, stop, zoom in many times - show a queen cell come to gether. A PIECE OF ART.

If anyone makes something like this, is sure better have Beemaster's Own in the title - I l like my product.

I think all you'd have to do is film a obvive for a month on all sides and the rest is software. Cool learninng tool - you could take that into any school. I'magine, a kid touches a worker and iit colors the worker so a little girl can watch the worker got from frames to frame and out the tube to fly.

THE FOLLOWING WAS A BEEMASTER Copywrited idea - users of said ideas Must have full approval by John Clayton or I'll see you in court. I have thus announced the virual observation hive. Patendthat baby!!!!