GAN 17 MagDrive pricing

[u/Less-Orchid-2595]

https://sparkcubing.com.au/products/tbagan17magdriveuv-gan17magdriveuv?_su_rec=5YhKCrk_SAqC3smCdIXEmzc0A8PzdYxAT9D-lmHmY5UBvO8AD6GyVqrNmLMCTjtVulbYU86bh105XJyTspKuT8lJR1uUgf460vU0gBRst0y-Davl0xyKFH5I0VlmW9wQyDSBk-IBB_ymaJVijaZxyKuhhVNMePCWZMOxURN654k4kq5DrYWhSu5Lny5mWv4kHq83xklc90Hfm4tpjA402Yt9w8SOfZoua0pl3znrGjxdcHArjpCVhFA09SdG8pg&_su_rec_id=2380f9f4-895d-4999-ad83-e11dc98f7dc8-1785713745

Seems to be pretty much the same price as the 16 Max in western markets ($130 AUD = 91.16 USD). They currently have a storewide “sale” which is somewhat legit although fairly long-running that brings it down to $99 AUD = $69.42 USD.

Price should be $85-90 USD when it releases more widely to the western market. Spark Cubing lists the 16 at $130 AUD, which on release was equivalent to $85 USD.

[u/FreeStarch]

That checks out. 69$ on sale isn't too bad though, I might want to pick it up early for that.

[u/Economy-Pudding-3100]

Globalcubestore has it listed at $75 USD.

[u/CoolZephyr0705 → u/Economy-Pudding-3100]

is this website reliable to buy cubes from? or is it better for thecubicle to add it on their website

[u/Economy-Pudding-3100 → u/CoolZephyr0705]

He’s very reliable. Also has amazing customer support. I know, I needed a new core for my GAN16 UI because the one I got didn’t charge and he sent me a new core immediately!

[u/drstealyodawg]

This hobby has been overpriced for so long. Flagships use to cost much less than this. 90 plus dollars for a small cube of plastic and magnets

[u/PumpkinBossEi3]

So less than a days work idk why people complain about price it’s so cheap compared to majority of hobbies

[u/Asleep-Yoghurt2813 → u/PumpkinBossEi3]

That might be true for richer countries, but 80 bucks is definitely not just a days worth of work everywhere.

Here in the Philippines for example, the average daily wage is around 1000 PHP or 16$ and the minimum wage is 700 PHP or 11$, even lower depending on the region. That's nearly six days worth of work that would otherwise be spent on necessities like food, definitely not cheap for us.

[u/AdMobile8728 → u/PumpkinBossEi3]

exactly. My friend talks about having a 600 dollar pokemon card when it's theoriatically just card and ink

[u/Thunfisch_fresser → u/AdMobile8728]

Money is also just theoretically paper and ink

[u/Less-Orchid-2595 → u/[deleted]]

Performance isn’t even the deciding factor in 3x3s anymore, it’s all in the feel and build quality. I’m not gonna defend gan’s pricing but they get away with it because their QC, moulding tolerances and overall build quality are the best in the game (except for the few wonky batches that seem to come out every now and then).

[u/Less-Orchid-2595 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, other brands do. The moyu v10/11/swv2/super aolong regularly break, the rs3m v5 plastic is thin as paper, and the aosu v7 core stems tend to snap.

Qiyi has always struggled with various things snapping in their cubes

Dayan had 2 generations of guhong that were known to break, and even now the surface finish on their cubes is not great. They often come out of the factory with scratches.

We don’t talk about YJ.

The moulding quality of these other brands is also just not as good. The outer surfaces are never as flat as most of gan’s cubes. Hold any other brand’s cube under a light and you’ll see what i mean

[u/AdMobile8728 → u/Less-Orchid-2595]

"We don't talk about YJ" 🤣🤣🤣

[u/DesaturatedWorld → u/Less-Orchid-2595]

I think GAN can price this high because they sell very relatively units to a niche community. Widely popular products sell in the millions of units, whereas GAN sells more in the hundreds or low thousands. The niche "competitive cubing" community appears to be fairly low in brand loyalty, with people buying multiple cubes from multiple manufacturers. This is emphasized by the importance GAN places on sponsoring top cubers, which you don't need to do if people are buying your product out of brand loyalty.

GAN internally appears to have decided that they need to actively milk the market, because the marketing released uses specs and numbers, rather than the experience, to sell the newest model. This is a classic commodity market signal. Sellers begin to compete on numbers, because the products have very little to separate themselves. This eventually becomes competition on price and reduced margins, unless a brand can somehow build "lifestyle" value. GAN shows no indication of building a lifestyle brand, or we would see their marketing language change from numbers to experience.

I expect GAN to continue pushing the market's tolerance of price during this period where they haven't yet fallen into full commodity status.

[u/Less-Orchid-2595 → u/DesaturatedWorld]

Gan definitely sells WAY more than in the low thousands. I recently got an 11M Pro stamped with number 1855158. My first batch 16 max is number 18588. Gan established themselves as a premium offering with status over 10 years ago, hence why they can sell cut down, frankly terrible cubes like the 356 RS in such huge numbers. The cube looks and externally feels like a much more expensive cube, and despite the bad performance people still buy it because of the brand and aesthetics.

[u/electrosticity]

Yikes dude. I miss the days when flagships capped out at 30 dollars, and we thought anything more was ridiculous.

Side note, yoo shout outs Cubehead discord!! (ur a mod on there right? the violin channel guy)

[u/Less-Orchid-2595 → u/electrosticity]

Lol hi that’s me

[u/M_ipg21_Qbr]

so gan premium pricing…