What physical item has the highest markup on earth?

[ussfletcher]

hookers and blow

Actually, I believe that Cocaine does have something like a 17000% markup.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Drugs

 

[sdifox]

diamond is pretty high up too. Most of it is just being hoarded. I still don't know why De Beers is allowed back in US doing business.

 

[ichy]

Actually, I believe that Cocaine does have something like a 17000% markup.

There are other business expenses though like bribing customs agents, paying for lawyers, hiring hitmen to knock off the competition, etc etc.

 

[spaceman]

weed!~

 

[Upgrade_Itch]

bottled water (not distilled)

 

[*kjm]

Truffles

"In 2007, the record was beaten by a truffle weighing 3.3 lbs. Casino tycoon Stanley Ho purchased the white truffle, hailing from Tuscany, for US $330,000 at an annual auction in Hong Kong."

 

[skyking]

the medical stuff by far. That stint that sold for 25K weighs in at about 0.5 grams. I doubt the actual production costs exceed $100, once R&D is removed from the equation.
I was going to post "anything with Beechcraft in the name" since those replacement parts are spendy, till I saw the med equipment post.

 

[ichy]

the medical stuff by far. That stint that sold for 25K weighs in at about 0.5 grams. I doubt the actual production costs exceed $100, once R&D is removed from the equation.

Oh yeah, just forget about that minor expense

Quality control is also very expensive for something like that.

 

[SagaLore]

Bottled water.

 

[reallyscrued]

Printer ink?

For things that are frequently bought, this is the right answer.

 

[Savarak]

How about true "Musk"?

 

[skyking]

Oh yeah, just forget about that minor expense

Quality control is also very expensive for something like that.

you can replace R&D with 'insanely high profits' after a few years. Medicine has been doing that to us for the last half century.

 

[MetalMat]

Diamonds, they are not nearly as rare as people think and can be produced synthetically. It is all about the Diamond Cartel controlling the market and advertising.

Bottled Water is also marked up pretty high as well.

 

[Nintendesert]

They have at least 2 million dollars worth of that cable in stock...

Weird, isn't it?

I think they just mark everything up that high for insurance purposes and every so often rob themselves or burn a warehouse down. :sneaky:

 

[mmntech]

You mean I wasted $350 on ma Dr. Dre BEATS?!?

Only $350?
http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/sennheiser_orpheus_he_90_headphones

For reference, the most expensive studio monitor headphones I found were $1,600. We use a $180 pair of M-Audios at the TV studio, which sound great.

 

[0roo0roo]

red bull

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

All costs included, like R&D?

Maybe a glass of tea from Chilis or Applebees. About $0.03 to make and sells for $3, 10,000% markup.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

All costs included, like R&D?

Maybe a glass of tea from Chilis or Applebees. About $0.03 to make and sells for $3, 10,000% markup.

What the cost, in terms of human souls, related to the mere existence of Applebees?

 

[zinfamous]

Industrial diamonds are actually really cheap.

but even the natural supply of diamonds is throttled. They are far, far less rare than DeBeers wants you to think they are.

Even without lab-made diamonds, the supply of naturally-occurring and mined stones put them at a value significantly less than gold, I believe.

 

[zinfamous]

Medication, numero uno. Mattresses are up there also, since they haven't been mentioned yet.

R&D for meds is preposterously expensive, though. Consider that only ~5% od a developrs drugs will pass all phases of a trial, which puts it into mnay hundreds of millions in cost.

95% of their product goes through such trials, and never pass, losing billions of dollars annually. Of course, it only takes a handful of super pills (Viagra), to recover that cost.

 

[Toasthead]

I don't think anything can beat "high end" audio cables.

7k+ for 12 foot speaker wire.

$1500 for a power cord.

or this 20k 3 meter speaker cable.

http://www.audio-direct.com/p-7618-platinum-eclipse-biwire-speaker-cable-30-meter.aspx

but it comes with FREE GROUND SHIPPING!!!

 

[Via]

Oh yeah, just forget about that minor expense

Quality control is also very expensive for something like that.

Yeah, but that's not the first version of the item to be used. I assume hospitals have been doing those types of surgeries and inserting those stints for decades.

You can't include R&D for all previous versions of the product.

 

[Toasthead]

I don't think anything can beat "high end" audio cables.

7k+ for 12 foot speaker wire.

$1500 for a power cord.

or this 20k 3 meter speaker cable.

http://www.audio-direct.com/p-7618-platinum-eclipse-biwire-speaker-cable-30-meter.aspx

but it comes with FREE GROUND SHIPPING!!!

 

[ichy]

For stents I'd imagine that quality control is more expensive than R&D at this point. If you're implanting something into someone's coronary arteries then the product has to be insanely well made for reasons that are quite obvious.