Suspension: How can anyone do these coilover kits this cheap?

[CNGBiFuel]

As eBay has a wont to do, this kit just popped-up in my eBay account, let's not get into the merits of these things, I'm sure such kits are wonderful, thus what I'm asking about is the price, er... how?

I mean how?

£220 delivered from a UK supplier is incredible. Break that down, it has to cost £15 for the courier, and £20 odd goes straight to eBay in fees, which means the seller has this kit leave his door for £185.00?! I mean, but how?.. would you want to try to make these and sell 'em for £185.00 a go? Really?

Here's the link:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234323775...2Cchnl%3Dmkcid

With eBay sending links dead in week, piccy below:

Even if made of cheese, how can this be?

[Bonefishblues]

Is the answer:

https://youtu.be/sKtBkVrqYYk

[CNGBiFuel]

£35 of that doesn't even go near the selller... and re: your Youtube link, I think you have it.

[ITSv40]

The seller in the link is based in China - that is all you need to know.

[CNGBiFuel]

Even from our Chinese brethren that can't fly, but it's the 'Diarrhoea Metallic' that gets me. After much thought, "That's the one." they said.

[RaelG]

I assume it’s something like this that my car is sitting on

[CNGBiFuel]

Originally Posted by RaelG

I assume it’s something like this that my car is sitting on

[Stands back in wonder]. Yours truly might be about to eat humble-pie?
They exist, and some of us must be buying. If it's you - and we're not hearing complaint - who am I to say?

I can't be the only one curious, with yours the same or similar, do they work, and what sort of miles have you had from them to date?

[RaelG]

I can’t tell for sure that the set fitted to mine is that exact set, but given I paid a pretty small amount for the car I cannot believe it’s a set from one of the top suppliers. They were fitted prior to me buying the car so I have zero information on when they were fitted but I would say not many miles. The car sits at a lovely height which looks great, the other side of this is the ride which I would describe as not particularly comfortable. It’s gone through the last 2 MOTs with no issues but it’s covered barely 1500 miles…

[CNGBiFuel]

Thanks RaelG. Well, that's me told?!

OK, our man on the inside track says the ride is not best, and only vouches for 1500 miles, if what we have there is the same or similar, and it's £220 odd - instead of a mere £1500ish - who has the effrontery to complain? It's cheap, damned cheap. So cheap, they pretty much give them to us..

Provided 'expectations don't exceed price paid', carry on. At that price no one has right to complain.

More worrying, what hope our manufacturers?

[DaveNP]

I'd say ITSv40 hit the mark saying the seller is from China, in its own wonderful way ebay allows the listing to show the location as UK although Dorsey would appear to be in America, my bet is that if you ordered them they would come from China via a UK mail handling centre. The brand is stated as maXpeedingrods which is an American company and similar looking kits are on their website but with stock in UK and Germany at twice the price, so it's just about plausible that they are genuine but one wonders how they can be stocked and shipped from China at half the price. To me it smells fishy and I'd be suspicious of them being a copycat product, it is possible that they have been reverse engineered from an original set or that the originals are made in Chine and factory boss has made some extras for his friend to sell to get hold of some foreign currency. Having said that I have a friend who buys quite a lot of stuff direct from China and usually the quality is top notch and the only time he got burnt was when they simply didn't send anything but kept his money.
MaXpeedingrods seem to get mixed reviews, initial build quality and fit look OK but ride quality and durability get some criticism, RaelG may have got lucky, time will tell. As for what hope for our manufacturers? unfortunately many/most people are only interested in the price which makes it difficult for manufacturers of quality products and forces them into what one might consider a 'niche market' and unfortunately that normally means even higher prices for smaller production runs.