e-watt LED light bulbs - what has been your experience

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

Kinda made over 4k on these guys so far....

Suhweet! Any tips on how you are selling them?

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by klrswift

My complaint is that the bulbs MUST be purchased from the supplier using a credit card. Our school doesn't have a credit card we can use, so that means a mentor or parent has to put it on their credit card and have a check cut from the school for reimbursement. Of course, the school doesn't like to reimburse for large amounts, which means we'll have some trouble if we want to sell a large volume of LED bulbs. (which we do!)

Why do you need to keep inventory? Can't you (as the Girl Scouts do) just take orders, and purchase the bulbs with the customer's cash already in-hand?

[Katie_UPS]

Originally Posted by rsisk

Suhweet! Any tips on how you are selling them?

I heard a rumor that their local itty-bitty airport uses them to line the runways. I wonder if I can get MKE's airport to do the same...

[GW Kalrod]

Originally Posted by rsisk

Has anyone done price comparisons for comparable products?

I did some internet searching and found a similar product for $40, which is what we use in our sales pitch.

Uh, I found $25 for what literally looks like the exact same bulb.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...052-0001-00001

[Ether]

Originally Posted by GW Kalrod

literally looks like the exact same bulb

are the color temperatures and lumen output the same as FRC bulb?

[Gdeaver]

Both Home Depot and Lowes are selling a true 60 watt replacement that is dimable. I paid about 18$ for them. Very happy with them. The home depot bulb does have a slight hum at times. These are the bulbs we should be selling.
Also there are some really good replacements for the t-8 and t-12's that could really be sold to businesses. The problem is the ballast must be removed.

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by stevend1994

Recently, Home Depot or Lowes (I forget which, my dad just casually told it to me) had similar bulbs on sale for $10. There was one on Home Depot's website a few weeks ago that was similar, costing $40, I believe, but that seems to no longer be there. As of now, the FIRST LED bulbs do seem to be the cheapest/best ones available, but it seems like more and more similar bulbs are becoming available.

I had thought about convincing my team to buy both local Lowe's stores' stock of these bulbs to sell for profit. Because the biggest complaint from potential buyers is that they are not dimmable.

A lot of people also cannot purchase them because of the price tag. While they are 1/2 of retail cost... $20 per bulb is still pretty darn expensive for most people. I'm not saying there's really anything that can be done about it, it's just what I've been observing.

[Brandon Holley]

Just one tip on LED bulbs in general (as this is what I do)

Most LED replacement bulbs look similar, but that is where the similarities end, I assure you. Between what LED the bulb uses, the circuit design of the driver, the materials of the diffuser (the "bulb" portion) and the method of thermal management, LED bulbs can have a wide variety of performance.

The manufacturer of the e-Watt FIRST bulbs is a reputable one.

-Brando

[pfreivald]

1551 ordered our first case of 30 -- we'll see how they sell. (Small, small, SMALL town and all that.)

I am a bit concerned that you can buy LED bulbs, non-dimmable, 40W, etc, etc, from Lowes (only 20 miles down the road) for two bucks cheaper... We may have to sell them for less than the $19.99 MSRP.

[klrswift]

Originally Posted by Taylor

Why do you need to keep inventory? Can't you (as the Girl Scouts do) just take orders, and purchase the bulbs with the customer's cash already in-hand?

We can still run in to the same problem. If we push and get $1000 in orders at one time, some may be cash, but people tend to write checks to us. It will start to appear pretty shady if we start asking checks to be written to individuals instead of the school, or if we fund raise on a cash only basis.

[Carol]

We are considering selling the bulbs as a fundraiser, but I'm looking for ideas/suggestions on how to sell them. Since we are not associated with a school or a community, being pretty spread out mainly in suburbia, we don't have a built in audience to approach. And I don't want to ask the students to go door-to-door. Anyone have any solutions?

[pfreivald]

Our local hardware store has agreed to sell them for us if we want them to. Also, word of mouth starting in schools isn't a bad way to go, methinks. I know the biology teacher across the hall wants to try a few, with the potential of converting over his entire house!(!!!!)

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

1551 ordered our first case of 30 -- we'll see how they sell. (Small, small, SMALL town and all that.)

I am a bit concerned that you can buy LED bulbs, non-dimmable, 40W, etc, etc, from Lowes (only 20 miles down the road) for two bucks cheaper... We may have to sell them for less than the $19.99 MSRP.

Don't forget about taxes! I saw the bulb for sale at Lowes for $18.98. That's $20.50 with NY taxes!

I think if we throw in that it is a fundraiser for a good cause, people may forgive the cost a bit as long as it is close to the market rate.

Our team just received the cases we ordered (sponsored by a few parents and mentors - if the bulbs sell, the sponsors get their money back. If they don't, they get the bulbs.). One of the mentors made a comparison display that holds 4 bulbs with a watt meter to show the energy use. It's very cool. We will probably rely on sales at parent's and mentor's workplaces and with friends and families. We've been given permission to sell them at our largest demo of the summer, the Monroe County Fair.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Cynette

That's $20.50 with NY taxes!

And it would be $20.74 in Los Angeles county!

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by Cynette

One of the mentors made a comparison display that holds 4 bulbs with a watt meter to show the energy use. It's very cool.

Can you share this with us? I'd like to maybe do something similar.