What The?

[liquidglass]

From a business sense it could be a variety of things that are affecting the prices.

The most obvious reason is the importers are raising the prices ( I checked on prices less than 6 months ago and I could get KM's directly from the middle east for about $35 for the nicer models)

Now the reasons they are raising the prices could vary

1) Either they are raising the prices seeing that demand is going up. Makes them more money as the middle man and they're happy.

2) Supply is not keeping up with demand like it used to. Either on purpose or coincidence. Either way the importers raise the prices based on supply.

I believe the prices are staying the same on KM's end even if supply isn't. Reminds me of what Nintendo did with the Wii. Same flat price everywhere, but they only released a set amount at a time, stores would get 5-20 of them and they'd sell out within hours. Even though Nintendo had a nice reserve of them stocked up to make sure they didn't get behind.

I would say the retailers are raising their prices but with the trusted retailers on hookah forum they are more than likely only raising them according to the set percentage or dollar profit they expect from each hookah rather than getting greedy out of fear of competition.

^ agreed. u will never find another km built like my og trimetal again. at least i dont think so :X

I agree my original KM Kafae i think it's called NOW we called it the majestic when we couldn't ID it lol. is better than a lot of the new KM's and built with more quality. However, I will have to say one thing. A stainless steel down stem is handy when it comes to cleaning/smoking because it absorbs less. But I'll stick with my brass down stem .

[NIGHTS OF BAGHDAD]

when you guys say the models are getting shitty now while paying higher..what would you say is shitty about them the designs or the operation?

[kdkhookah]

I blame this forum for the price increase.

I mean everyone who owns a KM talks about how great they are, so everyone who doesn't own one goes out and buys one. That's what I did. Though, I don't regret it.

[Straykat]

Step 1: greedy manufacturer increasing cost to retailers while cutting corners in production

Step 2: ...

Step 3: Profit