Hi peeps,
Just going through my old office having a major cleanup and came across a pricelist from 2002 from Auswind and was interesting to note that prices have stayed pretty much the same or come down.
Airush Lift 15.5 in 2002 was $2250
Airush Lift Pro 15.5 in 2002 was $2450
Airush boards ie Switch, Directionals and Mutants were all $1295
Airush Bar and lines $450
Flying Objects Board Bags $90
The quality of gear available today as opposed to back then is light years ahead and in most cases, a bit cheaper. Kite wind ranges back then were small so most people needed at least 3 kites to cover the whole wind range In 2002 I had a set of Lift Pro's 19.5, 15.5, and 11.5 and two Switch Pro boards 37 and 33.
FYI,
DM
Kn hell! I walked into Auswind in 2003 and nearly feinted when the bloke told me the price of a kite (no bar n lines etc). 
Had the paramedics on the way when he told me the 'bargain' price of a full set-up.
Walked outta there very disapointed and thinking "fk that!"
2 yrs later bought a whole new Naish kit from same season (2002/03) and it was about 40% 30% of the $$$ I nearly feinted over. (yes it was rubbish too - but got me in the water).
Economies of scale, etc etc.. It was outrageously exxy back then. Speshly when you consider the kites had such a limited range(LOL I have 3 kites these days tho), gear was 'experimental' (read: half of it was sh!te) and also waaayyy more dangerous.
Some of those boards too. Taking LSD, whacking out a few designs that pop into the melon, and flogging them for $1.5k when they went like a boat anchor. Ahh yes, the good ol' days.
I think you're in the wrong occupation Herb!
Economies of scale would be alot greater now. And maybe the construction cost might be less with considerably smaller size for a comparable kite & 3 strut now.
But mainly it would be competition that has put pressure on prices. Every man & his dog has a kite brand now days.
Ooh yeah! Nothin' like gold bullion to put a smile on ya face
I think you're in the wrong occupation Herb!
)
Ten years ago you'd expect to pay over $10,000 for a Plasma TV 42i.
Now you can get one for $700.
Imagine paying under $200 for a kite now.
Hmmm same prices
Better Technology
Cheaper Chinese Production line methods
kites now cost $250. + freight from china
Kite prices still the same
Some new kites $2500 Some $700
Same quality finish same performance
Some Companies passing on good savings to retailers and customers
Hmmm some not
Freedom to choose wisely 
- not blindly
- not blindly
price of manufacturing has definately gone up for kites, oil pricing etc effects kite pricing and the wages in china are going up faster than you can imagine. china is not as cheap as it used to be!
i think a lot more effort in design and extra expense of materials goes into todays kites as well.
I tend to agree with some of the people here. Given the number if kites shipping there is no way the kites should still be selling for what they are when they probably only cost about $200 to manufacture.
You can go in about R&D costs etc, but there are smaller brands doing fine with smaller R&D teams who don't have to send their entire team to a remote tropical island just to test their latest gear.
Bobjann - yes you are correct about the bar.. but I was just talkin about kites.
As for the kites, well there are a few people in Perth flying 2011 rock solid built performance kites for a while now !!!!
The power of the Net is awesome, if you know how to use it...
Quality can be a very misleading word,
to deliver a 'new' kite with built in problems from so called new materials- at the same retail price !
We all know it happens from time to time but this is just not accepttable for the R & D and brandname that you pay for!
The dice has been rolled and we are about to see the future of 'some' kite prices change.
As I mentioned previously
The Freedom to choose Wisely !
No brand pimping here ... As for 2 red thumbs lol ... You get noticed more for controversy
Can work both ways ;-)
I think the economies of scale have been negated by the increase in price of fuels, labour costs, freight, materials etc.
Modern kites are Sooooo much better than the gear of old and we are spoiled for choice of brands. If you want to buy cheap stuff, it's available, if you want to buy premium stuff, it's out there too.
The original point of the thread was that you didn't get much for your dollars back in 2000 when comparing quality, design, durability, and performance, as compared to todays gear. And todays stuff costs around the same if not a bit cheaper.
I reckon that's tops! 
DM
PS. Oh, and LOL at the red thumbs for my initial post. Hahaha
Anyone notice the article on building North kites in the kiteworld mag. They say it takes 44hrs of labour to build a kite. If you include all the other costs they must still be getting cheap labour to keep the kite below 2 grand. I would hate to see what it would cost to build in Australia.
44 hours of labour in china = $88.... so why is the kite $2000 AUD?
Materials in china also cost sweet FA...
New kites should be around the $1000. price mark. I would buy more at that price, oh quallity should not change. I think were all mislead how much they cost to make and OZ taxes plus the bull**** factor to come up with $1500 plus prices. Yes everyone has to make a buck but look at SUP's theyve dropped from $2000 to just over $1000. come from similar countrys. Retailers would sell more if they cut prices????? I dont sell just buy when something good catches my eye.
