that is it in a nutshell...Just curious.. you couldn't sell a lot because you had to increase prices due to higher royalties?
items and why they didn't work
#1: a unique item, for a certain industry, which (according to the inventor) was proven to make racing horses run faster. a definite win for him and the customer. Cost of the harness went up from $400 ish to $700ish (basically, $300 more for a piece of metal that may have cost $100 at the maximum, $50 at the minimum)
#2: a unique safety device, the inventor's idea was to make it mandatory everywhere, and then sell to the people.. he spent years trying to persuade people that it was a good idea, thousands of dollars, and many man hours. price was probably triple what a regular item like it would cost (regular price $70, this one cost $180 or $210 I can't remember exact price)
#3 another unique safety device, still on-going, but not having the massive amount of sales that they thought would happen. inventor wants x amount of dollars per sale. I won't give exact details on this one, but basically, the price goes from $65 to $95 by the time we mark it up as we have to in order to sell it. cost of making this product is about the same as it was for the old models (so it doesn't cost anything, or barely anything, to make it this way, but the patent drives up the price)
#4 another item, no idea why it didn't take off, can barely remember the specifics on this one, never
#5 inventor made something, wanted $20 per item that we made. price before royalties would have been $50, but had to charge $99 to match the inventors required price. This patent fell out of service and the price dropped overnight, expecting it to make a big hit now.
The reason this one didn't take off, someone "invented" an item that did the same purpose, but in another way, and those sold fairly well (the patent was on how it was fastened, because there are already other things out there that do the same thing)
items, 1,2,3,and 5 would all have been major hits (IMO) if the inventor would have said, here is an idea, can you make it, and I'll sell them... and don't worry about a patent...
TLDR; causes of failure:
excessive pricing
no marketing/poor marketing
bad design (able to mfg something similar, but without a patent)
unwilling to change design when the item goes into production, because of sunk costs
TLDR; how to do it (the right way, IMO) in a step by step method:
1. show product to potential buyers, get feedback (you will never have the exact right thing, and they will give you straight up suggestions if you ask for it.
2. reach out to mfg'ers, tell them EXACTLY what you will be using if for, ask them if they think they would be the company for the job, if not, who would they suggest?
3. if you find a mfg interested in the job, ask them if there are any design flaws or ways to improve mfg time/set up costs without sacrificing quality
4. get a mockup made, and explain how it works, and share with potential customers, ask for email addresses to see if people are interested (or run a kickstarter)
5. get a prototype batch made, get them out to testers (maybe have people buy them, with the understanding that they are the first batch, and for a limited time, they get to try it out, make suggestions, and then they will get a finished model when done)
6. go to market!