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I'm gathering components for my setup, and at the moment I'm looking for injectors.

Those things go from $8 at AliExpress to $150+ per piece at the "genuine stealership".

One thing really surprises me, flow rate often hardly makes a price difference. Now there must be a reason for this, longer lifetime, a better spray pattern/atomization, better accuracy, techniques used, or just the brand name. But I can't find out. Lifetime must be a lot longer to make up for the price, atomization wouldn't necessarily vary that much because the spray tip roughly looks the same.

Also, money is no guarantee for better spray pattern. Any ideas on this?
I'd like to know what to take in mind when choosing injectors, so any information or tips are welcome.

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    Well dealer vs wholesale alone can be like a difference of 2x for the same part, just because. Highly related, maybe even the same question in disguise: mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/33196
    – Jason C
    Oct 19, 2016 at 19:48
  • @Jason C The reason explained there is that they simply put an exorbitant markup on the parts. That would be ridiculous if true. But still, prices within AliExpress also vary much, could that be some difference in quality or performance?
    – Bart
    Oct 19, 2016 at 20:08
  • I wouldn't call it ridiculous, it's how a free market works. Look at the difference between e.g. Honda dealer parts prices vs say hondapartsguys.com. Hell, search for any product, not even car related, on Google shopping, and look at the differences. Definitely not saying it explains the full differences in fuel injector prices but it's certainly not ridiculous and accounts for a lot of the variance. I mean, I bought a laminator at Staples the other day, price tag $140, got it for $30 because they price match Amazon. Same product, but one was stock that a warehouse wanted to move.
    – Jason C
    Oct 19, 2016 at 21:23
  • It's the standard supply chain that all components of anything undergo. From mining the material to delivery onto the shelf.
    – DucatiKiller
    Oct 19, 2016 at 22:41
  • @JasonC Sounds plausible to me. That's great also, it'd mean you can just go for the cheapest injector that still looks good. Would there be quality difference between OEM and aftermarket, or is this price difference also just because the earlier mentioned reasons?
    – Bart
    Oct 20, 2016 at 6:27

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AliExpress often has inventory from a warehouse that shutdown, and they're just trying to get rid of stuff. Also look at quantities, AliExpress often has minimum order volumes.

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  • That could very well be a reason, but the price difference is like a factor 20 sometimes. Also prices outside AliExpress also vary much. And it's perfectly possible to purchase 1 injector, or 1 set on AliExpress. It's their linked company AliBaba that only deals in large quantities.
    – Bart
    Oct 19, 2016 at 20:00

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