We make money using knowledge... or others' lack of it

But even so, this is too much:

http://www.audio-magus.com/category_s/36.htm

Trends TA-10.1 Amplifier - $189.95
Trends TA-10.1 Mini-Mod - $215.00

"We clean the board and check all solder joints, repairing if needed. Binding posts and RCAs are checked and tightened. Capacitors and aircore inductors are secured in place (they're heavy and can loosen in shipping causing a dead or noisy channel). Check and set DC bias. Add a 100% copper heat sink to keep things cool. We even give you a metallic-faced LED to match your TA-10.1 case."

All these for $25 USD. No soldering even required. Maybe the LED only. Apart from that and the heatsink it's just QC work. Give u maybe 2 bucks for the heatsink and LED, + 3 bucks to put it on. So $20 is given for extra QC on their side. Riteeeee.

And I <3 this part of their reasoning:

"(they're heavy and can loosen in shipping causing a dead or noisy channel)"

Uh, so, if the product reaches me broken, is it my problem or is it the insurance company you paid for the shipping? Or, if the product reached you (the supplier) already broken, is it my problem or the manufacturor's problem?

There's a saying of "don't make your problem my problem", but this is even better by "making other's problem your problem and you pay me to help settle the problem for you".

That's how business works.