Epoxy resin can be used in a variety of different projects ranging from designer tables to canvas art. It can be used for structural enhancement and visual preservation too. The diversity of fields that rely on epoxies might lead one to think that the material might become cheaper with time, yet it remains expensive.
Epoxy resin pricing comes down to a few simple realities of the industry: raw material complexity, the marketing investment of major brands, the cost of first-world manufacturing oversight, and the simple mathematics of volume.
Marketing & Branding
Since so many new manufacturers come to the market every year, the big players like Dr. Crafty and Superclear have to spend a lot of money marketing and branding their products to stand out. This also gets added to the cost of doing business, which results in a higher total price.
First-World Manufacturing
From clothes to smartphones, a lot of what we consume in Western countries comes from labor outsourced to countries where the cost of living and working wages are both pretty low. This makes business sense and is sustainable enough to have become a widely accepted practice.
However, epoxy manufacturing in remote countries is not as easy to manage as making T-shirts. If a T-shirt is appropriately made, the quality controllers in the west can tell. However, if a factory in China makes faulty epoxy resin, it might take a few months before the business realizes — with an onslaught of negative reviews — that a certain batch doesn't cure well, isn't clear, or is prone to cracking.
The benefit of getting your epoxy resin manufactured in China is outweighed, for American businesses, by the risk of the lack of oversight. As a result, they prefer getting their products made in countries where they can oversee the process better. This comes with a higher cost of labor, electricity, and premises rental, driving up the overall cost.
Scale of Transaction
Finally, there's the very simple mathematical reason behind why epoxy resins are expensive: because they're often bought in high quantity. Tens of dollars getting multiplied a few times can easily become hundreds and even thousands of dollars. If you buy a year's worth of clothes in one go, they too will seem quite expensive!
Final Thoughts
Epoxy resins are high-utility products that come at a premium for the reasons listed above. Going for cheaper raw materials will only bring down the value of your product. So what's the solution? Make your project so valuable that you can demand an even higher price.