I often offer preproduction buys here at a lower price than the items will sell for when in stock so I thought I'd let folks know a bit about these offers.
For me, they serve two purposes: First, they allow me to buy in larger quantities and second they free up some of my working capital for other purposes.
For you, they allow you to acquire component sets at a much lower price than similar sets, whether from me or from other sources.
The Mechanics, I place an order for a number of sets get an estimated delivery date and offer a preproduction buy to members. Buyers pay in advance and when the order arrives here I ship to the buyers. Simple enough.
The Risks, Simple enough but not entirely without risk.
The promised ship dates are consistantly met by only one of the sources I use - delays are common sometimes long delays. They are caused by many things, including but not limited to holidays (the Chinese take frequent holidays and they shutdown completely when they do), power restrictions - they often have what we call here "brown outs", water restrictions - plating in particular uses a lot of water and some parts of China are under drought conditions and water use is restricted. and, although the suppliers will tell us they don't do it, we get "bumped" while larger orders are filled.
There is a slight risk of loss of the shipment - while I would make any buyers whole in case of loss it is possible that after waiting a couple of months all you get is a refund.
There is some risk of quality problems. - again, I will make buyers whole, but it could involve having to return component sets. This has never happened but I have had to send replacement parts in two cases causing further delay in getting use of the sets.
Given the above, I recommend participating in these buys only if you can live with unexpected delays. In short, if you think you'll have a pressing need close to the projected delivery - don't participate. If you are unable to wait for the fix if a defect is found, don't join the buy.
On the positive side, these buys have resulted in my suppliers providing excellent products, we are now receiving component sets at low prices that are better than buyers expected for top dollar just a couple of years ago. You can now get high end finishes on low priced components that would have been unthinkable a few years back - and make no mistake about it, offering these finishes on lower priced kits was not the "choice" of the big guys, they followed the lead of the little fellas.
I hope this makes clear the reasoning behind and the purposes of preproduction buys along with an idea of the risks and rewards of them.
For me, they serve two purposes: First, they allow me to buy in larger quantities and second they free up some of my working capital for other purposes.
For you, they allow you to acquire component sets at a much lower price than similar sets, whether from me or from other sources.
The Mechanics, I place an order for a number of sets get an estimated delivery date and offer a preproduction buy to members. Buyers pay in advance and when the order arrives here I ship to the buyers. Simple enough.
The Risks, Simple enough but not entirely without risk.
The promised ship dates are consistantly met by only one of the sources I use - delays are common sometimes long delays. They are caused by many things, including but not limited to holidays (the Chinese take frequent holidays and they shutdown completely when they do), power restrictions - they often have what we call here "brown outs", water restrictions - plating in particular uses a lot of water and some parts of China are under drought conditions and water use is restricted. and, although the suppliers will tell us they don't do it, we get "bumped" while larger orders are filled.
There is a slight risk of loss of the shipment - while I would make any buyers whole in case of loss it is possible that after waiting a couple of months all you get is a refund.
There is some risk of quality problems. - again, I will make buyers whole, but it could involve having to return component sets. This has never happened but I have had to send replacement parts in two cases causing further delay in getting use of the sets.
Given the above, I recommend participating in these buys only if you can live with unexpected delays. In short, if you think you'll have a pressing need close to the projected delivery - don't participate. If you are unable to wait for the fix if a defect is found, don't join the buy.
On the positive side, these buys have resulted in my suppliers providing excellent products, we are now receiving component sets at low prices that are better than buyers expected for top dollar just a couple of years ago. You can now get high end finishes on low priced components that would have been unthinkable a few years back - and make no mistake about it, offering these finishes on lower priced kits was not the "choice" of the big guys, they followed the lead of the little fellas.
I hope this makes clear the reasoning behind and the purposes of preproduction buys along with an idea of the risks and rewards of them.
