Wow, that’s too much to answer.
On your last question, I bet mack303 asked for 2 lights at the same time.
Destro probably asked for 1 light, then a few weeks later asked for a second light.
That would explain the numbering.
As for the rest:
Lumintop agreed to sell 555 lights at $115 and the rest for $150 up to 1500 total units. (The prices are actually a bit more due to Paypal fees)
The Miller made sure the 555 lights got distributed more evenly by limiting one per person (except for a handful of people he said could get 2 at that price). If they asked for 2 or more lights, their 2nd, 3rd, etc… lights would be at the $150 price.
Due to so many early sign ups dropping out, the 555 list went all the way up to number 700 something on the list. This gets pretty confusing.
All these “555” guys paid deposits and their balances where paid during the first week of Dec 2nd. That gave Neal time to match the balance to the deposits. Then the people up to #1049 on the list got to pay on Dec 9th.
Since lights didn’t start shipping out until late December, list numbers got thrown out the window. Orders roughly got sent out by payment number. Not everyone that signed up early actually paid on time, some paid in late December. Orders could not be held up by them. So the paid order became most important.
This meant people that ordered 4 lights got their one light at $115 plus their 3 others at $150.
There is no practical way I can see Neal trying to ship lights by using the original sign up order. Eventually we ended up with 850 orders.
In order to ship these lights in an economical way (since Lumintop actually lost money of the $115 555 lights) Neal used pallet shipping to the US. He needed to fill the pallet to get a discounted shipping price. So he started at the front of the paid list and found all the DHL to USA with no batteries and filled it up.
The 2nd pallet was DHL to the USA with the batteries and he filled it the same. Etc…
It’s not what we were expecting, but what can you do? These Group Buys can be roller coasters. There are always issues that pop up and solutions have to be found.
I hope that answered your questions.
Please no more questions that require an hour to type out. Lol