Just check post #1 every now and then. Because of the small reflector batches, shipping the lights has been quite slow. The date for batch #3 of PM’s to go out keeps getting pushed back and back. We are in March now and the focus has shifted to sorting out missing shipments, damaged shipments, etc…
As far as when the last group of folks to buy can do so, that is up to Texas_Ace. Maybe Neal can get more stuff done now that “all” the lights have shipped. Emails to g_sintornillos makes it sound like there are still a few lights that have not been sent yet. I don’t know of that’s the case or not.
I hope the delay in this last buying group will motivate Neal and Lumintop to sort out the issues quickly. The $100k from the next group of buyers will pay a lot of bills for them. I thinks it’s good motivation to get issues sorted out and emails responded to. We might even get some lists of stuff. :+1:
I am guessing this is the post he is referring to.
And again, I see Lumentop trying to sell the GT before the group buy lights had been supplied…
If they would stop providing lights to people out side the group buy, this group buy could possibly be finished by now. Also, it was implied that Vinh is buying them outside the group buy directly from Lumintop at wholesale price.
Also, I see Neil has asked a member recently to provide more money for shipping. I find this phishy because:
1: It was already agreed that Lumintop would eat the charges on orders already paid for
2: Neils PayPal account is supposedly on lock down.
Another thing that kind of irks me is the fact that the everyone gets one before people get seconds. I notice some people tend to buy more than they need of lights just to keep them in a tote in their garage and horde them. I think if that rule was stuck to, more people would at least have one in their possession and the delays would have been less aggravating.
I know most all of this is/was outside of the people coordinating the group buys hands, and not aiming this at you. Just some observations on what I have been seeing as I follow the closing of the group buy. I already have my GT and was lucky enough to get into the first batch of 555. If I wasnt, I would not have been able to afford to participate and want to thank those that were involved at the beginning for negotiating that low price enabling me to participate and get this iconic light
For the record, only a few lights have actually been sold outside of the GB, including the skylumen lights it is not more then a few dozen at most that I know of. So it most certainly is not causing any major delays for the GB. Just to put that rumor to rest.
That said I have to get a response in order to figure out what is going on, which I have not thus far.
Only out of the first 555 did people get 1 before people got seconds. After that it is simply a matter of what number you are on the list as to who gets what. If you asked to be put on the list for 3 lights at the same time, they you got a code to order all 3 at the same time.
Up until the last few weeks things have actually been pretty smooth and running good if not slow. These last few weeks without updates is not acceptable though. I sent Neal another email today, I will give him next week to give me a reply and then alternative options will be sought.
Also, I am pretty sure Neals account really is on lock down, which could explain why lumintop is taking orders directly if Neal is not able to. They are just doing it the wrong way.
Trust me, as soon as I know something solid, I will update this thread but I don’t deal in rumors. So until I have something solid there is just not much I can do or say. I am a glorified messenger boy when you break it down at this point.
I know, that is why I made sure to include that it was not aimed at you. I am following a few flashlight groups on FB and just about every time there is a mention of the GT, there is at least one person saying they got theirs directly from lumintop, and also a lumintop rep giving out info on how to buy it directly from them.
Thanks g sintornillos, that’s the one I was trying to find in this huge thread. Sorry to drop all that on you TA. I know that it’s really hard to find answers when your own questions go unanswered, same goes for MARTIN (m4d m4x). Hopefully Neal can get this all cleared up soon.
What I don’t understand is if the wholesale price is only for wholesalers such as Banggood or Gearbest (or are they retailers?) and then regular buyers like you and me have to pay the retail price.
Or is it a matter of you and me being able to buy it at the wholesale price? It’s confusing.
I’m going to assume regular people can buy at $165, but where did they get that price from? They could easily sell it for $200 plus shipping and start making some profit.
The Aliexpress price doesn’t make sense. Who is going to buy for $400? Maybe they are trying to find desperate people?
IDK, I really don’t care, either. I’m just mildly curious.
At 200$ there is more that some profit,i assume the cost of the GT &65$ - lets ne serious,the GT wont be the light for ‘everybody’/to have arround the house,it has a specific customers (lets call em flashaolics)and they have a max budget to pay probably max 200 - i expect to see the GT around 120$ with coupons during this year maybe less then that,besides that,in Europe there are other fees that sums up to another 100$ easily ,so don’t think that would workout good with DHL - time will say it
Even at less than $100. I live in Asia, l buy agri equipment from China all the time, and you’d be surprised how low cost-of-production is in China, guaranteed.
They’ll ship to you a small farm tractor at only $150 more, CNF, by boat.
Never mind ,wholesale in China not the same like USA or EU,is like : i’ll sell you as my interest is right now; in this case,lets say LT has lots of stock wholesale is every piece just to get cash and “pay bills” (just like Martin said)
Im not surprised. They would not have sold it at $110 if they were loosing money. Yes, it was probably very slim profit, but there was some. Except the few countries that have exceptionally high shipping costs. I think that was one thing delaying the group buy. How to keep in the profit and make it seem they were actually loosing money the whole time.
All in all, they were given this light. No designing, or R&D. They got a light that was very well designed and top of its class.
Then on top of it, selling lights to people outside the group buy before it was complete. A huge slap in the face whether it was 1 or 1000 lights. We (The designers and the original 555 members) gave them this light and money for tooling to start production. “We need to make money” is not an excuse.
Then this most recent “we need more money to ship your light” to the member that posted recently… How could Neil honestly request that after it was already agreed that members that have already paid will not need to pay more to ship, and he claims his paypal is locked down?
I already have my light. I dont have a dog in this fight. But I have been keeping up on this thread anyway to see how it ends. The longer it goes the more I see Lumintop taking us for a ride. Every few days I see people claiming they got their GT direct from Lumintop outside the group buy, and about every mention of the GT on FB has Lumintop reps telling people how to get theirs direct from them outside the group buy.
TA, I admire your patience. At this point, if it was my project, I would tell Lumintop to *$ off and bring the light to another manufacturer.
I know, but I’m pretty sure they were wanting to get away from these really low Group Buy prices so they can make some better profit margins. Let me crunch a few numbers.
If the average shipping cost is $40 then $157 - $40 = $117. Maybe they are making a tiny profit, but combined with the losses from the $115 price ($115 - $40 = $75), it equals out to practically no profit. That’s like 4 months of no profit from this light since it started rolling off the assembly line. Plus the months spent developing it. That’s quite upsetting for the company who had to invest a really huge amount of money to produce this new model.
At $165 plus shipping, that’s an extra $43 per light. I guess that is pretty decent profit, but still not enough to make up for the last 4 months. I assumed they would sell it for a higher price than that.
I guess if it were selling through Banggood or Gearbest then $200 plus shipping might be about right. I assume their Aliexpress store is factory direct, so they cut out a middle man and can still do okay at the $165 plus shipping price.
The bad thing is, they still have at least another 3 months of group buy orders to put out (650 lights) at this lower profit margin price. Lumintop execs might consider the GT a flop. They may not be able to pay off their investment until well after the Group Buy is finished and they can sell them to the public.
