RP in China

Has anyone in China bought Raspberry Pi ?
If so what is the easiest and cheapest way ?

I'm sure someone has - and they'd of done it via the RS / Farnell links on the home page.

On those pages i just see a 'show interest' form, nothing for placing order.
Moreover, often these local websites direct us to chinese language pages which is a problem for me because i live in china but i am not a chinese.
If there is anyone who has already purchased one, he could help me with more info.

At the moment you cannot place an order directly because of the large backlog. You have to go through the process of registering your interest to get in the queue, and then when you get to the front of the queue you will be given a key that allows you to actually place an order.

Ironically it might be easiest & cheapest for you to order from RS in the UK. When I checked, the Chinese all-in price was slightly higher than the price shipped from the UK, and you wouldn't have to deal with a Chinese language website (which might not accept foreign credit cards).

Ironically it might be easiest & cheapest for you to order from RS in the UK. When I checked, the Chinese all-in price was slightly higher than the price shipped from the UK, and you wouldn't have to deal with a Chinese language website (which might not accept foreign credit cards).

Though the product is made in china but still its more expensive here funny !
Yes a large number of websites / atm's here have problem with international cards.

Though the product is made in china but still its more expensive here funny !

Taxes on electronics are quite high in China - you'll notice if you try to buy a PC. Shame really :s

Yes a large number of websites / atm's here have problem with international cards.

Some websites accept cash transfers - you get their bank details, take cash to a branch of the same bank & the transfer's free. Not sure if RS will do this though.

I registered my interest some time back but how long does it takes to get the offer to buy ?
Moreover, i registered my interest but i did not register on their website for login purpose (say to use forum etc) do i need to do that too ? I mean i do not have a password to login and i have not received any confirmation from them that they have received my request / interest.

You just have to register your interest - no need to register on the forum etc.

I registered mid-March & got an invitation to order last week, so expect a long wait...

Oh ! Thats long time

In spite of marking my location as China and language as English, Farnell is still sending mails in Chinese. What an idiotic back-end work. Any one whose ip originates from China should be able to read Chinese !!! I wonder what do they do in case of india where there are dozens of officially recognised languages.

Any suggestion from anyone, in such a case where can it be easier to buy Raspberry Pi without these foolish hassles.

RS posts them world-wide from the UK. The shipping fee isn't high (I think $8) but the courier (DHL) might charge extra if your in a 'remote place' or if Chinese customs charges taxes or duties. And you'll have to register interest again...

Or you could use google translate on your Farnell emails.

No my friend, google translations is horrible and a lot of text in those mails is in image format.
Is there any way to report this problem to Farnell ?

In case i wish it to be delivered to my friend in Switzerland then how do i go abt it ? He might be coming here in a few months and can carry it with him. Will it more expensive in Switzerland ?

RS website is even more strange
when i try to register my interest on their website they open a page with the following url :
http://.rs-online.com/web/generalDispla ... le=success
but this page finally never opens. I do not know what is written in that page !!!

Maybe it would be easiest get your Swiss friend to bring you one, or a Chinese friend to order one for you inside China...

@raspfly
The page says:

Thank you, your registration has been successful.

We have received extraordinary levels of demand for this product. To help ensure as many people as possible can experience the Raspberry Pi concept, we are limiting boards to one per customer, and we will send you further information on your request in the next seven days. Once we receive the boards into stock, they will be allocated on a first-come first-serve basis, in order of when requests were received.

Thank you for your patience; we will be in touch as soon as possible with more details.

The problem is that the URL the website provides is invalid/broken.
I extracted the text in my quote from http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisp ... le=success. This should be the same website, but in "your" URL the country code is missing. In case you prefer the Chinese version of the website, have a closer look to http://china.rs-online.com/web/generalD ... le=success.

In my opinion, your registration was successful.

Best regards
HerrMaulwurf

Thanx both of you.
So the story again is : its is Chinese language
I do not understand why they do that or atleast they should ask for the language preference or give an option to change it. Instead of taking decision themselves.
I do not understand what do they do for countries where there are large amount of people speaking multiple languages.
Anyway as i asked earlier, what do i need to do if i wish my Swiss friend to buy and bring it for me and will it cost more to buy it in Switzerland than in China ?
It is also strange that for China they do not use Union Pay cards which are more popular than the international cards. If i ask any Chinese friend to buy for me he will like to use Union Pay more than Ali Pay.
Negative side of being an Expat

What do i need to do if i wish my Swiss friend to buy and bring it for me and will it cost more to buy it in Switzerland than in China ?

I don't think there's anything you can do about that...

No i am asking somthing different.

(1) where would it be cheaper to buy RP - Switzerland or China
(2) What is the procedure to buy if i want my friend to buy it in Switzerland ? Do i need to register my interest again ? Because while registering we are not asked where the package will be dispatched !

Unless a Swiss person is reading your post, you'll have to check the Swiss RS site. Or maybe the UK site - they should post to Switzerland...

My friend is a swiss.
I wish to register my interest where i have to and then when i get the offer i would request him to buy it for me.
So can you kindly tell me where i need to register my request.

Unfortunately, i did not notice an old mail (dated around mid may) mentioning that i could place an order.

(1) I wish to know if that old activation code would be still valid or not ?

(2) When i click on the button (in the mail) to place my order, then nothing happens. If i copy the link address and try to paste / open it in the browser, then again there is no response. It seems it is trying to reach http://authenticate.rsdelivers.com/?email . . . . . . but somehow there is no response.

Kindly advise.

Hi,

I ordered mine last week, after receiving an invitation the week before and eventually the Chinese Element 14 website accepting orders.

It said delivery would be in 5 days, but today they say earliest delivery is September. No feedback from UK to any of my emails - the coordination doesn't seem great and the backend set-up means customer service is not great.

I'll update if I have any news.

5 days and September makes a lot of difference.
In fact i do not feel RS is in any way reliable.
Can you kindly tell me on which site you placed the order ?
I am not sure abt Element 14 as in last few months i have not received any invitation from them to place an order.
Kindly advise.