Personal purchase of RPi not allowed by Element14

[hardnut]

i am a 58-year old, retired guy. wanted to keep my mind active and thought of fiddling around with the RPi 2. wrote in to them via Element14's website requesting to buy from them through cash deposit ( since i do not have any credit cards ). imagine my surprise when i received this reply on 20th April from their Quotes Specialist .... ( extract below )
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"Please be informed that we can only deal with bussines to business use. Hence, company name and attention to the “buyer” are required.

If you are buying for personal use, we suggest you to purchase from our approved reseller at below link "
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i check with one of their "approved reseller" - Thundermatch, via phone.
they replied that they do not have RPi 2 in stock at my location.
well, well, what can i say ... maybe try out some other alternatives .....

[kusti8]

MCM is for personal buying and according to the element14 site, they have about 300 in Stock at MCM.

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/83-16530

[gordon77]

Its similar in the Uk, Farnell for business, CPC for personal.

[ktb]

FWIW, I bought my Pi2B from Newark/Element 14 on launch day. It was a personal purchase. I think I just put my name in the Company field in the checkout process. Maybe they should not have fulfilled that order, but they did.

[r4049zt]

If Farnell are still mucking you about by the end of this week then I'll buy an extra one and post it to you for £2 above the Farnell price. (that should cover the postage plus 50p for my efforts). I can receive paypal from your online banking or direct bank-to-bank. UK only. My account is Halifax. Farnell are awaiting stock at the moment, so don't go sending me any money just yet.

[Bruny]

Ordering a Raspberry Pi without a creditcard

[solar3000]

when I go to element 14 it redirects me to buy at newark.com
I've bought several from newark.com

[hardnut]

If Farnell are still mucking you about by the end of this week then I'll buy an extra one and post it to you for £2 above the Farnell price. (that should cover the postage plus 50p for my efforts). I can receive paypal from your online banking or direct bank-to-bank. UK only. My account is Halifax. Farnell are awaiting stock at the moment, so don't go sending me any money just yet.

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Thanks for the offer, "r4049zt", but i think i will try to source for alternatives. In Malaysia, there are a number of third party sellers, just worried about warranty claims & their reliability when issues crop up. Moreover, some third party sellers are hiking up prices with the current GST introduction. May end up getting a used one, or some boards similar to RPi2.

[ame]

If Farnell are still mucking you about by the end of this week then I'll buy an extra one and post it to you for £2 above the Farnell price. (that should cover the postage plus 50p for my efforts). I can receive paypal from your online banking or direct bank-to-bank. UK only. My account is Halifax. Farnell are awaiting stock at the moment, so don't go sending me any money just yet.

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Thanks for the offer, "r4049zt", but i think i will try to source for alternatives. In Malaysia, there are a number of third party sellers, just worried about warranty claims & their reliability when issues crop up. Moreover, some third party sellers are hiking up prices with the current GST introduction. May end up getting a used one, or some boards similar to RPi2.

So, you are in Malaysia. You should have said so as it is easier to provide specific help.

What sort of issues are you expecting? In general the Pi is robust and reliable. And it's cheap.

You could try ordering from DealExtreme (ww.dx.com), no GST and free shipping.

Edit: Oops. No credit card. That's too bad. Have you considered getting a pre-paid credit card solely for online purchases?

[hardnut]

You could try ordering from DealExtreme (ww.dx.com), no GST and free shipping.

Edit: Oops. No credit card. That's too bad. Have you considered getting a pre-paid credit card solely for online purchases?

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took a look at your recommendation on DealExtreme. a comparison on its prices may help you to see why i would not make that step :
- DealExtreme - price for RPi2 - US49.68 ==> rm183.81 ( convert using 3.7 )
- Element14 ( malaysia ) price for RPi2 - rm127.4 or rm135( with GST )
if send item has issues ( cross my fingers ) the return postage will most probably be borne by the buyer ( that''s me )

third party dealers are selling the RPi2 from rm150 to rm190+. warranty from 3rd party can range from 1week to a year. how good is that is anybody's guess.

on the subject of credit cards, i am not too particularly fond of them. imho they encourage the holder to spend beyond their means. maybe it's me, i am just "old school" -

[Jednorozec]

on the subject of credit cards, i am not too particularly fond of them. imho they encourage the holder to spend beyond their means. maybe it's me, i am just "old school" -

You don't have that problem with pre-paid credit cards or debit cards.