Invitation to order from RS

[bwoodbury]

I managed to do an actual preorder with RS (Allied Electronics in North America) on March 4 and received this latest email from Allied

There has been some confusion regarding the status of Raspberry Pi preorders recently. Here is some information to address a few of your questions.
Your Raspberry Pi preorder is a valid order and has been placed in the queue to be fulfilled. Despite rumors, none of the preorders have been converted to an “expression of interest” or anything similar.
The process is still the same as previously described. Since your device has already been ordered, you will not receive an invitation to purchase the Raspberry Pi. Instead, you will simply receive a notification once your preorder has shipped.
Stay up-to-date with the latest Raspberry Pi information by visiting DesignSpark. Find out what happened when some initial Raspberry Pi users met-up to discuss using the board as an open-source tool. Read the latest blog from one of the RS Components DesignSpark members, an ICT tutor who has just received his Raspberry Pi. Or find out about how your board can be used as a media centre.
Thank you for your patience and we will be in touch as soon as your order is fulfilled.
Allied Electronics

[grumpyoldgit]

Just got my activation code email and went to order, but then had to leave the PC for a short while, and got the 'code not valid' thing when I came back. Hoping it resets in an hour!

I must say I did baulk a bit at the shipping price of £5 with a delivery time frame of 10 weeks!

Then don't pay it. There are plenty in the queue who will be happy to take your place.
On your first point the secret appears to be that once you start the order process not to pause, go back or otherwise mess about. Imagine you are buying Glastonbury tickets. Have your details and card available when you hit that button.

[TheMonkeyKing]

rsdelivers.com/

I received the email from "rsonline@eu.rs-email.com"

I live in the US. The quotes are in USD.

Newark or Allied?

[JohnW]

I don't get it...
I have the chance to order and now if I want one, I'll basically be charged for the price of two Pi's.

Raspberry Pi Type B Single Board Computer 1 Each US$35.00
Goods total US$35.00
Tax US$7.00
Standard Delivery (Despatch expected within 10 week(s)) US$8.02
Order Total US$50.02

So yeah, the Pi foundation came up with a way of putting together a system for the base price and order fulfillment has developed a way to double the price. I think the foundation site should change their title to properly reflect true pricing.

Raspberry Pi
"An ARM GNU/Linux box for $50. Go ahead, it's just a small byte!"

The $25 in the site is for the model A, which is yet to be released, AFAIK the model B has always been listed at $35. The final checkout has added just under 50% - I guess the delivery could have been a bit lower (hardly down to the foundation - RS/farnell are probably not geared up for low cost deliveries), but short of a bit of tax-dodging there is not much they could have done about the additional tax.

[ajwillys]

Maybe I'm spoiled, but I buy hundreds of things a year online and never pay tax or shipping. Also, $8 tax!! That's 23%.

You don't say what country you're in. Different countries have different tax arrangements. How do you manage to avoid shipping charges on hundreds of products a year? $50 is about £30 isn't it? That's the same as everybody else is paying. Your choice. All the more for the rest of us.

I'm in the US, specifically NC. We don't generally get charged tax unless the store you're buying from is also in the same state. From what I can tell, RS doesn't have any stores outside the UK. Who does the tax go to? As far as shipping, most of what I buy is Amazon Prime (free two day shipping). All other online retailers (that I purchase from at least) have realized that the savings by not having a brick and mortar store should be offset by offering free shipping.

I'm not upset or anything, I realize that "everyone's got to get paid", I'm just not interested in paying 42% of the original cost ($35) to "the man".

[JohnW]

I'm in the US, specifically NC. We don't generally get charged tax unless the store you're buying from is also in the same state. From what I can tell, RS doesn't have any stores outside the UK. Who does the tax go to? As far as shipping, most of what I buy is Amazon Prime (free two day shipping). All other online retailers (that I purchase from at least) have realized that the savings by not having a brick and mortar store should be offset by offering free shipping.

I'm not upset or anything, I realize that "everyone's got to get paid", I'm just not interested in paying 42% of the original cost ($35) to "the man".

On the delivery charge, Amazon has a very different business model to Raspberry Pi - the Pi is basically sold at cost, so there are no savings to pass on. On the other hand Amazon are (I guess) able to negotiate big discounts through bulk ordering, which can in turn be used to pay for postage.

Not sure where the tax comes in, but I would assume that RS have a firm grasp on the US/UK tax laws.

[alexeames]

The tax issue is simple. Since a few years ago, any sales made from the EU to the US have to charge VAT. 23% is the highest rate in the EU. In the UK it's 20%, so I don't know quite how the 23% worked out.

You pay a membership fee to be in Amazon Prime, so you can't really count that as free shipping (although if you order a lot, I guess it works out almost free when averaged out over all your purchases).

Bottom line though. If you think it's too much, it's your prerogative not to buy one.

I'm not upset or anything, I realize that "everyone's got to get paid", I'm just not interested in paying 42% of the original cost ($35) to "the man".

Didn't you realise there would be tax and shipping? I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't get hit for some sort of import duty (perhaps that's part of the 23%?).

[grumpyoldgit]

I would add that an a couple of occasions when buying something from the US, Customs have insisted on me paying Import Duty. I think there is a notional cut-off point. The galling thing is that the Post Office collect the money, and they add a charge on top for the privilege of doing so!

[lesliew]

I managed to do an actual preorder with RS (Allied Electronics in North America) on March 4 and received this latest email from Allied

There has been some confusion regarding the status of Raspberry Pi preorders recently. Here is some information to address a few of your questions.
Your Raspberry Pi preorder is a valid order and has been placed in the queue to be fulfilled. Despite rumors, none of the preorders have been converted to an “expression of interest” or anything similar.
The process is still the same as previously described. Since your device has already been ordered, you will not receive an invitation to purchase the Raspberry Pi. Instead, you will simply receive a notification once your preorder has shipped.
Stay up-to-date with the latest Raspberry Pi information by visiting DesignSpark. Find out what happened when some initial Raspberry Pi users met-up to discuss using the board as an open-source tool. Read the latest blog from one of the RS Components DesignSpark members, an ICT tutor who has just received his Raspberry Pi. Or find out about how your board can be used as a media centre.
Thank you for your patience and we will be in touch as soon as your order is fulfilled.
Allied Electronics

Its good to know that someone has had some feedback from Allied. I placed an expression of interest with them on Feb 29th about 7:50 GMT but apart from an email titled 'Rasberry Pi update' that I received on March 29th I haven't heard anything else from them yet.

[ajwillys]

I didn't expect free shipping, just mentioned because it was a bit of sticker shock. I understand that the foundation is under a different business model and doesn't inflate the prices in order to then absorb things like shipping. I was surprised about the VAT. I don't think I've ever bought anything from a foreign country other than the stuff on ebay that comes direct from China, so I was just surprised. As I said, I'm not mad and I don't think its "unfair". I just don't think its worth it. It also doesn't make much sense. Everyone in the US and many other countries are paying a 20+% premium just because of the shipping route chosen. If the items were shipped from China to the US, then distributed, that could be avoided.

In any case, this is not the thread for this so I am done ranting.

[dhardingham]

RS activation code worked OK for me. However, it looks as if I'm a little further down the waiting list. I've been promised delivery in 10 weeks

[Tawmu]

I got invited to order at RS a couple of days ago, at first my code didn't work but apparently they were having problems and told me to wait an hour... got to order an hour later and I got an e-mail from ParcelForce today saying my Raspberry Pi was due to ship today under Express24, so fingers crossed!

I registered my interest around 5 mins after the RS site launched on preorder day.

[Montala]

RS activation code worked OK for me. However, it looks as if I'm a little further down the waiting list. I've been promised delivery in 10 weeks

I make that the last week in July, which seems a very long way away!
Can I ask when you first registered your interest, please... and also when you were given this date?
Thanks.

[grumpyoldgit]

The date also looks odd to me. RS are only inviting people to order when they have the stocks and are ready to post them out. When I got the invite a couple of weeks ago the email said within 7 days. What is your order number?

[Eskimon]

I'm a bit confused after what grumpyoldgit said.

I received my invitation a few days ago (from RS, last friday) and then order straight away. Then received a confirmation mail with the reference number (399X, does it mean that i'm in the lucky 4k ? ) saying (email quote) : "Standard Delivery (Despatch expected within 7 working days)"

Does it mean that i could have to wait a couple of weeks or i'll really have my slice o pi before the end of the month ?

[drgeoff]

I got an 'invitation to order' email today. I did and the order number is 65xx. Claiming to dispatch within 7 days. I'm in the UK.

[grumpyoldgit]

I'm a bit confused after what grumpyoldgit said.

I received my invitation a few days ago (from RS, last friday) and then order straight away. Then received a confirmation mail with the reference number (399X, does it mean that i'm in the lucky 4k ? ) saying (email quote) : "Standard Delivery (Despatch expected within 7 working days)"

Does it mean that i could have to wait a couple of weeks or i'll really have my slice o pi before the end of the month ?

I would be expecting you to get it sooner than that. I got the invite, ordered and got confirmation, all on 4th May, then follow up email from ParcelForce on 8th to say it had been despatched, and it arrived on the 9th. RS have been very quiet up until now but it seems that once they get going it is straight into 5th gear.

[JohnW]

I got an 'invitation to order' email today. I did and the order number is 65xx. Claiming to deliver within 7 days. I'm in the UK.

I also got my invitation from RS today (it was 61xx). Oddly the confirmation e-mail quites two different dates. At the top of the e-mail it quotes 7 days, but further down in the order details it says 3 weeks. Hope the first one is correct

[Montala]

I got an 'invitation to order' email today. I did and the order number is 65xx. Claiming to deliver within 7 days. I'm in the UK.

I am in the UK also, and as I haven't received an email from them today, it looks as if I am going to have to wait at least another couple of weeks before I am able to place an order... what a pain!

[philr]

I received my invitation to order email from RS today. Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be able to place an order because I can't find a way to enter separate billing and delivery addresses (it only asks for a delivery address and then uses that as the billing address on the credit card details page).

Does anyone know whether it is possible to have the Raspberry Pi shipped to an address other than the billing address?

[Jessie]

I got an invite from RS today. Finally, They are claiming a possible 3 weeks until I get it here in the US. The total ended up being over $50 for product, tax, and shipping. I haven't heard from Newark who I also had a pre-order in with, but I will likely cancel that one anyway because at this point in time I don't need more than one.

[Roman0]

Haha, I am an idiot! No wonder my card got declined
Finally, mah RasPi is on the way.
#67xx

[ThomasPRoberts]

What day did people register interest on, for the ones who got their invitation yesterday/today?

Like a idiot I didn't register interest till near the start of April..... I didn't expect all the delays and thought I would have been able to order straight out by that point.

[alexeames]

I'm a bit confused after what grumpyoldgit said.
I would be expecting you to get it sooner than that. I got the invite, ordered and got confirmation, all on 4th May, then follow up email from ParcelForce on 8th to say it had been despatched, and it arrived on the 9th. RS have been very quiet up until now but it seems that once they get going it is straight into 5th gear.

Yes this will be an interesting competition. I registered with RS in the first minutes 0601 to 0605 - hard to tell exactly in the heat of the moment. But then I heard nothing from them for ages. In the meantime I got in the system later on 29 Feb on Farnell and got a pre-order in within a few days. I've got a delivery date from Farnell of week commencing 28th May. RS says my Pi will be here within 7 days. Looks like RS might win. We'll see. It should be that way because I registered with them much sooner. But Farnell's approach left me feeling as if I would get one this side of summer, whereas with RS I was never really sure. Another time, I would think an extra line of code in the web script could allocate a "ticket" number - then we could all brag about our place in the queue. That's pure 20:20 hindsight for you.

[alexeames]

What day did people register interest on, for the ones who got their invitation yesterday/today?

Like a idiot I didn't register interest till near the start of April..... I didn't expect all the delays and thought I would have been able to order straight out by that point.

Within the first 5 minutes. But also again later on 29th Feb because I got no acknowledgement and wasn't sure if it went through.