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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The "LED" light Group Buy

KETCH ROSSi said:
PAYMENT UPDATE:

The guys at B,B&S have told me that they are looking in to creating a Paypal account to allow for you guys to pay with it, or accept CC's via it as well, lets hope all goes well, what is important is that they are acting upon it in a quick manner, and also to understand them, they are a very small start up company and never dealt with it before, so they are doing this just for this Group Buy, even so I am most certain will benefit them in further sales later on as well.
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That would be good. I received my invoice a day or two ago, but won't be able to do a wire until next week sometime at the earliest. I'm traveling a bit at the moment and my bank needs me there in person to initiate the wire. Used to be able to do it via phone, but with all the fraud happening lately, I guess it's a face to face thing only now. Really surprised they are not set up for credit cards or at least PayPal already. These are not huge purchases and wire is a pain in the butt, especially international wire transfers. Not only that, but the extra fees and paperwork for all this, ugh.
 
My pleasure and my responsibility guys to do all that I can to make sure you are all taken care of in this Group Buy.

B,B&S are a tiny company, with a great product, with several more in the pipe line, most likely a Area 24 and a Area 12 for which I'll also try to do a Group Buy for it, they are not set up with CC or Paypal, as this are literally some of the very first units sold, I was the first or the second to purchase, they literally just went life with their tiny company, but some how I am certain they will not remain tiny for long... ;)
 
All good, Ketch. I'll send an email to Lars. It's just going to be next week sometime before I can do a wire. I'm out of town and then monday is a bank holiday. Hopefully they can get CC and/ or PayPal setup up soon. That will really help them. Lots of people will pass on purchasing if they have to wire money, especially if it has to be wired internationally. I guess that's where my bank gets hung up on it. Talked to them this morning. If it were domestic and not international, I could do it over the phone. Anymore, they treat us all like we're terrorists when we try to send money out of the country. :(
 
I hear you Jeff, this is why I advised them to get set up now, and of course they immediately moved on, as they do understand, they just didn't count on me jumping on their product so fast and on top of it make a Group Buy which went behind their expectations.

Let's hope all goes well, and they get Paypal set up very shortly.
 
Good effort Ketch!
I couldn't participate in this group buy as there is no paypal or credit card. Else I can buy immediately. :( Too much hassle to go to the bank for wiretransfer, as for the last couple of months I am out of town.
 
I sent the request in, now lets hope that they do succeed in getting their Paypal account for the sake of those of you here that need to use it, I'll report with final say on it as soon as they confirm it to me, but it might not be till early next week, since we are at the week's end.
 
@Jeff,

It may be that some banks have better fraud checking than others.
If there is a an anti-money-laundering (aka AML) check that they are making you adhere below 10k ... I'd be surprised.

My own experience is that:
+) Wire transfers : SWIFT or (if inside Europe) Faster Payments is the best value for money and took me about 5 mins to send on an iPad.
+) Credit card gives you best protection, but not so good currency exchange rate.
+) Paypal is worst value for money

AJ
 
I agree with your sentiments, Antony. Unfortunately most of the banks here in the USA have clamped down on us recently, especially those in the southern US as wire transfer has been a huge means of funneling money to drug cartels south of the border. Domestically, I can do it over the phone, online, via their iPhone/ Android app, whatever. As soon as I go to send money out of the country, they require me to come in and fill out an extra form. Can't do it online or via email or fax, has to be in-person. It doesn't matter if I'm wiring $50 or $50K. Anything going in or out over $3500 is reported to the IRS too.

Credit card exchange rates are always funny, but that comes down to the merchant end for the most part and how their bank converts. In this group buy situation, we're being quoted US Dollars, so we're paying in US Dollars, so exchange rates are transparent on this end.

PayPal is indeed a terrible value. At least for the seller -- I know because I have a business PayPal account myself and watch 3% of my payments get skimmed off the top by PayPal. There is no seller protection, only buyer protection, regardless of claims they make. Credit card is far more secure and reliable for both parties. Then again credit card merchant accounts take anywhere from 1.5 to 3.5 % just as PayPal does, so...

Wire transfer is not regarded as a convenient means of sending money here in the US. No one wants to do it that way. Banks charge us pretty big fees to send or receive money this way. The IRS/ fed knows about the money transfer before the receiving party gets the money and it makes it a pain come tax time for a lot of us smaller guys who may be trying to juggle purchases between business and personal. I realize that most of the rest of the world doesn't feel this way, I'm just saying how it is in the US. Half the people I know with multiple camera purchases from RED here in the states will fedex a check for payment because wire transfer is a huge pain in the ass. If it's less than $7500, we put it on a card. Or we divide up stuff into multiple purchases to put on a card that way because wire transfer is still a bigger pain in the ass.
 
I don't know how it may impact the group buy but the BB&S website has a shopping cart in place that accepts payment through PayPal, among others. That's a good sign for those folks for whom it would be a more convenient option than wire transfer.
 
Thanks, Ketch!
I will let you know when they respond.
Has anyone gotten a confirmation from them?
So far they have not responded to calls or email.
 
No responses to any of my emails. I'm really sorry, but I can't trust they will make it right if the fixture fails, or I have any need for service.
I know they are a small shop, and starting a new product line with new technology probably has hardships that I can't even fathom, but service and communication is at least half the battle. They need to be on top of communication, on top of service, otherwise it doesn't matter how good the product is. And it really pains me, being Danish, to have to give up on a Danish company, but i have to.
Thank you Ketch for putting this together, and this doesn't reflect on your hard work at all, but I have to step away from this group buy...
 
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