Hi Quint,

Thanks so much for your HOLYBITCOIN.COM experience. I'm sorry that happened to you. If I understand your post correctly, they either did not take your money, or returned it after they cancelled your order? If that is the case, (and I mean this with all due respect) I think I may leave them on the Legit List, as they did not scam you out of your money per say. Maybe we put an asterisk  (*) next to their Legit status, and include your experience.

Also, I believe HolyBitcoin is basically run by one person named Scott (as leowonderful mentioned above). Maybe we cut the guy a little slack. Maybe the capitalist in me over-sympathizes with the inclination to relist a product's price when demand shoots up, but IMHO there's no such thing as over-priced if it gets sold. Some people prefer "over-priced" to "out of stock" and Price negotiates scarcity.

(I promise I do not secretly work for HolyBitcoin or any of their subsidiaries, though I think we all can agree that at this point Scott should compensate me with some kind of affiliate kick back... i kid, i kid)

BitcoinPSU,

Maybe you should tell the group a little bit about your site. What are your best products / deals? Are you getting any new hardware in stock? Do you have any customer reviews or forum threads you could point us to that might put some potential buyers at ease?

Would you ever offer a discount to people on these forums? That last question might have been too presumptuous... unless the answer's yes...

Thanks silver,

I'll definitely add EBAY to the Legit list. You're right that they have a wide array of new (and old) crypto miners, along with user ratings and Paypal protection that can help the consumer. Paypal WILL refund your money if your item never arrives, though it may take a little while for the refund to process.


My main complaint with EBAY is that it is very hard to find good deals on any hardware, especially of late. For instance, the Baikal X11 300 MH Cubes sold for under $800 when you bought straight from Baikal (not that long ago). These same miners are selling for 8k and up right now on Ebay. At those mark ups, it's a little tougher to ROI (tho beggers can't be choosers, i s'pose).


Also, you can't use crypto to purchase anything. For some people who try to reinvest their mined crypto by purchasing more hardware, converting to fiat is a hassle.


ALIBABA is a little better when it comes to deals. They're certainly a lot less user friendly; you have to direct message a lot of frogs, wait for them to reply etc., but they offer very similar money back buyer protection as ebay, as well as a developed seller rating system. Some alibaba sellers even accept crypto...

Obviously buying directly from the manufacturer is ideal, but not always possible. Manufacturers sell out, and then what. Also, sometimes manufacturers only sell in bulk. Such was the case with Ibelink's recent DM11G. Anybody unwilling to break their "only buy from manufacturer" rule couldnt buy that model, unless they joined a group buy.

For instance, right now the L3+ is sold out on Bitmain. While that would be ideal, its sold out.

For a 400-500 dollar premium, u could pick one up from a verified retailer like Eastshore.xyz

Whether that premium is worth it is up to each individual, but IMHO saying "only buy from manufacturer is a bit simplistic

thanks so much for the format suggestion VH. It looks great. Let me get some additional vendor names and  experiences from some posters, then I'll try to reformat it with feedback links.

I haven't personally bought from
bitcoinpsu.com yet, but I'd like to. Do you have a power supply for an L3+? I was going to buy it from eastshore, but I'd buy it from you to support the cause.

I'm kind of interested in this token... I mean, I've never used Gigawatt's services before, but other bitcointalk posters have vouched for them, so in the very least, they seem to be a real hosting company.

One thing that would make me consider using them vs. mining everything myself is that they will fix (or try to fix) your asic if it breaks down. Other then sending a broken asic back to the manufacturer (usually in china), I'm not sure what I'd do with a broken ASIC...

AAAAAnyehoozle, at least with this token there is a baked in demand, at least for their customers... even if it's kind of a glorified gift certificate. Most tokens' demand / usefulness is theoretical at best... same can be said for most ALTs...

I'm not advising anybody to do anything, but I'm going to throw a little extra money towards this ITO, see what happens. I'll post back on this thread however it plays out.

SCAM - QUIT

minerslab.com - haven't ordered from them personally, but ive read a lot of posts / complaints from people who have. They also had the Blessinghash for sale, which I'm fairly certain does not exist...

UNKNOWN

AsicMinerMarket.com - Adding this site to the unknowns... they SEEM very legit, mainly because they sell out a LOT, so if they ARE scammers, they're missing out on a lot of fake sales. Right now, the only miner not sold out is a 3.6 T A6... which would make you about 5 dollars in profit a month, so it makes sense they'd have a surplus... BUT I've never bought from them personally.

Thanks so much for the experience. I was considering buying an S9 from HolyBitcoin before Bitmain brought them back online. Good to know they can be trusted for next time.

Once there's a few more posts, I'll make a master list with everyone's input (and Holybitcoin in the Legit section).

i'm sorry, Kranga. I'm new to the boards. What is a "Whois" and how do I make one?

Thought I'd start a list of hardware retailers that are actually SAFE to buy from, as well as a list of BAD sites i know to be scams...Scammers come up a lot on these forums, but usually scammer warnings are kind of scattered, and it's hard to find the info you're looking for.

It's a real shame too, because there are some honest trustworthy hardware companies that would see a lot more success if they were easier to find.


LEGIT LIST - SAFE AND TRUSTWORTHY

Bitmain and Baikal -
(obviously) direct from manufacture is always the best way to go, but make sure you are ACTUALLY dealing with the manufacturer. Scammers have contacted people with fake Skype addresses pretending to be Baikal.

Eastshore.xyz - I thought I might actually get Shanghaid from a company IN Shanghai, but my experience (and many other posters) has been great so far. Still waiting on my L3+s (set to ship in August), but I ordered a PSU from them, just to test them out. It arrived quickly (considering the origin), nicely packed, great customer service. They're also pretty reasonably priced.

BITCOINTALK GROUP BUYS - I'm new to the forum group buys, so please forgive my ignorance. Some respected members will arrange group buys of new hardware to get a favorable price, access to rare miners or both. I only know of 2 trusted members,

Bittawm - Legit
kilo17 - Legit

PLEASE add any and all members you've dealt with and personally trust. BE ADVISED - Scammers be lurking. People will pretend to be trusted members, creating similar screen names, ~bittawm instead of bittawm as an example, then private message people with the wrong bitcoin address. I saw somebody lose 9k in btc that way.

Always look to see a member's status as an indicator of their trustworthyness. If their status is Hero or Legend, that's a great sign... if they're a newbie...LIKE ME   then proceed with caution, or retreat with haste...




QUIT LIST - SCAM - NOT SAFE - WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY


AS-Shops.su - They are not at their listed address. I called another company in that building, and they had never heard of them before.

Metrobitcoinminer.com - I was looking for a Blessinghash Scrypt miner (which I now know is skunkware), and stumbled upon this site. Decided to test them out, ordered the cheapest thing they sell, never received anything.




UNKNOWN - below sites seem legit, but I lack any personal experience. any input would be greatly appreciated

51ASIC.RU - this site has pretty good social media presence (facebook, youtube videos), but I haven't ordered from them yet. It's hard to find anybody who has... and if you do, they usually speak Russian, which diesn't really help. has ANYBODY here ordered from them?

BITBAZA -same deal, russian company, seem legit, but I don't know... they supposedly just sold out of a bunch of ibelink pre-orders. If anybody here paid them, please let us know if they arrive.

holybitcoin.com - I think i read some favorable posts on another thread. site seems legit, but they just sell out of everything.

 Anybody have any experience buying from 51asic.ru ?
They seem to be pretty legit, they have a pretty good social media presence, posted youtube videos of their hardware, etc.

BUT I've never bought from them before. Whenever I search for a review, I get a lot of Russian text (which I guess makes sense).

Anywhoozle, I'm looking to make a big purchase from them. Any and all experiences would be VERY MUCH appreciated.

Because Bittawm is so legitimate / trustworthy, people try to imitate him.

"~bittawm" and "bittawm -" are scammers pretending to be "Bittawm". do not send them your bitcoin.

One way to make sure you're dealing with the right Bittawm is to check their status on the forum next to their name. I believe the REAL Bittawm has legendary status he has accumilated over a period of years.

I hope this was helpful.