Oh, I was waiting for a PM if anyone was serious! Between all the PMs I send & receive daily from my GB forum services & my posting activity, I have way too many threads active to pay attn. to all but the most important ones. Hahaha, I really didn't think anyone would take me up on the bet but yeah if someone is willing:

I'd be willing to bet 2BTC that by the end of September, BFL *DOES NOT* clear their backlogs of Jalapenos which is their fastest shipping model.

I'm confident enough to bet on that (even knowing the other bettor could be a BFL employee, insider, or even Sunny or Josh via sock).

Here's my responses to another anon. message received; hope this is of some use to a few newbies:

Hi XXXXXXXXXX,

You're welcome! They say a fool and his money is soon parted. In the digital world involving Bitcoins, it seems to be twice as fast!

I really think Group Buying is the *only* way us regular miners without giant, deep pockets can keep up with the big boys is to spread your Group Buys around several strong pre-order buys.

Some advice: If possible - don't send *any* BTC to *anyone* unless it's under the protection of an Escrow service. One of the strengths *and* drawbacks of BTC is that there's no chargebacks available which is awesome if you're a merchant; not so awesome if you're the buyer & there's fraud or other problems with your purchase. An Escrow service holds funds for a group so that there's no funny business with the funds. An Escrow service also vets the Sellers and know their ID/address so that there's real world consequences to illegal behavior. So: try to stick to Escrowed Group Buys, when possible.

The exception to this would be the most veteran GBCs such as waldohoover, CanaryInTheMine, and SSB, for example. Even then: accounts can be hacked but these 3 guys are golden & do tons of business.

Please read my posts in the Group Buy Forum for more info & please let me know if you'd like more detail on anything I can help you with.

Cheers!
DZ

Please keep the PMs and questions coming! I'm here to help out both newbies and veterans alike.

Hi aerobatic.

How many units & what types of units are you looking to have colocated?

I'm a Network Engineer running an ASIC Bitcoin Miner Host Matchmaking service (Avalon & AM Blade support is unavailable) & I may be just the person you might want to speak to about this. I currently run two professional server rooms (1 remote) for a nationally recognized research lab, and have designed 4 different professional server rooms for research labs in my IT career.

I offer the world's lowest miner hosting fees at only 2.5%. The usual prices are 7-15%. KnC charges $200-350 a month for the same essential services. KnC can't match my site redundancy either; I have several vetted host miners located in several states in my index. These are introductory prices that we may not be able to keep this low forever.

You can use my services two ways:
 
1) 0.25BTC paid to me once a successful match is made OR
2) 0.5% a month as management fees for those miner hosts that want to stay anonymous and/or for those miner hosts that don't want to have to deal with paperwork, advertising, and customer service contacts. The 0.25 BTC matchmaking fee is waived in this instance.


Regardless of the option you choose (this is also dependent on which miner host you pick and their own privacy policy), payouts are expected every 2 weeks once miner operations commence either directly to the Miner Host or to me directly as the Management/Matchmaking Service. These are vetted miner hosts - who have their IDs on record - that are risking their jobs/freedom to offer these ultra low costs to customers. A negotiable BTC "Good Behavior" Bond are also available via legal Escrow Repository/Services, if the value of the equipment is high enough.

=====
About me

Here's why you should trust me: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=276947.msg2956448#msg2956448
Here's my endorsements: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=280412.msg2997877#msg2997877

=====

Please PM me, or see Post 6 of my Services page; it's the first link in my sig. Here's more info & you can even pay your matchmaking fee via ebay/PayPal if you'd prefer:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASIC-Bitcoin-Miner-Hosting-Service-Worlds-lowest-miner-hosting-fees-Only-2-5-/130980198199?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e7f073737

2 slots are open via ebay but more should open up shortly once the top miner host in my index completes his move to a dedicated hosting building.

Aloha!
DZ

I'm still sad no one will bet me 2BTC that BFL won't even catch up on Jalapenos.

What? No one wants to give me free BTC for nothing?

PSA: Since it seems common sense isn't always common, perhaps *All* Group Buy Coordinators should add this disclaimer in their terms (or something to this effect):

** By agreeing to participate in this Group Buy, you agree to NOT use your money that was primarily meant for: food, clothing, rent/mortgage, short term emergency funds, car payments, insurance, 401(k), IRAs, or children's college funds. These are considered HIGH RISK purchases of hardware, with funds tied up for weeks, and are NOT meant for those trying to "get rich quick." **

And monkeys might fly out of my...

Would be nice though! Sounds like a worthy Miner Protection Plan to me. 

No offense, but people can buy 13GH/s AM Blades for 4BTC. There's a lot more competition on the low end now.

I'll vote for you. Please PM me the link.

1C5R7t1XdVPxUBFUnBWJnRPx7ZMZBgnv7L

G'luck & Cheers!

Oh eve, I appreciate the warnings you incessantly give these forums but I've actually worked closely with and talked with these Group Buy Coordinators you accuse of being evil and greedy.

Evil and greedy seems to be the furthest description of the 2 GBCs I've vetted & the new GBC I'm currently vetting. I've also gotten *good* free advice from CanaryInTheMine, waldohoover, and CoinHoarder. You couldn't be any further from the truth. You have no idea about the sacrifices of time/money/stress these GBCs must go thru behind the scenes to give Group Buyers the world's best prices. You have no idea how much work it takes behind the scenes to succeed in a Group Buy, whether you're a newbie or a veteran.

BTW, newsflash: this isn't communism where everyone gets paid the same for no effort or groundbreaking efforts. How much profit do you propose a Group Buy Coordinator should make to stay in business and prepare for the future? Should we create a committee to figure this out?

Until you've walked a mile in their mocassins, your argument holds no water.

P.S. You can't shoot the messenger in this case about being greedy or evil; if you care to dig in my posting history on Reddit, here, and even the Surfermag BB up to 8 years ago, I've been helping folks out in forum after forum for free for as long back as you care to dig (8 years worth, if you want). And if you look at the transactions in my GB, I haven't made a single red satoshi in profits from my fellow co-op members, and I set it up this way on purpose because I just wanted access to the best tech at the best values at the ultra lowest costs. That's pretty much it. I also set up my co-op as a democracy too, as I'm no tyrant.

This is me trying to give complete strangers my good paying job in paradise (at a National Lab, no less) 5 years ago; I can't make this shizz up: http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Number=1369010

No kidding about the Mickey Mouse comparison! 

How apt. However, it looks like the only way to get into Disneyland right now is to buy pre-order E-tickets.   

You do have to admit that some of the Wild West aspect does make it exciting. It def. reminds me of the early days of the web circa Netscape Navigator when we had a hint, but no idea that the Web was going to grow so massively.

I think a Group Buy of SJ's size and duration should only be taken on by the most ambitious GBC, preferably with a core group of 2 or more people. I don't think a GB of your size/complexity should be undertaken lightly by anyone.

Seeing the size of those chip Group Buys, for comparison's sake it took 14 other buyers & shares purchased by myself to purchase 40 shares for a HF BabyJet in my recent GB, and it still took a lot of work behind the scenes to keep running smoothly. I'd say any new GBC should learn to walk before they run & *focus* on just one Group Buy of limited size/complexity/duration. There's a lot to be said about not fighting two or three front wars.

Be prepared to deal with distrust and a lot of time spent educating others and answering questions. Also, look at yourself honestly and ask how well you deal with customer service and teaching others.

- How will you handle concerns about BTC handling and for miner rigs: miner payouts later on ?
- Hosting details? Everyone kosher about where the hardware is going?
- How will you deal with refunds? Do you have funds set aside for this?
- Will you have co-admins in case you get hurt/incapacitated or if there's concerns about fraud?
- Are you willing to risk your time, your job and your freedom to give Group Buyers the world's best prices?

Please use this thread to merge your Group Buy with other Group Buys.

Group Buy Coordinators: Stuff happens, if you need to close out your Group Buy and you have a few shares sold or reserved, please post:

1. The link to the Group Buy being closed out
2. Shares available
3. Pay status of reserved shares

If you're a Group Buy Coordinator looking for additional orphan shares, this is an ideal place to look for orphaned Group Buyers to help close out your Group Buy.

This is a great way to merge pre-orders for GBs on equipment that have rapidly dwindling stock. This thread came about thru my suggestion to a few GBCs in a related GB.

==
If you found this thread to be helpful, here's ye olde tip jar (exactly like gramps used to make 'em):    
1C5R7t1XdVPxUBFUnBWJnRPx7ZMZBgnv7L

Thank you SebastianJu. I've thanked you before previously for your service (which I've never even used) and I'm thanking you again. I would add that SJ's Group Buy is a bit more ambitious then most GBs. Not every GB is going to have hundreds and hundreds of buyers to keep track of.

I would also like to add that most of the stress that took a toll on you and the other Avalon GBCs is *NOT* your fault that a formerly reputable forum member went AWOL on you guys for months. You guys went in thinking you were doing business with Dr. Jekyll and you ended up with Mr. Hyde.

Part of the risk of organizing a Group Buy is deciding *who* to organize a Group Buy FOR. This mfg? That mfg? A pool of mfgs? We all have to do our own homework & come to our own decisions with our time and our spending power. This decision could play a role into whether your GB even gets off the ground.

I, for one, will NEVER do business with BFL again or Avalon due to the words and actions of their primary stakeholders.

Also, for anyone reading this, I specialize in helping new Group Buy Coordinators succeed in completing their Group Buys. Like anyone else, I can't do much about mfg. delivery but at least I can help you succeed in ordering your equipment.

Will anyone take the "Yes" side if someone were to set up a bet?

I'm willing to bet 2BTC that they won't even clear the Jalapeno backlog and that's shipping the fastest out of all units. Any takers?  

Thanks for taking the time to delineate why you think KnC deserves the top spot as far as reputation. The market's getting big enough that there's room for more then 2 or 3 mfgs. at the top. Again, it's just my opinion, but I'm also basing this on how I think the market perceives them as well. AM is shipping product in volume & hasn't pissed off their community. They deserve that top spot (and I'm not running any of their hardware ATM).

While I'll be running a HashFast Co-op with a lil help from some friends, I'm not a fanboy of any hardware and find all of that to be silly. At the end of the day: delivery time, performance, cost, and reliability rules and everything else drools. While I'm not a chip specialist, I'm an IT specialist with a design hat & I do support chip designers on a day to day basis (close to tapeout ourselves for one of our one chips in our niche industry). I've been watching the tech industry for about 30 some years, invested in the tech industry for about 20 years, and also have about 10 years of proto IT hardware & network design exp. myself for the DoD and state DOT so I'm not just some snot nosed kid that plays Xbox Live.

I appreciate your concerns about HF's MPP, I'm presuming this plan passed Legal. If not, well, someone's gonna be looking for a new job!  
As far as market impact: IMHO HashFast's MPP has had a much greater impact then KnC's reseller program (which is something I signed up for) which has failed miserably from what I can see.

But from these cheap seats...hey, I'm rooting for KnC too. Competition is good for all & will only add to better performing cheaper hardware for all of us.

Mate,

Have you seen dogie's thread?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=205369.0;all

Hope this helps!

Thanks again for the offer of hosting from those outside the co-op, but we're limiting the hosting for this Group Buy to co-op members as they're part owners of the device & should have a first shot. We have serious offers of very inexpensive hosting with quite a bit of built-in security from within the co-op from firsttimeuser, BeepBeep2, and even kaz911 in the Netherlands with dual network connections if we agreed to the shipping delay to Europe to gain network redundancy.

No worries though, there's plenty of interest from outside the co-op for hosting opportunities for those with ultra cheap electricity/bandwidth. Averaging over 100 hits a day on ebay for miner hosting services.

I'm receiving a trickle of PM votes. I won't say how the voting is going on that side but voting ends on Monday night at 9PM HST.

Yifu,

Yes, I know you're overwhelmed. I seriously could've helped you with that but you ignored me like everyone else you seem to have ignored here.

Like I told you weeks ago, I would've gladly taken all kinds of arrows to the knee for you on your behalf, if you paid me for a very minimal BTC fee to be a paid CSR / Tier I&II Tech support in my free time like I offered. You seem to hate dealing with customers and ASIC miners, in general. I happen to *love* working with customers & have found an online home among this merry band of risk taking miners and speculators.

I could've helped turn around your Customer Service trials and tribulations you don't want to deal with in a heartbeat simply by having: 1) Patience 2) Empathy for your poor Buyers that *trusted* YOU.

Ah, well. C'est la vie. Just as well I didn't work with Avalon. Your name and Avalon is mud around these parts. The damage is irreversible IMO. And it's all entirely self-inflicted, regardless of the troubles you may have had. You do realize, of course: any Gen2 offerings will have muted sales in comparison to B1-3 sales. You've broken too many promises to them. You pissed all over your community, the very people that enriched you, and like elephants they're gonna remember it.

Great points! I overlooked/forgot about the PayPal promise.

Yeah, us miners: Once you f up with us, you have to do *a lot* to get back in our good graces. I think most of all you need to admit you screwed up & be humble for the business you do/did get.

If I had to list the top 3 or 4 ASIC manufacturers by reputation it would be:

1. ASIC Miner - yes, they were/are the most expensive but at least you get it! [Disclaimer: AM shareholder 1.14 shares currently held by John K. as collateral ATM]
2. Bitfury - shipping in Europe. Hooray!
3. HashFast - That Miner Protection Plan made me go from: "Hmm, what should I do" to Full GB Coordinator mode even though I never tried to operate a BTC mining co-op before. [Disclaimer: 1/4th owner and primary remote admin of a HF Baby Jet]
4. KnC - Sorry Bitcoinorama, they may move to #3 IMHO if they meet that Sept. delivery date & unveil some new price points and/or Miner Protection Plan to match HF & CT.

Thanks for that PM from an anonymous newbie!

Here's the body of my msg. I sent back. Hopefully it holds useful advice for new Bitcoin miners:

"Hi XXXXXXXXX,

You're welcome! They say a fool and his money is soon parted. In the digital world involving Bitcoins, it seems to be twice as fast!

I really think Group Buying is the *only* way us regular miners without giant, deep pockets can keep up with the big boys is to spread your Group Buys around several strong pre-order buys.

Some advice: If possible - don't send *any* BTC to *anyone* unless it's under the protection of an Escrow service. One of the strengths *and* drawbacks of BTC is that there's no chargebacks available which is awesome if you're a merchant; not so awesome if you're the buyer & there's fraud or other problems with your purchase. An Escrow service holds funds for a group so that there's no funny business with the funds. An Escrow service also vets the Sellers and know their ID/address so that there's real world consequences to illegal behavior. So: try to stick to Escrowed Group Buys, when possible.

The exception to this would be the most veteran GBCs such as waldohoover, CanaryInTheMine, and SSB, for example. Even then: accounts can be hacked but these 3 guys are golden & do tons of business.

Please read my posts in the Group Buy Forum for more info & please let me know if you'd like more detail on anything I can help you with.

Cheers!
DZ"

Edit: I would also add user bobsag who is a vetted Group Buyer Coordinator and vetted Miner Host that has agreed to be a client of mine.

Here's an example of the type of advocacy and help I provide for both buyers and sellers (even if my help might hurt or sting a bit):
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=283441.msg3047942#msg3047942
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=280167.msg3002252#msg3002252