[Group Buy] Avalon ASIC Chips, 0.079 per Chip (Dabs) Philippines/Asia

[Dabs]

Update: June 14, 2013. Refunded all previous buyers in full.
Restarted group buy with a brand new cold wallet address: 1DabshLusCoyQB16WSCmWpxwNUjKLzJQLs
Also re-structured pricing.

[Group Buy] Avalon ASIC chips, destination Philippines (Dabs) Asia

Hey all, as you all know Avalon just put up a pre-order for their ASICs chips. But they are only selling 10,000 chips per order! This will be over 780 bitcoins (+2.1 bitcoins to ship) I know 99.9% of you guys and people like me CANNOT afford to buy all these chips alone! So therefore I am putting together a group buy for this! I can ship worldwide but you will be responsible for the shipping costs!

I made this because there seems to be an interest in these chips in my country (Philippines) so if there are enough local people, all orders will be local.

There are at least two other Group Buys for these same ASIC chips. However I think one is just for one batch, and the other is ending at the end of the month.

Here are the links to the other threads:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177827.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177994.0

Kindly quickly go over them for reference, or at least the OP of each.

So I'm making one for until the end of next month, and also hopefully all orders will be local. International buyers are also welcome. People in other neighboring countries are encouraged to order here, so we can all have some chips in this region.

Reminder
Only send payments from an address you control (i.e. you can sign with it). If you send from MtGox or other exchanges, you risk loosing your funds since you can't prove you sent them.

Policy update: Refunds
Your orders are binding. No refunds until after end of July 31 2013. You can sell your chips to someone else by signing a bitcoin message with the address you used, or selling them the private key so they can sign it themselves, or requesting the new owner's shipping address to be used. Up to you. Why? So this Group Buy can only go to completion and not have people getting refunds until at least after another month.


Folks and miners,

as discussed in the DIY thread, I want to support the open source DIY-ASIC approaches and act as a distributor for the Avalon ASIC chips offered in bulk, for the people residing in the Philippines or nearby.

The relevant information about the chips is available from Avalon here

Product Description

    the only payment accepted is Bitcoin.
    the chips being sold are packaged and tested.
    the lead time on the chips is 9 to 10 weeks.
    made to order from TSMC foundry and then packaged and shipped.
    the minimum order quantity is 10,000 chips and the maximum order quantity is 200,000.
    the chips are identical to those in Avalon, clocking 282Mh/s per chip.
    the password is “I understand and agree”.
    communication protocol, reference board design provided in early May.
    everything will be open source from FPGA to PCB design.
    we do not offer technical support of any kind, this is final.
    if you do not know what to do with the packaged chips, please do not purchase.

Pricing
First 1500 chips = 0.079 per chip
Following 2500 chips = 0.080 per chip
Remaining 6000 chips = 0.081 per chip

If your chip order falls between two brackets, you get the better bracket for the number of chips that are still within that bracket and the rest goes to the next bracket. Blockchain.info will be used to determine the early birds.

On top of this BTC denominated net price, I will add a fiat based component to cover expenses, including

• tax and custom handling fees (~10%)
• effective shipping cost from the Philippines
• flat handling fee of $5 per order

Since these items will be paid in fiat, they will be charged after I receive the chips and before they are sent to you.

Ordering
A lead time of 10+ weeks in the current sentiment takes ages. We can right now observe the dramatic exchange rate fluctuations, and we might also see some of the competing ASIC manufacturers succeed and flood the market with cheaper solutions. Before you order, please do your risk analysis.

If you still want to buy and are fine with the above pricing model, then you will have to participate in the risk and pay your order upfront. If you understood the risk-factors you should clearly understand why I can't afford to charge you in 10 weeks.

This is a fund raising for a group-buy.

There is one common payment address: 1DabshLusCoyQB16WSCmWpxwNUjKLzJQLs

First 1500 chips = 0.079 per chip
Following 2500 chips = 0.080 per chip
Remaining 6000 chips = 0.081 per chip

If your chip order falls between two brackets, you get the better bracket for the number of chips that are still within that bracket and the rest goes to the next bracket. Blockchain.info will be used to determine the early birds.

To buy

• select your number of chips N, preferably in multiples of 10, minimum of 10, no maximum*
• send the total amount (C = N * 0.081) to the given address
• post or PM me your order in the following format: <forum nick>; <N>; <C>; <sending address>
  ensure the sending address is under your control, so you can sign with it in case of disputes
  if your wallet application does not let you select the sending address and sends from multiple, please post only one of them (and keep the address for a while)

* no maximum = but if you can afford 10,000 chips on your own, why not buy from Avalon directly?
* you can order in multiples of 1, but minimum of 10 chips.

Examples:
Dabs; 10; 0.810; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 20; 1.620; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 30; 2.430; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 40; 3.240; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 50; 4.050; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 60; 4.860; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 70; 5.670; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 80; 6.480; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 90; 7.290; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 100; 8.100; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 500; 40.500; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q
Dabs; 2000; 162.000; 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q

Here is a table with more examples:

Code:

Chips	BTC
16	1.296
32	2.592
64	5.184
128	10.368
256	20.736

Please sign orders in the post or the PM. Use your bitcoin address, sign the one line message, post the signature in the next line.

The buying window opens now and closes when Avalon stops selling chips.

If there is enough demand to order an additional 10k chip batch, I'll do so (given they are in stock). Those not getting into the queue will get their coins returned (to the sending address).

Refunds will be 99.9% or whatever you send minus a 0.0005 transaction fee.

Shipment
The chips will be forwarded to you as soon as I receive them and you paid the fiat component mentioned above. Delivery within the country will usually take less than a week; overseas will take what it takes. You will be given the option to select shipment method on time and resolve customs specific issues. Also you can pick it up if you are in the Philippines. See below.

Trust
Yeah right: shut up and give me your money!

If unsure whether to trust me, write down 10 Bitcoin members you respect most and check if they can vouch for me.

I've also been thinking about offering escrow services for higher value bitcoin transactions. That thread is in the Service Discussion forum.

If you are residing in the Philippines, you can come and see me.

If you are here, I have at least 19 pick up locations all over Metro Manila where you can get your chips (meaning no shipping, just pick it up.)

I have a brick and mortar shop in these locations, therefore I can hold your chips there until you pick it up. They are located in:
1. Glorietta 3
2. SM Bicutan
3. SM Manila
4. SM Mega Mall
5. SM Fairview
6. SM Mall of Asia
7. SM Cubao
8. SM North EDSA
9. Festival Supermall
10. Rockwell Manansala
11. Ayala Trinoma
12. SM Calamba
13. Molito Mall Puregold (near Alabang Town Center)
14. Metro Gaisano Mall (near Alabang Town Center)
15. SM Center Pasig
16. SM Makati Annex
17. The Podium
18. Hotel InterContinental Manila
19. Robinsons Place Manila


There are a few more locations, but they're kinda far already. Anyone else will have to ask for shipping by Air21 (FedEx) or LBC or some other courier of your choice. I have some business in Cebu, but I will still have to ship the chips anyway.

Trust and Reputation is all I have at this point, and to me, they are very valuable.

<Dabs> ;;ident
<@gribble> You are identified as user Dabs, with GPG key id 36E4157832AD7565, key fingerprint 2EDAF2045FC1CCFB951364CB36E4157832AD7565, and bitcoin address 19svkxfDSoNXM5tVjAGojavZQ4H5N9z4Q

GPG ID: 32AD7565, OTC ID: Dabs

Communication
I live in the Philippines (TZ: UTC+08) and have an exhausting day-job, which limits me to communicate in my evening hours. So if I did not respond to your email or your post within some hours, it is just because I'm at work. Or I'm already asleep. Please be patient.


additional clarifications

Who should buy and who should not
You can order chips either if you plan to develop your own mining board, or want to buy a ready-to-mine assembled from other developers / manufacturers. In the latter case, with your order you secure the chips from the current batch and decide where to send them for assembly when they arrive.

Escrow
I did not offer escrow for a simple reason: as soon as the payments fill up to 782.1 BTC, I'll order. No idea how long the chips will be in stock, but I would like to act fast.

Actually, you can think of this as a self-escrow. I am facilitating the group buy for Filipinos and other people who are staying in or near the Philippines.

I'm thinking of offering high value bitcoin transaction escrow, but while I am waiting for potential clients, I'm going to do this.

Reservation, Payments
Some users ask for reservations, since they can't get hold of BTC fast. No need to hurry, you have three to four weeks time and I'll ensure there will be enough chips for anyone (other than they are out of stock). Also, only BTC payments. There are several local bitcoin traders here. The blockchain is the indisputable proof of your payment, let's use it as is and prevent manual accounting.

Who will assemble this?
Ideally, we want to have a local Electrical Engineer be able to do this. As much as possible, I would like to avoid having to send them to Germany (to burnin) or anywhere the other side of the world.

However, he is offering that, and it is your choice to send them to him. I can facilitate that as well, or you can just come pick up your chips from me (if you are local) and ship them yourself.

WARNING: Difficulty is going up
Difficulty is going up. You better know what you're doing. Once the chips are bought, that's it. Difficulty is predicted to be up to at least 10 times what it is today. Either you do this for fun, or learning, or you don't mind getting an ROI of 6 to 12 months on this investment.


Cheers,
Dabs

P.S. Here is a picture of me, from another thread. This is in 2009 when I got married. I am an officer and a gentleman. If you are Filipino or know someone in the military, you can show this picture to them. They won't recognize me, but they will recognize the badges and pins. They might also recognize the background as the chapel or church where I got married inside Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

On the right pocket (left looking at me) is a rifle sharpshooter badge under my name plate.
On the left pocket (right looking at me) are the light armor badge and the field artillery badge.
The yellow egg looking badge is Special Forces.

There are additional pins in my updated uniform this year.

Some portions have been blurred to prevent local insurgents and rebels from making me an assassination target.

I am not going to take your bitcoins, and trust me, no one is going to attempt to take your chips away from me.

Oh, I have a Commission on Elections Certificate of Authority, which means, I am exempted from the gun ban during this election period. I carry a full size 1911 in 45 ACP, always, everywhere.



Update: April 26, 2013.

Taking a cue from this https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177994.msg1956373#msg1956373

My group buy will close either after 10,000 chips have been met, or we exceed 10,000 chips and I simply order that new amount. Ideally, I will prefer to stick to a flat 10,000 and simply refund the 10,001th chip order. Blockchain is proof. First pay according to block, first served. If a lot pay in the same block, I'll include everyone in that last block and refund the next block.

I think this is fair. Your payment is your reservation. No money, no honey.

Update: April 28, 2013

Anyone and everyone can check here:
https://blockchain.info/address/1DabshLusCoyQB16WSCmWpxwNUjKLzJQLs

Unfortunately I can not accept credit cards or paypal. Avalon will only accept BTC as payment, so this group buy and most others will fund their purchase using BTC. If you don't have bitcoins now, it is up to you to try buying them or exchanging for them.

We will also avoid me having to exchange your fiat for BTC, and the rates change all the time.

I have not bought the chips. Zefir is the only one who has bought the chips. But by May 1, he will stop accepting orders, so there are at least 3 other group buys, 2 in Europe, 1 in the United States, and 1 in Asia.

All those group buys are funding first before purchasing the 10,000 chips.

If you are in Asia, shipping should be a lot less than if you participated in the other continent's group buys.

Of course, everyone is welcome, but keep in mind the shipping costs. I will also post additional pick up locations within Metro Manila if you are in the country.

Other Group Buys, for reference and convenience:

[Group Buy] Avalon ASIC chips, Philippines (Dabs)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=187457.0

[Group Buy] Avalon ASIC Chips, Germany (SebastianJu)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=187660.0

[Group Buy#1] Avalon ASICs CHIPS! FINISHED! (United States)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177994.0

[Group Buy#2] Avalon ASICs CHIPS! United States of America!
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=189220.0

Updated May 01, 2013
Updated list of local pick up locations to 19.

Update June 14, 2013
Restarted group buy with a brand new cold wallet address: 1DabshLusCoyQB16WSCmWpxwNUjKLzJQLs
Also re-structured pricing.

[greyhawk]

Is the fourth letter of your first name the same as the fourth letter of the first name of your wife?

The answer will determine if your evidence checks out as legit or not.  

[Rampion]

This is hilarious man

ROLF

[greyhawk]

This is hilarious man

ROLF

You can't be too careful. These are the bitcoin forums after all.

[Dabs]

Is the fourth letter of your first name the same as the fourth letter of the first name of your wife?

The answer will determine if your evidence checks out as legit or not.  

Yes it is. Thus my forum name. Where have I seen you before? PM me please. If I am who you think I am, then you can vouch for me.

[greyhawk]

Is the fourth letter of your first name the same as the fourth letter of the first name of your wife?

The answer will determine if your evidence checks out as legit or not.  

Yes it is. Thus my forum name. Where have I seen you before? PM me please. If I am who you think I am, then you can vouch for me.

Just a sec.

[minternj]

Funny you talk about the elections, jsut saw that episode of Vice on hbo. that thighlighted the violence in the Philippines during elections Crazy stuff over there, anyway good luck with the offering.

[John (John K.)]

Is the fourth letter of your first name the same as the fourth letter of the first name of your wife?

The answer will determine if your evidence checks out as legit or not.  

Yes it is. Thus my forum name. Where have I seen you before? PM me please. If I am who you think I am, then you can vouch for me.

I think greyhawk's Google-Fu worked out again. 

[greyhawk]

Well. This guy's story checks out OK. If he were faking it he would have to have started it 2 years before bitcoin even existed.

[Dabs]

Yeah, I realized I got google'd. hahaha.. ok well, then, for the future con artists, be sure to start your scams 5 years ago.

For reference, I asked one of the other thread group buyers if I could just copy his style, and he said everything is ok.

For full disclosure, I have an account on localbitcoins with the same nick, but only 2 ratings. I reserved my nick on irc #bitcoin-otc, with no ratings, but GPG authenticated and bitcoin address authenticated. It doesn't mean much, I just made those this year. But, I am heavily relying on the fact that I'm a real person. (I don't know how you define real or fake, but whatever.)

I live in one city, I work in another (a half hour drive), ... and I like bitcoins. I also bought all I could buy from the first group buy.

When the other two group buys are over, I'm hoping some other people will come here. But I am also hoping to see a lot of local buyers as well. I may extend the deadline depending on what the other buyers feel, I just want to facilitate this. There are filipinos in other forums that have been mining since CPU and GPU days, so here's my opportunity to help them get in on the ASICs.

And I am hoping someone will find a local electrical engineer to do the assembly.

Again, difficulty is going up to 1 billion (or whatever). So keep that in mind. I still think you can earn a decent ROI until the end of the year though.

Going to sleep now. I'll check this thread tomorrow evening. Good night.

edit: I just wanted to add, I think some people just want to mine for mining's sake. Or because they have a hard time trying to buy bitcoins. If you are after the coins themselves, it might be easier for me to set up a group buy for the bitcoins from abroad (from someone else). That's another topic and another thread.

[Rampion]

Yeah, I realized I got google'd. hahaha.. ok well, then, for the future con artists, be sure to start your scams 5 years ago.

For reference, I asked one of the other thread group buyers if I could just copy his style, and he said everything is ok.

For full disclosure, I have an account on localbitcoins with the same nick, but only 2 ratings. I reserved my nick on irc #bitcoin-otc, with no ratings, but GPG authenticated and bitcoin address authenticated. It doesn't mean much, I just made those this year. But, I am heavily relying on the fact that I'm a real person. (I don't know how you define real or fake, but whatever.)

I live in one city, I work in another (a half hour drive), ... and I like bitcoins. I also bought all I could buy from the first group buy.

When the other two group buys are over, I'm hoping some other people will come here. But I am also hoping to see a lot of local buyers as well. I may extend the deadline depending on what the other buyers feel, I just want to facilitate this. There are filipinos in other forums that have been mining since CPU and GPU days, so here's my opportunity to help them get in on the ASICs.

And I am hoping someone will find a local electrical engineer to do the assembly.

Again, difficulty is going up to 1 billion (or whatever). So keep that in mind. I still think you can earn a decent ROI until the end of the year though.

Going to sleep now. I'll check this thread tomorrow evening. Good night.

You are completely crazy if you "hope" to find a local electrical engineer to do the assembly. This is no easy task: ask to BFL, bASIC or also Avalon. Just check their machine, what they did to the TP-LINK router, they had to tweak it for it to work as desired, and that means TIME for TESTING.

And you know in this game TIME is everything. If you took the time to speak with an electronic engineer without posting your crazy offer, you would know that he needs to know very well BTC mining. Otherwise, when the units won't work, he won't know WHY.

Thus, if you don't have an electrical engineer with deep experience in mining BTC with FPGA's leading your project, you will also make your "group" to incur in heavy losses, as you won't be able to have working units for MONTHS. Again: ask to BFL.

Yeah, you can count that the documentation from Avalon will be PERFECT, that you will be able to easily replicate their machine with that documentation, finding all the components (among which a modified TP-LINK router that is only distributed in China) very fast... But you would be dreaming.

Some of you guys are completely crazy, buying +$100,000 worth of chips in order to replicate a machine you don't even understand. You think it's an easy job? You will be burnt big time.

[Dabs]

I think the warning signs all over the place are pretty clear. We're hoping the open source DIY folks can come up with something. But pinoys love to gamble. Especially the wealthy ones.

So in case you missed it. WARNING! THIS IS RISKY. With that said, go ahead and order if you want a chip.

[xxaudioxx]

i'm pinoy and kinda interested.. will let you know..tnx

[Dabs]

Just checking in. There is another group buy for those who live in Europe. Shipping would be cheaper if you get from him. I guess I will cater to the Asians and those who are residing in the Philippines.

I have chatted with a few who are living here or working here, or married a Filipina.

But everyone is welcome. Couriers deliver world wide. And of course you can come here to personally pick up your chips.

[Dabs]

Taking a cue from this https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177994.msg1956373#msg1956373

My group buy will close either after 10,000 chips have been met, or we exceed 10,000 chips and I simply order that new amount. Ideally, I will prefer to stick to a flat 10,000 and simply refund the 10,001th chip order. Blockchain is proof. First pay according to block, first served. If a lot pay in the same block, I'll include everyone in that last block and refund the next block.

I think this is fair. Your payment is your reservation. No money, no honey.

[dan99]

may i know the status? how many chip already pre-book?

[Dabs]

Upon checking, no orders yet. Not surprising since people will probably only start once the other group buys are over.

Anyone and everyone can check here:
https://blockchain.info/address/1FX53aWhBzZuCfsG1mE3zor5fCdWNceHRs

Unfortunately I can not accept credit cards or paypal. Avalon will only accept BTC as payment, so this group buy and most others will fund their purchase using BTC. If you don't have bitcoins now, it is up to you to try buying them or exchanging for them.

We will also avoid me having to exchange your fiat for BTC, and the rates change all the time.

I have not bought the chips. Zefir is the only one who has bought the chips. But by May 1, he will stop accepting orders, so there are at least 3 other group buys, 2 in Europe, 1 in the United States, and 1 in Asia.

All those group buys are funding first before purchasing the 10,000 chips.

Since you are in Asia, shipping should be a lot less than if you participated in the other continent's group buys.

Of course, everyone is welcome, but keep in mind the shipping costs. I will also post additional pick up locations if you are in the country.

OP updated.

[SebastianJu]

I have not bought the chips. Zefir is the only one who has bought the chips. But by May 1, he will stop accepting orders, so there are at least 3 other group buys, 2 in Europe, 1 in the United States, and 1 in Asia.

zefir did only prebuy the first batch. Since batch 2 he ordered when the amount was collected too.

[Bicknellski]

If I had not gone in on the Group Buy #1 already Dabs I would have come to Manila and got the chips from you personally with an escort back the airport eh? I hope this buy fills up as well because it be nice to have so many chips in the region and it will secure and diversify bitcoin. Good Luck.

[Dabs]

Yes, if you order 1000 chips or more, I will personally escort you back to the airport on your flight home, if you are a foreigner or visitor or tourist. No extra vehicles, or drivers, or additional guards though, just me.

If you order 2000 chips or more, I'll get a friend who works as close-in security for a military General to accompany me.

If you order 5000 chips or more, I'll also pick you up from the airport when you arrive.

If you order 10,000 chips. .. .. I'm left wondering why you didn't get it from Avalon directly, or you just want the bodyguard experience.