LEGIT or QUIT List of Safe retailers

[ekrififi]

https://gpushack.com/ is legit!

Great to know, Benny and Co.

Especially now that GPUs are getting harder to come by. Did anybody ever think that GPUs could EVER become hard to come by? AMD might be a good company to invest in since their sales (of a product initially meant for gamers) must be going crazy thanks maniacs like us.

BennyAndDeJets, can you give us a few more details about your experience? What have you ordered from them? How long did it take to ship? Etc

Thanks a bunch.

[ekrififi]

It's been several years ago but I did a bit of business with the guy running GPU Shack. I assume it's the same guy still.

HolyScott is also one of my preferred miner resellers, one of two in the US. He can be unresponsive at times, takes a while to return emails I mean, but like was mentioned - it's one guy running the place. I'm in the same boat so I can't judge. But aside from sometimes slow communication I've never had any trouble with him.

Thanks for your experience Sidehack,

You mentioned that you're in the same boat. Can you (please) tell us a little (or a lot) about YOUR store and what you offer?

The point of this thread is to bring more business to trustworthy people who deserve it. I'm sure you're very well known in the community, but some posters are newbies (myself included), and don't know any better...

[TomPlatz]

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.

I purchased from the guy at asicminermarket, got the goods, very painless fast experience but now he must be suffering not being able to get stock.

[ekrififi]

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.

I purchased from the guy at asicminermarket, got the goods, very painless fast experience but now he must be suffering not being able to get stock.

Thanks for the experience. AsicMinerMarket.com had the feel of a trustworthy retailer, but you never can tell. I'll add them to the Legit column when I assemble the master list with everyone's input.

Do you have any experiences with other hardware sellers that you can share? Much appreciated.

[Wusolini]

I think you can add user 33bitcoin and his "shop" 33bitcoin.com to SCAM  (at least until he proves opposite)

Based on reactions in this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1957897.0

Entire thing looks pretty shady
Why:
he refuse escrow
he's not reacting to scam accusation

[ekrififi]

I think you can add user 33bitcoin and his "shop" 33bitcoin.com to SCAM  (at least until he proves opposite)

Based on reactions in this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1957897.0

Entire thing looks pretty shady
Why:
he refuse escrow
he's not reacting to scam accusation

Thanks so much for the heads up, Wusolini. Has anybody else ordered from 33bitcoin?

SCAM LIST - QUIT - AVOID
FoxMiners.com - I'd like to add FoxMiners to the SCAM list. Supposedly they raised 20 million in presales for their dual mining scrypt / bitcoin ASIC. They were charging  $4,500 for their F48, which supposedly mined 75 TH/S BTC and 2.1 GH/s Litecoin. It also farted rainbows and cured minor cuts and abrasions.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1879542.new

As you can tell from the above thread, nobody has yet to receive their revolutionary miners, or if they have, they're being awfully quiet about it. Also, if you look up the Los Gatos address listed on their website... It's a chines restaurant.

#Wokchain

[ekrififi]

LEGIT - GROUP BUY

Longsnowm - I'd like to add Longsnowm to the LEGIT list. He's a HERO member who has successfully arranged group buys before. I know somebody who successfully participated in his A4 dominator group buy, and the threads speak for themselves.

He is currently trying to coordinate a group buy of the Innosillicon A5 30 GH/S X11 Asic, but it's still early in the provess.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2034549.0;all

Regardless of his Legit status, I think I may sit this group buy out, since

A) the price looks like it'll be a lot more than double the new D3,

B) Innosillicon has a tendency to over promise on hashrate and delivery time, and

C) I'm getting a little uneasy about all the asics (and subsequent difficulty hikes) coming to the X11 algo, with 5 companies selling new X11 models in a concentrated time frame.

But if you DO participate, please BE AWARE... fake users have been posing as LONGSNOWM with similar screen names, private messaging people who post on that thread. Always check the spelling of anybody who PMs you. ALWAYS check their profile status. If they're not a HERO, or LEGENDARY, proceed with caution or run for the hills.

[QuintLeo]

A) the price looks like it'll be a lot more than double the new D3,

C) I'm getting a little uneasy about all the asics (and subsequent difficulty hikes) coming to the X11 algo, with 5 companies selling new X11 models in a concentrated time frame.

 Innosilicon finally posted a price for the A5 - at $9999 with a MOQ of 3.

 Almost 4x the price of the D3.

 IMO even if they meet their announced specs it's too high - should have been $6k-$7k ballpark to be competative.



 There aren't all that many "new" ASIC for X11 showing up - IBelink producing a "second generation" product, the D3 (first for BItmain in X11), and the A5 (first for Innosilicon in X11).
 This wave is VERY similar to the FIRST wave of ASIC for X11 last year with the Pinidea, iBelink first-gen, and Bailkal all showing up in a 2-3 month timeframe and each more efficient than the one before it.
 Only the players have (in part) changed.

[ekrififi]

A) the price looks like it'll be a lot more than double the new D3,

C) I'm getting a little uneasy about all the asics (and subsequent difficulty hikes) coming to the X11 algo, with 5 companies selling new X11 models in a concentrated time frame.

 Innosilicon finally posted a price for the A5 - at $9999 with a MOQ of 3.

 Almost 4x the price of the D3.

 IMO even if they meet their announced specs it's too high - should have been $6k-$7k ballpark to be competative.



 There aren't all that many "new" ASIC for X11 showing up - IBelink producing a "second generation" product, the D3 (first for BItmain in X11), and the A5 (first for Innosilicon in X11).
 This wave is VERY similar to the FIRST wave of ASIC for X11 last year with the Pinidea, iBelink first-gen, and Bailkal all showing up in a 2-3 month timeframe and each more efficient than the one before it.
 Only the players have (in part) changed.

With all due respect, QuintLeo, I was including Pinidea's new drx 1150 MH (1.15 gh) currently going for 6k on aliexpress and Baikal's recently announced 2 gh Giant Plus (basically an upgrade of their A900).

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170704091749&SearchText=pinidea+drx

I realize these models are much weaker than their contemporary competition, but they're also not nothing. I mean, had they come out a few months ago, they would be the most powerful X11 asics on the market. What a difference a couple months makes...

It also occurs to me that since Bitmain is the largest of these companies, they're likely to produce a ton of their D3s, similar to their L3+ roll out.

While I think the price of DASH will eventually overcome the reduced profitability, 5 new X11 ASICs still strikes me as grim in the psuedo-near term.

[ekrififi]

LEGIT

ALIEXPRESS - I forgot about Ali, until recently. I've never bought through them personally, but I've read enough experiences to feel comfortable adding them. Eastshore sells through them regularly. At the moment, PinIdea is exclusively selling their new X11 Asic through AliExpress. I believe they offer some buyer protections (like Ebay)... or in the very least, have seller ratings. Anybody who has had personal experience, please feel free to share any and all advice / details...

[tboudre]

Has anyone dealt with this guy?:
Domain:  newasic.com
Skype:  msrv222
E-mail:  newasic@hotmail.com
Phone:  +00-86-23-166-21770

When you go to place order, website says to call.  I've Skyped with him, and placed an order, but didn't realize the web site I was using would limit what I could convert and take up to 7 days for bank transfer.  Says he's holding Antminer L3+ & PSU until my transfer clears and I can send full payment.  I've already sent him 3 LTC & $10 USD as "test transfers", which was fine with me because this was the first time paying with cryptocurrency for me.   Is this the typical way you pay by the seller by him giving you just a long code to send to?

[ekrififi]

Has anyone dealt with this guy?:
Domain:  newasic.com
Skype:  msrv222
E-mail:  newasic@hotmail.com
Phone:  +00-86-23-166-21770

When you go to place order, website says to call.  I've Skyped with him, and placed an order, but didn't realize the web site I was using would limit what I could convert and take up to 7 days for bank transfer.  Says he's holding Antminer L3+ & PSU until my transfer clears and I can send full payment.  I've already sent him 3 LTC & $10 USD as "test transfers", which was fine with me because this was the first time paying with cryptocurrency for me.   Is this the typical way you pay by the seller by him giving you just a long code to send to?

Just to be clear, you're saying it's taking you 7 days to transfer your dollars from your bank, then you'll  convert that money into litecoin or bitcoin, and then send that crypto to this guy in China, right?

To answer your question, it is typical to pay somebody with bitcoin or litecoin after they give you a long code. That long code is called a wallet address. The wallet YOU would be sending FROM also has a unique wallet address (long code). That part of it is normal enough. Most / all of the LEGIT sellers on this list (from Eastshore to the group buy members, to the ASIC manufacturers themselves) accept payment in this way...

BUT THIS GUY AND HIS SITE LOOK SHADY... FOR A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT REASON!!!
     QUIT QUIT QUIT QUIT QUIT


First of all, I've never heard of newasic.com. You see, if a seller is trustworthy / has an established track record, then it doesn't really matter what kind payment they accept. If they are unknown, like this guy and his site, they should accept Paypal, which offers SOME buyer protection, cancel accounts of scammers etc. All of his payment methods are irreversable, which again, is okay if the seller is well established, better known.

but the MAIN THING that SCREEEAAAMS shady to me is the price he's charging for the L3+. He's selling it for LESS than what Bitmain (the manufacturer) ever charged for it. The cheapest I could pick one up for was $1,290, and that was FROM the manufacturer. All my other L3+ buys were higher, either with bitmain's 40-41 litecoin batches (1600-2100), or from a retailer.

My point is HOW IS THIS PERSON MAKING A PROFIT? You can't sell something for less than you bought it, especially when the demand for them is so high. Eastshore, which I like a lot, adds somewhere between 500-1,200 to the price... but that premium keeps their lights on. Either this newasic guy has started a convoluted charity where he sells asics for less than he bought them for... OR, it's too good to be true.

Newasic.com REALLY looks like a scam. PLEASE avoid them!

[tboudre]

Has anyone dealt with this guy?:
Domain:  newasic.com
Skype:  msrv222
E-mail:  newasic@hotmail.com
Phone:  +00-86-23-166-21770

When you go to place order, website says to call.  I've Skyped with him, and placed an order, but didn't realize the web site I was using would limit what I could convert and take up to 7 days for bank transfer.  Says he's holding Antminer L3+ & PSU until my transfer clears and I can send full payment.  I've already sent him 3 LTC & $10 USD as "test transfers", which was fine with me because this was the first time paying with cryptocurrency for me.   Is this the typical way you pay by the seller by him giving you just a long code to send to?

Just to be clear, you're saying it's taking you 7 days to transfer your dollars from your bank, then you'll  convert that money into litecoin or bitcoin, and then send that crypto to this guy in China, right?

To answer your question, it is typical to pay somebody with bitcoin or litecoin after they give you a long code. That long code is called a wallet address. The wallet YOU would be sending FROM also has a unique wallet address (long code). That part of it is normal enough. Most / all of the LEGIT sellers on this list (from Eastshore to the group buy members, to the ASIC manufacturers themselves) accept payment in this way...

BUT THIS GUY AND HIS SITE LOOK SHADY... FOR A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT REASON!!!
     QUIT QUIT QUIT QUIT QUIT


First of all, I've never heard of newasic.com. You see, if a seller is trustworthy / has an established track record, then it doesn't really matter what kind payment they accept. If they are unknown, like this guy and his site, they should accept Paypal, which offers SOME buyer protection, cancel accounts of scammers etc. All of his payment methods are irreversable, which again, is okay if the seller is well established, better known.

but the MAIN THING that SCREEEAAAMS shady to me is the price he's charging for the L3+. He's selling it for LESS than what Bitmain (the manufacturer) ever charged for it. The cheapest I could pick one up for was $1,290, and that was FROM the manufacturer. All my other L3+ buys were higher, either with bitmain's 40-41 litecoin batches (1600-2100), or from a retailer.

My point is HOW IS THIS PERSON MAKING A PROFIT? You can't sell something for less than you bought it, especially when the demand for them is so high. Eastshore, which I like a lot, adds somewhere between 500-1,200 to the price... but that premium keeps their lights on. Either this newasic guy has started a convoluted charity where he sells asics for less than he bought them for... OR, it's too good to be true.

Newasic.com REALLY looks like a scam. PLEASE avoid them!

Thanks for the reply. 

Did you notice he offered used L3+s for $720, then he was sold out?  They were in stock the first time I visited, and out the next time, that's actually what kinda hooked me, making it believable.  I used the site coinbase.com to buy the Litecoins/Bitcoins & transfer.  It didn't seem out of the ordinary for the 4-5 business days to transfer from my bank to coinbase.com, because transfer from U.S. bank to U.S. bank could take this long, it takes them that long to clear a check sometimes.  He was asking 30 LTC at first, then asked for payment in BTC, BTW.  And he gave me two different long codes for the BTC.  Is that two different accounts?  One was for the test, and one was for the payment.  I'll ask him to refund the 3 LTC (minus some reasonable transfer fees) & if he won't, we mark him as QUIT for sure.

How about this site?
https://brooklynhardware.us
They seem more legit because they're asking more than BITMAIN, but now I do a whois looking on the web site and that domain name is available, which makes it sound fishy to me.  Has anyone heard of these guys?  They said they are in U.S. & can have a unit to me in 3-4 days. 

So, how do I get on a waiting list for the October 1 batch?  BITMAIN doesn't seem to be taking orders at this time. 

[ekrififi]

I would say Brooklynhardware.us does LOOK more legit, but is still a SCAM site. QUIT QUIT QUIT QUIT!!!

Forget that their S9s are priced at what Bitmain sold them for. Forget that their shop button was a dead link, since that's not a GREAT sign, but also not definitive either way.

nAH, the SHADIEST aspect is (drum roll please)

Their listed PHYSICAL ADDRESS on the site's contact page

1613 63rd St, Brooklyn, 11204, NY
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 7am-5pm (EST)
Email:  sales@brooklynhardware.us

If you google that address, you get this...

Empire electric company (empireelectric.com)

And it's in a residential area, with no other Brooklyn Hardware storefront or office buildings nearby. One time, I almost bought from fake hardware company that turned out to be a chinese restaurant (i think I listed them earlier and made a wokchain joke).

If you know anybody who lives in New York, you could send them on a wild goose chace to an electric appliance store, see if their moonlighting as an ASIC online hardware retailer who sells S9s for at cost, but in lieu of that, I'd say QUIT ITand FORGET IT.

As for the Bitmain waiting list... it goes like this. You gotta check their website all the time... like, ALL THE TIME. When they announced their D3s, they were for sale for like 2 hours in the middle of the night... then they sold out. When are they coming back? "soon"... but it doesnt feel that way.

Most of the times i bought from them, it was the middle of the night. The L3+ "buy now" button turned from grey to red... only for a few minutes, then they sold out again. I would reccommend having crypto ready (they require crypto payment within an hour of placing an order)... or choosing the USD bank wire option, where you'll get a few 3-7 days to finalize a wire transfer to their account...

I would also recommend being signed in to your account BEFORE you try to buy, because products have sold out in the time it took me to sign in... Welcome to the crazy, frustrating, exhilerating world of crypto mining...

If you don't wanna mess with all that, may I reccommend Eastshore.xyz

https://www.eastshore.xyz/shop/antminer-l3-litecoin-miner-250mh-for-scrypt-mining/

They're charging $2,850 plus power supply for an l3+ you'd get middle of September. I know it's a premium, but at least you'll get it. Even if/when bitmain comes back with their L3+s, you wouldn't get them till October or later... jope this helps. Keep me posted on what you do, how it works out.

[tboudre]

Has anyone dealt with this guy?:
Domain:  newasic.com
Skype:  msrv222
E-mail:  newasic@hotmail.com
Phone:  +00-86-23-166-21770

When you go to place order, website says to call.  I've Skyped with him, and placed an order, but didn't realize the web site I was using would limit what I could convert and take up to 7 days for bank transfer.  Says he's holding Antminer L3+ & PSU until my transfer clears and I can send full payment.  I've already sent him 3 LTC & $10 USD as "test transfers", which was fine with me because this was the first time paying with cryptocurrency for me.   Is this the typical way you pay by the seller by him giving you just a long code to send to?

I contacted this guy and asked that he send the power supply with the funds I already transferred and that after that arrived I would transfer the rest for the L3+.  He did not want to do that but offered to send my money back.  He says he gets the L3+ from the factory for $750 USD & sells for $1250, or actually 30 LTC, but needs my payment before he can order from the factory and seems that they ship direct from factory.  I expressed my concerns about how no one had these units, and he maintained that he is paying the factory.  I don't know, can there be some knock-offs being sold?  I don't know, maybe if he could send me a picture of the unit with serial number that I could verify with the factory, of course he needs payment first.  He did refund my 3 LTC, or actually 2.9900, I guess that's minus the network fees?

So, I bought my bitcoins for this payment on Sunday for $2700 and before I even get them they're worth only $2500.  I don't want to be in the currency exchange business, I want to be in the mining business.

[ekrififi]

Has anyone dealt with this guy?:
Domain:  newasic.com
Skype:  msrv222
E-mail:  newasic@hotmail.com
Phone:  +00-86-23-166-21770

When you go to place order, website says to call.  I've Skyped with him, and placed an order, but didn't realize the web site I was using would limit what I could convert and take up to 7 days for bank transfer.  Says he's holding Antminer L3+ & PSU until my transfer clears and I can send full payment.  I've already sent him 3 LTC & $10 USD as "test transfers", which was fine with me because this was the first time paying with cryptocurrency for me.   Is this the typical way you pay by the seller by him giving you just a long code to send to?

I contacted this guy and asked that he send the power supply with the funds I already transferred and that after that arrived I would transfer the rest for the L3+.  He did not want to do that but offered to send my money back.  He says he gets the L3+ from the factory for $750 USD & sells for $1250, or actually 30 LTC, but needs my payment before he can order from the factory and seems that they ship direct from factory.  I expressed my concerns about how no one had these units, and he maintained that he is paying the factory.  I don't know, can there be some knock-offs being sold?  I don't know, maybe if he could send me a picture of the unit with serial number that I could verify with the factory, of course he needs payment first.  He did refund my 3 LTC, or actually 2.9900, I guess that's minus the network fees?

So, I bought my bitcoins for this payment on Sunday for $2700 and before I even get them they're worth only $2500.  I don't want to be in the currency exchange business, I want to be in the mining business.

Even if he is getting them for $750 from the factory, he could be selling them for a lot more.

Also, if he had a reliable coonect from the factory, and wanted to price hardware to move... he would probably me more established / better known... He isn't.

He could also be selling regularly through Alibaba and Aliexpress...

Of course I don't know this person, so I could be wrong, but I seriously think this site is a scam. If you still want to mess with him, I would suggest using Paypal, since they offer buyer protection if the seller never delivers.

It would still take you a while to get your money back, and you gotta make a claim blahblahblah, but at least that's better than the tragic finality of a crypto transfer. My guess is he won't go for it because he doesnt plan on sending anything... you could also suggest using somebody to provide escrow, but he won't want that for the same reason.

If your heart is set on the L3+, I suggest Eastshore.xyz
If you just want good hardware, I'd also suggest waiting for the next D3 batch to pop up on Bitmain (there was one last night that sold out in an hour, but I imagine there will be a lot more), or you could wait till Bitmain sells their next L3+ batch no idea when that'll be tho...

OR I think Bittawm (legendary bitcointalk member) may have some September batch D3s he'd be willing to sell.

All those options would be more expensive than NewAsic's prices, but they're also a lot cheaper since you'd be guaranteed to actually receive hardware.

I hope this was helpful.

[tboudre]

Alibaba is listed as LEGIT.  BUT I don't know if just because they list on Alibaba, they're LEGIT.  I've sent out an RFQ and contacted many sellers directly and I have gotten a lot of responses that say they can get me an Antminer L3+ for $1200 - $1600 and have it in immediate stock.  But they'll only take T/T, Bank Transfer, Western Union, or MoneyGram.  I've asked if they would do the Alibaba Trade Assurance Order Protection, and they won't do it.  Could there be that many people out there just taking your money or do you think they are manufacturing knock-off miners?  China is the king of knock-offs.  Can I attach a file?  I got an e-mail from Ms.Jimi Huang from Hjm-Light Technology  Co,.Ltd, (website:hjm-light.com).  There was a nice PDF brochure attached for the Ants mineS9 13.5T, Ants mining machine L3 + 504M, and the Ants Mine S7 4.73T.  I wish I could attach the PDF.

Oh, and I want to thank anyone who had input.  You are all very helpful.

[tboudre]

If your heart is set on the L3+, I suggest Eastshore.xyz
If you just want good hardware, I'd also suggest waiting for the next D3 batch to pop up on Bitmain (there was one last night that sold out in an hour, but I imagine there will be a lot more), or you could wait till Bitmain sells their next L3+ batch no idea when that'll be tho...

OR I think Bittawm (legendary bitcointalk member) may have some September batch D3s he'd be willing to sell.

Holy Crap!  I just ran the numbers on the D3.  It pays for itself in less than 2 weeks!  LOL.  My heart was set on the L3 because I thought it paid for itself the fastest.  I think my heart is set on the D3 now.

[leowonderful]

If your heart is set on the L3+, I suggest Eastshore.xyz
If you just want good hardware, I'd also suggest waiting for the next D3 batch to pop up on Bitmain (there was one last night that sold out in an hour, but I imagine there will be a lot more), or you could wait till Bitmain sells their next L3+ batch no idea when that'll be tho...

OR I think Bittawm (legendary bitcointalk member) may have some September batch D3s he'd be willing to sell.

Holy Crap!  I just ran the numbers on the D3.  It pays for itself in less than 2 weeks!  LOL.  My heart was set on the L3 because I thought it paid for itself the fastest.  I think my heart is set on the D3 now.

Yes, but once these miners hit the market they will blow up difficulty, and once you get yours in possibly the third batch difficulty will have risen likely to the point of L3+ profits or below. Not horrible but just keep in mind that difficulty is a big factor in these algos where hashrate and efficiency takes massive jumps.

[ekrififi]

If your heart is set on the L3+, I suggest Eastshore.xyz
If you just want good hardware, I'd also suggest waiting for the next D3 batch to pop up on Bitmain (there was one last night that sold out in an hour, but I imagine there will be a lot more), or you could wait till Bitmain sells their next L3+ batch no idea when that'll be tho...

OR I think Bittawm (legendary bitcointalk member) may have some September batch D3s he'd be willing to sell.

Holy Crap!  I just ran the numbers on the D3.  It pays for itself in less than 2 weeks!  LOL.  My heart was set on the L3 because I thought it paid for itself the fastest.  I think my heart is set on the D3 now.

Yes, but once these miners hit the market they will blow up difficulty, and once you get yours in possibly the third batch difficulty will have risen likely to the point of L3+ profits or below. Not horrible but just keep in mind that difficulty is a big factor in these algos where hashrate and efficiency takes massive jumps.

Leowonderful is absolutely correct. 4 other asic manufacturers have come / will soon be coming out with New models over the next few months.

Forgive me while I shamelessly tout my other thread that breaks down the tradeoffs of each.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2042529.0;all

Whatever happens, it seems that the D3 is the best in breed,(esp for the price) and bitmain asics (esp first gen bitmain asics) tend to ROI and run for a bit... but Bitmain is  also known for mass producing asics like toasters.

Anyways, the problem is they sell out so quickly, Eastshore.xyz ( who just delivered my L3+s btw), don't even have them.

Right now, your best bet is either buying one from forum member Bittawm -- who I believe has 30 for sale, but expect a mark up for his troubles.

I might could sell u mine, but since I bought it to mine, I'd be looking for a major premium as well.

The other option is to try for the next batch from Bitmain, but those sell out very quickly and nobody knows when that'll be.