[ANN] xCrowd*US/UK*TH/s+ Units

[Bitcoinorama]

John will be publishing a public address for all sub $1,000 orders and we will be sending out a set of clear instructions on the steps. We will be publishing the details and terms on the 10th and it will be followed up with a more comprehensive FAQ section here and on xcrowd.co.uk.

So John will provide escrow only for sub $1000 orders? Why is that? Why not for bigger orders too?

All transactions; including larger tx's will be under escrow by John or Escrow.com. The public wallet for smaller orders is just to streamline the bulk orders which are most likely sub $1,000 under a single wallet controlled by John. Larger orders will be slightly more involved and will require the participation of all parties in order to set up a secure multi sig escrow wallet for all Bitcoin transactions.

We will explain it in more details once we launch and there will be a 24/7 customer support team for all individual enquiries if our FAQ answers aren't sufficient.

Ok, that makes sense now.

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[xcrowd]

John will be publishing a public address for all sub $1,000 orders and we will be sending out a set of clear instructions on the steps. We will be publishing the details and terms on the 10th and it will be followed up with a more comprehensive FAQ section here and on xcrowd.co.uk.

So John will provide escrow only for sub $1000 orders? Why is that? Why not for bigger orders too?

   +1!

Risk dude, x-crowd are an unknown entity, with no experience in either FPGA, ASIC, or IC design, and no previous proof of either ability, or delivery of a product.

John's not going to put his neck on the line for this, so this is a compromise.

If they succeed, no doubt their limit will increase.

John is reputed to be a stand-up guy and a lot of people have good things to say about his escrow service and reputation, but personally I only feel safe paying by credit-card with consumer protection in place. X-crowd are based in the UK, there is very strong consumer protection rules in place here in the UK if you use traditional payment methods, but not Bitcoin.

Still presumably x-crowd don't receive a penny until everyone is happy with their goods via John's escrow service, it also assumes someone is funding their development at huge risk to themselves considering all the points of failure and potential delays as we've witnessed with other companies, so you can assume your money is safe, but John's not content with securing monies over $1k.

Best not to make assumptions too early.

[Bitcoinorama]

John will be publishing a public address for all sub $1,000 orders and we will be sending out a set of clear instructions on the steps. We will be publishing the details and terms on the 10th and it will be followed up with a more comprehensive FAQ section here and on xcrowd.co.uk.

So John will provide escrow only for sub $1000 orders? Why is that? Why not for bigger orders too?

   +1!

Risk dude, x-crowd are an unknown entity, with no experience in either FPGA, ASIC, or IC design, and no previous proof of either ability, or delivery of a product.

John's not going to put his neck on the line for this, so this is a compromise.

If they succeed, no doubt their limit will increase.

John is reputed to be a stand-up guy and a lot of people have good things to say about his escrow service and reputation, but personally I only feel safe paying by credit-card with consumer protection in place. X-crowd are based in the UK, there is very strong consumer protection rules in place here in the UK if you use traditional payment methods, but not Bitcoin.

Still presumably x-crowd don't receive a penny until everyone is happy with their goods via John's escrow service, it also assumes someone is funding their development at huge risk to themselves considering all the points of failure and potential delays as we've witnessed with other companies, so you can assume your money is safe, but John's not content with securing monies over $1k.

Best not to make assumptions too early.

I concur...

[kevcoins]

John will be publishing a public address for all sub $1,000 orders and we will be sending out a set of clear instructions on the steps. We will be publishing the details and terms on the 10th and it will be followed up with a more comprehensive FAQ section here and on xcrowd.co.uk.

So John will provide escrow only for sub $1000 orders? Why is that? Why not for bigger orders too?

All transactions; including larger tx's will be under escrow by John or Escrow.com. The public wallet for smaller orders is just to streamline the bulk orders which are most likely sub $1,000 under a single wallet controlled by John. Larger orders will be slightly more involved and will require the participation of all parties in order to set up a secure multi sig escrow wallet for all Bitcoin transactions.

We will explain it in more details once we launch and there will be a 24/7 customer support team for all individual enquiries if our FAQ answers aren't sufficient.

Looking good .. keep them to the lowest price per gh/s please.

[xcrowd]

Product delivery time?

It's the 10th of August if you've received the email. You should be able to start reserving your order once we've published all the details.

To be announced on the 10th. Sorry to be a stickler but it's best that we publish everything at the same time due to the different shipping dates and  they will need to be explained.

[Anenome5]

This still smells fishy to me. Guess we'll see soon enough.

[xcrowd]

This still smells fishy to me. Guess we'll see soon enough.

We are taking away the major risk factors that customers have to deal with when it comes to pre-orders. With us you will know what you're getting and never have to worry about us mishandling any customer funds.

[Anenome5]

This still smells fishy to me. Guess we'll see soon enough.

We are taking away the major risk factors that customers have to deal with when it comes to pre-orders. With us you will know what you're getting and never have to worry about us mishandling any customer funds.

Yeah, it could still be a long-con where you scam the first customer and disappear, even with John K. involved and escrow. Escrow scams exist too after all.

If you've paid NRE then you'd don't really need outside customers to buy the hardware, should you? And yet you're charging quite low compared to competitors. Similarly, how would you know how much to order without up-front customers. The point 'Orama made about your financial backer taking incredible risk is partly what bothers me.

You're saying all the right things but something is still nagging at me, so, I'm sitting this one out. Best of luck to the buyers and to you if you're on the up and up.

[xcrowd]

This still smells fishy to me. Guess we'll see soon enough.

We are taking away the major risk factors that customers have to deal with when it comes to pre-orders. With us you will know what you're getting and never have to worry about us mishandling any customer funds.

Yeah, it could still be a long-con where you scam the first customer and disappear, even with John K. involved and escrow. Escrow scams exist too after all.

If you've paid NRE then you'd don't really need outside customers to buy the hardware, should you? And yet you're charging quite low compared to competitors. Similarly, how would you know how much to order without up-front customers. The point 'Orama made about your financial backer taking incredible risk is partly what bothers me.

You're saying all the right things but something is still nagging at me, so, I'm sitting this one out. Best of luck to the buyers and to you if you're on the up and up.

We understand the risks involved on our side but we also understand the potential growth of this market and the value of creating a trusted brand from the start. We are more interested in the long term future of Bitcoin rather than just this first batch.

Having a budget to cover NRE doesn't require an initial projection of a production run (although we do), but just a basic idea of the general demand.

We know how to manage risks but the Escrow payment method is simply a necessity for a major segment of the market as there is nothing that guarantees an actual delivery if you made an order with another pre-order round. I really doubt that BFL would have behaved the same way if their orders were held in an escrow under an agreed delivery date.

[Tad3j]

Hello!

I was writing to you on FB, now I see you're answering here, I will be glad to hear the answers on those questions,

You're mentioning Escrow, that means you're taking only BTC for payment even if the device prices are in dollars?

Would you be handing over some free devices for test users who can make a report to proof your delivery, functioning, testing of devices?

Will be devices sent from Europe or anywhere else?


Thank you for all the answers, you might provide on those questions.

Best regards, Tad

[xcrowd]

Hello!

I was writing to you on FB, now I see you're answering here, I will be glad to hear the answers on those questions,

You're mentioning Escrow, that means you're taking only BTC for payment even if the device prices are in dollars?

Would you be handing over some free devices for test users who can make a report to proof your delivery, functioning, testing of devices?

Will be devices sent from Europe or anywhere else?


Thank you for all the answers, you might provide on those questions.

Best regards, Tad

Hi Tad

Escrow.com will be processing all our non BTC orders for a similar Escrow fee as John.  We will be shipping out some free units to the press & developers within the community (or those that assisted us with writing up the drivers and etc).

The majority of the initial assembly work will most likely be done in China but we haven't made a final decision yet and still looking at other locations and partners at that end of of the supply chain. Most our PCB assembly will definitely be done in China but depending on any potential cost or time gains/losses, we could do the final assembly nearer to where most our customers are based.

We will be keeping everyone updated on our progress on here and on our website, but if you have any more questions please don't hesitate to send them over and we'll see if we can add them to our FAQ post.

[Ytterbium]

John's not going to put his neck on the line for this, so this is a compromise.

How would he be putting his neck on the line? If XCrowd doesn't deliver, he just returns the money.  What's the risk?

Anyway, I don't really see the need for Escrow, if you don't need the order money to fund production why not just let people buy when they're ready to ship? Why bother with the whole pre-fund escrow thing at all?

The only reason I can think of is to lock in sales in the event the difficulty goes insane and the units would no longer be profitable.   If you're units are going to be priced at a rate that will make any money for anyone when they're actually released, you shouldn't any kind of long-term escrow.

[Bitcoinorama]

John's not going to put his neck on the line for this, so this is a compromise.

How would he be putting his neck on the line? If XCrowd doesn't deliver, he just returns the money.  What's the risk?

Anyway, I don't really see the need for Escrow, if you don't need the order money to fund production why not just let people buy when they're ready to ship? Why bother with the whole pre-fund escrow thing at all?

The only reason I can think of is to lock in sales in the event the difficulty goes insane and the units would no longer be profitable.   If you're units are going to be priced at a rate that will make any money for anyone when they're actually released, you shouldn't any kind of long-term escrow.

At the risk of making another incorrect assumption, I'd agree it's to lock in sales, as whether people commit to pay by pre-order now, or order when goods are ready, Abdi and xcrowd cannot touch the funds. Therefore it makes no diffrence to xcrowd whether you pay them now or later when they have products in hand, it only affects the customers free choice in future as any monies committed now cannot be spent on competitors also promising to supply products in and around the same time.

[Tad3j]

We will be keeping everyone updated on our progress on here and on our website, but if you have any more questions please don't hesitate to send them over and we'll see if we can add them to our FAQ post.

I will gladly like to know what is your range of delivery the first products?

Thanks, Tad

[eRadicant]

Will pre-orders be allowed to be cancelled at any time for any reason?

[xcrowd]

Will pre-orders be allowed to be cancelled at any time for any reason?

We will be keeping everyone updated on our progress on here and on our website, but if you have any more questions please don't hesitate to send them over and we'll see if we can add them to our FAQ post.

I will gladly like to know what is your range of delivery the first products?

Thanks, Tad

You would be able to request a no questions asked refund after an agreed period of time depending on your order. We will be publishing the standard terms soon, along with the delivery dates of our initial batches and bulk shipments.

[FCTaiChi]

Why do you keep posting this everywhere? There is nothing to announce. No product. Nothing to mine with today. Who cares what you might produce in 6 months. Nobody.

That got a big lol.  Guess I didn't see this.  In retrospect the audience response proves you wrong.  Many people were and are interested in this story.  This doesn't mean that we are 100% assured that they will ever manufacture anything.  We watch, and wait.  Some companies produce, others don't.
New numbers on xCrowd

[ra7]

I'm pretty interested in where this is going. 

If only I was in a position to apply for an FPGA cryptocurrency job, would be fantastic to mix my career with hobby interests. Maybe once I've finished my thesis.

[WastedLTC]

for a company that is offering a competitive product at low cost along with escrow... this thread is pretty small. 

I first checked out this thread on the first day it was posted and just came back to it now.  Nice to hear more info will be released tomorrow.  Will be watching!

[eve]

with the many wannabe coming up and competing among themselves we hope he can give us a very good price! may they be in the single digit. Must make used of paypal, master or visa cards and guarantee of delivery time or money back.