- wait 8 months for Bitmain to deliver, only for the new machines to probably become unprofitable
- try and find another seller/reseller/wholesaler that can sell an already manufactured batch from Bitmain at a bit of a steeper price. (But I still cant find an outright legitimate one)
My suggestion would be, to just wait for someone to mention they are selling them over in the mining hardware section of this forum. Its hard to predict how long the current model are going to be cost effective. Once, there is someone looking to sell, assure that you use a trusted escrow, and work out your price. You probably will have to pay extra for it, but this is probably the best place to go, when concerning safety due to the escrow options. Ebay, has a terrible system which relies on deliveries, but I've heard that some people have chosen to just send a empty box, with tracking, and then Ebay favours the seller. Their verification system is terrible.
At least with the escrow here, there can be proof attached. For example, the seller can take a video on the package being packaged up, and even collected if they so wish.