ANTMINER S3+ Discussion and Support Thread

[pekatete]

This is annoying because Bitmain has a good product, but their pricing starting with the S4 has become absurd. Partially I believe this is due to them wanting to capitalize on the good will of the community who knows they have a decent product, and partially this is due to the depressed exchange rate of Bitcoin, but it's still disheartening.

I too am dissappointed by the effective price of the S3 batch 10, but I would not go as far as castigating bitmain for "capitalizing" on the goodwill of the community. Being a previous / existing customer of bitmain I'd go as far as saying that they have been extremely good to us (if this pricing is anything to go by). Clearly, they have to be in a position to continue developing, manufacturing and selling (profitably) mining rigs and knowing how fickle liberterians can be (and I am sure bitmain know that as well), they would not dare put their reputation on the line in such a blatant manner.

Rather, this is just the reality of the bitcoin market at the present time. It may be the case that bitmain shot themselves in the foot by bringing to market the S2 (and S4) thus forcing their hand on this batch of S3's, but that is a story for another day. Still, that price is steep!

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[HerbPean]

WoW, the shipping is killing the deal ... i would prefer to buy used now from a close location for an older batch.

Is there any way to get a better deal then like 75$ Us per unit to be ship in Canada ? (0.46 BTC)

I checked a US distributor ... it's 75$ per unit, seems like horribly costly.

Is there any distributor in Canada ? I wish we had one in Montreal, i would go buy them directly ...

[tutorialevideo]

Product   Price   Shipping   Sub total   Coupon   Total
ANTMINER S3+ -B10 In Stock 453 GH/s   0.58 BTC   6.2 kg x 10   5.8 BTC   No Coupon   5.8 BTC
Shipping Cost   3.454 BTC
Total   9.254 BTC


10 s3+ shipping costs whit ups 3.45 BTC the custom money is included here?

[kodiak1120]

Bitmain was my go-to supplier for hardware...  I would buy the units with BTC (shipping used to be included), mine with them for a little and then sell them on eBay.  Not anymore...  these units are almost worthless for mining (the S3s anyway) and there's not enough of a margin due to the depressed price of BTC and the price they are selling for on eBay.  Looks like I'm out for the time being.

[Marvell1]

BTC0.527 for shipping! Forget it

Plus they don't even say how long will it take. Could be on a slow boat from China

The value of btc in dollar term shattered the business of hardware manufacturers.
No need to say a word about small scale miners, that even over a little ago.

yeah its a big diffeernce making hardware at $500 / btc vs $350 /btc 

and with the big swings on top of it makes it even more risky

[MissouriMiner]

My guess is they are trying to force people to use UMISOO Hosting.  Did you notice that on the Delivery Option drop-down?  But they are even charging shipping for UMISOO hosting?  It's small, .093 BTC, but what's up with that?!  Their hosting service should at least be free shipping.  Shipping to my house is .386 BTC.  Crazy!

[CryptoGuy]

I hesitated buying B9 at .58BTC, no way in hell I'd shell out the same amount + shipping for B10. Bitmain needs to offer a fiat option for payment. I'd be more inclined to buy from them if that was the case because then ROI is only dependent on the price of BTC, not the miners ability to mine back the coins you spent on it.

[suchmoon]

I hesitated buying B9 at .58BTC, no way in hell I'd shell out the same amount + shipping for B10. Bitmain needs to offer a fiat option for payment. I'd be more inclined to buy from them if that was the case because then ROI is only dependent on the price of BTC, not the miners ability to mine back the coins you spent on it.

I could never understand how this logic can make sense. What difference does it make how you pay for it? If you want to keep your accounting in fiat, how does paying in BTC prevent your from doing that? (although the better question is why you would buy a miner if ROI depends on the exchange rate - just buy or hold BTC and you'll end up better off)

[pekatete]

I hesitated buying B9 at .58BTC, no way in hell I'd shell out the same amount + shipping for B10. Bitmain needs to offer a fiat option for payment. I'd be more inclined to buy from them if that was the case because then ROI is only dependent on the price of BTC, not the miners ability to mine back the coins you spent on it.

I could never understand how this logic can make sense. What difference does it make how you pay for it? If you want to keep your accounting in fiat, how does paying in BTC prevent your from doing that? (although the better question is why you would buy a miner if ROI depends on the exchange rate - just buy or hold BTC and you'll end up better off)

Actually, there is sense in the argument, akin to how bitmain priced the L1 in fiat (USD). Convoluted, maybe, but sensible anyways.
The best alternative would have been buying BTC to buy the B10 S3+, but that introduces fees on top / premium on buying BTC, so that is dead in the water seeing it will simply add to the unit cost.

[allcoinminer]

I hesitated buying B9 at .58BTC, no way in hell I'd shell out the same amount + shipping for B10. Bitmain needs to offer a fiat option for payment. I'd be more inclined to buy from them if that was the case because then ROI is only dependent on the price of BTC, not the miners ability to mine back the coins you spent on it.

I could never understand how this logic can make sense. What difference does it make how you pay for it? If you want to keep your accounting in fiat, how does paying in BTC prevent your from doing that? (although the better question is why you would buy a miner if ROI depends on the exchange rate - just buy or hold BTC and you'll end up better off)

Actually, there is sense in the argument, akin to how bitmain priced the L1 in fiat (USD). Convoluted, maybe, but sensible anyways.
The best alternative would have been buying BTC to buy the B10 S3+, but that introduces fees on top / premium on buying BTC, so that is dead in the water seeing it will simply add to the unit cost.

The main issue is not that but the ROI.
Even if $ can be converter to BTC without any overhead, the hardware will never mine anything near the price of device in BTC.
So, the loss is higher when BTC is at the current 330 levels.
It should come back above 650 to get some level playing field for manufacturers, of-course for the miners too.

[toptek]

Just an update on my Bad fan. I tried the bad fan on another one of my S3's as tech support suggested to prove it was not the board. They then shipped me out a new fan very fast. They also send me a t-shirt and lots of bitmain and bitcoin stickers. It was very nice of them to do. I am happy to report my S3 is working fine now.

 they replaced my S3 no question  asked they  were very nice to me even offered me the T-shirt i said don't worry about it . . but did get what i asked for a price for parts if I wanted to buy some as a back up for my S3.


Was told they Plan to start selling parts they won't be as cheap as some hope but will  save you if you need it fixed out of warr right then .

[Biodom]

How much is for two S3 with shipping to contiguous US?
Sorry to be lazy, just don't want to go through motions and then cancel if too much.

[MissouriMiner]

How much is for two S3 with shipping to contiguous US?
Sorry to be lazy, just don't want to go through motions and then cancel if too much.

1.546 BTC

[bspurloc]

BTC0.527 for shipping! Forget it

Plus they don't even say how long will it take. Could be on a slow boat from China

The value of btc in dollar term shattered the business of hardware manufacturers.
No need to say a word about small scale miners, that even over a little ago.

never mind BTC hardware gave manufacturing a huge boost. what would these manufacturers be doing instead?

[bspurloc]

How much is for two S3 with shipping to contiguous US?
Sorry to be lazy, just don't want to go through motions and then cancel if too much.

1.546 BTC

yeah mine comes up at 1.558 BTC, I guess I looked at the screen to angrily!

[MissouriMiner]

How much is for two S3 with shipping to contiguous US?
Sorry to be lazy, just don't want to go through motions and then cancel if too much.

1.546 BTC

yeah mine comes up at 1.558 BTC, I guess I looked at the screen to angrily!

Hmm...   As my screen name implies, I live in Missouri. St. Louis.  Where do you live?  Just curious about the price difference.

[MissouriMiner]

How much is for two S3 with shipping to contiguous US?
Sorry to be lazy, just don't want to go through motions and then cancel if too much.

1.546 BTC

yeah mine comes up at 1.558 BTC, I guess I looked at the screen to angrily!

Hmm...   As my screen name implies, I live in Missouri. St. Louis.  Where do you live?  Just curious about the price difference.

Never mind...  I see now that the shipping cost is figured based on current BTC value, and is changing on-the-fly.  Mine is now 1.552.   Earlier today, it was 1.546.

[spazzdla]

A company cannot operate selling in the negative for too long..

They held out hoping the price would rise so they would not have to pass on the shipping cost...

Now we are stuck with it... well for now .

[SFMiner]

WoW, the shipping is killing the deal ... i would prefer to buy used now from a close location for an older batch.

Is there any way to get a better deal then like 75$ Us per unit to be ship in Canada ? (0.46 BTC)

I checked a US distributor ... it's 75$ per unit, seems like horribly costly.

Is there any distributor in Canada ? I wish we had one in Montreal, i would go buy them directly ...

Don't forget the customs/duty depending on where it's coming from...

[Ilan123]

After the 0.136 BTC delivery charge & 20% customs / VAT charge the total cost of an Antminer S3 is £160 and at this price after factoring in £30 a month for electricity it would take 8 months to ROI.