I moved this topic here from the General forum because it seems be a better fit. If you want to view the original topic, click here http://twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4147.

I am waiting for the estimated shipping costs from the Gerdig UFO seller. Once I have that information, I will post an expected total price and will ask for final numbers. Once I place the order, I will send out invoices to everyone who has ordered. Since I don't know the seller, I'm working on (at Sandy's suggestion) getting some verification that he is indeed the owner of a stock of UFOs. I'm hoping for either pictures of the stock, a reference or both. Once I have that information, I will post it as well. I just want everyone to be aware that there is a certain amount of risk in this transaction. If you want to be involved, I will ask that you pay for your order and accept responsibility for that portion. If you want to back out, no problem.

I decided to take this on because I am very close to launching my own small business providing games, puzzles and other resources that encourage logical and creative thinking skills. Over the holidays, I am planning to get my website set up and have my "grand opening." I intend my site to be a place where people can come to get both resources and products. I plan to have lots of links to other sites and information for anyone interested in becoming better thinkers. Of course, I will also be selling stuff too. I don't think that Twisty Puzzles will be a major portion of the business, because I don't think there is that much demand out there (other than us). It would be great if I'm wrong about that, but since it is my passion, I will provide what I can. I will probably focus more on products from Think Fun (formerly Binary Arts) and other similar companies. I would also like to get involved in working with schools and home school organizations. I don't know where it will go, but I'm going to give it a shot. By managing this Gerdig order, I will be able to gain some much-needed experience shipping large quantities of packages both domestically and internationally. I will also order an extra quantity to have available on my site. If Twisty members come forward after the initial sale, I will certainly make them available for a small premium over the initial price. I think that’s fair since the people taking part in the initial order are taking all of the risk. If you think I’m off base on this, let me know. I’m certainly willing to listen and reconsider. If I was buying from a known and respected seller, I wouldn't do this. I will also be offering an ongoing discount to Twisty members and will be happy to work on large deals similar to this one in the future. I don't want to take advantage of anyone; I just want to do my part in helping the Twisty community as Dodd, Carter and others have done over the years. If it helps me gain experience and acquire some products for my business, that's good too!

Here is the current list of people interested. Let me know if I missed anyone or you want to change your request.

blogan - 2
nicky_uk - 1
Kenneth Gustavsson - 2
Jello33 - 1 (at least)
jhe70 - 1 (?)
Richard - 2
Jeff Goetz - 1
Kastellorizo - 1
Hidetoshi - 2
Oleg - 1
skeneegee - 1
DaleKH - 2
perfredlund - 2
Vadim - 1
pkobayashi - 1
Dodd - 1
darren Grewe - 1
wHack - 1
mgwallisa - 1
Kirjava - 1
Bram - 5
darryl - 1
duvie - 2
Tim Browne - 3
Aleksey - 5
Sandy – 5

Total = 47!

I'll be in touch when I know more.

after reading this, I decided that I want one more!!!
(that is, a total of two)


Thanks for the effort!



Peter

I'd like to get one as well...

I'm still in for two.

Have got a question: for me it is probably simplest (and cheepest =) to send you plain dollar bills in an envelope. Do you accept that if I take all the risks?

Sorry for your a lot of work, will you change my order to three from two ?

Hidetoshi

Ed,

Living the "American Dream"! Congratulations on going for it and I wish your business the best of luck. Maybe someday I'll have the courage to try something like that.

-mike

Ed,

I have measured it, a "Flat Rate Priority Mail Box" ($7.70 to anywhere in the US) can pack exactly 8 Gerdio UFO w/ Box.

So, I order 8 of those to miminize my shipping expense.

Thank you for your help managing the orders!!!


p.s. Yes, I am a Logistics specialist and I have optimized the shipping for you... hummm... may be I could run an LP to solve your inventory problems as well. LOL!!!

I want one more.

Thank you so much.

If it's not too late I'll take one too.

The best of luck with your business.

I'm new in this forum, but it is very serious order:
I will take 2 pieces.

Thanks

Kenneth, Cash works for me.

Paypal will be my payment method of choice, but I'm pretty flexible. Keep posting your requests here. When I get more information, I'll add them all up again for a final tally. I'm still waiting to hear back from the seller.

Put me down for one of those.

Hehe this is where I show my snobbishness for puzzles I don't consider true "twisty" puzzles. I won't take any myself but my hearty congratulations and good luck to Ed for venturing forward with a new business. I've been there myself and I know how challenging and rewarding the experience can be.

Hi Ed,
Can I opt out of the UFO?
I don't want any after all.
Sorry to mess you about!
Cheers,
Vadim

I do have to agree with Jin H Kim. I don't like mixing 2 different puzzle catagorys either.



Could I also opt out of buying the UFO? I have other puzzle obligations that come first. Sorry about this and I hope I don't mess you up to badly in the orders.

Backing out is not a problem, just keep posting here and I'll send out a final verification when I have all the information.

I have received confirmation that we are dealing with the actual owner of the Gerdig UFO puzzles. I have pictures of the stock and independent confirmation that he is the owner of the puzzles. The shipping to get the puzzles to me is approximately 2 EUR/puzzle, so the cost/puzzle is about 6 EUR or about 7 USD with an exchange rate of $1.18/EUR. The list of requests is below. Can everyone PM me to confirm your purchase and give me your mailing address? As soon as I have the final shipping information, I can let you know what the total cost will be.

blogan - 2
nicky_uk - 1
Kenneth Gustavsson - 2
Jello33 - 1
jhe70 - 1
Richard - 2
Jeff Goetz - 1
Kastellorizo - 2
Hidetoshi - 3
Oleg - 2
skeneegee - 1
DaleKH - 2
perfredlund - 2
Vadim - 0
pkobayashi - 1
Dodd - 1
darren Grewe - 0
wHack - 1
mgwallisa - 1
Kirjava - 1
Bram - 5
darryl - 1
duvie - 2
Tim Browne - 3
Aleksey - 5
Sandy - 5
Derek Bosch - 1
PuzzleManiac - 8
Gustav - 1
Mario - 2
Puzzlemaster42 - 1

Vad säger du Gustav, skall vi satsa på en gemensam skeppning? Det borde bli billigare så. Att skicka en inom landet går loss på typ 30 pix. Att skicka två eller tre från staterna är antagligen samma pris.

Me and Gustav has got a secret language we use some times, Hehe (Well Per understands it too)

<- = agent of the SSCA (Secret Scandinavian Cube Association)

Ja, det kan vi göra. Jag har ingen panik heller, så vi kan kanske spara porto o ta det på en tävling.

Super Secret

Ok, vi kör på det =)

Ed, now I like three UFO's and Gustav is out, (not for real doe) . That way we save some of the shipping cost. Two or three in the same package is probably the same price

I plan to place the order for the UFOs on Friday, but I still haven't heard from several people who originally requested puzzles. I sent everyone I'm waiting for a PM, but if I don't hear back, I'll move forward. Once I've made the payment, I'll send everyone an invoice via PayPal. If PayPal doesn't work for you, let me know and we'll work something out.

If those guys do not contact you, then you will probably get a couple of spare ones? If so, then I can take two extras. I can easy sell them to outher speedcubists I know here in Sweden. If your "original customers" shows up in the last minute, you sell them their UFO's and I take my three ones

If you want to add any other puzzles to your order, let me know. Check this post (http://twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=27246#27246) to see what I'm talking about.

Sorry for the delay on this, I'm waiting for the final cost from the supplier. I'll let you all know what you owe as soon as I know.

I finally have all of the information for the puzzles and I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we're getting closer, the bad news is that the puzzles are more expensive than I anticipated. The total cost/puzzle will be $7.49. They are more expensive than I thought because of 2 factors. First, I had the wrong EUR-USD conversion rate. I thought the rate published at http://www.xe.com would at least be close. It turns out that it is an average of many different rates. The actual rate I had to pay was 1.26USD/EUR instead of the 1.21 reported by http://www.xe.com. It adds up when the total cost is 457.65 EUR. The second factor is that the bank charged me $30 to make the wire transfer required by the seller. Here are the financial details of the transaction for those who are interested:

Order:
62 puzzles ordered by Twisty Puzzles members
19 puzzles for my personal use (Why not 18 or 20? Don't ask. )
81 Total puzzles ordered

Costs:
5.65 EUR = Cost/puzzle (includes shipping to the US)
457.65 EUR = Total amount due to seller
576.64 UDS = Total cost in US Dollars
30.00 USD = Wire transfer fee
606.64 USD = Total cost of the transaction
7.49 USD = Final cost/puzzle

I sincerely apologize for the confusion over the final price, I did not intend to mislead anyone. I didn't have a grasp of all of the factors involved in this type of transaction. I hope the lessons I learned will help some of you if you enter into these types of deals in the future. If anyone wants to back out or reduce their order, I understand. I will be sending a PM to everyone in the next few days to let you know your total cost including shipping.

If it helps, I'm offering an extra 5% off of any item for sale at http://www.edsthinkshop.com for anyone involved in this order (I could probably be talked into extending it to others who aren't in the order as well). That's 5% above the standard 5% TwistyPuzzles discount and my daily 10% off of suggested retail for a total of 20% off. As an affiliate, Sandy also gets a cut. In addition to the stuff on my website, I have the following available as well:

All prices are after the additional TP discount.
- Cerebral Rings Puzzler http://magnif.com/2345.htm $8.00
- C-Metrick Too $9.60
- CrossTeaser $8.00
- K-Brain (Brain shaped 2x2x2) $8.00
- K-Ball - $8.00 - The version that Walmart sells. 6 colored circles with raised braille numbers. Let me know if you want to see a picture.
- Magic Sphere (Like Chromosix) - $9.60
- Planets - $9.60
- Saturn Puzzler http://magnif.com/2350.htm - $8.00

You can let me know via PM or email (ed@edsthinkshop.com) if you want anything additional.

The last piece of bad news is that I also forgot about the impact of PayPal fees. Since I'm not making any money on the UFO sales, I'll be passing the PayPal costs along as part of the order. If you purchase anything in addition to the UFO, I will not charge you any PayPal fees.

I don't know yet when the puzles will arrive, I'll post again when I know more.

Again, I sincerely apologize for the confusion over the cost of the puzzles.

Business is always like that. I also learnt the hard way when I tried to set up my own one. I am sure things will become smoother as time goes by!

I will stand firm with my order. Just let me know the total cost!



Peter

Added links with pictures:



I think I can say for all of us, a picture sells a thousand puzzles!

For me, I'm more of a puzzler than a collector, so, I need more than just the name. Ideally, I'd be able to hold the puzzle in my hands, otherwise, an appealing picture is always nice!

Good luck with your endeavor!

Pkobayashi, thanks for the picture links, I got a little lazy.

I've sent PMs to some of you letting you know how much you owe for your order. If I've gotten any of the details wrong. let me know and I will fix them.

Ed,

I would be interested in adding a Planets puzzle to the 2 UFOs that I had ordered if that is okay.

Thanks for all your time and effort on this order.
Dale

Ed, you must add a K-Brain puzzle to my order. When I saw the image my first reflection was "how did I manage my life whitout one of those?". Now I wont until I get one

Good News! The UFO's left Slovakia yesterday. I should have them in two weeks. There is a good chance they won't get here before I leave for vacation on 2/10, so I may not be able to ship them out until I get back on 2/20.

I have sent Invoices via PM to most of you. The rest will be out soon. I haven't been able to send them to people who ordered extra puzzles from my site because I don't have some of them yet and I can't calculate the shipping. I should receive them tonight, so I'll let you know soon. If anyone still wants to order extra items, it's not too late Just let me know.

Thanks to all who have taken part in this and paid so promptly. In this world of cons and con artists, we're often skeptical and guarded. It's amazing to me that 30 people (and many others in other transactions) from all over the world have come together and committed money to a complete stranger. (No, this isn't the part where I shout SUCKERS! and run off with the money. I will hold up my end of the bargain. ) I've never been part of another online community, but from what I've heard from others, TwistyPuzzles.com is pretty unique. Thank you to Wayne, Sandy and all of you who make it happen!

The Gerdig UFOs have arrived! Unfortunately, I won't be able to ship them all until I return from vacation on the 19th. I'll try to get them all out by the 22nd. I've been able to ship some, but not all. I'll let you know when they are all on their way.

Most of the UFOs have been shipped. There are a few that need to go out tomorrow. Sorry I'm a little behind schedule, but I returned from vacation and had to deal with a kidney stone. It wasn't fun.

The final batch was shipped over the weekend (except for a few, you know who you are). I was pretty careful in the process, but it is possible that I messed up a couple of orders. If I did, let me know and I will fix it.