A few of us are doing a group buy on Flexviews.

[Padhead]

As of this moment, after sending several PMs, I have not yet received:

- Any specs or pricing information on any machines available
- Any warranty info
- Any acknowledgment of who the seller is/are or his/hers/theirs references

AJ, I never, I REPEAT NEVER said that I would provide specs or pricing info up front. How can I until I see what you guys want, how much we are dealing with, and then I pass it to the buyer. In fact, I menton in the first thread that I will get you the prices after I gather the requirements, and then send them to the seller, and then the seller in turn would give me the prices. I guess you missed that as well.

Think it through AJ.

Like I originally said, in my first post, warranties are available. Obviously ( to the dozens of people that have responded) the different sellers and different machines may dictate the specific warranty for their sale.

Mentioning the seller(s) name and their discounted prices in a public forum would pose so many problems it's silly to mention them all.

How about the top three.....

1. For various reasons, the seller can't advertise their slashing of prices.

2. This forum probably wouldn't like me espousing the company's name.

3. The whole concept of a group buy is that the seller gets a big sale with less work, and therefore offers us a lower price. Having everyone calling them directly would kill this deal, and also lower the supply of these limited machines.

AJ, If you would like me to take you off the list, please just let me know.

[pianowizard]

Mentioning the seller(s) name and their discounted prices in a public forum would pose so many problems it's silly to mention them all.

If this seller sells Thinkpads on eBay, then I think it's okay to publicly give out their eBay user name. We talk about eBay sellers on this forum all the time. The "problems" you listed are non-issues.

But if you insist on not doing that publicly, you should still give this info to the interested buyers privately, so that they can check the seller's feedback rating before paying. Few people would be willing to buy something that costs >$1K without knowing what kind of seller they're dealing with.

[Kyocera]

After viewing many many transactions here this is one where there is a big lack of communication which is obviously raising some questions up front (which may be a good thing ). I don't want to see anyone on either side to get into an argument over this. This thread has received a lot of publicity and it's not tipping the scale toward being good.

fparisi, I want to give you the benifit of the doubt here, you will need to provide the buyers with some kind of information today or this thread will be locked and anyone who wants to pursue this further can deal with you through PM.

[tfflivemb2]

I was going to comment and close this thread, but since Kyocera is watching this thread pretty closely, I won't close it....yet.

First and foremost, I would like to comment on behalf of this forum, and state that forum.thinkpads.com and Bill Morrow accept NO responsibility for the outcome of this situation.

I understand that a group deal needs the input of each of the participants, and that details can be sketchy in the beginning, but we are not talking about something simple here. We are talking about Thinkpads that can be customized MANY different ways. I don't think that the OP understands that even though he has 24 people "lined" up, only a few will actually follow through with their end of the deal...I can tell you that from first hand experience. With laptops and computers it is even more so, because of the number a variables in the system configurations. A lot of people will say "I'm in", but never come through with the cash. Since you are dealing with Flexviews specifically, then you are dealing with an even pickier crowd, than the average Thinkpad enthusiast.

Personally, at this point, any transactions on this should be handled offline.

Also, as a note regarding the returning of PMs. If you have a great deal of PMs going on, some will roll off if your inbox gets too full, which might explain why some people are claiming that they didn't get a response. You might not have seen it before it rolled off.

[TheOfficefan]

I just wanted to give my 2 cents. My gut tells me that Frank had a good idea that took more time than he realized. Also, this board is more demanding (not a bad thing!) than other boards I've been or currently a member of. Some of the pressure is getting to him because he went into this as helping.

I have to say, I have had pretty good response with PMs. That's not to say that they were immediate; I just expected delays.

Of course, if 24 is the people "lined up", the number of actual buyers will be considerably less. Because of uncertainties with possibly seller, price, warranty, or config, there will be those that just won't go through with it. Also, if there is only a few of a popular config, that will limit sales. Who gets it? Is there then a bidding war?

For me, I am still interested to see what deals are possible. However, I lucked out and just received my new T60 from the Outlet store. On Dec 12th, I ordered a T60 Flexview. It took a couple of weeks before I heard anything (I had to call). From the salesman, I was assured that my order was good. The delay was because it has to be manually entered?

After having my est ship date change 3 times, I was pretty discouraged. Then, this post comes along, and I think I should forget about the Outlet order and go with this. Without receiving a confirmation email on shipment, my T60 was at my door Fri. At this time, my credit card has not been charged (I know it will be).

My conclusion is that, if you really want a Flexview, be prepared for some bumps in the road.

[ajkula66]

OK, I'm not the one who intents on being negative...ever...so let's do it like this:

a) I've sent you my "must have" request list, and if need be, I can re-send it. But I have no issue posting it publicly: T60p, perfect UXGA FlexView, 256Mb ATi GPU, Lenovo warranty remaining. Everything else I could care less about. Once again, 2623-DDU would be perfect, but I can consider a different machine if all the above requirements are met.
b) Take it from someone who has done both retail and wholesale sales years before MS has plagued the world with its Windows: any respectable seller should be able to provide the list of machines, with specs, upgrades available and warranty info. That would've saved a lot of time and aggravation to everyone involved, especially yourself. And pricing could be set up accordingly. I'm only saying this because I've been on both sides of such deals for a couple of decades, not only locally but internationally, sometimes intercontinentally.

Now, to make myself perfectly clear: never would I ask to see this list. But it should be available to you. And you, having this list, would be able to respond in the following manner: I don't have a 2373-Q2U available, will 2373-Q1U do?

Personally, I don't care whether you're just organizing the group or making some money in the process, as long as everything is clean and out in the open. And, of course, communication is the key word.

I've never had an issue with people "making money" on me. RJ Reynolds does that every day, and has been for the past three decades. Not to mention food distributors, gas companies etc.If you can sell me a 2373-Q2U with warranty remaining for $625 (price stated for argument's sake only), may your profit on it be $624.51. More power to you.

So, when you figure out what machines can you hook me up with, my money is ready and waiting. But let's do that sooner than later.

[JaneL]

I don't have the patience Mike and Steve do to put up with the dithering about prices vs no-prices, PMs vs no PMs even until the end of the day. Take this off-line now. Locking thread.