Sierra Group Buy - UPDATE 11-29-05 (p.1)

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Nothing new since last week John. If I haven't heard from him by Tuesday, I'll call Bill.

BTW, John, I'll give you a call a little later today.
 
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I called yesterday to order 100 chrome they told me the order was in but they only had 200 and 4 other people was waiting for chrome. It did not seem they had ordered enough kits for the demand. I hope I'm wrong. I would like to order 3 or 400 before Christmas.
 
Ithought I would see how people liked them over the slimline, streamline and comfort pens. Make 100 of them and sell for the same price. They cost a little more but you can turn two at a time and they go together faster. I usually sell about 100 at this one show and should be a good test.
 
Not yet. However, Bill did charge my credit card yesterday, which means we're getting close. I'll call him tonight if I don't get a shipping-related E-mail before then.
 
Hi guys, if I can ask a quick question about the group buying...

When you say Bill, are you referring to someone at Berea? I know the gentleman who runs Berea is named Jim (at least if not, I have been calling him by the wrong name) I also see that these seem to be popular kits. I guess I'm glad that I have been able to stop into Berea a few times in the past week and get a few Chrome and TI Gold kits for myself. (would this be considered a gloat?)

Last, I assume this group buy thing would be good for even someone like me who lives all of 15 minutes away from BH because I could get the quantity discount and not have to pay sales tax. Well, as long as the related expenses were cheaper than what sales tax would normally be.


PS, What is the normal lead time between posting for a group buy and the actual reciept of the order? Does it take a month on average?
 
Most of the time our group buys save us about 25% off retail. Most times who ever runs the buy will give everybody a good week or two to get their orders and money in then you could add about a week for that person to recieve and ship everyone their orders. So all and all I would estimate that your guess of a month is pretty close. When I can save 25% on some of these kits I have no problem at all waiting 3 or 4 weeks. In fact the Emperor bulk buy was well worth the wait in my opinion as those kits are pretty expensive. I would also add that the people that run these bulk buys don't make money doing it, it is a way that we can all save a few bucks and for some to try out kits that otherwise they may not be able to afford to.

Wayne
 
Mikey,
Bill is Bill Baumbeck of Arizona Silhouette. Bill has some of the best prices on Berea kits, and you'll find that he's pretty popular with most of us here - so much so, that we just refer to him by first-name, and everyone knows to whom we're referring.

I'd guess that the group-buy will be good for you, but you'll have to factor in the cost of shipping. It's usually on the order of $4, and depending on how much you order, that can EASILY be offset in a single purchase, especially when you don't have to pay sales tax.

The lead time is usually pretty quick, once the buy closes. Different group buys are handled differently, such as closing on a set date, based on quantity ordered, or the like, so it is difficult to give you a good feel for how long the order takes from when the buy "opens". However, once a group buy closes, it normally takes only about a week for us to receive the goods, and another week before they are shipped out to everyone. In this case, however, the Sierra kits proved to be so popular that Bill ran out of them, as did Berea, and we've been (patiently) waiting for them to arrive from Taiwan.

Oh, and yes, your proximity to Berea IS a gloat!!! [:D]

Welcome to IAP!
 
A word of hope for some of you guys... I stopped by Berea yesterday and was told that they are coming out with a new set of bushings for the Sierra that allows you to turn two blanks at once. I know it's just as easy with two sets of bushings, but the new set will have a middle bushing with nubs on both ends. He didn't say how long it would be until they came in though.
 
Also in speaking with the guys at Berea, they did tell me they screwed up on the bushing size and were having new ones made. I was told they would have to eat about 1,500 sets. I cracked a few blanks I had epoxied together yesterday, so I am off now to Berea to get more sleeves. I will ask when they expect the new bushings.
 
To give them credit the nice lady I was talking to a few weeks ago told me they would send me a replacement set when they become available. Except for this bushing thing I haven't really had any problems with Berea kits.
 
Are all the bushings to date the wrong size? I came in in the middle of this and have not found a post on what is sized wrong about the bushings. I tried the fit on the bushings I received and noticed that the tubes fit quite loosely on them. As yet I have not turned any of these pens. If this is the problem I will not turn any until the proper bushings are available.
 
That is the problem. the bushings are just undersized for the tubes. They wiggle very slightly when you apply side pressure when they are inserted in the tubes.

I asked about the new bushings and was told they take 3 weeks from when they order. So, I would imagine maybe another 2 weeks, if not sooner since I was told of this a few days back. FWIW, I don't think the bushings are so loose that they don't work. In fact, if one needed to, a single wrap of scotch tape may be too much for shimming.
 
Richard - the tenons on the bushings I got for the Sierras a few weeks ago (not this group buy) measured .008 undersize on diameter. I used some .003 copper shimstock I had which fixed the looseness problem. I'm sure tape would work just as well. I will still get the replacement bushings when they come in because the shimstock can be a PITA to keep in place. I wouldn't let the loose bushings stop you from making some shavings though.[:)] This is just my humble (and not always correct) opinion[:D]
 
Originally posted by Geo in Winnipeg
<br />Richard - the tenons on the bushings I got for the Sierras a few weeks ago (not this group buy) measured .008 undersize on diameter. I used some .003 copper shimstock I had which fixed the looseness problem. I'm sure tape would work just as well. I will still get the replacement bushings when they come in because the shimstock can be a PITA to keep in place. I wouldn't let the loose bushings stop you from making some shavings though.[:)] This is just my humble (and not always correct) opinion[:D]
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I used 1 layer of Teflon Plumbers Tape on the tenons and it worked out well. I e-mailed Berea telling them that I would like a set of the proper sized bushings sent to when they become available. Jim (the man in charge) e-mailed me back stating that the undersized bushings they had provided worked fine. He estimated that about 3000 pens had been turned using them with no problems. Now this is what perplexed me. He stated that they had purposely made the bushings undersized but gave no explanation as to why.[:(!]I find that hard to believe![:(] Thanks for the info.
 
Jim just doesn't want to give you new bushings. They knew they were undersized and had new ones made. I just picked up a set of new ones today. Also, if he says they (old ones) work fine, I have some really nice blue dyed curly maple that I turned which are now almost garbage. You can easily see that one side is thicker than the other side. I am hoping that I can sand a bit, finish them again, and at least come away with some sort of a salvagable sale. (unless Endure can build up thick enough to overcome when done again using the new bushings.)
 
Yea, I tried to shim the stuff as well once I realized whaat the problem was and what my turned blanks look like. Even then, I found that my big fingers couldn't keep the shim material on that well. I guess one could CA the stock on permanently.

Doesn't really mattter now because I have two sets of the updated bushings.
 
I thought I read a post that said Berea would replace the defective bushings free of charge! Was I hallucinating? As many of us have ordered these things, you'd think they'd want to take care of us. Oh wait a minute, I forgot who we were talking about. Sorry!
 
Originally posted by wayneis
<br />You did and they probably will if you just call them.

Wayne
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I wonder how they'll handle this since it is through a group buy AND through AS. Could be very tricky for us to get them replace the bushings.

You think BB can help us?
 
I got a chance to pack everything up last night, and I have to say what a PLEASURE it is to work with Bill. I ordered some personal stuff in addition to the bulk-buy, and when everything shipped, it was broken down with the bulk-buy stuff in one box, and my personal stuff in the other. The bulk buy stuff was even broken down by plating, with bubble wrap separating the layers! All I had to do was pull the stuff out, put one plating on one side of me and one on the other, with the bushings off to the side, and I started packing.

Thanks Bill!!!
 
I thought y'all would get a kick out of this...
I placed the order with Bill B. and rounded the order up in each category so it was an even 5 of each. Or at least, that's what I thought I did. Apparently, I ordered the same number of platinum and Ti Gold, and to make matters worse, I went with the lower order (the Ti Gold). So, here I'm thinking I'll get seven or eight Platinum, and instead I wound up with two!!! Ug!

FWIW, for those considering additional group buys, this one has taken about five hours of my time since the packages arrived, plus however much time it was leading up to when the order was placed (probably at least another two or three more hours). Could I have sped things up? Not by much. Most of the time was counting kits, printing mailing labels and postage, and packaging things together.
 
Originally posted by JimGo
<br />FWIW, for those considering additional group buys, this one has taken about five hours of my time since the packages arrived, plus however much time it was leading up to when the order was placed (probably at least another two or three more hours).
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The average savings on this group purchase is fairly negligible due to the fact that AS starts their discount schedule at 2 kits and increases it at 11 kits. Only 5 people ordered less than 10 kits. If everyone who ordered 10 kits had simply increased their order by 1 (or more), the savings would have been pennies per kit (About 2%). Bill Baumbeck's time devoted to these group purchases is significantly increased as well.

With that in mind, group purchases are uneconomical all the way around and I'm running my last one. I don't think Bill will be running these again, either.

We have other suppliers where the discount schedule is not nearly as generous as Arizona Silhouette's and, therefore, group purchases may still offer significant savings.
 
I agree Lou. I don't mean to slight Bill (he's been very generous), but it is probably the last one I'll run through him. I'll just stick to ordering 11 or more kits. I may consider doing another with another supplier, but I don't think there's a point in doing a bulk buy from Bill when his pricing is as aggressive as it is even at the relatively lower quantities.
 
Originally posted by JimGo
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11/14/05 Edit (1:30 PM post)
OK, they're off! I have six more to ship (the aforementioned two groups), then they'll all be on their merry way. Hopefully everyone received E-mails from PayPal with tracking #'s.

I hate to be a pain, but for the people who didn't pay via PayPal, would you E-mail me your address? I am sure I have it, but it will be a lot more straightforward if you'd E-mail. Sorry!
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Thanks for your effort on this one. I really do appreciate it.
 
Jim,

I got my kits today! Coming home sick from work the package was a bright spot for me. You sent me bushings that I didn't pay for since I had a set already. Let me know who and where if you come up short and need me to send them on to someone else.

Thanks again for doing this group buy.
 
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Thanks William! I was wondering what happened to my other set of bushings!!! That's the only thing I came up short on, and only by one set. I knew they had gone in SOMEONE's box, but had no clue whose (had closed the boxes already). If you'll drop 'em in the mail to me, I'd appreciate it. I'll send you the postage via PayPal.

Hope you feel better!
 
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