Good news in a way. They are selling faster than the factory can put them out. I've truly got a tiger by the tail.
But the bad news is there is a limited amount of genuine motherboards available to use as the base of the refurbs.
Before the last Chinese holiday we had about 500 units on the shelves, but we were shipping all but 3 of the 10 days and the factories were closed for about 2 weeks, so our on-hand stock was depleted and demand is such we are selling what we get as quickly as we receive it. By now we have less than 100 units on the shelf.
Yesterday the main factory we buy from refused our order for 500 units. Said they did not have that many motherboards. And for the last week or more we have been taking what they give us, not getting what we ordered.
So, until things settle down, or we just move to something else, I have taken the DS Lite section down from my website. I understand there are people with auctions ongoing and I will take those orders and do what we can. If nothing else, some buyers may accept substitutes. When any established sellers have any dropshipping orders, let me know and I'll flip the switch and open the website section while you place the orders.
No quantity sales, no new customers. At this point my sole concern is for those with existing orders and any new auction / amazon orders that should be handled. I suggest everyone take down any listings they can.
I regret getting into this position, it has only been since the end of last week that things have gone from spot outages to how it is now.
For me personally, I'll say I've made a couple of bucks at it, but I know that many here have done quite well with these and I hope the situation improves in the near term. many have sold 20, 40 even 100 or more of these one at a time by dropshipping, so it is a good product with a nice profit. I hope to be back with them shortly.
In the meantime, I urge you not to go out looking for other sources, because most of the other products are not good. There is one factory putting them out making their own motherboards and these are particularly bad. Many retailers have come to me, in some cases begging me to sell them, since their present source was so bad.
I understand you have to do what you feel is best, but knowing what I do of this market, I'd do without, rather than sell junk. We could buy from some of those factories and keep right on shipping, but refuse to do so. I mentioned before testing some from one factory and getting a higher than 50% defect rate.
I'll keep you informed. I don't think this is the end of it, just a lull to get caught up and back on track.
Feel welcome to PM or email me, I'll be around to do what I can.
Sorry for this, if the factory would have told us a week or 10 days ago possibly we could have eased through it by refusing quantity orders, but as recently as this weekend I was still taking orders for big quantities.
Damn! Someone put super glue on that tiger's tail and I can't get loose.
Linear Mode
March 2010
