Bargains, bargains, bargains.

[gstark]

This is where they started.

And this is where they still are.

Lens lust? This is where you get it!

Members who are qualified to access the bargains will now see the new bargains section in the leftmost column on our front page.

You should be able to see our specials - and special they certainly are - and the link will take you to our bargain page, from where you may order from the array of cameras and lenses available through our friend, supplier, and supported, Poon of HK Supplies.

The basics of the proceures are as follows:

You order ...

You get an order number ...

You get an email with your order number and deposit details This should arrive within a few minutes of you placing your order. Please feel free to email me separately if this does not occur.

You make a direct deposit using the order number

And you advise me of your deposit. Please use the form provided using the link in the bargains section. Again, you will receive a confirmation email, and again, you should contact me if this does not arrive within a few minutes.

I advise Poon of your order, and he ships your product.

It's that easy!

We are acting merely as an order processing facility, and after receiving your payment, your products will be shipped directly to you from Hong Kong.

Please be advised that, for the first time in the two years that we have had our bargains facility, a small proportion of the proceeds of these sales will be used towards offsetting the cost of running these forums. That means that by supporting Poon, you are supporting the forums.

Enjoy, and lust away!


August 17: 5pm. In chatting with Poon earlier this afternoon, he confirmed for me that the first few orders have been shipped today. He didn't tell me which orders they were, and I didn't ask, but regardless, this is good news, and evidence that our new procedures seem to basically be working fine.

I've just added in an extra detail step for what happens within the ordering process. If you do not get that email - it should be failrly quick - please send me a PM or an email, so that I can make sure you get the information you need to complete the process.

[Geoff]

Terrific work Gary, and a big thanks to yourself and Poon!
Bargains are back and the lusting begins yet again!

[Alpha_7]

Excellent new Gary, and well I wonder if I can use the new supporting the forums line to Katie when I buy a few more lens... drool!

Just checked out the deals, some great prices and a fantastic range of equipment!

[Justin]

Wow! hot stuff! Extremely special - congrats on the new facility.

Certainly looking forward to a good, long lust...

[gstark]

Excellent new Gary, and well I wonder if I can use the new supporting the forums line to Katie when I buy a few more lens... drool!

Just checked out the deals, some great prices and a fantastic range of equipment!

This is just the start ... we're going to be getting access to quite a bit more hardware as we develop this further.

Canon users need to be very wary.

Or start saving their sheckles.

[ozczecho]

Great idea to use some of proceeds to run the forum.

*now to check out the specials...*

[shakey]

200-400 VR lust plus....and a great price..but I've taken a cold shower and ordered the 1.7 TC instead to attach to the 70 - 200 VR.

One small glitch...the order form automatically filled in my email address, but when I submitted it it said something like "must have valid email address", so I had to delete the prefilled in email address and type it in again before it was accepted.

Cheers

[gstark]

SImon,

It's taking your email address from yor profile, and for some reason it's adding a trailing spcae at the end of it.

I'll be looking at this later today.

In the interim, you should have recieved some deposit instructions for the next step ...

[gstark]

Problem located and cured.

[Alpha_7]

Problem located and cured.

Talk about quick service

[gstark]

It was my coding error. And easy to spot.

Finally!

[spada]

I like bargain

[MATT]

Good work.. and good to see you get some help with the cost of running the forum..


MATT

[Oscar]

Many Thanks to Poon and Gary. This should keep the Great White Bargain Hunter happy - whoever he is!

[radar]

Great prices Gary and Poon,

thanks for organising all this. Great idea to also have some of the proceeds go to running the site.

Just a suggestion, when you go the bargains section, you should have a link, eg the logo, to take you back the forums. I know I can press the backspace key , just like having a "Home" button.

cheers and thanks,

André

[greencardigan]

Gary, well done with the bargains.

a small proportion of the proceeds of these sales will be used towards offsetting the cost of running these forums.

Are we allowed to have any more details regarding this?

[gstark]

Andre,

Good suggestion; thanx.

[sirhc55]

Thanks to Poon for the offers and to Gary for his unending proactive support for all members.

[Manta]

Brilliant set-up. Dead easy to follow and the prices are incredible! Saving heaps and STILL throwing some dollars towards the Forum upkeep? What's not to like??!!

I was hoping a certain 105mm Micro NON-VR might appear on the list or has it been discontinued?

[the foto fanatic]

Gary, thanks for the hard work in setting this up.
Special thanks to Mr Poon for his on-going support of the forum.
I'm going to sit back and watch my wallet get a bit lighter!

[gstark]

I was hoping a certain 105mm Micro NON-VR might appear on the list or has it been discontinued?

Simon,

I think it's been discontinued, but I certainly can check. As I indicated earlier in this thread, this is just the start of the new process, and there's going to be aome significant additions to the list over the short to medium term.


Within all of this, let's not, though, losesight of the fact that the bargains section is just a small part of our activities. For instance, I'm hoping to have some very exciting news for motorsports fans in the next day or two as well, but attendance at this event will be very exclusive and restricted, but it promises to be really something else!

[Laurie]

This is great news Gary & Poon.
I appreciate the effort you guys put into this.
Look forword to ordering some new shinny new Lenses.

[sirhc55]

Brilliant set-up. Dead easy to follow and the prices are incredible! Saving heaps and STILL throwing some dollars towards the Forum upkeep? What's not to like??!!

I was hoping a certain 105mm Micro NON-VR might appear on the list or has it been discontinued?

Simon - use the VR for non-macro, and without for high quality macro - the best of both worlds in one lens.

[Manta]

Brilliant set-up. Dead easy to follow and the prices are incredible! Saving heaps and STILL throwing some dollars towards the Forum upkeep? What's not to like??!!

I was hoping a certain 105mm Micro NON-VR might appear on the list or has it been discontinued?

Simon - use the VR for non-macro, and without for high quality macro - the best of both worlds in one lens.

Yep - great idea Chris. But I was thinking more along the lines of using the money I saved through getting the Non-VR towards better long glass, particularly with the price of the 70-200VR. Very, very tempting.

[stubbsy]

Thanks for getting this up Gary & Poon. There are some amazing specials there. Like the price of the 28-70 f2.8

[MCWB]

For instance, I'm hoping to have some very exciting news for motorsports fans in the next day or two as well

Wow, you have my attention!

[jdear]

This is just the start ... we're going to be getting access to quite a bit more hardware as we develop this further.

Canon users need to be very wary.

Ill start saving!

Well done everyone involved in this...!
Great idea having some of the $$ feed back into the website... can we get some decent hosting now?

J

[DStrom]

WOW

great work Gary and Poon! Now if only I had some spare change for a 70 - 200 VR or 28 - 70

[Glen]

Gary, well done. Have just placed my order for a SC29 will look forward to receiving it



Stubbsy, I agree with you about the 28-70 unbelievable. A month ago a mate of mine asked me for a price on the 28-70, I quoted him Birddy's $2290 and he quoted $2090 from DD photographics. As he knew neither vendor, he chose to buy from DD because as he said, they are both in Sydney. He will die when I tell him the same lens is $1670 one month later!!


Thank you Poon for the great support of our forum, it is genuinely appreciated.

[beetleboy]

This is fantastic news! And finally Gary you've buckled to everyone wanting to throw a few bucks the forum's way!

Three cheers!

Hip-hip!

[Nnnnsic]

So... $420 difference, eh Glen?

There's that 42 reference I needed.

[gstark]

Are we allowed to have any more details regarding this?

Not too much to say, really. The prices are given to me in HK$, and I'm trying to apply a minimal markup, after the currency conversion, that will permit some stability to the prices so that I don't need to adjust them every time the reserve bank sneezes, but one that still permits a small percentage to be provided to offset the costs of hosting and running the forums.

Add the fact that there's some work involved on my part in providing the supporting infrastructure and coordinating everything to process the orders, and I think you'll understand what's going on.

Certainly, and unlike others, this is not something that I would regard as income.

[Glen]

So... $420 difference, eh Glen?

There's that 42 reference I needed.

[Willy wombat]

No Sigma Gary? Who would have thought!

[Glen]

Steve I asked the same, Sigma is available, Poon is just getting the prices. No Sony yet

[Geoff]

And for those canon lovers, prices will also be coming soon

[Catcha]

Well hopefully it seems like a win win situation for members and Mr Poon....

[Spooky]

Gary, well done, looks great.

Can you tell me do the specials last a certain time or do they come and go any day sort of thing?

Thanks
Brett

[greencardigan]

Are we allowed to have any more details regarding this?

Not too much to say, really. The prices are given to me in HK$, and I'm trying to apply a minimal markup, after the currency conversion, that will permit some stability to the prices so that I don't need to adjust them every time the reserve bank sneezes, but one that still permits a small percentage to be provided to offset the costs of hosting and running the forums.

Add the fact that there's some work involved on my part in providing the supporting infrastructure and coordinating everything to process the orders, and I think you'll understand what's going on.

Certainly, and unlike others, this is not something that I would regard as income.

Ok thanks.

I was actually wondering what the % markup was. But I guess it's not really important.

[Steffen]

Trying to view the bargain section all I get is a page saying "Hacking attempt". Is there anything about my browser or firewall setup that triggers this, or am I blacklisted already...?

Cheers
Steffen.

[sirhc55]

Are we allowed to have any more details regarding this?

Not too much to say, really. The prices are given to me in HK$, and I'm trying to apply a minimal markup, after the currency conversion, that will permit some stability to the prices so that I don't need to adjust them every time the reserve bank sneezes, but one that still permits a small percentage to be provided to offset the costs of hosting and running the forums.

Add the fact that there's some work involved on my part in providing the supporting infrastructure and coordinating everything to process the orders, and I think you'll understand what's going on.

Certainly, and unlike others, this is not something that I would regard as income.

Ok thanks.

I was actually wondering what the % markup was. But I guess it's not really important.

What is important is the markdown and the benefits to us all

[gstark]

I was actually wondering what the % markup was. But I guess it's not really important.

It's not that important.

Whjat is important to bear in mind is that I'm not a salesperson, and I'm not a trader, and thus this is something that is totally new anf foriegn to me.

The margins are initially a tad higher than I'd like to have as a permanent basis, but I think in the early stages, and with my total inexperience in this realm, I think that erring towards caution is the better way to go.

As you can see (and as others have also seen) the pricing we have is very keen, and as my experience base grows, it's only going to get better.

That's the best answer I can give you at this stage, and I hope that it's satisfactory.

[gstark]

Trying to view the bargain section all I get is a page saying "Hacking attempt". Is there anything about my browser or firewall setup that triggers this, or am I blacklisted already...?

Steffen,

I can't look too closely at this now, as I'm just between meetings, but are you perhaps trying to look at the list across forum boundaries?

It shouldn't be doing that, but ...

Basically, you need to be logged in, and you need to be a member of the members' group, which you are.

When you're logged in, what is the URL quoted in your address bar, and when you hover over the link, what is the URL that's displayed in your status bar?

We may need to take this to PMs later in the day ...

[makario]

Hi Gary,

Thats great news.. need to feed my LENS lust, have been straving for a while. A quick question, how does the warranty/replacement work? do we send it back to Mr Poon / yourself. Apologies if you have listed the answers as part of the T&C's

edited to add 'LENS' hehehehe

Cheers
Mak

[Greg B]

Hi Gary,

Thats great news.. need to feed my lust, have been straving for a while. A quick question, how does the warranty/replacement work? do we send it back to Mr Poon / yourself. Apologies if you have listed the answers as part of the T&C's


Cheers
Mak

Mak - lens lust...............

[gstark]

Hi Gary,

Thats great news.. need to feed my lust, have been straving for a while. A quick question, how does the warranty/replacement work? do we send it back to Mr Poon / yourself. Apologies if you have listed the answers as part of the T&C's

It's on the bottom of the bargains page, but to clarify, the goods are shipped directly to you from Poon; I'm simply coordinating the orders, but all of the stock movements will be directly between yourself and HK.

[PiroStitch]

great work Gary now just to save up my pennies

[Steffen]

I can't look too closely at this now, as I'm just between meetings, but are you perhaps trying to look at the list across forum boundaries?

No worries, works fine now. I think it was some cookie settings in my browser...

Cheers
Steffen.

[gstark]

Steffan,

Ok, great.

I know that there was a minor issue with the very first version of the page that I released (my error, of course) but I fixed that around 1am this morning.

Any issues since then - if any - will need my attention.

Cheers.

[obzelite]

Steve I asked the same, Sigma is available, Poon is just getting the prices. No Sony yet

good good good.

i feel a bigma coming on