Pacific Pro Audio R-one Ribbon mic?

[darjama]

I got the quote back, and it's looking good so far.

Re: using a broker, do you have one you'd recommend? I have a friend who owns a small international shipping business in Northern NJ, I'll ask him for shipping/brokerage suggestions and see if he can be of some use on the customs question.

[Devlars]

Is there a Michigan "hub"? If this actually becomes organized I might be down for hopping on this bandwagon. Everyone seems to be expecting someone else to do that portion of the task though (as am I). Has anyone decided to structure this beast?

[norton]

logistically, i realize most of the handling etc.. will probably be going down in NYC... but if there's a need for a midwest drop point... I'll throw my hat in the bag.

and i don't have any problem somehow making it up to you fine folks on the east coast for all your handling etc... whether that's in the form of cash... cookies... malt beverages etc. etc.

zack
in
minneapolis

[b3groover]

I'd be willing to help anyway I can. I'm in Michigan as well and I could help ship them out. I just sit at home all day watching my little 9 month old daughter!

I'm in for 2, by the way. darjama, thanks for doing this work. Be sure to call the factory directly once you get the details down. Myself, I wouldn't feel comfortable just emailing.

[covert]

Something like a tape tree could work. I'm near enough to NYC to pick up there, and would have no problem taking more than just mine and shipping the others. As far as markup, up to around $150.00 per mic is fine by me.

[junkstar]

Something like a tape tree could work. I'm near enough to NYC to pick up there, and would have no problem taking more than just mine and shipping the others. As far as markup, up to around $150.00 per mic is fine by me.

...but they only sell for $129 apiece already on one of the sites listed in this thread, right?

[Milkmansound]

yeah - the whole point was to have 2 for $140.

I guess now I understand why companies mark things up - we already have overhead in our little co-op here. Things need to be shipped - and they'll all need to be boxed up and packaged properly. (does each unit already come in a box, or is it just going to be in 1 huge box?) This may begin to look unrealistic soon.

[bentonevolution]

in like flynn.

Yeah how will this be done?

[Chris_Meck]

Man, I'm in for a couple.


Chris

[darjama]

I spoke with a broker, and broker fees and customs should be manageable. I'm still waiting to hear back on a couple shipping quotes, which may be the deal breaker. Air shipment is much more expensive, but far faster both in terms of transportation time (duh) and customs.

I'm hoping that we'll be able to make it happen for between $90 and $130 apiece or so including all shipping charges. They have a 2nd version of the mic for the same price that doesn't have an attached cable. I assume that's preferable.

As someone mentioned, there's a site in Germany selling them for 129 Euros, or about $168 USD, I'd guess that shipping would more than compensate for excluding the VAT.

We could save some money by having them ship in cardboard boxes instead of the aluminum cases (regardless, they would be individually packaged), but I think it's worth having them for the extra protection during shipping. If the price gets too high, I'll rethink that.

If I do the transaction, I'd want to treat it as a partnership. I'd collect payment in advance, and we'd all be taking a risk together. If the manager of the plant runs away with our money, We'd all be S.O.L.

Here's what I'm thinking. I'll take contributions via paypal (for between 2 and 4 mics) and once 75 microphones have been reserved, I'll place the order. 90 would be the max I'd take reservations for, I'll keep 10 in reserve in case any are defective, and these will be factored into the cost of the 90. We'll figure out stateside distribution after I know where the orders are going, but let's assume we'd have 4 or 5 potential hubs: DC (since I'm here), NYC, LA, SF & Chicago. I'll ship other orders individually.

You'd have 14 days from the receipt of your mic to verify that it works. If not, you can return it to me and I'll send one of the reserves. Any reserves left would be mine to sell. I'd ask that other recipients wait 60 days to sell theirs so as to not drive prices down.

We'd probably be looking at a month and half after we place the order to have the microphones in hand, double that if we ship by sea. I'd guess that if we do it by sea, someone to receive the whole shipment in LA or SF would make it easier to do. Are people still interested?

[junkstar]

Maybe it sould be that whomever lays out the $7k will be in the city where possible pickups can be made. All non- pick ups can be put up on eBay, on a pre-determined day, under the Buy it Now feature. This way payments and shipping costs, address needs and etc are all covered. I'd still be willing to manage the shipping of the units (with financial support, or just spend part of my approx $140 toward it in return for two mics), just can't lay down the initial $7k.

[junkstar]

Sorry, I was posting as you were. Sounds like a great plan and yes, no fixed cable!

[darjama]

I created a quick surveymonkey page to help me get an idea of who's interested in participating and at what price. I have them priced as pairs, but if you want more than 2 you can figure out what your price would be.

Please answer all the questions, it'll be helpful.


http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=92905833138

[Pacific Pro]

How about we do it?
The prices found a NAMM were quite a bit better than what we were paying. The joy of doing business with China is that everybody is the manufacturer, but not really, so when the real manufacturer is found the prices are even better.
Here is our proposal for any of you interested. We will go to the manufacturer and negotiate a deal based on how many of you want to be involved, plus what we will buy to sell to the general public. We will deal with everything up to the point where it gets to your front door. the price of the mic would be our total cost to land the mic and shipping to you plus 10% for dealing with everything. If the 10% seems unreasonable... we figure that is about what it will cost us to do this. All mics will have to be pre-paid and anyone using pay-pal or credit card will be charged the handling charge we are charged (1.9% - 4%)
IF this seems reasonable, then great, maybe we are laying the ground work for some sort of co-op buying program in the future?
Oh ya, we will still probably logo them.

Garth Hedin
Pacific Pro Audio

[Gebo]

If we dont go the PPA route, I can go to nyc and get them and bring them to boston. I live half way between both!