*Special Forum Group Buy on ASUS G73JH-A!!

Haha, I work for a marketing company and was told I have 2k for a machine. This should suffice

As long as my boss says go for it, but I doubt he will have a problem with me saving the company $400 (really hoping...).

 

Nice!!! Hopefully he doesn't see the "Republic of Gamers" moniker all over your new "work" laptop. hahaha

 

*Looking good.. 31 as of right now.. Anyone jumping in on this group buy must have more than 5+ post and have there PM (Private Mail) activated. Thank you.

(1) Badabing
(2) Evensen007
(3) iaTa
(4) mackloon
(5) rubiks86
(6) Hydeo
(7) mAvis
(8) shaun1800
(9) Illuminaughty
(10) AlphaFlight
(11) rnr80
(12) Apollo610
(13) Zero989
(14) mtn
(15) luka4s
(16) Keith1341
(17) MicahMicahMicah
(18) GaMeOvErs-Chic
(19) Zarkinjo
(20) Vitor711
(21) Rizzo15
(22) mentalmike
(23) andy234
(24) Skyeifrit
(25) lamakila123
(26) SFOD41
(27) ronin9012
(28) honor1521
(29) rancid
(30) apeinla8
(31) wEksos

 

You will be able to config as you wish, with the fees that apply.

 

LOL, thats awesome

 

Wow..someone paying u to get a gaming laptop...great going..!!
ANy openings u guys have.. ?

 

*IMPORTANT ANNOUNCMENT PLEASE READ!!
_____________________________________

The following people on the current list do not have enough post (Greater than 5+ post) and are not able to send or recieve a PM (Private Mail Enabled).. This needs to be taken care of right away as you cannot be contacted and will be taken off of the group buy list. This is also holding up the group purchase, this needs to be corrected so that we can obtain an accurate count.

Please post back here when you have corrected this to maintain your current standing position on the list. My goal is to get this group buy to go as smoothly as possible for everyone. Thank you.

(9) Illuminaughty 3-post
(14) mtn 1-post
(18) GaMeOvErs-Chic 4-post
(21) Rizzo15 1-post
(23) andy234 2-post
(25) lamakila123 2-post
(27) ronin9012 3-post
(28) honor1521 1-post

 

After hearing about Gentech good reputation I was holding on my actual preorder till I talked to Ken this morning, he really seems like a very nice guy and helpful. Too bad I live in CA and I'll be charged for tax almost $190. There is nothing he could do to help me. ( He even offered me a $100 gift if I end up have to pay tax )

So that's my story. I'm ordering from Xotic PC in group buying.

 

Wouldn't you be charged tax to CA no matter who you ordered from? Ken offering you a $100 dollar gift is just awesome. Are you sure he doesn't deserve your order?

 

You only get charged tax if you order from retailers that have a physical presence within your state. You are supposed to pay the tax owing if you purchase from another store out of state, but very few people declare these purchases.

 

Usually state taxes only apply if the seller and buyer reside in the state.

 

Just to get things clear, BTOtech, ExcaliberPC, Gentech, Powernotebooks, Xoticpc, and the other resellers (note the fact that resellers are placed in alphabetical order) have been around for quite some time, and do not require the use of shills to obtain sales.

Do not accuse others of being shills, it is unbecoming and rude. I'm sure we all understand that many have invested significant amounts of money in a laptop, and wish to justify your choice of reseller, but there is no need to be impolite.

If you wish to participate in the group buy, by all means, go for it. If you wish to explain why you chose not to go with it, be polite. Those of you who choose to participate in the group buy, try not to take it personally that some other users went with different resellers. Those of you who chose to go with other resellers, respect the choice of those who are going with the group buy.

 

I don't have to pay CA tax if I order from xotic pc. I checked their site they ship from Nebraska.

 

I should probably be on this list too, since I only have 2 posts or so... but I hate clogging up forums just to boost count.

Oh well... here's #3.

 

This is great advice guys... If you have over 5+ post but still can't recieve or send a PM contact the staff to get this resolved as quickly as possible. Thank you.

 

Bada - any word on whether the group-buy shipment will be received as part of the initial wave? Just curious - as much as I'm antsy to get my hands on the machine I'm also patient... but I know some folks were questioning the timing of the shipments.

 

I agree, curious about shipment time, and pricing. I'm excited to find out!

 

Hell at this rate, I'm hoping CES doesn't disappoint... If the G73JH was a financial stock, I'd be selling high right about now.

But instead, I'm here buying the thing.

 

My mistake. I'm an idiot and was thinking you meant Canada and not Cali...

 

Hey, 1st... Good catch i had you down on my list as having more post!

No word yet.. Although.. In past practices, it would seem that the larger companies (Like Asus) should want give priority to larger orders over a single few.. Makes total sense.. Why try to fill one persons pre-order, when you will make more $$$$$$ filling a 20-30+ group order. I'll have to ask Justin how many orders can go in at one time, and most of all.. Get filled in a timely manor.

 

i cant stop smiling

 

Yeah I love my company, sadly we aren't hiring it will take a few days before he looks at it as he is swamped, but hopefully I can still get in the list later this week.

Here's to hoping CES is awesome and this laptop doesn't look like trash.


Any idea how long you will let the list go? The more the merrier?

 

I think I should have 5+ posts now. Btw, thanks for setting this up badabing.

 

*IMPORTANT ANNOUNCMENT PLEASE READ!!
_____________________________________

The following people on the current list do not have enough post (Greater than 5+ post) and are not able to send or recieve a PM (Private Mail Enabled).. This needs to be taken care of right away as you cannot be contacted and will be taken off of the group buy list. This is also holding up the group purchase, this needs to be corrected so that we can obtain an accurate count.

Please post back here when you have corrected this to maintain your current standing position on the list. My goal is to get this group buy to go as smoothly as possible for everyone.

*Those that recently took care of this issue Thank you..

Now only "6" left on the list.

(9) Illuminaughty 3-post
(21) Rizzo15 1-post
(23) andy234 2-post
(25) lamakila123 2-post
(27) ronin9012 3-post
(28) honor1521 1-post

 

Just think through the group buy....

It would be better going for a laptop for your self. You won't save much in the end and it's less hassle

I have talked to Donald from powernotebooks and they are great people on the forums with support and overall nice people

Ken lee is good as well and works on a personal level


I'm just saying don't get your hopes up about this.

Devils advocate here

 

but in the group there are people outside USA don't forget it
if we save something make the difference. And if this Ati card is better than 280sli or 260sli (i don't think so) i'm sure there will be more difficulties to find this laptop.

 

I'll also chime in with my opinion. Chances are, the group buy is meaningless since the first G73 shipment pre-orders are pretty much all filled out by now and all resellers will do a price-match. Asus forbids price wars from occurring between resellers and if this group buy offers the G73 at super low prices (which won't happen), then this is clearly a violation to Asus' policy.
Also if anyone thinks a group buy order is enough to jump in front of the line of other people whom have placed an order before hand, then they are mistaken. Maybe on a local reseller level that can occur, but for Asus to make way for 30 or so orders from a group buy would be highly skeptical.

Bottom line is, don't assume jumping on the band wagon will ensure you the best price.

 

Now that's a solid business argument. If ASUS would want to play that way, I'll just not buy from them, and they'll lose a sale to a first-time ASUS buyer... over a few bucks.

Now that's smart business. </sarcasm>

I don't get all the group-buy hate and naysayers. If you don't want to get involved, then don't, but why the need to knock it? If it's not good for those of us interested, then we won't partake in it at the end, all this pseudo-cautionary stuff is just silly.

Perhaps the best way to do this next time is to say hey, we're doing a group buy, anyone interested get on the list... and after the total list is finalized, interested resellers, make your best offers.

It's not like a laptop is a MUST HAVE item in any economy, let alone this one. I'm sure I'm not alone with this thinking.

 

as already mentioned there are buyers outside the US on this deal

shipping was already more at gentech for canada than xotic when i placed my order

 

Here is my 5th post so hopefully I will not lose my position. Please keep me up to date on whats going on.

 

Thank you! Please check with the staff tomorrow if your PM is still not up.


_____________________________________
*IMPORTANT ANNOUNCMENT PLEASE READ!!
_____________________________________

The following people on the current list do not have enough post (Greater than 5+ post) and are not able to send or recieve a PM (Private Mail Enabled).. This needs to be taken care of right away as you cannot be contacted and will be taken off of the group buy list. This is also holding up the group purchase, this needs to be corrected so that we can obtain an accurate count.

Please post back here when you have corrected this to maintain your current standing position on the list. My goal is to get this group buy to go as smoothly as possible for everyone.

*Those that recently took care of this issue (hours ago) Thank you.. But you need to contact staff as your PM is still not on.

Now only "6" left on the list.

(9) Illuminaughty 3-post
(21) Rizzo15 1-post
(23) andy234 2-post
(25) lamakila123 2-post
(27) ronin9012 3-post
(28) honor1521 1-post

 

Wouldn't this be a price war?

As has been mentioned several times in the thread, Asus has no wish to see a price war or a war among its resellers. Same applies to Sager as well. It is not so much as telling you that a group buy is bad for you per se, but to warn you from expecting too much from it. Note: that the nay-sayers in general have not stated that "THE GROUP BUY WILL FALL THROUGH", "YOU WILL NEVER GET YOUR LAPTOPS" or the like. Most of them are just telling you that

1)Resellers price match.

2)Do not expect a huge discount, as it is against Asus' policy to do so. This may change for this unit, but one should not be certain.

Why am I bringing up Sager? Because Sager has gotten involved when resellers clashed in the past, and that usually doesn't go well.

 

Yes, that is how they are. No price war amongst resellers. Just like other laptop manufactures such as Apple.

I have nothing against group buys, but I doubt the average person running across this forum knows how Asus works how they sell their laptops. Again, Asus prohibits price wars and as a random person sees this thread, they're going to assume immediately that this is where they can get the G73 for the cheapest price.

Again, Asus will not allow this.

Absolutely. I'm not here to advocate any reseller as I'm sure each one will have their own qualities, but am simply trying to help people understand what they are dealing with before they spend $1700 on a luxury item.

 

It is a bit worrying how long its taking. I'm pretty sure supply is going to out strip demand on this thing, so I really just want to get my order in. The sooner we hear back from Justin the better.

 

Why is everybody that does not want any part in this group buy, having so much to say about it. I think everyone here are adults and understand that they can order it on there own or go with the group buy. It has been said several times that we all need to just focus on the laptop not all this other stuff that does not matter. For me as long as I get the laptop maybe save a couple dollars I will be happy. I ordered one from Gentech and the other I m ordering with the group. You would think half these people work for these companies. As long as if you wanted it you pre ordered who cares about what everyone else is doing. In a month we will all have a great laptop.

 

we are just sharing our expereince and there is no need to get upset about it.

We are all adults here ;:

 

Im not sure I understand your logic, how is giving 20-30 random people a discount, promoting pricewars? Its kinda like a contest 30 people will win. So if Xoticpc said they will just give 30 specific people a free laptop instead of a discount, what would be the difference? If there is a limit to the people then there is no chance of pricewars, when its done everyone else is out of luck, and other resellers would know that and say no to a discount.

Im not being sarcastic Im just trying to understand. If there was no limit to the amount of people then i would understand a pricewar scenario. but a lottery type scenario seems different

other companies such as Amazon give limited amounts of % off coupons every so often which can be used on any items including laptop, how is that different?

 

Uhm, isn't "price matching" essentially a price war?

I don't know ASUS's specific policies, but it would seem silly to me to have your resellers lock in a specific price MSRP and have no way of offering specials to potential customers - otherwise, why be an ASUS reseller when you don't have the leeway of offering incentives the other guys aren't?

I don't know that anyone has any expectations as none have been set or even insinuated. So that said, what's the harm in power-buying? Just because I preorder, I'm not guaranteed a same-day shipment either. So why not try to save a few bucks or get a bit more out of the deal?

Resellers aren't clashing here. This was a customer-driven power buy, not reseller initiated. It's just business, right? I had no idea that resellers were so sensitive...

I was on the fence with this machine before the powerbuy was mentioned. If it entices folks to buy into your product while you're still making a decent profit margin, I don't see the harm in it.

 

We appreciate ur concern - at the end of the day maybe what you're saying is correct.
But some of us want to learn it first hand!

 

I really never understand these thread. Here we go again. All of you in this thread should wait for the unit to come out and then go to bing.com or whatever tickles your pickle and get it there 5$ less expensive then next place. Any active participating vendors in this public forum should 1. be just a little ashamed of sponcoring this thread 2. let the people of the thread know that whether he gets 2 or 200 people it is unlikely that a group buy will influence his bottom line more then 1%. This thread also goes against notebookreview for sale section guidelines which is why it is not in there. As always i hope nbr mods remove this nonsense as they did in the past.
PS. Justin put this on your own forum where I and others in my position will not look.

 

Like I have said a bunch of times already. I HAVE participated in group buys on AVS forum for Dlp tv's, Audio receivers etc... The amount of foreboding and doom-saying is getting ridiculous. None of us in this group buy are expecting the laptop for free. We know what we are getting in to and are old enough to fend for ourselves. I can't believe what a @#$# storm this has stirred up; it's completely irrational. This thread was supposed to be for the group buy, not for people popping in and #%^ing all over the people on this list.

 

This thread should be deleted just like most other threads dealing with pre orders were. why is this not closed yet?

 

No, because price-matching will only "match" the competitor's lowest price. A price war is by definition, a situation in which competitors selling a certain commodity successively lower prices, as to force one or more out of business

Most special deals are provided by Asus anyways and not by the reseller. For example, I've been purchasing Asus laptops long enough to see that they've given out wireless routers, plush toys, gaming headsets etc along with an Asus laptop purchase. These specials are initiated by Asus and not by the reseller.

There is no harm in group buys, but what we old timers on the forum are trying to say is if your ultimate goal is to save a few bucks, doesn't guarantee that due to Asus' policies.

 

Ok
then I will beat exostics price by 20$
I will throw in a free dohikie if the list exceeds 50 people
can this dumbness be closed now or better yet deleted?

 

I almost agree with this. The way people are getting upset over it isn't worth turning people against each other. We already have the list set, so we should conduct any other business related the group buy via Justin's forum or PM's.

 

A price war tends to require undercutting each other. Price matching is competition, but not as cut-throat.

Asus partners, especially, have even less leeway.
Look it up.
http://promos.asus.com/US/APNP/APnP_July2009(USA).pdf
Note the requirement that partners not advertise at a price less than 3% off MSRP. Note that partners are allowed to sell at whatever price they wish. If a reseller chooses to swallow the extra cashflow from the rebates, they can certainly do so and offer an even better price.

If any of the resellers are part of the partners program, which I imagine at least some of them are.

Fair enough.

My answer for you, however, would be price-matching. Which affects margins.

Resellers are not clashing openly. They are wise enough not to as an open clash would only result in trouble for them. This is precisely the issue we are trying to point out. The repeated competition among customers is NOT good for the resellers as well.

Sounds good to me.

 

"No, because price-matching will only "match" the competitor's lowest price."

I understand that, but if a consumer shops around and ask's to get a lower pricematch, then goes to the next resller with proof and ask for lower then that and so on, is that not in essence a true pricewar?

As for deleting this post, so we are not allowed to talk about it? what is this North Korea?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong - but to price match means that there must be a price discrepancy, which means someone wasn't apparently playing nice with ASUS' monopolistic pricing policies and was offering a lower price.

Speaking of ASUS's rebate incentive programs, this seems to imply that resellers are allowed to offer whatever price they want, as long as the ADVERTISED price is -3% their suggested price...? I'm not a reseller, so I don't know the ins and outs of their contractual arrangements.


In order to receive APnP benefits, ALL resellers must adhere to the following Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Policy:
• Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) cannot fall below 3% of the ASUS MSRP for all ASUS Branded notebooks at any given time.
• MAP applies to ALL forms of advertising, including third-party sites (funded, sponsored, or placed by the Partner).
• Advertisements may list ASUS-sponsored Mail-In Rebates and promotions with the after-promotion prices.
• MAP applies only to advertised prices. APnP Partner is free to set actual selling price of all ASUS Branded notebooks.

Reseller Rebate Program

Which is all fine and good, but the level of heavy-handed "Big Brother" policing (and now whiny resellers, apparently), is getting to be a bit much. Though I have to admit, it's comical for someone like me who is looking to just score the best deal but doesn't need this laptop and is just as happy NOT to buy it at all...

 

100% agree.