I'm not very familiar with croudfunding. And don't know all details about money transfers into Russia and if it is possible at all.

bristlehog wrote:

Fagear, what amount of $ is required to place the batch order?

For the current USD/RUB ratio it is somewhere around $170. For the first batch of 20 new PCBs.

bristlehog wrote:

Also, what is the estimated cost of one card exemplar for an end user?

Somewhere around $25 w/o SID. And I don't know how much it will cost to send boards from Russia yet. Have to try it once.

Fagear wrote:

And don't know all details about money transfers into Russia and if it is possible at all.

It is possible. If you are inexperienced in that, I can take paypal payment from someone and send you the money to your bank card, for example.

Fagear wrote:

For the current USD/RUB ratio it is somewhere around $170. For the first batch of 20 new PCBs.

Not that much after all.

Fagear wrote:

Somewhere around $25 w/o SID.

Wut? That is surprisingly low price. I'm sure you only count the components cost. You intend to assemble the cards for free, even though now you [seemingly] lost your job?

Fagear wrote:

And I don't know how much it will cost to send boards from Russia yet. Have to try it once.

Shouldn't be any expensive. I believe, $10-20 per card depending on destination location, if you use Russian Post.

Bristllehog is correct, you should include some % for your hands 😀
I dont think it will be hard to fund an trustworthy person to transfer you collective founds.
The easiest way is probably western union if you have no experience with other terms of transfer, because you get the money instantly and can pick it up practically anywhere.

^ Western Union is a terrible, terrible choice. Not only their fees are extremely high but they are also hard to work with. If you don't go personally to an agent and fill the forms and pay with cash then you are gonna have a bad time. You can go the online WU payment route but almost every bank has WU blacklisted because of scams. It just doesn't worth the effort in the end.
Paypal and bank transfer are the way to go. Leave WU to die.

Thats not the experiece i had. Here every bank and post office deal with WU.
You send in 5 minutes, you receive in 5 minutes.

Much easier than bank transfers because you dont need to wait in line for large sums that the ATM cant handle.

Stojke wrote:

Thats not the experiece i had. Here every bank and post office deal with WU.
You send in 5 minutes, you receive in 5 minutes.

Much easier than bank transfers because you dont need to wait in line for large sums that the ATM cant handle.

Sorry but anyone with a computer waiting in line in banks to send money is just... not clever. You should get your bank's internet package. For a person wishing that "old people" would just vanish so win8 get some love it really surprises me that you suggest WU for money transfers... 🤣 🤣 🤣

And yes, you "send in 5 minutes" but you pay DEARLY for it. Especially in large sums , who sends them via WU? 🤣
Some months ago I sent 150eur to someone via WU. The charges were a whopping 20eur and I had to waste my time with the WU agent.
You have to fill crappy forms, give your ID , pay for both currency conversion and charges.
There is a reason WU is not preferred anymore, it only survives when you send money to some obscure country and is used by people that can't have access to other means. A scammer's favorite... That's a fact.

I have to agree with keropi. Western Union is a waste of time and money. If people think PayPal is evil, WU is the devil himself.

Last time I sent money via bank account to russia (2011), it was only slightly less expensive than WU (120€ + 20€ fees) ... if PayPal is not an option, I've made decent experiences with MoneyGram.

Fagear wrote:

... Gathering stats... keropi - "PCB + parts" kit Stojke - "PCB + parts + SID + bracket" kit shock__ - "PCB + parts" kit vetz - […]
Show full quote

...
Gathering stats...
keropi - "PCB + parts" kit
Stojke - "PCB + parts + SID + bracket" kit
shock__ - "PCB + parts" kit
vetz - Fully assembled board with SID and bracket

Hi, please put j^aws down for: 2x "fully assembled board with SID and bracket".

BTW, great work everyone, especially Fagear. I have a couple of spare ISA slots free and waiting! Thanks in advance.

How about bitcoin...? Sending cash abroad instantly at low fees is exactly what it's designed for, after all.

Also I would be interested in a PCB+parts+bracket kit too.

I have no experience with bitcoin. All I can is to accept paypal payment and make a transfer to Fagear's bank card by means other than paypal. I mean, I will keep the paypal money to myself and use other source to send the amount equal to a bank card.

But let's wait Fagear's opinion since he now has all the threads in his hands.

^ that would be a great solution 😀

I also checked with my bank, up to 150eur if I choose to cover ALL expenses the fee is 8eur.

keropi wrote:

Sorry but anyone with a computer waiting in line in banks to send money is just... not clever. You should get your bank's intern […]
Show full quote

Stojke wrote:

Thats not the experiece i had. Here every bank and post office deal with WU.
You send in 5 minutes, you receive in 5 minutes.

Much easier than bank transfers because you dont need to wait in line for large sums that the ATM cant handle.

Sorry but anyone with a computer waiting in line in banks to send money is just... not clever. You should get your bank's internet package. For a person wishing that "old people" would just vanish so win8 get some love it really surprises me that you suggest WU for money transfers... 🤣 🤣 🤣

And yes, you "send in 5 minutes" but you pay DEARLY for it. Especially in large sums , who sends them via WU? 🤣
Some months ago I sent 150eur to someone via WU. The charges were a whopping 20eur and I had to waste my time with the WU agent.
You have to fill crappy forms, give your ID , pay for both currency conversion and charges.
There is a reason WU is not preferred anymore, it only survives when you send money to some obscure country and is used by people that can't have access to other means. A scammer's favorite... That's a fact.

Hmm, don't know, I never tried bank transfers to another country. All I know is that id rather not deal with angry old people that wait in the bank 😁
And youre right, I should upgrade my bank account to be able to receive money any way (uggghhh 1$ a month service fee 😵 )

bristlehog wrote:

Wut? That is surprisingly low price. I'm sure you only count the components cost.

Not really. But ok, I think with jumping USD/RUB ratio, with my parts sorting, PCB soldering, packaging, sending by post...
Let's say for the moment:
"Fully assembled card" will cost $45
"PCB+parts kit" will cost $35
"Bare PCB" will cost $25

Note:
1) SID cost is not included in prices above (assuming "w/o SID" option).
2) "Fully assembled card" will be tested with working SID, even if it was ordered w/o SID. Just to make sure that everthing is ok.

For the moment I have such stats:
"Fully assembled card" - 8 pre-orders (7 from VOGONS)
"PCB+parts kit" - 7 pre-orders (6 from VOGONS)
"Bare PCB" - 4 pre-orders (0 from VOGONS)
Counted both "w/SID" and "w/o SID". Total of 19 boards! Not including mine! 😲 I think I have to replace my order for PCB manufacturer: I need to increase numbers of boards! 🤣

j^aws wrote:

Hi, please put j^aws down for: 2x "fully assembled board with SID and bracket".

Done.

j^aws wrote:

BTW, great work everyone, especially Fagear.

Thanks!

jwt27 wrote:

Also I would be interested in a PCB+parts+bracket kit too.

I've added you to the list.

bristlehog wrote:

All I can is to accept paypal payment and make a transfer to Fagear's bank card by means other than paypal. I mean, I will keep the paypal money to myself and use other source to send the amount equal to a bank card.

Actually... I have my own Paypal account (I'm buying parts on eBay with it). As long as I remember... Paypal allowed transferring money TO bank cards in Russia some time ago.
And I think direct transfer to my card will not be a problem either, if anyone wants to do it that way.
So I think it will not be a problem. I only need to figure out what I have to tell to the buyers (ID's, numbers and so on).

Upd.
I think I need some data to pre-count shipping costs.
keropi, Stojke, shock__, vetz, Cloudschatze, carlostex, Beegle, Great Hierophant, AlphaC, j^aws, jwt27, you are welcome to my PM. Send me addresses where I should send your orders.
So I can calculate shipping cost for you.

I think I want a fully assembled card too. I can get it in person when I come to Moscow.

Please put me for one fully assembled card and one pcb + parts kit, both with bracket included. Will PM for shipping cost calculations to Mexico.

Thanks!

bristlehog wrote:

I think I want a fully assembled card too. I can get it in person when I come to Moscow.

You mean new assembled board. Because you one of the three men on this planet, who have older version (with RCA, only slow-PC compatible) of replica already. 😀

I'm thinking... As long as I placed "Line-in" jack onto PCB. It will be interesting to daisy-chain some replicas (up to 4, because of the 4 available addresses):
Card 1 Line out -> Card 2 Line-in -> Card 2 Line out -> Card 3 Line-in -> Card 3 Line-out -> Card 4 Line-in -> Input to other sound card or amplifier.

So it can be easily connected all together to achieve (3*4)*12 voices of SID in one PC with one driver! Imagine MIDI playback on 12 SID voices! 😲

Upd.

amigo-mexicano wrote:

Please put me for one fully assembled card and one pcb + parts kit, both with bracket included.

SID must be included in parts list or not?

Oh, well. Now we hit 21 pre-ordered boards. How much I have to order now?.. 30? 40? 🤣

Fagear wrote:

amigo-mexicano wrote:

Please put me for one fully assembled card and one pcb + parts kit, both with bracket included.

SID must be included in parts list or not?

Oh, well. Now we hit 21 pre-ordered boards. How much I have to order now?.. 30? 40? 🤣

Both without SID please.

You opened a pandora's box haha! 🤣

Fagear wrote:

You mean new assembled board. Because you one of the three men on this planet, who have older version (with RCA, only slow-PC compatible) of replica already.

Yep, my slowest PC is 486 SX-25, I doubt it will run the older version of replica...

I don't know if eBay links are allowed here, but a small electronics distributor (SLY Electronics) near me (Berlin) is currently clearing out their old stock - offering unused 8580R5 SID chips for 25€
I've bought from them before and had very good experiences - maybe one or another user here is interested in sourcing their chips from them? I could also pre-test them in one of my C64s to make sure you don't get a new but broken chip if wanted.