One more thing to Bassclef: how many chips do you have total? the original spreadsheet is incorrect it seems.
Sorry about that. I meant to post this before. Please update it with correct info using the links provided.
70 chips from Todamont
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.285864640 chips from Enigma81
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.2874356540 from Bicknellski
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.2894996170 from Egon
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.2937894And 95 from my original order for a total of
915 chips.
I have parts and boards ordered for many K16s, most of which I obtained at bulk prices and most non-refundable. I'm also not paying for assembly, which by my calculations is nearly 50% of the cost (maybe a bit less, I don't have the numbers in front of me now, but it's significant and part of the reason I chose to build them locally). So regarding ROI I'm more insulated than most.
If I knew there existed a certainty that I could pick up cheaper chips on the second hand market I'd vote yes for a refund, no problem. The problem is that I don't know if Yifu will offer them to the public or simply sell the excess inventory out the back door. And he's offering refunds for all orders before June 1st, so anyone in their right mind won't sell an early order here for half price if they can get a full refund. If the later orders then end up arriving earlier, the question is which orders (not all were forum group buys) and who will sell them where, and do I want to devote time to scouring forum/sites everyday to catch them if/when the opportunity does arise to buy over 900 chips. Uncertainty.
That leaves the group buy and assembly coordinators, who will use early chip batches to fill existing orders. However, only if a large percentage of their customers choose to refund will they have excess chips to sell, and if so, when? More uncertainty.
For these reasons I'll be voting
no on the refund option. I do have another large chip order with Steamboat batch one, so not all is lost if the majority here vote to refund (which seems imminent). No hard feelings, I would have done the same if I'd paid for assembly, especially with the BTC price increase.
(As a side note, a hard-to-find part for the K16, IR3895 buck regulator, just quickly and unexpectedly went in then out of stock at Arrow to the tune of multiple reels. So people are still building these, just not anyone here.)