I'd also jump into the co op if the price turns out affordable, i trust Andria 
Might take an extra one for my father.
Might take an extra one for my father.
ACHILLES RDA by Titanium Mods
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I thought it was on the first page, I'll look again later.
So, I did some tinkering with alibaba today and here's my opinion: the whole online alibaba infrastructure is basically a complete nightmare for consumer purchase. It's all set up for business-to-business sourcing, so when I made an account it was immediately flagged as requiring all sorts of verification (i.e. upload us scans of such and such documents to verify you're not a scammer, etc.) Now, alibaba is supposedly a legit company, even if all their sellers aren't, but I'm certainly not going thru all that. Their FAQ does have some comments on purchasing if you don't own a business, but it merely refers you to a 'wholesale' version of the site where the Achilles doesn't appear as a listing. It's all a bit of a mess for our purposes.
So, this forum might be worth a search on navigating the nightmare that is alibaba commerce.
The other thing I dug up was apparently Yeahsmo's site--they're listed at other Chinese sourcing websites like alibaba, so I don't think they're necessarily beholden to that platform. I dropped one of their sales reps an e-mail about Achilles stock, pricing on a batch of 15, shipping, and whether there would be a v2 clone. As most Chinese small business sites, it all looks pretty slapdash, but I'll let you all know if I actually receive a response--and whether they'd just do a transaction via paypal or the like.
Has anyone actually contacted Frog in Fog and confirmed that they will not be restocking an Achilles clone?
Also, I do not believe there is a v2 clone on alibaba, judging from the pictures. It's very hard to tell what's what since they lump everything into a big pile of tagwords like yeahsmo rose v2 achilles hellyboy rba rda atty, blah, blah, blah...
So, this forum might be worth a search on navigating the nightmare that is alibaba commerce.
The other thing I dug up was apparently Yeahsmo's site--they're listed at other Chinese sourcing websites like alibaba, so I don't think they're necessarily beholden to that platform. I dropped one of their sales reps an e-mail about Achilles stock, pricing on a batch of 15, shipping, and whether there would be a v2 clone. As most Chinese small business sites, it all looks pretty slapdash, but I'll let you all know if I actually receive a response--and whether they'd just do a transaction via paypal or the like.
Has anyone actually contacted Frog in Fog and confirmed that they will not be restocking an Achilles clone?
Also, I do not believe there is a v2 clone on alibaba, judging from the pictures. It's very hard to tell what's what since they lump everything into a big pile of tagwords like yeahsmo rose v2 achilles hellyboy rba rda atty, blah, blah, blah...
Nice research klr. Sounds seedy to me. And yes, we have contacted Frog in Fog and they confirm they have no plans to restock the Achilles V1 but did imply they planned to make the V2 available if/when Yeashmo made the V2. It's been awhile since we were given this information so maybe an update would be in order.
Just asked after that at Frog in Fog, will let you know if they get back to me.
I wonder what their vote threshold is for reordering a product? If Yeahsmo is doing 5 or 10 minimums on alibaba, I wonder how hard it'd really be to persuade Frog in Fog to reorder if there were really going to be a bunch of us wanting 15-20 of these things. Obviously more units is cheaper, but I really don't care if this thing is $18 as opposed to $21, ya know?
What Bronze said makes it sound like they just don't want to wind up with any inventory for a soon-to-be outdated version. So, I guess the biggest question is whether there will be a v2 clone?
I wonder what their vote threshold is for reordering a product? If Yeahsmo is doing 5 or 10 minimums on alibaba, I wonder how hard it'd really be to persuade Frog in Fog to reorder if there were really going to be a bunch of us wanting 15-20 of these things. Obviously more units is cheaper, but I really don't care if this thing is $18 as opposed to $21, ya know?
What Bronze said makes it sound like they just don't want to wind up with any inventory for a soon-to-be outdated version. So, I guess the biggest question is whether there will be a v2 clone?
I agree with everything you said. perhaps if enough people inquire they will buy another batch. Seems since I started this thread we've run them out of stock two or three times in short order.
I am very Interested in buying either v1 or v2 since I don't own 1 at the moment I would like to try 1 out!!!
Sounds like maybe a nightmare I don't want to get into -- that was more or less the kind of info I was looking for, if it was even possible for non-businesses to order from them.
Guess we'll just have to wait for the Achilles 2 clones. *sigh* Or winning the lottery, so I could order an authentic -- if they're even still in stock, given the small lots he makes.
Andria
Guess we'll just have to wait for the Achilles 2 clones. *sigh* Or winning the lottery, so I could order an authentic -- if they're even still in stock, given the small lots he makes.
Andria
I certainly would hate to see you (or anyone else) take it in the shorts trying to manage something like that with an overseas outfit.
Let's see what response you get from FoF first. You seem to be on top of it so my suggestion is to follow your lead once you get more information.
When I login so I can vote, it just shows the vote I already placed, for USA, and won't let me vote again.
Maybe an email bombing run would work better.
Andria
Sounds like a plan; I'll see if they respond to me. Then maybe we can take an actual count of demand and submit some sort of "We have X quantity of demand on ECF, would you order X quantity from Yeahsmo of the v1 if the v2 is not imminent and you won't be left with any surplus v1."
I'm not necessarily opposed to just buying an original from Ukraine, either, but would much prefer to try a clone to see how much I like it before plunking down $90--so, it seems like a little hassle is worth it, if we can find a supplier.
I'm not necessarily opposed to just buying an original from Ukraine, either, but would much prefer to try a clone to see how much I like it before plunking down $90--so, it seems like a little hassle is worth it, if we can find a supplier.
I'm guessing it was exactly designed that way to prevent inflated voting, so they're able to gauge actual demand.
When I login so I can vote, it just shows the vote I already placed, for USA, and won't let me vote again.
Maybe an email bombing run would work better.
Andria
There is of course, always plan B, which is which one of you proud original Achilles owners now has a clone that you're going to sell me? 
If I wasn't using all three of mine I would.There is of course, always plan B, which is which one of you proud original Achilles owners now has a clone that you're going to sell me?
Maybe if you offer up some Star Wars tickets in exchange you'd get all the Achilles you wanted.
What about blackmail? "I've got Star Wars spoilers and I need an RDA that doesn't leak! I don't want to hurt anyone!"If I wasn't using all three of mine I would.
Maybe if you offer up some Star Wars tickets in exchange you'd get all the Achilles you wanted.
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