What would make you pre-order a robot?

[silo_xtreme]

Hey Friends 

I was just wondering what would make you pre-order a robot?  For example:  Coolness, Price, The chance to get it before anyone?

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Im not a big fan of pre-ordering. I like to wait a little bit so that all the initial glitches get taken care of... but I would have to say Price and Function would be my biggest considerations

[silo_xtreme]

Hey Dragon,

Thanks for the response.  I feel that's the typical response I get ... people want instant gratification!   

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

Lol its not an instant gratification thing, its a I dont have the money to waste if im not sure I will like or be able to use it thing

totally different

[SciTech02]

I think it's a good thing, so you could be one of the first people to own that robot.  The robot would have to be pretty darn sophisticated for me to put a pre-order on it (I prefer one or two robots that can do anything [PC bots] over many simpler robots).  It's also like being a beta tester; you discover some of the initial glitches and help fix them.

So for me, function and the chance to get it before anyone else would be my reasons for pre-ordering.

[silo_xtreme]

SciTech, great feedback!

I'm trying to get my robot in stock, and I'm considering changing my pre-order scheme a little bit.  It's not a sophisticated robot, but it's a simple robot.

[want2learn]

A well designed chassis with good flexibilty of construction. I dont think i'd order a fully built robot. Electronics is the only fun part i have while designing the chassis and trying to work out how to program them.

Its funny, I've almost built a couple of robots (the $50 robot and one of my own). I say almost because i can't get my head round the programming but i'm working on it.

[silo_xtreme]

Hey Want2Learn,

If you're a beginner to programming I'd maybe pick up a book on embedded C, or at least read up on using a basic stamp.  I like C because it has a wider chip usage.....  Ok, back to the pre-ordering thing. 

Would anyone one pay full price for a pre-order robot, or would you prefer a deposit to be first in line and charged the rest once the product shipped?

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

I would probably go full price for a preorder. That way it would be out of the way and I wouldnt have to worry about it anymore. but only if I was assured I basically wouldnt get screwed over. otherwise my assassin bots would be on your door step

[Ro-Bot-X]

Because I have little money at my disposal for robotics, I can't preorder a robot. I eighther build it myself to save money (even if it doesn't come out as a factory made robot) or wait until they are on sale or with reduced prices. Sometimes it doesn't happen, like with the Wall-e toys, they seem to be dissapeared from the stores. I would rather buy some part I need to build my robot than a full built. A part costs less than a whole robot, so it's like taking payments and I can skip a payment if something gets in the way.

[Admin]

The advantages of pre-ordering for a seller:
users find/fix bugs for you
you get instant cash to help pay your high initial manufacturing costs
helps you judge market demand
builds product hype


Advantages for customer:
discounted price
first dibs


Disadvantages:
if users find a lot of bugs, it looks bad on your product
offer free replacement, but will cost you in shipping


When I did preorders for the Axon, I promised a big discount in price and that seemed to work. My first pre-order batch shipped with a bug I didn't catch - a simple fuse set wrong that required a hardware programmer to fix. airman00 was the only person that didn't have a hardware programmer, so I replaced it for him free

[silo_xtreme]

Admin,

That is great information!  If you don't mind me asking, how much of a discount did you give for pre-ordering.  I think the Axon is a little smaller price point than my robot, and I'm not sure that a discount would bring the price down enough for that to work.  I'm not sure how much this affected you ... but the other issue, is that I'm a small start-up company - and not a big well known company. 

I'm all for getting my product out there, and free replacements are no problem.  I've been testing this robot all summer and hopefully have caught everything short of improper installation.

This is great information and I hope this effort will allow me to contribute more to SOR.   

[Admin]

If I remember right, I think it was $100 (Axon is $130).

Paid advertising is the way to go if you aren't well known. [shameless plug]You can advertise on SoR, too.[/shameless plug]

[silo_xtreme]

So that was about ~23% off, pretty cool.  Does anyone think that a good discount would make them pre-order my robot?   you can see my robot here http://SmartMow.com

Admin, of course I'm going to advertise on SoR, as soon as I figure out what to advertise