5 ms·

Sure... but if I've got the money and really like building robots (pretend I'm on the Megabots team or something) why not enable me to buy 1-2 of them? Money is

by tibbon 9y ago

Sure... but if I've got the money and really like building robots (pretend I'm on the Megabots team or something) why not enable me to buy 1-2 of them? Money is money right?

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
TYPE_FASTER 9y ago
If you're doing that, your best bet is to talk to somebody like AutonomouStuff: https://autonomoustuff.com/ https://autonomoustuff.com/ They have a relationship with all the vendors, and can help figure out which sensor and vendor to use. If you really really want a Velodyne unit, you might be able to get a loaner of the cheaper ones by calling them and talking to somebody, not so sure about the VLP-64 or new 128 as those go for north of $50-70k. The cheapest lidar Velodyne makes goes for close to $10k, so you're still probably not going to be able click to buy.
- myself248 9y ago
  And this space REALLY needs competition. I've found pricing elsewhere on a FEW of the items AS carries, and their markup is around 400%. Not a typo.
tyingq 9y ago
I used to sell something kind of similar...high cost, niche electronics. We didn't make it easier for hobbyists because they would often want to return the item after playing around. Then we couldn't sell it as a new item. The depreciation hit was significant. The hobbyists were also a drain on support time, disproportionate to other customers. Once the market settled, and the devices were closer to commodity prices, and our knowledge base was in better shape, we opened back up to them.
- microcolonel 9y ago
  > they would often want to return the item after playing around Then don't have a return policy. > The hobbyists were also a drain on support time Make them pay for support at a premium.
  - zdkl 9y ago
    A company practicing your doctrine will get slammed for being user-hostile by everyone on hn and reddit. Probably sued in some countries, too.
  - tyingq 9y ago
    >Then don't have a return policy. You probably haven't encountered chargebacks as a merchant. "All sales final" only works for cash businesses. "Not as described" covers a lot of ground for hobbyists struggling to deal with a complex electronics product.
- johnvanommen 9y ago
  Agreed. Right now there's basically an arms race going on in this field.
maccam94 9y ago
Small orders are much more expensive to deal with. Higher shipping and handling costs, extra customer support load, etc. Why bother selling a few hundred or thousand devices with all that overhead when you can focus on selling large volume orders? Their supply might also be constrained, and they want to focus on shipping the large orders first so they can cash their checks.
joezydeco 9y ago
If you're not planning to order a few hundred thousand after the first 2, I wouldn't give you the time of day either.
- Fricken 9y ago
  This is intended to replace the HDL-64E, and the biggest fleet using them is Uber, and they've got ~200 test vehicles. It will be a while before any one outfit is placing orders in the 1000s.
oszk 9y ago
Money is money but you are competing against players who will order hundreds or thousands of units. You are not worth their time for a couple thousands of dollars Maybe you could buy them through a reseller or integrator. I work for a startup, we've ordered multiple of their devices, their lead time is 6-8 months for the older models. I think these new models are probably only for the big players in the first year or two who have orders in the millions of dollars scale. This is pretty common for premium HW manufacturers. I've worked for a camera company who would not take orders that were not at least on the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Both logistics and sales network is very expensive.
_pmf_ 9y ago
> Sure... but if I've got the money You don't if you can't buy 2000+ per year.

by tibbon 9y ago

Sure... but if I've got the money and really like building robots (pretend I'm on the Megabots team or something) why not enable me to buy 1-2 of them? Money is money right?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

TYPE_FASTER 9y ago

If you're doing that, your best bet is to talk to somebody like AutonomouStuff: https://autonomoustuff.com/ https://autonomoustuff.com/ They have a relationship with all the vendors, and can help figure out which sensor and vendor to use. If you really really want a Velodyne unit, you might be able to get a loaner of the cheaper ones by calling them and talking to somebody, not so sure about the VLP-64 or new 128 as those go for north of $50-70k. The cheapest lidar Velodyne makes goes for close to $10k, so you're still probably not going to be able click to buy.

myself248 9y ago
And this space REALLY needs competition. I've found pricing elsewhere on a FEW of the items AS carries, and their markup is around 400%. Not a typo.

tyingq 9y ago

I used to sell something kind of similar...high cost, niche electronics. We didn't make it easier for hobbyists because they would often want to return the item after playing around. Then we couldn't sell it as a new item. The depreciation hit was significant. The hobbyists were also a drain on support time, disproportionate to other customers. Once the market settled, and the devices were closer to commodity prices, and our knowledge base was in better shape, we opened back up to them.

microcolonel 9y ago
> they would often want to return the item after playing around Then don't have a return policy. > The hobbyists were also a drain on support time Make them pay for support at a premium.
- zdkl 9y ago
  A company practicing your doctrine will get slammed for being user-hostile by everyone on hn and reddit. Probably sued in some countries, too.
- tyingq 9y ago
  >Then don't have a return policy. You probably haven't encountered chargebacks as a merchant. "All sales final" only works for cash businesses. "Not as described" covers a lot of ground for hobbyists struggling to deal with a complex electronics product.
johnvanommen 9y ago
Agreed. Right now there's basically an arms race going on in this field.

maccam94 9y ago

Small orders are much more expensive to deal with. Higher shipping and handling costs, extra customer support load, etc. Why bother selling a few hundred or thousand devices with all that overhead when you can focus on selling large volume orders? Their supply might also be constrained, and they want to focus on shipping the large orders first so they can cash their checks.

joezydeco 9y ago

If you're not planning to order a few hundred thousand after the first 2, I wouldn't give you the time of day either.

Fricken 9y ago
This is intended to replace the HDL-64E, and the biggest fleet using them is Uber, and they've got ~200 test vehicles. It will be a while before any one outfit is placing orders in the 1000s.

oszk 9y ago

Money is money but you are competing against players who will order hundreds or thousands of units. You are not worth their time for a couple thousands of dollars Maybe you could buy them through a reseller or integrator. I work for a startup, we've ordered multiple of their devices, their lead time is 6-8 months for the older models. I think these new models are probably only for the big players in the first year or two who have orders in the millions of dollars scale. This is pretty common for premium HW manufacturers. I've worked for a camera company who would not take orders that were not at least on the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Both logistics and sales network is very expensive.

_pmf_ 9y ago

> Sure... but if I've got the money You don't if you can't buy 2000+ per year.