Chinese LED Group Buy

[mess7777]

Gauging interest to see if anyone is interested in a group buy from EverGrow. These are the Chinese LEDs that have huge threads on other sites speaking to their specifications etc. Models such as 120watt manually dimmable, 120watt fully controllable, 99-3watt bridgelux fixtures (32"). If you want to look up more info you can search D120, IT2040, IT2060, or IT2080.

If there is some interest I will see what can be done, some group buys I have seen garner significant savings over the regular starting prices, even if we take into account shipping to different locations across the country.

Thanks all.

[msjboy]

Just curious, how much cheaper would a group buy be? Maybe 10% cheaper??

The lights are pretty cheap as is considering they even give free shipping in the price. I think HST and duty ( 4%??) is standard.

regards
msjboy

[mess7777]

depends on how many and how sales are lately. :)

I've seen IT2040 for $240 instead of $319.

Of course, it's entirely possible they say $309 too, rendering it useless!

[007rick]

Just bought two sets of d120 from evergrow and have to say that I am pleased with the quality... Happy I didn't pay 4x the price for quote unquote better known products!

[somewherebeyondthesea]

I'd be interested in a group buy if the price was right:biggrin:

[oyf709]

um...Reefbreeders (http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-breeders/sale-32-24-units-up-pre-order-141392.html) actually selling them. They even offer warranty from US.

[oyf709]

Just curious, how much cheaper would a group buy be? Maybe 10% cheaper??

The lights are pretty cheap as is considering they even give free shipping in the price. I think HST and duty ( 4%??) is standard.

regards
msjboy

Depend on how much they claim the unit to be, bringing LED fixture into Canada should be duty+tax(hst for you)
and with my exp Duty is range from 25% to 40%. for LED fixtures, however, most of these company would claim the unit only worth $10 lol. . The risk is that if you are getting more than 5 units, the CBSA can question your purpose of bringing in these unit and they would think you are using them as commercial purpose.

[kam]

I was actually just going to order a pair... so if the price is right, im down

[mess7777]

alright, sounds good. I am well aware of reefbreeders and reefsupplycanada selling these, but hey is there's a way to save some $$ to spend on something else why not. I'll check around and get back to here, there does seem to be some interest.

[mess7777]

OK, I did a little legwork.

The minimum order is 12 units of any one type.

I was able to get an initial price on the IT2060 units(24" fully controllable with moonlights) for $250/each shipping included. There will be duties on this to be sure, I did see a group buy in the states and they were charged $80 brokerage fees. We could expect the same or a bit more plus of course our government wanting their GST cut as well. I am thinking it will be about $40 less a unit than other sites are offering. Of course then we have to think about getting it out to individuals, probably around $15-$25 more shipping in Canada per unit.

The price quoted was for all units with the same color configuration. I am pretty confident that I could negotiate some changes here if we can't agree on a color scheme.

For the D120 units, again it would need to be a minimum order of 12 units. I wasn't able to secure pricing, but I am pretty sure I could get them between $140-150 each shipped.

When it comes down to it, I will be trying to negotiate even better pricing, but wanted to provide a ballpark figure....without knowing I have enough interested parties I don't have very much leverage!

[Coasting]

I think you better find out what shipping from the receivers ends to each individual person will be. These lights are heavy.
With tacking on shipping, i dont see it being any cheaper.
I paid 15$ at the door when my light arrived.
D120 - 175 + duties = 190-ish directly to your house
Group Buy d120 - 150 + Duties + shipping = 210-ish
Looking at the d120's weight, size, adding inches for packaging.
UPS site is estimating about $46-$103 for shipping.
And thats not the IT model which will weigh more.

I think everyones better off buying them on their own.
If there were a bunch of people in 1 area that wanted them, this could probably work great. But shipping, especially from a place like quebec is just going to get more expensive.
When you buy a single light, they declare it as a low value sample, when you buy many, that doesn't work. This companys willing to help you out. Dont make it more difficult then it has to be.

[mess7777]

What do you mean a "place like Quebec" :)

As I was writing this up I realized that you are pretty much right that it would need to be a bunch of people from the same area. That said, I don't consider $600 cheap for a bunch of lights, even if that is much less than other name brand fixtures.

Shipping canadapost Quebec to Toronto is about $15, considering the packed weight is 7.5kg. It'd be more to BC.

I am a bit concerned with the duties and brokerage fees that tend to be unknown until it arrives at the door. It's probably not worth it to save $30.

You can consider this closed, I'll see if there's any interest on a local forum because I am a big time cheapskate. :)

[Coasting]

What do you mean a "place like Quebec" :)


Nothing bad LOL
Just every time I've looked into it, it cost more to ship to/from a place in quebec then Ontario or even Nova Scotia.


I can see it being that cheap to ship to Toronto, it is Toronto after all but it will probably be expensive to ship anywhere else, including most large cities like Vancouver, edmonton, regina, etc.

There is the weight of the cords, the weight for the hanging items, size of the packaging, the light may be 8" one way, but if theres an inch or 2 of foam on either side that 12 x 8 x 2 just went to 16 x 12 x 5.

Heck I wish I had another tank so I could have a group order in the area and buy another like from them.

[mseepman]

I bought my IT2040 from reefsupplycanada and it was painless. If all your suggesting was that someone could save "maybe" $15 it would seem worth it to support a Canadian Vendor. Especially since they probably have a "working" relationship with the manufacturer and may get a better response if a problem should arise.

Just my experience though...YMMV

[kam]

I don't see the D120 on the reefsupplycanada website anymore...? I want these lights asap, or LEDs my new tank is about ready to start. Cycle is almost complete and rock its about baked!

[oyf709]

What do you mean a "place like Quebec" :)

As I was writing this up I realized that you are pretty much right that it would need to be a bunch of people from the same area. That said, I don't consider $600 cheap for a bunch of lights, even if that is much less than other name brand fixtures.

Shipping canadapost Quebec to Toronto is about $15, considering the packed weight is 7.5kg. It'd be more to BC.

I am a bit concerned with the duties and brokerage fees that tend to be unknown until it arrives at the door. It's probably not worth it to save $30.

You can consider this closed, I'll see if there's any interest on a local forum because I am a big time cheapskate. :)

As I mentioned before Duties and tax are all depend on how much they claim the value when they ship those units. Most of the time you can ask them tag a 0.1 CAD value on each fixtures, however, unless the CBSA officer is having a really good day, they will very likely to return the shipment for false claim on value. My suggestion is to claim each unit at a price between $30 to $40, so with DHL/FEDEX proessing fee and tax a dn duties, you are looking at about extra $10.00 for each unit.

As far as shipping cost within Canada, it is a very valid point that you should not ignore or just "think" it is going to be certain amount. You will need the size of packaging and also the actual weight with all the extra items in the box.
For shipping a 36" unit, that is about 5kg can cost between $20 to $40 just within BC and I have the Venture One Business account which suppose to give me discount on shipping already.
Another thing you should consider is most of them ship their units in a large package. Which means you will need to spend some more money to get boxes for each person.

[mess7777]

I bought my IT2040 from reefsupplycanada and it was painless. If all your suggesting was that someone could save "maybe" $15 it would seem worth it to support a Canadian Vendor. Especially since they probably have a "working" relationship with the manufacturer and may get a better response if a problem should arise.

Just my experience though...YMMV

are they canadian? They don't list an address or phone number on the site, only email.

For $15 it's not worth it, but for $50 it is.

How are you liking the IT2040?

[mseepman]

Reefsupply is Canadian...they are out of the Kelowna BC. Nick is great to deal with.

I have only toyed with the IT2040 so far...it's for my frag tank and if you look at my build...it's going slow so the light is not being used fully yet. I would say keep the reds to a minimum in my opinion though.

[mseepman]

Here is a link to the D120's still on their site. Not sure what's going on with Nick's site as it's not looking right today.
http://reefsupplycanada.com/cgi-bin/p/awtp-product.cgi?d=reef-supply-canada&item=59996

[Coasting]

You're looking for group buys to save on evergrows regular price. This canadian supplier is still even more expensive then that, and they charge for shipping. $15 is one thing, but seems like buying them canadian really will cost close to $50 more.

My light was declared as a $40 sample. Cost me $14.96 when it showed up at my front door. Free shipping, Free DIY upgrade, etc. Just cost as listed plus duties. I may have to go direct to china for everything now....

[mess7777]

You're looking for group buys to save on evergrows regular price. This canadian supplier is still even more expensive then that, and they charge for shipping. $15 is one thing, but seems like buying them canadian really will cost close to $50 more.

My light was declared as a $40 sample. Cost me $14.96 when it showed up at my front door. Free shipping, Free DIY upgrade, etc. Just cost as listed plus duties. I may have to go direct to china for everything now....

the D120 is definitely overpriced here. The IT fixtures are more in line with what can be found elsewhere.

[chewie]

I just went in with a freind on 10 units from a similar company, Twilight Group co.
We got the dimmable with built in timer unit. We customized the colors to include 2 reds on the white channel and 4 violets on the blue channel and also added on 120 degree optic lenses. They make the tank look amazing.
I must say that the customer service was amazing. Simon kept us up to date on a daily basis, even called me to talk (fairly good english).
Anyway was quoted $120 / unit. Shipping was $300 and duty / tax was around $300. So total was around $180/ unit. They have the same unit listed as $188 shipping included. Plus tax and duty so there was a bit of savings by group order.
Simon says that if we order again he can give us even better price, the more times we buy the better we get on discount. Oh he did send out a free sample unit that has built in timer with dawn to dusk self dimming effect, takes a sd card you program to the times, light intensity and it can also be controlled by a smart phone, nice bonus. I will defanatly be ordering some off those in the near future.

[mess7777]

wow smart phone control takes it to a whole new level. It's incredible how fast the developments are coming out.

Seems like this thread should be in the equipment section now instead of the buy/sell!

[nrosdal]

The prices listed on the site are for single units. On a group buy everything gets much cheaper. I have not tried to organize one one here due to the fact that i am not sure if i would get in trouble for doing so. Since i am not sure what i can and can't do i will post a link to organize one on my website and not in here. If someone wants to link that is probably ok, but i am unsure of exactly what the rules are for that kind of thing.

i am also not sure that the quantity would have to be 12 to see savings. But the orders would have to be the same so they can make a production run of 4-24 units and ship all at once since most of the savings is on the shipping (air mail is quite expensive).

in the next day or so i will try to get #s nailed down and how many units i would have to order and also get permission to mark units down in a group buy. Since most are already at minimum sale price provided by evergrow themselves.

Thanks

Nick

[pterfloth]

You're looking for group buys to save on evergrows regular price. This canadian supplier is still even more expensive then that, and they charge for shipping. $15 is one thing, but seems like buying them canadian really will cost close to $50 more.

My light was declared as a $40 sample. Cost me $14.96 when it showed up at my front door. Free shipping, Free DIY upgrade, etc. Just cost as listed plus duties. I may have to go direct to china for everything now....

Any chance I could check out your light? I have a 72 x 30"w tank and need to figure out how many d120's I need and whether to arrange width ways or length ways.

[Coasting]

Any chance I could check out your light? I have a 72 x 30"w tank and need to figure out how many d120's I need and whether to arrange width ways or length ways.

I have an Evergrow light, but I dont have the d120, sorry. Nova A8 here. Same bulbs and what not but not quite the same.

That extra few inches width makes it harder, you're stuck between 3 or 4 I think for the 120. Id be lazy and do 3, but going sideways with 4 would be better coverage and would probably still be able to do 4 for under $800.

[pterfloth]

I have an Evergrow light, but I dont have the d120, sorry. Nova A8 here. Same bulbs and what not but not quite the same.

That extra few inches width makes it harder, you're stuck between 3 or 4 I think for the 120. Id be lazy and do 3, but going sideways with 4 would be better coverage and would probably still be able to do 4 for under $800.

Four D120's sideways is what I was thinking too. The Nova 8 looks very nice. How you liking it?

[Coasting]

Four D120's sideways is what I was thinking too. The Nova 8 looks very nice. How you liking it?

The only issue with sideways is access to the dimmers, then again I always feel like I'm short and have short arms when I do anything with my tank....
I do love everything about my light, cant complain. The corals seem to love it too. You're welcome to come see it, but I'm way out in Poco. Im sure theres somebody closer to you with the actual 120's.

[maron6977]

After reading the posts I decided to order direct from Twilight Group co. I would have liked to have spent my money in Canada but I'm on a budget so I'm hoping to save a couple hundred bucks on 2 lights.
Ordering wasn't too bad but a bit of a language barrier . They quoted me $109us for the manual dimmer 120w & $169 for the auto sunrise, sunset & lunar cycle. Both had choice of color of housing , optics (120/90etc.) & what color & ratio of leds. Oh ya & $80 shipping for the 2 lights. I'll repost when I receive them, which won't be for @ least a month because of Chinese new year. I have 2 x 250mh on a 4' 120g mixed reef tank with a few sps, so I hope these will do the job.

[kam]

I dont know if you saved...

[maron6977]

They want $319 each for the similar light as the $169 one .

[chewie]

Should have no problems replacing the 250w mh. I have two over a 6' tank replacing 2 - 400w mh and am getting better growth now than i did before. What optics did you get? If you have a deep tank i would suggest 90degree or tighter (80 70 etc) just to get deeper penetration.

[maron6977]

I have a 24" deep tank . I decided to go with 90 degree optics. Blue-27 /white-23 red-2 /moon-3

[kam]

They want $319 each for the similar light as the $169 one .

My bad.. I misread. You got the auto dimmer with the sweet modes. Great price!