Buy an OLPC XO on eBay or in 100 Lot Orders

   
   
   
   
   
olpc ebay sales

Well it only took one day and we already have OLPC eBay sales. Over eager eBay seller Galactic Merchant is hoping that foreign buyers will pay him $500+ for an XO laptop:

This is to make the laptop available to other people around the world that cannot get the laptop from www.laptopgiving.org. I will be accepting orders until Nov 26 or as long as I see it feasable for me to fulfill the orders. The extra cost is to pay for my expenses (shipping % handling) and my time.
Now I personally think a $100 markup on top of the tax deduction Galactic Merchant will get is a little cheeky, even for me. Especially since overseas buyers can use the OLPC News international orders workaround for just $20+ shipping extra, and get my personal help if there is a problem.

Sadly, I can't seem to help others who want to really make a difference. People like Marc Valentin who writes in with a problem you'd think OLPC would be falling over themselves to fix:

OLPC India
OLPC India makes kids happy
We have a budget and OLPC looks an appealing solution but it looks the ideas behind the project prevent NGOs to be part of it.

Let me explain: as the main person of the NGO, I have no possibility to get one of these computers in hand, I cannot even buy one. I tried to get one with the "G1G1 program donation" but it didn't work because I am not living in the USA! But even if I could get one in hand, I could not order, because the OLPC organization is selling the computers only to governments.

Now, I discovered the Asus Eee PC... This one is available immediately (I will get a sample next week), the power seems great and it does everything the OLPC does. (No fancy colors thought).

So my question is: are you really going to do something for the NGOs working in India? Can I tell my staff you are going to send a sample to them? My feeling is that it is time to act because competition is there and OLPC will be obsolete before being released.

Trying to be helpful, the OLPC India team was quick to point Marc to the new and improved Give Many XO plan. Gone is the tiered pricing of $299, $249, and $200 depending on order size. Now anyone, who can get through to One Laptop Per Child, can order 100+ XO laptops at $200 per computer and direct their donation:


My choice? XO's for OLPC Nepal

Give 100+ @ $200 per laptop

  • Donor designates where 60% of laptops are sent;
  • OLPC sends 40% of the laptops to children in a country of our designation.
Give 1000+ @ $200 per laptop
  • Donor designates where 80% of laptops are sent;
  • OLPC uses 20% of the laptops to children in a country of our designation.
Give 10,000+ @ $200 per laptop
  • Donor designates where 100% of laptops are sent.
With the low $20,000 donation threshold and $200 per laptop price point, there should be a few more people excited and able to Give Many this Christmas.

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15 Comments

Hello Wayan,

we've heard from our visiters that your OLPC News international orders workaround does not work, because of foreign credit cards.

The good news is that give one get on is going 2 days longer again.

Greetz from Germany,
Gregor

OLPC Deutschland

I don't get it. It's still basically tiered pricing in terms of what one gets in hand.

For 20K, one gets 60 laptops to direct, or $333 per laptop. At 800 laptops, it's $250/laptop roughly.
Not a bad price, but not great.

Hi Wayan,

Any idea how many give 1 get 1 have been sold on the first day, just curious, I ordered one as well.

Thanks,

Christian

Clicking on that eBay link gets you to a page that says "This Listing Is Unavailable"... ;-)

Cheers,
Christoph

I just reviewed the "terms and conditions" http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/terms-and-conditions.php for G1G1 and under (3) it says:

"XO laptops are available only for private home and educational uses. No XO laptops will be supplied for resale."

So I guess an obvious disregard for that rule will lead to eBay offers being removed...

Ha! I didn't think that eBay order would stay up very long since eBay is an OLPC sponsor - the PayPal transaction engine is processing G1G1 XO orders.

I'm glad that eBay is acting fast to take down unscrupulous merchants trying to profit from the G1G1 sale. I applaud Wayan for assisting people from outside the US and Canada, who wish to be a part of the OLPC program.

Hi,
I was unable to order an XO laptop online with G1G1 because Paypal is controlling the credit card and doesn't accept the transaction done with a European credit card. However, I tried to do it by phone (call 1-949-608-2865) with the same credit card and it worked... I got a confirmation number. So let's wait and see.

Now we have another OLPC eBay seller trying ot make a buck of the XO laptop. Thanks to Shame On Them, I also have a screen shot that shows the S.I.G.N. Foundation charging $900 for the XO! http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmetroblogger/2037117637/

Ugh, the XO eBay seller is comparing the OLPC computer to Tickle Me Elmo!

"This is your chance to have a part of history. You will be the first few in the world to have the XO Laptop. Shipping date for this laptop is Nov 16, 2007. This is like purchasing the first ipod, 1st computer or 1st Tickle me Elmo. You are purchasing something that will be remembered for ever."

Here's another seller of the xo on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/XO-THE-TOTALLY-GREEN-CHILD-PROOF-COMPUTER-NR_W0QQitemZ320183649377QQihZ011QQcategoryZ31520QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

He is saying he will ship within 4 days after cleared payment. I wonder how he is going to do that when nobody including the g1g1 people know when they are going to ship the xo's.

His auction page is loaded with false info, it should be pulled by ebay.

A XO selling for $130 on eBay - less than OLPC's cost! That doesn't bode well for G1G1.

I saved a screenshot of this one too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmetroblogger/2041495231/

Has anyone taken advantage of the "Give Many" program?

Looks like Ebay removed the ads...only two new ones on now and one of those just refers to XO, without using the word "laptop." I did the G1G1 but didn't intend to sell mine--really looking forward to learning how it works. I was having fun watching the bidding on Ebay, though...till I read these comments I didn't realize that I had agreed not to sell mine!

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