Zap Brannigan
I started to take this issue through "Contact Us" but it really doesn't fit any of the categories there.
When I ordered my Roli I ordered it with the EZ-Bits RGB LED Array and the Ultrasonic Distance sensor. I really didn't consider that every connection on them was going to be female and every connector on the Roli body was also going to be female. That was my fault for not paying attention.
I waned to order an extension cube or two, an extension block, and a clip 'n play adapter so that I can attach these items at different places on Roli. This is only like $18 dollars in parts. When I get ready to pay I see that it comes DHL, I assume from China, for a minimum of $18 shipping? These parts can't weigh more than a few grams. I don't have a 3D printer so is this really and truly my only option for getting the molded parts?
I do have a 3d printer and I would print them for free for you... but being in Canada shipping to you would cost more than $18... It Cost me $25 to ship stuff back to EZ Robot and they are in Canada... Hopefully someone in the US can print a few things for you and ship it cheaply....
DJ mentioned a while ago that after they get production fully rolling that EZ-B would be available from Micro-Center and other retailers. In the short term, perhaps we should start a thread for group buys. One person could coordinate and get paid by Paypal and wheb the order is large enough to justify shipping (or reach the $200 free shipping threshold) place one order with EZ-B, then redistribute through cheap USPS shipping once the order arrives. Only issue would be you couldn't spend any EZ credit. I wish I had thought of this before I placed an order last week. I would have happily added some stuff to my order for others.
Alan
$18 to ship from China is still subsidized by us. The actual cost is closer to $30 with DHL shipping. In the past we used to ship small inexpensive items using China Post which links in with USPS. While this was very affordable (less than $10 in some cases) we were unable to track the packages and it could take up to 45 days for them to arrive. Unfortunately when shipping from china there isn't really a middle ground that provides a good price point in a reasonable time with tracking.
As the other Alan (thetechguru) mentioned, we will have ez-bits available at retailers in the future. It takes a long time to dot the i's and cross the t's on these kind of agreements. For now a group buy would be the best bet to share the costs of shipping between a few of you.
-Alan