Yixing teapot group buy?

[edkrueger]

Thanks. I hope you can find us a cheaper set.

[thanks]

I would like to know if everyone's still on board with the group buy. I finally got an e-mail back from Jing, and this is what she had to say;

"Sorry for the delay! Regarding to the teapots, I am wondering if you have found the last buyer for the #1. If you have, please organize them for the shipping information and etc.

For the price of each teapot, When we sold them separately, the price range is at
- $85 for the #1,2,3,4,
- $105 for the #5,6,7,8 and
- $125 for the #9,10,11,12.
But since you are buying the whole set, that puts each teapot at $71.70.
However, you want us to ship one teapot to each of you. We have to charge each of you an extra $5.00 due to the custom fee and the additional packaging fee. Therefore, the teapot will be at $76.70 each. I hope you will understand.

Before making the final decision, please confirm with each of you that once we send out the dragon set, we don't expect that anyone in your group asking refund of their teapot because of their personal reason with the teapot that they are going to receive. Of course, we will check all teapots carefully before sending them. We will make sure there won't be any problem with each of them. Also, please let us get this thing done and get all the teapots shipped before the Chinese New Year period. Otherwise, we will have to wait till next month to ship the goods. Thanks!

Please let us know. Thank you very much!

Best regards,

Jing"

[edkrueger]

That is not such of a great deal for the small pots. I'm also a bit annoyed by the "additional packaging fee."

[wyardley]

For the price of each teapot, When we sold them separately, the price range is at
- $85 for the #1,2,3,4,
- $105 for the #5,6,7,8 and
- $125 for the #9,10,11,12.

In Feb of 2007, the prices were:

#1 to #4 : $47
#5 to #8 : $53
#9 to #12 : $67

(that's when the whole set was ~ $600)

[edkrueger]

There is no way that price should have gone up so much. I'd think if anything, they should be lower with he global economic down turn.

[Wesli]

So why do they say they raised the prices so dramatically?

[thanks]

No idea, but I'm personally getting more and more discouraged by this. Plus, I only received three people's addresses so far. This whole thing is getting harder and harder to deal with.

[Drax]

Sorry, been out of town for the last couple of days.

I've just sent my address. But I'm guessing some people have been kind of weirded out by teaguy's comments? If we can find a better set, I don't think I will be crushed.

edk -- and that's going to be an addition $5 on what the shipping is already, right? which will probably be 10-20? Meaning $85-95 per pot?

[gingkoseto]

About the price raise, you guys do know that from early 2007 to later 2008, US $ deflated by about 20%, right? So the price raise is quite normal. I take frequent trips to Asia, and the recent exchange rate made me painful

People who use imported skin care (just those common ones like Chanel and Lancome) may notice they had large price mark up early last year, and many domestic skincare products soon caught up with the price. Well even eggs, milk and tofu in my local grocery got about 20% more expensive after last summer.

[teaguy]

Hi Ghumbs,

Hope you're sitting high and dry there in Tacoma - your area got pretty soggy this past week from what I've read (and seen) on the net. Seems like a great excuse to sit around the house and make tea all day!!!

Glad to see you interested in tea. If you're just getting started, you may want to consider getting something a bit cheaper. It takes a bit of getting used to handling tea pots, and it would be a shame for the first one you break (and there will be a first - I promise you that!) to be an expensive one, although it's your call really.

Do you have an idea of what teas you prefer, or are you looking to experiment? I suggest starting with a range of teas that work well in 1 pot, so that you don't have to start out with too much tea ware. If you get a pot, pitcher, & cups, that should get you started. I find that there is so much neat stuff it's hard not to buy everything, and now I have more teaware, trays, etc. than I have room for.

[brandon]

Seriously?
I have to cut out of this one - unless my math skills are even worse than I thought, the separate pots add up to 100s more than the set itself. This pot isn't worth $105 in my book.

Sorry Thanks, I appreciate your hard work.

[thanks]

I think you guys are skimming what Jing said. Here's what each pot costs; "But since you are buying the whole set, that puts each teapot at $71.70.
However, you want us to ship one teapot to each of you. We have to charge each of you an extra $5.00 due to the custom fee and the additional packaging fee. Therefore, the teapot will be at $76.70 each. I hope you will understand."

Each pot costs 76.70 total. That's it. Not $100 or more.

[Ghumbs]

Hi Ghumbs,

Hope you're sitting high and dry there in Tacoma - your area got pretty soggy this past week from what I've read (and seen) on the net. Seems like a great excuse to sit around the house and make tea all day!!!

Glad to see you interested in tea. If you're just getting started, you may want to consider getting something a bit cheaper. It takes a bit of getting used to handling tea pots, and it would be a shame for the first one you break (and there will be a first - I promise you that!) to be an expensive one, although it's your call really.

Do you have an idea of what teas you prefer, or are you looking to experiment? I suggest starting with a range of teas that work well in 1 pot, so that you don't have to start out with too much tea ware. If you get a pot, pitcher, & cups, that should get you started. I find that there is so much neat stuff it's hard not to buy everything, and now I have more teaware, trays, etc. than I have room for.

So, pick green teas, oolongs, or pu-er (all represented in separate areas of TeaChat) and jump right in! I can help you find some equipment from Taiwan if you like. You can contact me through my blog or reply here with more info on what you're looking for, and I'll try to help you pinpoint what exactly you need.

Teaguy,

Thanks for your help. We certainly were pretty wet from all the rain last week, though Tacoma didn't get it half as bad as some other towns here who still have standing water in their streets, I believe. Unfortunately my friend's basement apartment was flooding, so we stayed up all night and had 6 shop vacs going at once, trying to keep the water from ruining any more of his carpet padding. Not exactly the serene tea drinking atmosphere I was looking for, unfortunately

As for the tea wares and tea, I am interested in getting a complete gongfu set so I can begin learning that skill. I went down to Mad Hat, a local tea shop here, and they showed me some of the basics. Since then, I have watched numerous videos on Youtube to observe more examples to draw from.

Contrary to much advice on here, I am probably going to purchase a higher quality pot as my first one ($75-150 region). However, while I learn the basics of brewing and the gongfu ceremony, I will be using a gaiwan until I feel comfortable moving on to the pot.

From what I gather, here's what I would like to find:
Yixing teapot, basic, classic look (around 100-150ml)
White gaiwan
White drinking cups
White aroma cups
White pitcher
Tongs
Tea tray
Electric kettle
Oolong teas

I really enjoy oolong, so I'd like to start with that and move from there in a bit. That's about it for me. Thanks again for the help!

[Goose]

I think you guys are skimming what Jing said. Here's what each pot costs; "But since you are buying the whole set, that puts each teapot at $71.70.
However, you want us to ship one teapot to each of you. We have to charge each of you an extra $5.00 due to the custom fee and the additional packaging fee. Therefore, the teapot will be at $76.70 each. I hope you will understand."

Each pot costs 76.70 total. That's it. Not $100 or more.

Thanks for the clarification Bryan, is the plan to pay you directly or the vendor?

I would like to complete this buy sooner rather then later. I would suggest we have a cutoff date where if its not done we drop it- 2 weeks perhaps?

Jim

[edkrueger]

Sorry thanks, I'm out.