Well, it only took one day and we already have OLPC eBay sales. Overeager 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:
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.
