@Dan , i just have a question, if I am an international buyer , I continue in the same order as the shipping date of my purchase? ???..
…internationally for me it is difficult to make constant purchases to products or materials that you offer.
but if I would like to see more machines, larger and more powerful or customized .
you have an excellent product and YOU KNOW HOW TO SALE IT.
My humble two cents…
Sorry, but I cannot agree with the various “lack of transparency” arguments. There have been long discussions on the forum for the last couple of months that showed exactly where GF has been in the development process.
I think the problem has been that some of the people reading through those discussions did not understand that a delay in the power-supply meant that the beta units could not go out for testing, which meant that the software related issues were not being found, etc. Each software issue requires extensive re-testing. Beta units will fail. Each thing falls like a line of dominoes.
People who are familiar with how a product comes to market understood this. People who know how manufacturing works understood this. People who read the forum regularly also understood this. My question for you is…How is Dan supposed to get the idea across to all of the people who do not follow the forum and who do not understand what these things mean? Is he supposed to send a personal email to everyone telling them, “Hey we’re running into delays…if you are counting on this for business you’d better bail?”
Well, guess what…he just did.
He could have waited for another 2 months, and tried to hit the June deadline or July, or maybe August. But he’s given the people who are counting on it two extra months to cancel their orders, get a full refund, and buy another machine…(And he took the blame for it, which is very classy. I can assure you, he was not responsible for what caused the delays. At most, he and the GlowForge team are guilty of holding on to the hope that the delays could be made up, for a little too long.)
If he had released a product that didn’t work, you would not have been any further along, and it would have been June, not April…two more months lost.
So each affected individual needs to decide if they can afford to wait or not…now.
I am very sympathetic to those of you who were counting on it for business, but if you are going to be successful in business, you already know that you always have a backup plan. Life is full of obstacles that you have to work around, no matter what.
Expressing disappointment is okay, but it doesn’t move you forward. Being angry is understandable, but counter-productive. It’s not going to get you a machine one single day sooner, and it has a horrible negative effect on your own health. So get mad, get over it , and for gosh sakes, if this is needed for business - get cracking on Plan B!
I wonder what the rate is for projects like this. Simultaneously, that manages to sound like a very small and a very large number.
My family was at the office with me this weekend. I’m lucky they’re so understanding.
Thank you @sawa.
December is the month we expect to complete shipping them (for preorders before Oct 25). We got a lot of feedback that people were frustrated with “orders start shipping on…” communication we did at the start, so we’re just going to focus on when you should plan to receive it vs. when we start shipping them.
We will start shipping international orders after we’ve made sure that domestic shipments are arriving safely, but we’ll ship international orders based on order dates as well.
I appreciate your support, @Jules. But as far as I’m concerned, anyone who feels mislead, confused, or upset is on us. It’s our job to communicate well with everyone. And more importantly it’s our job to deliver on time. So I don’t fault anyone their anger, disappointment, or frustration.
See his response, below:
Exactly why I started my own business, it’s still… let’s just say extra micro (especially compared to what you do), but being able to be my own boss is extremely gratifying.
This is sorta like Déjà vu or Groundhog Day.
Every year before football season I get really pumped up about the season’s possibilities - you know, undefeated, the biggest bowl, national championship. But then the season starts and after a successful start, your first loss, maybe two in a row. I now know there won’t be a championship (which I really KNEW all along), but I’m still looking forward to a winning season and bowl game. I also know that as disappointed as I feel, the coach and players probably feel worse about those losses.
Well, same thing with GF. I was really hoping for a June delivery, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I also think Dan and the GF staff are even more disappointed than I am, but I still think the GF will be a winner. (The analogy isn’t perfect since I still think the GF will be a champion.)
Bottom line: Disappointed, not-surprised, still confident.
A long history of crowdfunding adventures has left me with a split personality. My Rational Pragmatic side generally starts the lecture as StarryEyed GollyGeeWhiz is hovering over the “Me, too!” button: Crowdsourced inventions (1) rarely live up to their promises, (2) fail about 20% of the time, and (3) typically run an on-time delivery record that’s inversely proportional to campaign popularity.
GollyGeeWhiz, though, wants it now, it wants it perfect, and it wants it delivered. She presses the button.
Yep, I get the engineering difficulties, that’s an everyday thing at work. Yep, I understand that the higher the volume, the more difficult it is to find a reliable component supply source and bring it online. And most of all, since managing customer expectations and driving great user experience is what I do for a living, I get how hard it is to write these letters, especially when your marketing is done in forums where heroes can quickly become villains. (very well-done, btw)
Right now, though, Pragmatic is reminding GollyGeeWhiz about that very interesting experience we had last year with the ZANO drones, compounded by the fact that she talked us into upgrading to TWO of the bloody things. And we upgraded to the Professional Glowforge…
GollyGeeWhiz is covering her ears. Sigh.
There will be a brief intermission while those two duke it out. We’ll see who wins. In the meantime, carry on, guys, and good luck! I’ll see if we can’t catch you at a Maker Faire.
Yeah, and this will be an issue when you start to sell things. All the laser groups are full of leeches that, when you post something, they all start demanding for the template, and if you don’t give it up, then you’re insulted. It’s bizarre, but people hate paying for creative efforts.
Thanks for the update, Dan. I figured a significant schedule slip was coming due to previous posts regarding the PSUs. That said, the recent interface screenshot that hit the forum made me feel a lot better about the odds of the GF user experience not sucking–my patience is consumed by actually designing things in CAD, so there really isn’t much left to put towards dealing with the immensely frustrating software which drives most manufacturing tools.
So long as you guys end up with a really awesome product, I don’t mind the delays. Unless, of course, Tesla manages to deliver a new product in quantity before you can… 
Yes I’m a bit bummed but it is very important to me to receive a product that has all the bugs figured out. I know about the warranty period that comes with the units but if a bug should appear after the warranty period will this bug be removed at no charge? Thank You for the extras and keep up the good work.
Yeah, you should try being a photographer. 
Oh, this I know quite well. I didn’t start with paper cutting. I’ve been selling since 2007. This has happened to me with glass etching, sculpting, and even painting (“It’ll be good exposure to paint us something for free!”) I was counting on using the Glowforge for not only my own designs, but to have access to some of the funds the artists I’ve come across along the way will spend to have their own designs rendered on such a machine. We artists may be a broke lot in general, but if there is anything we will spend money on, it’s to try new things with our own designs.
Haha oh I’m familiar. Amateur only, but I’ve done my share of assistant gigs.
With all the apologies @dan has made today, I’m going to talk to my good friend Justin Trudeau and see about getting @dan that Canadian citizenship he so justly deserves.
Careful, America. Canadians are everywhere. 
While it is quite fair to say they knew this delay was needed far earlier than it was announced… it is not fair to say when they should have announced it.
At any moment in the last 2 months, they could have said “Power supply still sucks, we will be delayed until someone else gets it right” that would not have been well received at all.
I would hope that they waited until they DID have a viable power supply, prepped for mass production capability, before sitting down to re-calculate their new date. Coming out with a solid “next december” which includes enough slop for other unexpected delays will hurt, but sit far better than entering an eternal “not quite yet…” status.
So, I join many others in hoping that while they are saying December, they are really thinking early November, but allowing for issues which certainly will arise.
On a side note, for those who are basing businesses around the Glowforge, I have to agree that this is a poor choice. Not only do you have no idea when the forge will arrive, but you also have no idea what it will be capable of.
So… anyone who does have business plans around the forge, I would say go get the cheapo laser cutters and hire someone to help get you as close to “push button get product” status as possible on that machine. Stop waiting for a dream. Even though I have faith in what we will get from the Glowforge team, I would NOT base a business around it.
Or have it shipped to a border town in he USA and make a day trip. (If you can) I use CBI all the time.
This article has a comment from Dan about the power supplies. Just a paragraph at the end with a non-technical description for those not familiar with high voltage power supplies. Also notice the new picture that include a Glowforge Pro case.
I must say I suspected that there would be some delay but not for six months. I am a believer in GF but my husband isn’t and I had managed to convince him that the device is a game changer. Not sure how I will explain away this one but I still believe in the GF team and what they are trying to do. In fact, I think Crowd-funders have already and will continue to invent great technology. I have a sneaky feeling that people are equally or more concerned that there money will not go down the drain, than they are about the delivery timeline. Maybe @dan can provide some assurance that this will not happen.
Maybe this is too early but I am also concerned about technical support post delivery. I don’t want to be stuck in the middle of a job with a broken GF. Dan, how will this happen? I think I’m gonna stay with this one. I have read “Hotseat” and I’m very impressed.
Great to hear @dan and I totally agree, I just want a good estimate of when I can actually expect my unit. As an oculus rift supporter as well, I don’t really care about when they start shipping, I care about when I get mine. 
So while the news is disappointing, I am not bent out of shape over it. Expectations have been managed.
