On calculator sales, and praise for The Calculator Store

[Idnarn]

I am in Singapore and I wanted to purchase the HP 15C collector's edition calculator some days ago. The official shop https://shop.moravia.education/ auto-redirected me to the website of a company called Fiamo here in Singapore, which appeared to be a distributor. I wanted to know where I could purchase the calculator from and get fair pricing for it. I called up Fiamo and the person who answered the call said he had his own store (another website) and I could purchase it from there. That store listed it at SGD 204. I asked him if this was a fair retail price (I didn't know, as it was a classic reissue and probably limited in production) and if I could purchase it in Singapore at a better price somewhere - they were the linked distributor after all. At this point, he ridiculed me saying it was not a vegetable shop that I was speaking to. He said his prices would be higher than retail shops as he sold these calculators to them in quantities of 500 and could not hurt them. I was looking for a referral to some retailer where I could purchase it at a fair price. I told him that I didn't like the blunt way of his conversation and said thank you and bye.

Car analogy: When a person wants to purchase a car, would they not ask the car salesperson "Is this a reasonable price for this car?" If a person wants to purchase a house, would they not ask the agent "Is this a reasonable valuation for this location?" And is there anything derogatory about being a vegetable vendor?

Moravia redirected me to Fiamo, I didn't choose it.

I came across this wonderful HP calculator forum, learned of the hidden 16C in the 15C collector's edition, the DEC mode bug affecting it, and of The Calculator Store. I emailed The Calculator Store, and a person Joao Divasson politely replied to my questions about their bundle offering. Their calculator bundle cost EUR 93.42 (~SGD 134.29) + shipping and I ordered 10 pieces from them. This was a bundle where they took care of flashing the latest firmware with the DEC mode bug fixed, and included a USB cable, and a HP 16C keyboard overlay. Upon reading the articles there and user "Divasson"'s forum posts here, Joao doesn't appear to be into calculators just for sales.. he appears to be too much of a calculator enthusiast and considerate of the calculator community.

The moral of this post is that if a person is in sales---whether they are a mighty vegetable vendor or just a petty calculator distributor---a big part of the job is hearing customer questions about product information, price, ordering, and answering customers kindly. The type of customers who want to purchase a classic RPN calculator probably aren't going to ask a lot of product information questions; they may have pricing and ordering related questions mainly. Customers want to be treated kindly, not ridiculed. The Calculator Store got my order. Thank you Joao for assisting me gently!

[Pierre]

Regarding "The Calculator Store" I have already made several purchases and each time I have been very satisfied.
And José is available to answer questions.
Like a greengrocer who would have grown his own vegetables with care and love, José is a "gardener" who takes care of his "vegetables" with passion.
And in terms of price, he is rather well placed.
So a little free publicity is deserved.
And your words, Idnarn, are totally justified!

[Jase]

Lovely post. Thanks.

I ordered my first 15C CE from hpofficesupply.com.
I loved it so much, I decided to order another, but by then I had discovered this forum and learned about The Calculator Store, and the firmware flashing, the cable, and the overlay.

Great experience.
My only regret - why oh why did I not also take advantage of already having to pay for international shipping and also buy 2 of those leather cases for the 15 ::face-palm-moment::

[cheesy]

Had a somewhat similar experience with Fiamo - they didn't know anything about the firmware bugs or updates, programming cable etc. and were very dismissive over the phone.

Ended up buying one from thecalculatorstore although shipping was nearly half the price of the enhanced bundle mainly because of their posts on the forum and the enthusiasm they've shown and still show.

Was extremely tempted to buy more than one but I'd already spent far too much on other tech toys that month. Still kinda regretting it because shipping for another unit is gonna be painful.

p.s. let me know if you're selling any of your 10

[DA74254]

Been convincing myself for a very long time that I don't need the 15c CE, and have managed to resist. (I don't even like landscape calculators)
Today, after reading this post, and with the "bundle" offered, I no longer could convince my "you don't need this" train of toughts. So, this morning, an order was placed at The Calculator Store..

[carey]

(09-22-2024 03:49 PM)DA74254 Wrote:  (I don't even like landscape calculators)

It's of course a personal preference, but a few things I like about landscape models (e.g., HP Voyagers and TI-Voyage200 -- interesting that both company's "Voyage(r)"-named calculators are landscape models) are:
1) wide displays
2) more sensible key groupings seem possible
3) easier to locate keys at a glance than scanning the greater number of rows on vertical models. (Perhaps related to how our eyes read line-by-line).
4) more stable working on a desktop.

[AnnoyedOne]

(09-22-2024 07:53 PM)carey Wrote:  It's of course a personal preference, but a few things I like about landscape models...

One thing I really like about all the HP Voyager models. They fit (comfortably) in a shirt pocket. Few calculators do.

I was seriously considering buying a SwissMicro's DM15L before I discovered the HP-15C CE. That changed the equation for me.

I didn't buy a USB cable because, at the time, there was no need to have one. Then Moravia released new firmware and VoyagerSave. Now I have the cable too.

A1

[carey]

(09-22-2024 08:03 PM)AnnoyedOne Wrote:  I was seriously considering buying a SwissMicro's DM15L before I discovered the HP-15C CE. That changed the equation for me.

Agreed, the 15C CE is great, especially its speed and now a save option with cable.

A nice option with the DM15L is that the excellent desktop HP15c simulator (with many enhanced features) by Torsten Manz can exchange data with the DM15L via a standard mini-usb cable.

[Jase]

(09-22-2024 03:49 PM)DA74254 Wrote:  Been convincing myself for a very long time that I don't need the 15c CE, ... this morning, an order was placed at The Calculator Store..

I never had a 15c, but I have a 1993 hp 12c that is hardly used, and the buttons on this 15c CE blow away the 12c.
I have zero regrets. It's replaced my 48GX, as my desk calculator.

[DA74254]

(09-22-2024 07:53 PM)carey Wrote:  

(09-22-2024 03:49 PM)DA74254 Wrote:  (I don't even like landscape calculators)

It's of course a personal preference, but a few things I like about landscape models (e.g., HP Voyagers and TI-Voyage200 -- interesting that both company's "Voyage(r)"-named calculators are landscape models) are:
1) wide displays
2) more sensible key groupings seem possible
3) easier to locate keys at a glance than scanning the greater number of rows on vertical models. (Perhaps related to how our eyes read line-by-line).
4) more stable working on a desktop.

I normally have the calculator in my hands (like a phone) when in use. Since my right thumb is more or less useless (birth defect), I had problems holding the only landscape model I've had (a Sharp of which I don't remember type of, but scientific and 10+2 digits, algebraic, in the mid-80'ies). I'll se how this "sits" in my hands.

(09-22-2024 08:03 PM)AnnoyedOne Wrote:  One thing I really like about all the HP Voyager models. They fit (comfortably) in a shirt pocket. Few calculators do.

Well, I'm more than halfway through my 50's, but still never use shirts, except on Christmas and/or in funerals.. I'm a T-shirt wearer, both at home and at work (ships engineer). Thus, the "fits in a shirt pocket" does not apply to me. But of course, it's always nice with a smallish handy and advanced RPN calculator.

[AnnoyedOne]

(09-22-2024 09:04 PM)carey Wrote:  A nice option with the DM15L is...

As I understand it a Torsten Manz HP-15C simulator and HP-15C CE data exchange feature is in beta.

Also there's apparently a beta program that takes a VoyagerSave file and dumps any program(s) in it. Hopefully the reverse as well.

I'm not a beta tester for either.

Unlike the HP-15C LE the CE is being supported Thanks to Moravia et al.

Not bad for a calculator (reboot) from 1982.

A1

[johnb]

I, too, have had an excellent experience with José and The Calculator Store.
He knows his audience, his customers, and his products! And he understands the magic of happy customers, word-of-mouth advertising, and repeat business!

Two things, one funny and one serious.

Funny item first. I carry my 15c Collector's Edition everywhere with me. Even though I have many HPs that I spent less on, they would now cost more to replace than my 15c/CE would, so why not have the newest one with me?

A friend who's in the banking industry (and who's supplied me with several 12c's he's rescued) recently chided me for calculating a tip. "You seem to carry that thing everywhere. Do you really need it for this?" I replied, "Nope. I can compute 18% or 20% in my head faster than I can even get the calculator out of my pocket."

Him: "Why, then?"

Me: "I use my HP calculators every chance I can get... or create..."

He thought that was just hilarious, and I guess it is!


Now for the serious item:
The original poster (@idnarn) said he asked Fiamo whether their price was a fair one or not. The only answer you should expect from any salesman is "sure, my price is fair, it's up to you to decide if you want to pay it." This is regardless of the price being charged.

Now, an exceptional salesperson might say, "my price is lowest and if you don't believe me, check the prices of these competitors of mine." Or they might say, "no, my price is not lowest, but here's why, this [blah blah] is the additional value you get by buying from me at a slightly higher price than competitor xxx. Check them out, then come back to me if what you see there worries you." If you get a salesperson who says either of these, they are solid gold: buy from them and stick with them!

However, in general, you should not otherwise trust what a salesperson says. Of course they think their price is fair: others are buying from them, and anything the market will bear could be considered "a 'fair' price."

It is the buyer's responsibility to do the research ahead of time, and to know what is the typical price range of something, and what the maximum price is that they're willing to pay, and what they expect to get for that price. This on virtually anything whose price is not set and regulated by a government entity.

Anything less is just asking to be taken advantage of.

[Pierre]

(09-23-2024 12:27 PM)AnnoyedOne Wrote:  

(09-22-2024 09:04 PM)carey Wrote:  A nice option with the DM15L is...

As I understand it a Torsten Manz HP-15C simulator and HP-15C CE data exchange feature i...

There are already solutions for exchanging programs between "15c" calculators and emulators such as Torsten Manz's.



You will find my interface on my site clones.phweb.me

[AnnoyedOne]

(09-23-2024 10:01 PM)Pierre Wrote:  There are already solutions for exchanging programs between "15c" calculators and emulators such as Torsten Manz's.

Pierre,

Thanks but I have a HP-15C CE and not a SwissMicros DM15L. The VoyagerSave program from Moravia saves the state of a HP-15C CE in raw binary format (2048 bytes of RAM). I don't know what format (.D15 file) SwissMicros use but I think that it is different (text?).

I tried your Excel spreadsheet with a "dump file" created using VoyagerSave and no go.

If it is possible for this to work you need to explain (in English) how. The HP-15C CE and DM15L are not the same.

A1

PS: I don't read/write/speak French. Sorry.

[Idnarn]

(09-22-2024 06:09 AM)cheesy Wrote:  Was extremely tempted to buy more than one but I'd already spent far too much on other tech toys that month. Still kinda regretting it because shipping for another unit is gonna be painful.

p.s. let me know if you're selling any of your 10

I bought them for myself, not to resell, but to use in different places.

Are you in Singapore? If I buy more from the Calculator Store, I'll get in touch.

[Geoff Quickfall]

Just an addendum to this thread.

Knowing that the 15CE has an expanded memory state or you can use the standard mem state:

It would be fun to see other fields of use add to the user library of calculator states. Engineering, Surveying, Nuclear Physics are just some examples.

The Calculator Store thanks to Jose has two downloadable states with manuals at the moment: Finance and Aviation.

Would be fun to have a 15CE notes akin to the HP 65 notes from 1975.

Cheers all, also recommend if you can, attending the HHC conferences.

[Divasson]

In order to have the opportunity of getting all overlays, we have now an offer with:

HP15c CE + firmware upgrade + cable + HP16c overlay + Aviation overlay + Finance overlay

With 10% additional discount using BUNDLE15 at checkout

And another with the all the overlays with a substantial discount:

Set of overlays for HP15c

also with 10% additional discount using BUNDLE15 at checkout

Cable is needed for the second bundle (it is included with the HP15c CE bundle)

[DA74254]

Just received
Ordered last Sunday and today my 15c CE "bundle" with 16c overlay and cable was delivered at my door.
A certain other company in mid-central Eutope should reconsider their shipper, d.t the fact that shipping from Spain was both cheaper, with full tracking, and faster.

I have to say, I'm suprised by the size as I thought it would be CC size, but it is significantly larger.
Can't wait to start playing with it. I guess this will be my day-to-day use calculator.