Production Aquanaut Basic/Extreme - Ultra Low Profile CPU Block & Pump Mount Combo

[duynguyenle]

Guys, calm down. I don‘t say that the price for the Aquanaut is pricey and i know that a ADII will be more complicated and more expensive to get. But if ya all don‘t know: The Steck IS free shipping right now! So think about what i said and then ask yourself this tiny question. Why is the Steck free of charge and this tiny thing possibly shipping in an bubbe envelope so damn expensive to ship?! And as all people before me mention. This is not all, the most european countrys want their VAT and FedEx is outrageously charging for their service. So im not even talkin about ca. 90€ it is way more (ca. 110-130€) for sure. This is why im even thinking about going the not so powerful way of simply using an Eisbaer LT for 60€ all in.
But again, it‘s more my simple question of why the Steck is free and Aquanaut not than anything else. I can‘t get it. Nouvolo would double the sales i think if they would find a way to make shipping cheaper.

For sure, but I think part of that is because Nouvolo probably already baked in additional margin within the pricing of the case to cover shipping!

 

[screwbox]

And as ever so slightly is the price of some bent and coated sheet of metal low enough to include the shipping. I get it. But is the price of some tiny milled pieces of metal and acryl not as low to make some good margin and include the shipping?
I really don‘t want to kill their profit. No! I‘m just out of my own excuses why i have to pay shipping for some thing and not for the other. It‘s not that i didn’t thought about every instance and i simply don‘t understand that. So just as my last callout: if the shipping of this is going under 10€ for europe or eradicate the outrageous FedEx handling fee i‘m instantly buing it. But for now i cant‘t justify the shipping costs for myself. I have to draw the line somewhere, i‘m sorry. I even thought about buying another stack unit additionally to the Aquanaut to get free shipping and sell the glaspanels. But i actually didn‘t want a double stacked Steck because for me it is not SFF enough anymore this way.
So again, it‘s not the money guys, it is a matter of principle.

 

[Nicholas Chapman]

Mate, you’ve made your point. It’s for you to decide whether or not you are willing to pay the aggregate price for this. Can we move on now.

 

[duynguyenle]

And as ever so slightly is the price of some bent and coated sheet of metal low enough to include the shipping. I get it. But is the price of some tiny milled pieces of metal and acryl not as low to make some good margin and include the shipping?
I really don‘t want to kill their profit. No! I‘m just out of my own excuses why i have to pay shipping for some thing and not for the other. It‘s not that i didn’t thought about every instance and i simply don‘t understand that. So just as my last callout: if the shipping of this is going under 10€ for europe or eradicate the outrageous FedEx handling fee i‘m instantly buing it. But for now i cant‘t justify the shipping costs for myself. I have to draw the line somewhere, i‘m sorry. I even thought about buying another stack unit additionally to the Aquanaut to get free shipping and sell the glaspanels. But i actually didn‘t want a double stacked Steck because for me it is not SFF enough anymore this way.
So again, it‘s not the money guys, it is a matter of principle.

Fedex charges are not something Nouvolo has any control over, so why are you saying it as if he's got any say on that. CNC milling is actually fairly expensive, especially for small low-volume products.

The solution is simple, if it's too much for you to pay, buy a different product that fits your price bracket. You don't have to keep wailing about it. There's nothing about principles here, it's purely whether or not this product is priced appropriately for you. If Nouvolo puts up the price by 30 quid and offers "Free Shipping", would you still buy it? (Keeping in mind, import duties are based on declared value of the product, so your tax bill will actually be MORE expensive this way, plus the Fedex handling charge still applies)

 

[screwbox]

You are all right. I just want to make this statement because if nobody writes down what is holding him down from buying their product Nouvolo may not know why.
So by now this point is clear and i will shut up as you wish. At some point all early adopter willing to pay this price are satisfied and Nouvolo wants to make some more customers they may make it free shipping and i will buy it, as simple as this. And i know i'm not the only one thinking this.
We all can go back to topic right now...

 

[SFF Watercooled]

Can someone link some good pumps for the Aquanaut for me?

 

[Nouvolo]

Please! If you ship with thinner screws with the possibilities to use the screwdriver, I am pretty sure we can also use the AM4 with the block rotated of 90degrees!

Just checked the block is just a few mm too long in the rotated 90° orientation ? . The block edges go right up to the mounting screw holes. I don't think any screws can fit. BUT I think I have a solution to this:

Aquanaut AM4 90° orientation suggestion (not tested 2020-10-29)
- use Aquanaut Intel 115X
- use a AM4 to 115X adapter

The adapter should be quite ubiquitous (amazon, aliexpress etc) and cheap. Something like this:



Edited: I think it will still need some thick washer to mod... but above is just to kickstart creative ideas

 

[thelaughingman]

Just checked the block is just a few mm too long in the rotated 90° orientation ? . The block edges go right up to the mounting screw holes. I don't think any screws can fit. BUT I think I have a solution to this:

Aquanaut AM4 90° orientation suggestion (not tested 2020-10-29)
- use Aquanaut Intel 115X
- use a AM4 to 115X adapter

The adapter should be quite ubiquitous (amazon, aliexpress etc) and cheap. Something like this:

View attachment 831

sorry for the dumb question but do I need to buy the Aquanaut Intel 115X version now? and then buy the adapter also? for the block to be in rotated orientation

 

[Nouvolo]

sorry for the dumb question but do I need to buy the Aquanaut Intel 115X version now? and then buy the adapter also? for the block to be in rotated orientation

Aquanaut AM4 is already good as it is. It supports and fits motherboards with biggest heatsinks in the advertised orientation, with the most straight forward installation for users.

Since Aq is rectangular (not square), it is not guaranteed to fit in any 90° rotated orientation. This is community's mod territory. I am just suggesting some possible out. Lets have the SFFF community explore and share findings.

 

[morj]

I am going to check with my shipping agent what is it all about the extra charges by FedEx. A fee for handling the VAT is not unexpected but the amount seems a bit steep... I will check whether other courier agent charges less (e.g. DHL).

Please note that I have chosen the best delivery service available, and probably apparent to you that you receive your Nouvolo products much faster than others (don't even try to compare ours to aliexpress...). Cheaper is not just slower but also higher risk of loss package, slow tracking update, etc, and overall it can be so much more hassle for all of us.

DHL Express (in Germany, where I reside) charges a flat 14€ fee for handling VAT for the package recipient. Which means for 100€ package recipient will pay 19€ VAT + 14€ fee (customs VAT was not reduced to 16% unlike other VAT in Germany).

DHL Express sends an invoice to email attached to the package (and SMS to mobile phone number) and puts the delivery on hold until recipient pays it. Can be paid via PayPal.

 

[Nouvolo]

DHL Express (in Germany, where I reside) charges a flat 14€ fee for handling VAT for the package recipient. Which means for 100€ package recipient will pay 19€ VAT + 14€ fee (customs VAT was not reduced to 16% unlike other VAT in Germany).

DHL Express sends an invoice to email attached to the package (and SMS to mobile phone number) and puts the delivery on hold until recipient pays it. Can be paid via PayPal.

I see, I have been using a shipping agent to handle the logistics side for me. I will need to discuss with them further on how to solve this problem satisfactorily. So this seems this fee applies to all online goods sold to EU. Wonder how other sellers tackle this issue.

Edit: Shipping agent said there is a way to tackle this, but may need some time for them to sort out the process. They just realized this problem also.

The only way to avoid this may be to sell through an EU distributor. But this means I will sell for lower price to a middle man, who will take a cut also. So the cost will still be there, albeit in different form.

 

[Nicholas Chapman]

@Nouvolo Having just gone to the online shop to pull the trigger on the AMD version ... I've seen they're now out of stock! Do you have an ETA and is there any way of pre-ordering or getting an alert when they're back in (even just by letting the community on here know)?

 

[morj]

I see, I have been using a shipping agent to handle the logistics side for me. I will need to discuss with them further on how to solve this problem satisfactorily. So this seems this fee applies to all online goods sold to EU. Wonder how other sellers tackle this issue.

One certain indie seller who was selling black 600W flex ATX PSUs here on the forum (you know, the one that was a disaster in terms of customer relations in general) just assumed it was my responsibility to handle those (quite unexpected to me) fees... Moreover, since I ended up needing a replacement, I paid this fee twice...

 

[duynguyenle]

One certain indie seller who was selling black 600W flex ATX PSUs here on the forum (you know, the one that was a disaster in terms of customer relations in general) just assumed it was my responsibility to handle those (quite unexpected to me) fees... Moreover, since I ended up needing a replacement, I paid this fee twice...

It is indeed your responsibility to pay import handling fees. That's what I assume most people knows. Here in the UK, whenever you receive a shipment above a certain value threshold (as of 2020 it is £15), your parcel is automatically flagged to be assessed by the government's customs agency, and you get sent a bill to pay with the import levy as well as an additonal handling charge. As far as I know, this is the same way it works in most EU countries. If you're outside the EEA, you may have a different legal arrangement regarding fees.

Regardless of what your country's particular importation levy rules and regulations, I have not ever come across a single instance where the seller of goods are liable for the fees imposed on imported parcels. It is generally at the buyer's impertus to make sure they are aware of their local laws regarding import duties and fees.

In your particular case, since you needed a replacement, there are sometimes exceptions made to waive the import fees if you can demonstrate to your local tax authorities that the parcel you received contains warranty replacement parts (there may be forms you can fill out and file with your tax authorities for a tax refund on the amount that you paid for the warranty replacement unit)

 

[jouz]

I'm regularly ordering PCBs from JLCPCB, and they recently started offering ship via "EuroPaket", computing & charging import taxes right on checkout.
They quote a longer shipping time for this method (~6 days rather than 3), but so far it actually has always been as fast or faster than any other shipping method I've used with them before, as these parcels never get hold up in customs. An of course no more FedEx/DHL fees .

JLCPCB has thousands of EU customers per day, so they have more capacities to implement "individual" solutions like this. But who knows, maybe this EuroPaket thing has an API for computing all of this, so that your shipping agent can integrate it?

 

[morj]

It is indeed your responsibility to pay import handling fees

Sure, that was not a problem. The problem is just because of seller inexperience the DHL Express shipping costed me 49€ instead of 35€, so to speak (just for the first package!). The VAT goes separate, I was totally prepared to pay it, just not prepared for the extra 14€ fee.
But I suppose that an experienced seller will either warn about it or try to find some better shipping option like @Nouvolo is considering.

you can demonstrate to your local tax authorities that the parcel you received contains warranty replacement parts (there may be forms you can fill out and file with your tax authorities for a tax refund on the amount that you paid for the warranty replacement unit)

I tried it and the seller somewhat helped, but the mention that package is a replacement was still not enough for the tax authorities during import. Also, even if I get the tax refund, the DHL fee is still gone, it's not refundable. Once again, I have nothing against paying VAT. But I ended up paying 28€ on top of that. The only case when I won't pay it is when it's zero tax due right when the package arrives (again it's only for DHL Express, their fee).

 

[srekal34]

What is funny is that(at least in the UK) FEDEX is the only provider with whom you have guaranteed VAT charges. Used UPS few times and never got charged.
I've also ordered far more valuable items than Aquanaut using 'Aliexpress standard shipping' and never got charged. Probably customs just assume its worthless garbage if it's from Aliexpress ?

 

[morj]

What is funny is that(at least in the UK) FEDEX is the only provider with whom you have guaranteed VAT charges. Used UPS few times and never got charged.
I've also ordered far more valuable items than Aquanaut using 'Aliexpress standard shipping' and never got charged. Probably customs just assume its worthless garbage if it's from Aliexpress ?

Avoiding import VAT might not be exactly legal. What am concerned about are just some extra fees DHL Express is charging on top of that for their already expensive shipping.

 

[duynguyenle]

What is funny is that(at least in the UK) FEDEX is the only provider with whom you have guaranteed VAT charges. Used UPS few times and never got charged.
I've also ordered far more valuable items than Aquanaut using 'Aliexpress standard shipping' and never got charged. Probably customs just assume its worthless garbage if it's from Aliexpress ?

UPS can and will absolutely shank you with import handling fees, speaking from personal experience, I think it mostly is based on the declared value of your parcel. Sometimes you do get lucky. Also, you might be able to ask the seller of whatever you're buying to declare the package at an abitrary low value (like 5 quid or something) but this is technically illegal.

As for aliexpress, it seems a lot of sellers on there will falsify the declared value by default, so it usually works out in the buyer's favour (but still illegal!). Not that I'm complaining when the odd parcel of mine got through without getting charged, but still... I order enough crap overseas that I've just accepted that VAT import fees and handling charges are a thing.

 

[duynguyenle]

Avoiding import VAT might not be exactly legal. What am concerned about are just some extra fees DHL Express is charging on top of that for their already expensive shipping.

I'm sorry about your experience with the PSU. In my experience though, all couriers will charge you a fee for handling the customs procedure for your parcels. There's not much getting around that fact unfortunately.