16 replies to this topic

[mglstriker]

Anyone know what happened to all GPX5000 on ebay?

[Chris Coffee]

Most dealers are having a hard time keeping them in stock due to demand. There are a few on ebay that are taking pre-orders, but be real careful buying from eBay. There are a lot of counterfeits hitting the net.

[DolanDave]

I would not buy from ebay unless you personally picked it up, and saw a receipt of where it was purchased. As Chris says lots of fakes from China out there.
Dave

[Placer Chaser]

Very interesting.... I dont think its a volume thing.

[Placer Chaser]

Looks like everyone is sold out. African gold rush buying up all the stock. You were right Chris!

[cp90macs]

I know Minelab have come up with a system to combat the counterfiets problems through their authorize dealerships. For us the end users, It is pretty much the same... only deal with a authorized and trusted dealer! I wish Minelab had added a sticker that did not required a "special" viewer!

http://www.minelab.c...English_web.pdf

That way, we all could fight the counterfiters.

More Au to you, Robert

[Rob Allison]

Hey Guys,

What I can tell you is Minelab Americas have been working very hard to elliminate these guys selling fake GPX detectors on Ebay and other auction type sites for extremely high prices. I know several guys recently that were waiting for GPX-5000 from me, but decided they couldn't wait any longer and purchased off of Ebay. Both guys called crying, they not only got scammed, they paid for fakes!!!

I hate to say it, but only purchased from a Authorized and Certified US Minelab dealer. You can visit Minelab's website to verfiy any dealer, or call them directly and ask them about who you are buying from.

Rob's Detector Sales only deals with local, US customers, we don't put making a few more bucks in front of selling a detector to a US resident.

Also, Minelab does now have a special seal and with the dealer lens we can verfiy all Minelab detectors.

Hope this helps,

Rob Allison

[Southside]

African gold rush? What African gold rush, is there another after the Sudan? Thanks, Southy

[Crazy Pete]

Geez i hope the fakers dont get their grubby little hands on one of them you beaut dealer lenses.
Play it safe and as Rob said - only deal with authorised & certified Minelab Dealers regardless of your country of origin.


Pete

[DolanDave]

I can say Rob is a GREAT DEALER !!!! Right when the Sudan gold rush was going on years ago, I purchased a gpx4500 from him, he put me right in front being in the U.S. and close by. Then not 6 months later, the gpx5000 came out, I sold my 4500 and bought a 5000 from him, and was at my front door the next day.
Dave.

[Rob Allison]

Hey Dave and members,

Thanks for the comments and we greatly appreciate your repeat business. Right now it's a struggle to keep GPX-5000's in stock, let alone getting any quanity to amount to anything. Before this second Gold Rush in Africa, I could order as many as I needed and have them on my doorstep within 4-5 business days. Now, I could dangle $100,000 cash in front of Minelab Americas and still not get a unit. As sad as this might sound, I'm actually glad. A couple of years ago Minelab was sending hundreds to certain dealers, but other smaller dealers (not myself) couldn't get a single unit to sell to a friend, local customer or anyone that might of called them within the US.

Now Minelab Americas, from my understanding is closely looking at the dealers orders and history to see if their order is something outside the norm. This would be like a dealer that normally sells a few GPX-5000's within a few months, but now is trying to order 20-30 at a shot.

I currently have a long backorder of local, US customers that I have submitted to Minelab Americas. I will not bump any customer on my list regardless of what someone would offer me for a GPX-5000. If they want to pay $8000 for the unit, then they will wait in line just like anyone else.

It's my understanding from the amount of phone calls, that others dealers are placing local customers last, making more money per unit. I fell this is not "Doing the Right Thing," so I will not do this.

We offer probably the best bundle package along with field instructions that I personally conduct. The last 25 Minelab GPX-5000 customers that I have trained, 23 of them found at least one nugget, some as many as 4-5 nuggets on a single outing. Not a bad overall percentage of finds and some happy customers to boot!

Not to be too sarcastic, but other dealers have adjusted their packages and services, not the other way around.

Just my thoughts,

Rob Allison

[Reno Chris]

Rob, if a friend of mine wanted to buy a GPX5000 and was willing to get on your list and wait, roughly how long are we talking about (ballpark) for the current wait at this time?

[buffalochip]

Rob, unfortunately i am one of the ones that did not find any gold while out with you. But it sure wasn't from a lack of you trying to help me! It just wasn't in the cards for that day. I will definately recommend you to anyone wanting to buy a minelab or anything else. keep up the terrific service, Chip

[Rob Allison]

Hello Guys,

Reno Chris - We do currently have a large backorder list, all which are local US customers (mostly in California, Montana, Alaska and here in Arizona). Have him call us on our office line and we can discuss details on time with him in person. I have a shipment going to arrive within a few days, I "might" be able to help him out, but not promises until I see the shipment first.

Chip - Yep, you gave it hell that day looking for a nugget. Sometimes customers hunt all day with no luck, many end up getting 1-2, but some have walked away with 4-5 within the day, some pretty good size (up to 1/2 ounce). I appreciate your business and your willingness to pass my name around. I promise to give them the same service, if not better

On another note, the field instructions are give to make sure the customers understand the metal detector and when they leave they can set it up and have a good, basic understanding of all the fuctions and timings and where to use them. Some customers just want to find nuggets, which is understandable, but I like to focus on training more than how many nuggets can one find in a day.

Talk with you all later,

Rob Allison

[Silly]

can't wait to get my 3 days of training with Rob...

P.S. 1 is there a breakfast menu ? ham, bacon, sausage, eggs (over easy) toast would be fine...

P.S. 2 Rob does your couch have pillows or do we bring our own ???

Silly me...

[Rob Allison]

Hey Silly,

I guess you're being silly, but just to clarify we at Rob's Detector Sales don't do 3-day training courses for field instructions. We offer a complete day of field instructions with any PI purchase. I don't believe anyone needs more than a days worth of training, as at some point you will only master your detector and skills by experimenting and using the detector on different ground conditions. I guess if you had 30-40 customers and only a few trainers you might need to offer 3 days worth of training, I'm not sure.

I'm waiting for the day the customer fixes me breakfast, maybe you could be the first.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison

[Chris Coffee]

As a somewhat recent customer of Rob's I can tell you that although it is only a one day training session, he is absolutely correct in saying that it only takes one day. The way he conducted his training with me was exactly the way I hoped it would be. Everything was explained in a way that was easy for me to understand. I was already somewhat familiar with some of the functions on the 5000 since I had already owned a GP3000, but those functions that were new to me he made easy to learn and fun to use.

I got lucky on my training day and found 2 nuggets totaling just over 1 dwt, but because of Rob's training I know that if the gold is there I can find it with the machine. And the continued customer support is phenomenal.