MP Molds Group Buy Progress Tracker

[KCcactus]

A few thoughts:

When you are looking at production numbers, he makes more than molds than just those for the GB. There would be extras in case some get lost or damaged in the mail, plus some extras to sell. I would guess the number of extras depends on how popular he thinks the mold will be. Of my 5 MP molds, three were bought outside of GBs. One of them I bought a couple of years after the GB ended.

I hope Miha sells molds through other venues, too. Building a business solely on customers from a single website run by someone else would be risky.

As for shipping times, I've been amazed at how fast my molds got here. My in-laws live in Hungary, which isn't very far from Slovenia. They send packages to our kids several times a year. Delivery times range from 2 weeks to well over a month. Average seems to be 3-4 weeks.

[BattleRife]

Spreadsheet updated for July.

May and June saw four buys completed and 118 moulds delivered. There were also an additional four buys representing almost 200 moulds that were closed in early June but haven't delivered yet. These are presumably close to being finished, so I think it's safe to say that Miha had a very workmanlike start to the summer. There are now 17 active buys, 632 moulds on order. Several of those "active" buys appear to be quite dead, and the time may be nigh where those involved need to make some choices and maybe ask themselves if a buy that has been running over two years and has sold only two moulds really should be considered alive?

Miha has introduced a new strategy, making regular runs of popular moulds so that they will be available as inventory, removing the need for future group buys of those styles. This will make the numbers shown on my spreadsheet less representative of Miha's true production capacity, but of course it never has been particularly accurate in that regard, anyway.

[BattleRife]

Posted a spreadsheet updated to September. There were 4 buys finished off, representing 145 moulds delivered to buy customers, in July and August. Two more buys (81 moulds) have already completed in September. And finally, five new buys have begun (one of those having already finished!) since the last update. There are currently 16 active buys and the mould order count continues to drop, down to 478.

[kayak1]

I appreciate the PDF. It's a simple way to see what's open and if I am missing any of the molds.

[BattleRife]

I'm glad to hear the tracking spreadsheet is working for you, Kayak1.

I have posted the update for November. For the first time in over a year we see an uptick in the number of open buys and moulds on order, to 19 and 541, respectively. This is due entirely to a half dozen buys initiated and honchoed by Miha himself. Three of these buys are still open, while three have already been closed and invoiced, and some even have their moulds.

None of the legacy buys progressed at all, though we did get hints that the 8mm Sil and .30 Heavy Sil may be about to make the jump to production.

[chrisstophere]

I like the spreadsheet. Thank you for creating it and keeping up with it. I just wish there was a way we could get tracking numbers for our purchases. My local mail delivery lady is horrible at her job and for all I know the mold could be here, but the lady delivered it to the wrong address or something. God she's terrible.

[BattleRife]

Updated February 1, 2016.

November through January saw seven buys finished off and 138 moulds delivered into the hands of their happy owners. It is worth noting that all of these buys were relatively short, with none of them going over 4 months, start to finish. It is also worth noting that not a single one of the eleven legacy buys saw a single step of progress in these three months. The legacy buys range in age from 18 to 45 months. One would think that progress must happen soon, as out of 11 buys that are open to orders, 10 are in the legacy category. There simply are no other orders that could be worked on, unless a bunch of new buys are created.

The buy list now sits at 16 active, representing 590 moulds on order.

[Hamish]

"One would think that progress must happen soon, as out of 11 buys that are open to orders, 10 are in the legacy category. There simply are no other orders that could be worked on, unless a bunch of new buys are created."

You know, that would be a perfectly logical premise, except for the fact that the CB groups buys are not his only buyers, don't forget that he sells to not only Europe but the entire planet.

[BattleRife]

Spreadsheet updated for May.

The MP Molds group buy situation is unlike what I have seen before. Previously there was always some staging of progress: some buys open to sign ups; some closed to sign ups while material was procured and parts manufactured; some buys in the invoicing and payment stage; still more buys paid and waiting for delivery. But since March 14^th there have been no buys at any intermediate stages. There are buys active and open to sign up, and there are buys that are closed and delivered. Nothing in between, unless you count the 358429 Keith bullet buy, which is delivered but due for some rework owing to an error with the front band. And there has been no credible word from the manufacturer to indicate that he is working on (or intends to work on) any of the long standing buys. Traffic on and off the buy lists has slowed to nothing in most cases, probably because either the buyers or list keepers, or both, have lost interest (or hope).

There are 11 group buys open. One is only a few weeks old, the remaining are legacy buys summarized as follows:

#	Description	Age	Moulds Ordered	Last Post by Miha in Buy Thread
11	6.5mm Cruise Missile	49 Months	62	9/13/2013: “I have some difficulties with cherry (dimensions). Blocks and sprues are ready......”
21	8mm Sil	47 Months	44	10/2/2015: “We are moving.....”
22	Lyman 311241	46 Months	35	Never
23	30 Heavy Sil	46 Months	74	11/4/2015: “This one is going to machine......”
25	.22 for Air Rifles	44 Months	21	Never
31	8mm Karabiner	40 Months	2	Never
32	8mm Maximum	40 Months	12	Never
50	361627 Cramer HP	33 Months	32	Never
62	300 ACC Blackout HP	25 Months	85	2/25/2015: “Yes, I'm working on it.....”
63	6.5 Grendel Cramer HP	23 Months	14	Never

Miha is not only failing to offer any kind of updates or estimates of completion, he has been absolutely silent on the very existence of many of these buys. There has been no real progress in years, and statements like “I’m working on it” seem to be his equivalent to “the cheque is in the mail”. Miha’s efforts instead seem to be on entering new endeavours such as manufacture of aftermarket tools for Dillon Equipment. Many people appear to be quietly (or not so quietly) disappointed or angry and sign ups for new buys by MP Molds have dropped to a tiny fraction of what we used to see. I wonder if Miha should be considered to be out of the custom mould business, for all intents and purposes.

[castalott]

Just a thought on my part....Some of those Group Buys are honchoed by now banned members. What this determines I do not know....

[StuBach]

Just a thought on my part....Some of those Group Buys are honchoed by now banned members. What this determines I do not know....

Other honchos have picked up where 45 2.1 left off though not sure what communication has occurred with Miha on the subject.