The Wand Company TOS Tricorder is coming!

[AJK001]

My only problem with TWC is the ordering process and the cluster **** that it has become. I have multiple products from them and I
I am very happy with all of them but this will be the last product I buy from them.

 

[sapper36]

So I had an intresting experience checking out.

I pushed through an order for two tricorders but realized I had it on my wifes debit card & I didn't want to screw her account up, I also didn't want to cancel & possibly lose the order. I looked and couldn't see a way to edit the payment method either. (BTW - They don't take discover I think)

So I ordered two more on my account and then once that was confirmed I was going to cancel the first order. Before I could do that Amazon-UK cancelled the first order for me - So it does seem to have a safeguard to prevent one account from loading up orders.

 

[asalaw]

Here's a couple of blog replies from Chris this morning. The first one is regarding the option of making the sale invitation-only on Amazon:

Chris Barnardo April 24, 2025 at 4:57 pm
We made extensive inquiries about this option with Amazon. It is only available to large organisations selling high volumes of products and only when sold by Amazon, not as a 3p seller like us. We requested this option and were refused it.

On why they didn't set up their own storefront on their website:

Chris Barnardo April 24, 2025 at 5:03 pm
you are right. Also we didn’t set this up years ago, we have had different ideas for selling it almost as many times as there have been years in this development. Originally we wanted to be in complete control of it and sell it through our own shop. We actually built a shop for it. There is a whole bunch of complex tax legislation in the US related to the state each purchase lives in and that made having our own shop an impossibility for this product and actually for us as a small company. The only option was then to sell on Amazon and the tariffs, which pretty much came out of nowhere in the last few weeks/months really were a curve ball. I am sure we will be making enough stock to go around… but rest assures none of this sales activity was done casually or with little thought… it’s been a minefield to negotiate, always with the goal of getting the product out as quickly as possible at the most appropriate, fan-friendly price.

And more generally about the way they're selling it, and product availability:

Chris Barnardo April 24, 2025 at 4:51 pm
Daniel, thanks for your comments. Please let us know if you can do some research and come up with a better way of selling it. We really did give it a lot of thought. Yes it is messy, but then so is the first day of the sales as any bluechip brick and mortar store… there really is not other way to cut it. We have enough product to go around, but not enough people to reply to the messages that are circulating. But please do some research and consider the number of products and the hurdles that need to be overcome and let us know if we can pivot to a better way. We have only shipped in a fraction of the inventory being made, so there is plenty of time to switch to a better way of selling the tricorder. We will seriously consider any sensible solution you can suggest.

I think the "key takeaway" (to use a corporate expression I can't stand) is,

EVERYBODY CALM THE $%$#% DOWN AND CUT THEM A LITTLE SLACK, THEY'RE DOING THE BEST THEY CAN. THEY'RE A SMALL COMPANY DOING BIG THINGS, AND DESERVE OUR SUPPORT.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

I think the "key takeaway" (to use a corporate expression I can't stand) is,

EVERYBODY CALM THE $%$#% DOWN AND CUT THEM A LITTLE SLACK, THEY'RE DOING THE BEST THEY CAN. THEY'RE A SMALL COMPANY DOING BIG THINGS, AND DESERVE OUR SUPPORT.

 

[Trooper_trent]

Man I feel like everyone here is being pretty reasonable. The FB groups and comments on the blog on the other hand, you'd think TWC came to their house and flipped over all of their furniture or something. I've posted Chris's response a few times to try and calm people down but it's no use. more and more threads just keep popping up.

On a side note, it looks like some people are already getting theirs delivered in the UK.

 

[enterprise0216]

People will be people... The good side, bad side and even the stupid side etc etc. Not much can be done other than once the fever is over and folks have it in hand they will simply move on to something else or stay here. Who knows big ole circus Don't forget there will be that group of folks that will ALWAYS find something to complain about b/c it makes them happy.

 

[FANATICO]

Apparently a bunch of goofball Klingon’s hijacked a shipment of TWC Tricorders to take to one of their moon’s…..and the last transmission heard was..(and I’ll translate for you)….”What’s this button for?” …..

Oh My….

Probably Tricorders didn’t come with manual’s….or a case of RTFM..

 

[asalaw]

Thanks to William McCullars over on the Fleet Workshop, I've become aware that the first unboxing videos have appeared on YouTube from the UK. It's three videos by apparently two different guys.

Why these guys both have their disks inserted writing-side-out is beyond me, but IDIC, I guess.

 

[PicasoX]

Why can't I find the listing? are they sold out already?

 

[asalaw]

Why can't I find the listing? are they sold out already?

No, they're very, very far from sold out. The listing appears to be hidden from searching till they finish loading in more inventory. As has been posted here several times now, they have 952 units being loaded as we speak, another shipment on its way from China, and many, many, many more in the manufacturing pipeline. The minimum factory order is 10,000 units.

 

[asalaw]

Here is (yet another) explanatory email from Chris to someone named Benjamin, posted today on FB. I have corrected typos and added emphasis.

Chris Barnardo (The Wand Company)
Apr 24, 2025, 15:50 GMT+1

Benjamin,

Thanks for your email... BTW so did 5,000 other people.

The roll out is the best that we and apparently Amazon can do. Unfortunately no one can wait their turn and as a result people are fighting over the small number of tricorders that have currently made it through the system onto Amazon. We have put more stock in and it will be available soon. The issue is that we are limited in the amount of stock that Amazon will let us put in. So all we need is a bit of calm and everyone will get their tricorder.

Currently though, the Tricorder is going in and out of stock and that is affecting its availability shipping to different locations. Once the product is fully in stock and we email you, you will be able to buy it and it will ship to your location, as it is already to a tiny number of people that were higher up the list and have already ordered. Take a deep breath and wait just a little longer, there will be plenty of tricorders to go round.

We are sending invitation emails out in batches in the order in which people registered their interest. Timed to coincide with the stock availability as best as we can manage it. We were planning to start this process when we had a bit more product in stock towards the end of this week.

However, while we were trying to get the listing ready we accidentally made it live for a few minutes and some person(s) spotted it (and kindly shared the link) when the listing was only half-activated, so we decided that it was probably the least-bad option just to make it properly live and to email (send out notifications) to the first 200 people on our list (of which about 10 or 15 of the email addresses are ours due to our early testing of the registration process) rather than leave the confusion hanging. Another batch of 900 plus units is following very shortly into stock and more is already made and being shipped in right now, which will follow into stock after and there after we will be bringing more in. So please don’t worry.

Thx

Chris

 

[PicasoX]

I've seen some people on facebook say they went through the order process and got a message saying it can't be shipped to the US or something like that. Feeling lucky you got in and then BAM!!! like a kick to the Mc-nuggets.

 

[CessnaDriver]

Did anyone receive an invite email? It looks like the first batch is sold out.

Nothing yet. Missed all this news yesterday. So nothing ordered yet.

 

[asalaw]

I've seen some people on facebook say they went through the order process and got a message saying it can't be shipped to the US or something like that. Feeling lucky you got in and then BAM!!! like a kick to the Mc-nuggets.

This is a two-step process.

Step 1 is stop looking at the posts on FB, they have no idea what's going on despite multiple posts explaining it. That way lies madness.

Step 2 is just keep trying the listing periodically. More inventory is coming. After the initial FOMO-driven demand is sated, and more inventory becomes available, you'll probably see the listing up steadily.

 

[CessnaDriver]

This is a two-step process.

Step 1 is stop looking at the posts on FB, they have no idea what's going on despite multiple posts explaining it. That way lies madness.

Step 2 is just keep trying the listing periodically. More inventory is coming. After the initial FOMO-driven demand is sated, and more inventory becomes available, you'll probably see the listing up steadily.

We do not need the magic link correct?

 

[asalaw]

We do not need the magic link correct?

I don't think so. Several people yesterday (including me) successfully ordered one without a link. Also, Chris has disclosed (posted previously above) that while they asked Amazon to implement an invitation-only listing, Amazon turned them down because they only offer that to very large sellers moving high volumes and fulfilling through Amazon. It's not available for third-party setups like Wand.

 

[FANATICO]

Clearly this is apropo to this current situation…..A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Of course there will be hiccups along the way of mfg’ing and shipping!

 

[asalaw]

Clearly this is apropo to this current situation…..A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Of course there will be hiccups along the way of mfg’ing and shipping!

View attachment 1927106

 

[smithjohnj]

So I understand, "while they asked Amazon to implement an invitation-only listing, Amazon turned them down because they only offer that to very large sellers moving high volumes and fulfilling through Amazon. It's not available for third-party setups like Wand." So how long ago was this known? If "some" knew there really was no line we all needed to be standing in, maybe we all could have been trying to be "the first on our block".

 

[1138sw]

lol oh yeah for sure! I know! That won’t be me!

Thanks to William McCullars over on the Fleet Workshop, I've become aware that the first unboxing videos have appeared on YouTube from the UK. It's three videos by apparently two different guys.

Why these guys both have their disks inserted writing-side-out is beyond me, but IDIC, I guess.

BUMMER the videos are private! I wanted to see some Tricorder unboxings! Well at least the last video works!