FM3 Now Shipping

This might be a very basic/stupid question - but does Fractal assemble each FM3 unit and then ship it once they are ready? or are they getting shipments on a regular basis and ship it out as and when they receive it?

Or the third option - they already have a large number of units in stock - in which case why don't they just send out invitation to the number of people equivalent to the number of units they have?

I am sure its not all as simple as it sounds. Must be some logic to it all.
 
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This might be a very very basic question - but do Fractal assemble each FM3 unit and then ship it once they are ready? or are they getting shipments on a regular basis and ship it out as and when they receive it?

Or the third option - they already have a large number of units in stock - in which case why don't they just send out invitation to the number of people equivalent to the number of units they have?
You may not get an answer, because no one knows except for fractal. I do remember hearing somewhere that way back in the beginning they had received a shipment, but the units were basically blank. I think they need to flash the firmware to the unit and then ship it out. If true, they may well have a bunch of units, but can only put firmware on so many per day, so that would explain why only a number of invites go out each day. This is all speculation of course. I don't really know.
 
This might be a very basic/stupid question - but does Fractal assemble each FM3 unit and then ship it once they are ready? or are they getting shipments on a regular basis and ship it out as and when they receive it?

Or the third option - they already have a large number of units in stock - in which case why don't they just send out invitation to the number of people equivalent to the number of units they have?

I am sure its not all as simple as it sounds. Must be some logic to it all.

What Guitarzan5150 said.

Also, I have gleaned from the forums, over time, that they also have to do a quality control check on each unit before shipping.
 
So for a little while we were covering a month of waitlist time every 5 days of real time. I hope that it picks back up soon. Based on the earlier shipments I was projecting my April waitlist date to come up by 9/25
 
New day! New hope!

hoping we get past the announcement peak today. My guess is that the added QC of FX III would be slowing down the progress as well..
 
This might be a very basic/stupid question - but does Fractal assemble each FM3 unit and then ship it once they are ready? or are they getting shipments on a regular basis and ship it out as and when they receive it?

Or the third option - they already have a large number of units in stock - in which case why don't they just send out invitation to the number of people equivalent to the number of units they have?

I am sure its not all as simple as it sounds. Must be some logic to it all.

I think it's reasonable to assume that for every unit they ship, they have to:
  • Flash the latest firmware
  • Do a Quality inspection that buttons/screens/ports/functions/etc are all working
  • Clean it up/wipe down for fingerprints
  • Package it up in a box, then the second shipping box
  • Print and apply shipping label
All of this adds up, so they can only send out so many units a day. If it makes you feel better, you could think about it like they're sending out an invite for each FM3 they got ready to ship the day before plus any that weren't ordered (probably not that simple, but that's a reasonable way to think about it).

If they sent invites for every unit that arrived in the shipment from China then you'd have people saying "I ordered September 25th at 4pm, and someone who ordered at 2:45 just got their shipped I hope mine goes out soon." Not to mention the question of do you pay at time of order and be out money waiting for them to QA and ship, or do you pay when it ships, but risk your band account not having enough in it that day and your order being cancelled? This way anyone who orders they know they have/will have a prepped unit for.within a day.
 
I think it's reasonable to assume that for every unit they ship, they have to:
  • Flash the latest firmware
  • Do a Quality inspection that buttons/screens/ports/functions/etc are all working
  • Clean it up/wipe down for fingerprints
  • Package it up in a box, then the second shipping box
  • Print and apply shipping label
All of this adds up, so they can only send out so many units a day. If it makes you feel better, you could think about it like they're sending out an invite for each FM3 they got ready to ship the day before plus any that weren't ordered (probably not that simple, but that's a reasonable way to think about it).

If they sent invites for every unit that arrived in the shipment from China then you'd have people saying "I ordered September 25th at 4pm, and someone who ordered at 2:45 just got their shipped I hope mine goes out soon." Not to mention the question of do you pay at time of order and be out money waiting for them to QA and ship, or do you pay when it ships, but risk your band account not having enough in it that day and your order being cancelled? This way anyone who orders they know they have/will have a prepped unit for.within a day.

Thanks! Makes much more sense!
 
I had stopped caring for the longest time thinking I am a few waitlist months away. But now around 18 waitlist days! This has got me impatient AF!
 
Same here, I am April 2020. I thought it wouldn’t be until spring of 2021. Then the waitlist started moving along and I got my hopes up. That was my first mistake.

Same here. Shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. Now I feel like I fooled myself. Especially since I am 14 waitlist days away from my turn.
 
Slow down could be attributed to people taking vacation this week ...
I signed up in April too
Was originally thinking I would get an invite in December, but seeing the amount of posts of people receiving them I started hoping that I might get an invite next month.
 
Slow down could be attributed to people taking vacation this week ...
I signed up in April too
Was originally thinking I would get an invite in December, but seeing the amount of posts of people receiving them I started hoping that I might get an invite next month.
Vacation? Get back to work and finish your job! 😂
 
What's special about this week regarding vacations? I definitely think the news that it started shipping on Feb 12th probably lead to a rush of people signing up on the 12th. And the announcement and release of the Axe FX III Mark II which they're also shipping out to people on the Axe FX III waitlist is probably spreading their efforts a little. But both of those will smooth out soon enough.
 
What's special about this week regarding vacations? I definitely think the news that it started shipping on Feb 12th probably lead to a rush of people signing up on the 12th. And the announcement and release of the Axe FX III Mark II which they're also shipping out to people on the Axe FX III waitlist is probably spreading their efforts a little. But both of those will smooth out soon enough.

Labor Day, you can get 9 days off with 4 vacation days.
I'm not saying the slow down isn't attributed to when shipping started, just throwing out an alternative explanation.
 
@Admin M@ - possibility of a now serving?
no movement on the forum makes Jack a nervous wreck!


I've got FM3 waitlisted March 1, FX III waitlisted July 12 and Synyster Gates Custom HT Backordered from Schecter. September is turning out to be a cruel month so far :cry:

It does seem like shipping has slowed down this week. Probably because I started to see light at the end of the tunnel. September is a cruel month. It does seem we dodged the Murder Hornets, but now my state is on fire. Walking outside is like playing clubs back in the 80's. But I guess we'll get used to the smoke like we did back then........Still counting down the days till that email comes....... 🤘
 
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