EK Releases Limited Edition Memorial Day Star-Spangled Velocity Water Block

[Steamroller]

Who says? The person living in Slovenia. There is only a number of registered Slovenian charity organizations that are free of tax. Everything else, business is usual. Full tax.

 

[Valantar]

Who says? The person living in Slovenia. There is only a number of registered Slovenian charity organizations that are free of tax. Everything else, business is usual. Full tax.

You still don't understand this, it seems. I am not talking about tax exemptions for charitable organizations. I am talking about tax deductions for charitable donations. I.e. when you (or in this case EK) report on your tax statement that you have given X sum to charity Y and thus receive a cut in the tax you have to pay. Pretty much every country in the world has some sort of deduction for charity, in part because it's an easy way for the superrich to avoid taxes. Unless Slovenia has the simplest tax code in the universe (i.e. an entirely flat tax rate without deductions and the like) what you are presenting here seems oversimplified to the extreme.

 

[Steamroller]

In Slovenia, tax exemptions are just for a few listed and registered charity organizations. EK could either donate locally or, pay tax like for every other product sold, and then donate money, as a simple donation.

Still, what difference does it make? You think EK will make millions? On the other hand, if all blocks will sell, Shellback Tech, which is already donating PCs, will get funding.
I still find it amazing why someone is looking for a needle in a haystack. 200 blocks is nothing for EK.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Wow got to give it to ek never miss a opportunity

 

[Valantar]

In Slovenia, tax exemptions are just for a few listed and registered charity organizations. EK could either donate locally or, pay tax like for every other product sold, and then donate money, as a simple donation.

Still, what difference does it make? You think EK will make millions? On the other hand, if all blocks will sell, Shellback Tech, which is already donating PCs, will get funding.
I still find it amazing why someone is looking for a needle in a haystack. 200 blocks is nothing for EK.

The difference it makes, as I've gone into earlier, is that stuff like this is a sleazy marketing tactic that gives them far more credit than what they are due. Sure, they did come up with this initiative. But in reality they aren't donating anything at all - their customers are. EK isn't paying anything. And they might even stand to gain financially, which is the point you went bonkers over, though at the very minimum this still isn't costing them anything at all. So why do they deserve any credit? There is nothing charitable about what they are doing; they are asking other people to donate money instead of doing so themselves. I have given several examples of how this could have been handled in a way where EK themselves actually contributed in a meaningful way, which also shows how their choice of this approach demonstrates how this is a pure PR move with nothing charitable in it from their side. If 200 blocks is nothing to them, why bother with doing a special run at all, why not just give away some money? Your view of this is hopelessly naive.

 

[Steamroller]

I'm sorry but I fail to understand again your point of view. Is EK begging for any credit? They made a block, pumped the price, part of the money will be donated to a charity organization.
The customer will get a rare CPU block, everyone is happy. No one is forcing you to buy anything. If you don't like the product, skip it.
Scroll through social media a bit. People are happy and are reporting that they bought the block. Because EK made a CPU block, some fella who has his life all figured out and has the cash to buy
the block will be happy. Some fella who needs some help will get a gaming PC donated because a charity organization will receive extra cash.
The only pool of negativity that I see is here.

 

[Valantar]

I'm sorry but I fail to understand again your point of view. Is EK begging for any credit? They made a block, pumped the price, part of the money will be donated to a charity organization.
The customer will get a rare CPU block, everyone is happy. No one is forcing you to buy anything. If you don't like the product, skip it.
Scroll through social media a bit. People are happy and are reporting that they bought the block. Because EK made a CPU block, some fella who has his life all figured out and has the cash to buy
the block will be happy. Some fella who needs some help will get a gaming PC donated because a charity organization will receive extra cash.
The only pool of negativity that I see is here.

You can't possibly be serious now. "Is EK begging for any credit?" YES! That is literally what they are doing. They put out a gosh-darn press release bragging about how good a thing they are doing. Did you read the news post? Here are some key quotes:

Memorial Day is the reason why EK has created a special red, white, and blue limited edition Velocity CPU water block with a genuinely noble cause.
(...)
For each water block sold, EK will donate $100 to a charitable organization. "Being a globally successful company also means that we have the ability and responsibility to make a difference and give something back to the community. We have decided to jump on a project that will make our most loyal fans happy, and at the same time, help those who are in need," said Edvard König, founder of EK.
(...)
"At EK, we believe there is no better time than now, amidst this global crisis, to do our part and help those in need, providing a little creative outlet for all who are struggling to get through this difficult time," said Kat Silberstein, CEO, EK Americas.

What more do you need? The press release is crystal clear in framing this as "we at EK are doing a great thing" while simultaneously showing anyone actually willing to do a basic google search of prices for those blocks that they aren't donating a cent themselves, with the donation entirely financed by the price increase on these limited edition blocks. Is there any explicit mention anywhere that the donations will be financed purely by a price increase? No. So EK is saying "look at this great, charitable thing we are doing" while not actually doing anything charitable at all, but rather putting 100% of the cost of that charity onto their customers on top of standard pricing.

And again: your view of this is really naive. "some fella who has his life all figured out and has the cash to buy the block will be happy. Some fella who needs some help will get a gaming PC donated because a charity organization will receive extra cash." That is an incredibly optimistic take on this. How many people will this help? Let's say this organization has zero overhead costs and builds cost-effective ~$1000 PCs for people - that's 20 people at most, and likely significantly less (most charities have significant overhead costs, especially smaller ones). As I've said before, it's great that this helps some people - it's just an incredibly inefficient way of doing so, and one that ultimately helps EK far more than it helps people in need. And again: EK isn't doing anything here beyond putting a sticker on a product and charging a $100 markup that they then hand over to someone else. Their effort in this is entirely negligible. A handful of people at best will be impacted by this, while EK gets a significant reputation boost within certain demographics (especially in the US) with near zero cost and effort on their part. If they were genuinely interested in doing some good for the sake of other people rather than framing themselves as charitable and good, they would give some of their own money or do something similar. This, however, is a cynical PR move through and through. Me seeing that isn't due to me looking too hard for faults in this; you failing to see this is pure naivete on your part.

I don't have anything whatsoever against EK - the majority of parts in my water loop are EK parts (pump, CPU+GPU blocks, one of two radiators, tubing, some fittings), and I'm very happy with them - but this kind of cynical abuse of charity really rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Shellback_Tech]

Thank you for putting up the story. As the founder of Shellback Tech, the charity they chose to donate to, and a Disabled Iraq Veteran myself, it truly meant a lot to the charity and to our recipients.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Glad someone is getting something out of this
Velocity is overpriced at 100.us so additional costs of this item for paint or sticker well Like I said ek is the master of overpricing

 

[kapone32]

The cost of this block alone is more than some of the best AIOs on the market.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Best for the charity to just share a go fund me page on social media facebook/.... at least they won't have to wait for ek to sell something.

 

[Shellback_Tech]

Hi,
Best for the charity to just share a go fund me page on social media facebook/.... at least they won't have to wait for ek to sell something.

I am that charity. No. GoFundMe doesn't work. We tried. The most effective fundraising method was actually streaming on Twitch. This still tops that if they sell all 200 blocks...

 

[ThrashZone]

I am that charity. No. GoFundMe doesn't work. We tried. The most effective fundraising method was actually streaming on Twitch. This still tops that if they sell all 200 blocks...

Hi,
I don't see how they can sell many if any of these blocks sadly
These blocks are older design and the newer ek magnitude blocks are better and cost the same now as this velocity

Not sure why ek did this to the velocity instead of the magnitude frankly except they couldn't pad magnitude another 100.us but they could the velocity :/
Get with Optimus
Optimus Advanced Water Cooling

 

[Shellback_Tech]

Hi,
I don't see how they can sell many if any of these blocks sadly
These blocks are older design and the newer ek magnitude blocks are better and cost the same now as this velocity

Not sure why ek did this to the velocity instead of the magnitude frankly except they couldn't pad magnitude another 100.us but they could the velocity :/
Get with Optimus
Optimus Advanced Water Cooling

Well, Considering I've actually had over 100 messages already of purchase confirmation from individuals in multiple communities, I think they will do alright. All good though. We're not a huge outfit, but we've got some excellent sponsors. https://linktr.ee/Shellback_Tech

 

[Valantar]

Well, Considering I've actually had over 100 messages already of purchase confirmation from individuals in multiple communities, I think they will do alright. All good though. We're not a huge outfit, but we've got some excellent sponsors. https://linktr.ee/Shellback_Tech

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It's great to hear that you're getting something out of what is otherwise a blatant PR move on EK's part. And I guess one thing I failed to take into account in my earlier criticism of EK is how this alleviates you, the (likely understaffed and underfunded) charity, slightly from the burden of fundraising, which I can imagine is a very good thing. Though I still wish they had the integrity to make this an actual charitable contribution on their part (through donation-matching or something similar). Nonetheless, none of that is on you, and what you are doing is obviously admirable. Keep up the good work!

 

[Caring1]

Thank you for putting up the story. As the founder of Shellback Tech, the charity they chose to donate to, and a Disabled Iraq Veteran myself, it truly meant a lot to the charity and to our recipients.

You should be thanking the consumer for buying the overpriced block as they are the ones donating their hard earned money, not EK.