Ordering a Raspberry Pi in 2012

Published on June 30, 2012

NOTE: This post is very old and details my experience ordering the original Raspberry Pi back in 2012.

I’ve had a few people ask me how I ordered my Raspberry Pi and how long it took for me to get it. So here is the process I followed, including a timeline.

I live in Cape Town, South Africa and the whole process took about 4 months from registration to delivery.

1 March 2012 : Registration

I registered my interest on the UL RS Components website ( http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=raspberrypi ) and received an email confirming my registration:

15 March 2012 : Update

I received an update from RS Components that they’ve had a ‘manufacturing hiccup’ but not to worry, and that invitation will still be sent out on a first-come, first served basis based on when I registered.

8 May 2012 : Update #2

I receive another update from RS Components. They say that they’ve invited the next 4000 people in the queue to order their Raspberry Pi’s and that the second batch of boards are on their way.

28 May 2012 : Time to order

I get an email from RS Components saying I can now place my order. This takes me to a webpage where I can enter my activation code included in the email and allows me to order the Raspberry Pi and pay for it.

I received an order confirmation back, with an expected dispatch of 4 weeks:

27 June 2012 : DHL Shipment Notification

I receive an email from DHL indicating that my order has shipped with DHL Express, including a tracking number and tracking URL for my package.

DHL Tracking page shows me when the package leaves from London to arrive in Cape Town:

29 June 2012 : Raspberry Package arrives

Finally, the Raspberry Pi arrives!

It was in a bubble envelope package, containing a small cardboard box:

And the cardboard box contained the Raspberry Pi inside an anti-static bag, wedged between two pieces of foam and two pamphlets:

Update (2012-07-17) : The one per customer limit was been lifted, and you can now order as many as you like. When I had a look today the wait time was 11 weeks for delivery.