On the first glance one might think that buying miner X is slightly cheaper than hosted mining. However, there are a number of “hidden” costs related to purchasing and maintaining a miner that change the economics significantly:
- Shipping costs: few merchants will cover this, but in most cases they will charge you extra.
- Customs dues / VAT: if it is an international delivery you will likely have to pay customs dues and VAT; generally this has a huge impact on the total cost of your mining equipment.
- Delivery time: when you pay for your device you have to wait until the miner is packaged and shipped; if it is held up in the customs this can take weeks. And during that time you cannot mine at all (“opportunity costs”). You have to wait and hope. And if the merchant has a stock shortage; it is you who has to wait. With Genesis Mining you pay and get your hashpower immediately online. No delays!
- Costs for additional equipment: when buying miners from larger retailers you often have to buy additional equipment like an extra PSU that matches the electricity specs for your country, control units and specific shelves to store them efficiently. This adds up significantly to the overall price for hashpower.
- Setting the system up: when the device finally arrived you have to assemble and configure it. Beginners often underestimate the amount of work and technical knowledge that is needed to bring the device up and optimize its settings. People that used the first ASICs spend days and weeks on it. In monetary terms this costs you twice: (i) your time and (ii) lost mining opportunity.
- Maintenance: hardware failures, outages and crashes could lead to downtimes between seconds and weeks. If your unit breaks you have to return it and start from scratch (by the way: check the guarantee time of your miner; it is often less than a year). With Genesis Mining you have a guaranteed uptime of 100%: in case one of your units fails another unit will be switched over and start mining for you the very same second.
- Electricity: having the machines at home not only brings heat and noise, but also an increase of your electricity bill; an important factor that many underestimate.
Please do not get us wrong: we do not want to discourage anyone from mining at home! We are often asked about prices and realized that many users do not know about all the hidden costs. If you compare the true costs, you will notice that our prices are very competitive. We want to provide you the best possible mining experience, so that you can focus on mining your favorite coins (and we take care of the rest).