The number of available units in limited offers has historically been elastic. My qualified guess is that once a project owner publishes a limited offer, Indiegogo won't let them lower the numbers offered, only add to them, if they want. As steeper discounts on more units equals less money, it might pay to be a bit conservative. Also, showing lower numbers might bolster a sense of urgency among potential backers... Not accusing, just saying...
At the start of a project, Planet has offered a few hundred steeply discounted devices. Once mostly gone, they've kept adding some units, again and again, until, at some point, they've let the cheapest tier to run out, at something odd like 2905 units, but kept adding units to less discounted offers for longer. For now, they seem to keep the 30% off €573 offer just above zero units (two, right now), maybe to stop anyone from backing a lot of them at that price or perhaps to tease that the offer is ending soon. Either way, the same thing can be available at multiple prices.
I think Indiegogo writes "Get this perk" and "Refund contribution", not "Buy this item" or "Cancel order" for legal reasons (they do write "Sold out" though). As I wrote earlier, crowdfunding isn't buying, it's contributing to a project that, hopefully, will give you the "perk", in return. Would a project fail, we, as backers, might not get any money back, as opposed to someone buying a full price device in a web store.
After contributing, you may change your mind for a few days. After that, I presume, Indiegogo hands the money to Planet Computers, who certainly intends to get you an Astro, but wouldn't automatically break any law if they failed to deliver anything. While that may sound scary, and there are many failed crowdfunding projects, Planet has, thus far, delivered, if slowly, in the end.
While likely harmless, I recommend against making your particular contribution id public. Too specific information on anything of value, could encourage a would-be cyber-crook to try to abuse it somehow. Around here, something like 10xxx is precise enough. The number itself is akin to an order number.
Planet has said they try to deliver phones roughly in id order, but within a production run, they need to make batches with the same keyboard layout, because reconfiguring the laser etching machine is slow. They also do quality checks and shipments to distribution centers in batches. They often prioritizes the more common layouts, which is why some US Astros in the 4-5000 id range was ready for shipping in August, while my sub-2000 Astro, with a Swedish keyboard, as far as I know, hasn't left the warehouse in Hong Kong yet.
As a backer, you will get email updates a few times a month. Previous updates, 73 thus far, are available here:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/astro-slide-5g-transformer#/updates/allI have no idea how long it will take them to get to the 10000 id range. That'll depend on everything from the mind of president Xi to the weather. Hopefully you will wait a lot less than me. Today is exactly thirty months since I contributed (though actual deliveries began earlier this year and, at first, almost exclusively went to Planets biggest market, Japan).
