How to do a Group Buy

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sebastiaan56
Blackwood
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Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2007 5:23 am
Location: Blue Mountains

How to do a Group Buy

Post by sebastiaan56 » Sun Dec 21, 2008 7:55 am

OK a pretentious title but I have learnt a lot over the last couple of months and Im sure that those with more experience will fill in the gaps. I would also be interested to have some suppliers inputs as well so we can make this process more easy for everyone.

So you have finally found a supplier for your lusted pink tortoiseshell headstock/flamed ebony binding/real dead cutgut material and they want you to buy in lots that you cant justify or dont want, what to do? Ah ha, put up a post on the ANZLF to see who wants some as well! Easy as.......

Consider the following;

1. Make sure you have the time to devote to the buy. Count on 20-30 hours for a larger complicated buy with multiple item types. This will go over a few weeks or months so make sure you have the time.

2. Deal with someone you know or are personally referred to. Picking a vendor of the net has risks in terms of not knowing who you are dealing with and conversely the vendor doesnt know you from any other spam email arriving in their inbox. Checking on other forums or resellers would be places to start.

3. Keep the offering simple. Most vendors will have a long list of stuff they supply. Life gets a lot easier when you limit the offering to one or two items.

4. Insist on complete communication from your vendor. This can get interesting when there are time zones and different public holidays to consider but it is vital. Terse 1 or 2 line emails from the harried sales clerk looking after your order are easy for them but disaster for you.

5. Understand the vendors sales process. Do they do credit card or PayPal? Will they send you an email at every stage of the order fulfillment process. The other people in the buy will want to know what you are doing with their hard earned shekels.

6. As far as possible understand the costs involved. Some to consider;
- exchange rates, good luck, you have a 50% chance of winning/ losing
- currency exchange charges
- credit card charges, ie the interest you pay while you wait for the money to come in.

7. Make these clear to the other buyers from the outset. Coming back later asking for more will only piss people off. Most people will understand but they have a right to know what you are up to.

8. Keep every email, even if its conversational. It is so emabarassing asking for the same detail twice.

9. I used Excel to track all the details, it worked for me but make sure you use lots of formulas so that you dont end up rewriting it again and again and again......

Most importantly Make sure you have the time to do this properly! This has been my most important learning. You can not work 60+hrs per week and expect to do it properly.
make mine fifths........

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