I'd like to hear your suggestions.
The most important single thing that participants and organizers need to keep in mind is: A group buy is just that -- a group of members buying a
large quantity of an item -- more than any one member would buy alone -- and sharing the quantity discount. The organizer buys for the group, and is often asked to commit to a certain quantity by a certain time by the company making chips (or dealer buttons, or whatever.)
I've organized five group buys on another site. On nearly every one, I lost $1,000 (each) in the process.
Here are some things that can go wrong which we should try to avoid on this site:
1. I'd suggest that our group buys have a "commitment date," after which you can't cancel, disappear, or change your member name to avoid paying.
2. Ordering in a group buy is a commitment. When you make it, recognize you are giving your word to complete the transaction.
3. There should be a limit to the number of times a participant can change their order while the group buy is active.
4. I'd suggest having a "rating system" for members who take part in group buys, and limiting the number of group buys a member can participate in at one time until they have an "A" rating. One person trying to buy in six different group buys can lead us back to the problem in # 1.
5. The organizers should definitely be rated or have some strict qualifications, so we can avoid scams.
6. Anyone organizing a group buy should understand that they may be asked to produce proof of the group's expenses -- costs, shipping, etc.
7. Organizers should not be allowed to make
any money from the group buy. While this sounds pretty basic, I'm sure it's been done elsewhere. The cost to buy or produce the item has to be shared among the members in the buy, or the price per item based on the total cost / number of items.
7. Members taking part in a group buy should pay for shipping and Paypal fees. (I recall a past group buy on Chiptalk where a member (not me) bought 30,000 chips from
BCC and got stuck with the cost of Paypal fees -- international at that.) The organizer is another member, not a business, and can't "eat" over 3 percent of the cost of everyone's stuff. I would suggest a rule that says, "If you order $500 in chips, and send the organizer $500 via paypal (net $484.90), you have just cancelled your order."
8. No torpedoing allowed: I coined this term. If I'm running a group buy for some chips, another member -- who is also running a group buy for some other chips -- posts negative and inaccurate information in my group buy to convince people to back out of my group. He launches a "torpedo" into my group buy, usually in the form of a "question." (
Aren't those chips you're selling actually radioactive? ) A member who does this should have his own group buy closed.
9. There should be some clear rules about whether a merchant (like me) can organize a group buy for anything they might actually later sell in their business. If so, the merchant should provide the goods to the group at the true production cost. We may want to avoid this altogether.
My other suggestions are more about manners than anything we could make as a rule.
Group buy piracy, or "
I don't want to buy. I just want to tell you what to buy." Don't get on board, demand changes in the project, then not buy the resulting chip, button, shirt, whatever.
Hang up the "Internet attitude - " Saying, "Hey, Organizer: Have it on time at the quoted price. Any delays or price changes and I'll be complaining about your awful "customer service." (Most organizers aren't businesses.)