Bulk purchases

[Oryxdesign]

Do you think as a forum we would be able to do bulk buys, we seem to spend a lot of money between us and that must increase buying power.
Simon

 

[Mr Ed]

Its come up a few times before and never seemed to get off the ground. I still think its something that ought to work though.

Bessey K Bodies would be a good one in my view.

Cheers, Ed

 

[wizer]

I've never understood why it's never taken off. Trust I guess. You have to trust one person with the co-operative's money.

 

[Ironballs]

It often comes down to timing too, when I used to own a quick Fiat with difficult to get/expensive parts there were often group buys for things. They became regular events, eg it's the quarterly oil group buy or the annual intercooler group purchase.

If you know it's coming and when it's coming and a known forum regular is running it then it tends to work

 

[Green]

I have done it on other forums for tents and other expensive outdoor gear. It worked very well but can be a lot of work for the person organising it.

 

[Escudo]

I seem to remember the last time this idea came up, the downfall was the cost of distributing the goods to the various parties.

It is a good idea though, and I also agree clamps would be a good item, perhaps also consumable items which most of us would find no ill store at anytime.

Interested to see other responses to this thread, cheers Tony.

 

[wizer]

I think i'd be more interest in low cost/consumables items at first. Like perhaps sandpaper (abranet) perhaps?

Bulk buying clamps is ok, but just how many get you a discount? i.e how many thousands have to be trusted to one person?

Also on small items, I can almost certainly help with the postage situation, if you know what I mean. The other way to do this is have distribution points around the country or plan to give out the wares at a show.

 

[OPJ]

That's a interesting thought, wizer - how many of us would actually get through a box of 50 Abranet discs on our own?

 

[devonwoody]

I've tried a couple of times to start thing rolling, perhaps no one trusts me

But now I have nearly everything

 

[tnimble]

On a Dutch glass art forum I visit this is done with success.

A few of the things mentioned as bumps preventing power buys from happening are possible. For instance on the other forum (at least a couple of times this was done) the foreign party ships the goods in multiple boxes with multiple addresses. The goods are still cheaper since a bulk price reduction is still given, also the postal service / courier can reduce the shipping costs for a batch posting to the same destination (for them, only the local postal company has different addresses).

Besides having to pay all the money to one person that organizes the buy (and has or has not to redistribute the goods) the amounts can be done after delivery or can be paid directly to the foreign party

 

[Harbo]

I suppose another problem is what you choose to buy?
There is such a wide choice of stuff and everybody has their own favourites.
Good idea in theory but how you put into action?

Rod

 

[greggy]

ive been involved in group buys on the penturning forums. ie penkits etc.
and i have never been let down.
i can get a load of micromesh at a good price if anyone is interested.
they are not the 2" pads, but the sheets 12"x6"

 

[tnimble]

I suppose another problem is what you choose to buy?
There is such a wide choice of stuff and everybody has their own favourites.
Good idea in theory but how you put into action?

Rod

Should pose little trouble, on the other forum the items purchaes are often not all the same but only from the same store/maker. For the seller a large order is still far more profitable then a dozen small orders, especially because when the purchase would not be combined in one power buy the individuals behind the buy would more than most probably buy from a multitude of sources and not them.

 

[Woodfinish Man]

If it helps and this is probably not surprising but we'd be delighted to be involved if anything does take off. We'd have no problem offering a bulk discount and distributing the order to different locations throughout the UK.

 

[wizer]

Now that is a good idea. Tho I have just bought a large tin of Osmo which will last me a long time.

 

[Rob_H]

Sounds a good idea to me. I'd be interested.

 

[devonwoody]

Well that is one offer (woodfinish man) Perhaps other suppliers might like to make a posting to this thread now.

 

[neilyweely]

I am interested, but can anyone give me a ballpark figure of the 'buy-in' or is it flexible? ie; are we talking hundreds of pounds, or ......

 

[iajon69]

I've been a bit busy lately so have only just found this thread!

If there's anything that I can do regarding the bulk purchasing then I would gladly get involved. I know that my time will be very limited in the next couple of months but if there's any interest in bulk purchasing on any of the items that we can supply then I will help out where possible.

Will gladly try and get as much discount for any forum member whether it's bulk purchasing or a single purchase!

Oh and for those that don't know, I work for Dragon Saws

Like I said, I probably won't be able to do anything for the next couple of months but hopefully after that if there's any interest then I will gladly jump on board

Ian

 

[joiner_sim]

If a sales thing was setup i'd be interested.