Buying Group

[deema]

Just a thought.

I have been contributing to a very interesting debate about Tersa knives etc. what struck me is that with everyone's buying power, would it be sensible to create a buying group? I can think of two options for this to work, and I'm sure there are other ways, but here goes with a suggestion| either a call goes out for people looking to buy a widget and a member negotiates the best price for all, or as a forum prices are negotiated with various suppliers.

Any thoughts?

 

[marcros]

The former has been done from time to time- a group buy on rasps was the last one that I remember and a router plate before that.

It takes a lot of coordination, and sometimes the postage back out to members can negate a lot of the discount. In the case if the initial router plate it took months because every time somebody joined they wanted something different in the design.

With the example of tersa blades, the hobbiest probably doesn't get through that many to benefit from a slight discount and the trade people that use more need to order one day and get them in the next couple- a delay would be worse than paying a few quid extra.

As far as I am aware the forum does not have any membership discount with any companies- not sure whether this is a mod decision or just because it has never been arranged. The amount of business that goes through certain suppliers based entirely on somebody asking where to buy "x"... Well they do very well out of it. Margins may be tight to be competitive, so who knows.

I am involved with tendering, purchasing and contracts through work. If we did want to look at a group discount, with the blessing of the relevant mods, I could help with this. The first step would be to identify which suppliers might be appropriate- this may sound easier than it actually is. From a supplier point of view they want business that they were not going to get anyway through being competitive to everybody, offering good service etc. this restricts the pot somewhat.

 

[ColeyS1]

I think its a great idea !!! Would save everyone money and get one super lucky supplier :lol: a massive order they would otherwise not get. I really don't know what kind of quantity would be needed to make it a good enough incentive to get the supplier interested

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[Doug B]

A sound idea in principal but taking the tersa blades as an example, unless everyone was ordering the same sized blades then the supplier would find it difficult to drive down the manufacturer on his price,so allowing any discount to be passed on.
The cost to the manufacturer is the set up time to make a specific blade, once the machine is set up dozens can be produced which is where savings can be made, but as it's highly unlikely that many will want the same sized blade I doubt the savings of a group buy would be that large.

That said on a one off item like a specific block plane for example, then a discount could more than likely be achieved.

 

[Chrispy]

More than once I have thought about rather than ordering what is really 1/3 or 1/2 a pack of timber ordering a whole pack and getting a better rate for myself, and then sharing out what I don't need to peoples that have pre-ordered it. A small pack of hardwood would I understand be about 30>40 cubic feet and I haven't the space to store much more than 10>20 cube at a time. It would mean pre-ordering one or maybe 2 thicknesses of one type of wood and then everyone collecting it on the same day I.E. a Saturday morning. Would anyone be seriously interested if I looked into this further?

 

[marcros]

It is too far from me. It might make sense for some people though if the wood and thickness were something commonly used.

The "best" group buys on another forum I am on is where a supplier says that "I will do x price on minimum of 20". Then as soon as the 20 names are down they are ordered. They seem to generate enough interest to get better prices but tend to be smaller firms doing a run of something for the order or a supplier that typically deals with large orders and the group buy gets that contract type rate.

 

[NickWelford]

This sort of thing works best with the bulk buying of disposables such as abrasives etc. things that are genuinely cheaper in bulk but which no one of us wants to buy 5 years supply

 

[doctor Bob]

I'm pretty sure I pay a less than most here for gear but the problem comes when posting it out to people plus time in doing it, then Vat etc etc, becomes a bit complicated.

Depends on what you think bulk buying is as well, for example for me to get the best discount on grass runners I buy 50 sets at a time. For butt hinges it's 300.

 

[ColeyS1]

What about tersa blades ? Would it not be a case of just altering the length stop to cater for the different lengths ? - I genuinely don't know how it's cut for length but there must be a stop of some kind involved

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[Grahamshed]

One problem that I can see is getting enough members to make it worthwhile. It is ok looking at the forum stats and seeing their are over 13000 members but that us not but in truth their are only 100 or so really active ones.

Axi do 10% ish discount on 10 items but that is not enough to post on everything to individuals.

 

[tool-me-up]

I would be prepared to do it, but to be perfectly honest I'm not sure I carry that much you lot would be interested in. You would have to hammer out the details of which products and discounts through email though ( forum rules )