Jeff240sx

A Group buy is a group of people ordering at once, to make a bulk order, and get a discount. Most, >90% of group deals means that unless it's explicitly stated as an open group buy (i.e. purchase immediately ship immediately), it goes by standard group buy rules.
Standard Group Buy: A group of people get together and buy a quanity of a certian item supplied by a manufacturer or distributor for a bulk purchase discount. In these situations, the group buy cannot go through until the stated amount of people have bought into the group (paid money), at which point the product will be purchased and shipped.
Until that time, the people that are sending money in for the group buy have to wait until there is the stated number of people send in their money.

I say this because a few of our group buy vendors (myself included) have been barraged by question like "When will you ship?" and "How much longer?" and "When will my item(s) arrive?"
This creates more hassle than the group deal is worth for the vendor, which makes us lose out on these deals.
Vendors
Conversely, the vendor has a responsibility to give any information pertaining to the buy in a timely fashion. If an overseas shipment is comming, when you hear it gets to customs (typically weeks after the purchase), the buyers will be antsy and wish to know this information. And a running count of verifier buyers (those who paid) will eliminate alot of the "How many more people?" questions. Vendors, keep in mind that the fewer anxious customers you have, the more likely they'll be repeat customers. Communication is key.
However, if I were a buyer, and no information was given, I would be the first to speak up asking for information. We can't have another TrixRacing incident (happened on NICO, not here).

But groupbuys are special purchases. For a bit of anxiety, waiting a bit, and some trust in a vendor, a buyer can recieve very deep discounts on purchases. If you're not a person who is able to do this, either too nervous or need the part ASAP, you should probably buy retail.
Finally, keep in mind the occasional snag. Shipping from overseas (where most of our parts are made) can take up to 6 weeks. Your packages can also sit in customs for a couple weeks. During those times, a vendor has no clue of the status of the package until it arrives on the docks, or is cleared by customs. Delays happen, and when a vendor says "I don't know where it is"... chances are, a delay happened. Trust me. Even I have stated I had no clue where $3000 worth of merchandise was.
So keep these things in mind, and we can hopefully have less stress and more discounts!
-Jeff

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Driving a Hyundai now.