Why don't we do a Purchasing Coop?

[wa3zrm]

Since I've been hanging out on the ecig forums, I've discovered that they save money by doing Coops. Everyone places there order with one person, that person places the master order and then sends the individual orders to members. They save money in two ways: Quantity Buying and shipping. No more $14 to $40 UPS signature BS.

What do ya think?

[sgreger1]

I think it's a good idea but it all depends on participation. Plus many on the forum are far away form each other so the savings on shipping may be negligible.

[GoVegan]

I think it is a good idea but I am wondering about potential tax liability. If you order 10 rolls of snus and somehow get caught would you be responsible to pay the tax on the entire order? I am thinking a better idea might be to use the snuson store. Perhaps we can have some say about what products get put on sale or be allowed to use our points to reduce shipping costs. Just a thought.

[wa3zrm]

USPS rates are dirt cheap compared to UPS!

[bpc720]

I think this is a great idea...I'm so down if we can get a good group going

[CzechCzar]

I would most definitely be interested! Keep those shipping costs down. However, I wonder how much we would have to order to keep per can prices (when you factor in shipping) reasonable to the final purchaser, and to make the bulk purchaser a bit of $...

[resnor]

I've always thought we should do something like this...

[AtreyuKun]

I've always thought we should do something like this...

I'm pretty sure this has come up at least twice. Veganpunk volunteered because he's in Alabama with a very low tax rate. But, he's doing business out of state for the foreseeable future.

[visiON]

Well the obvious question is, how safe would it be. The person who places the master order could just take the money..

[Devin87]

Well the obvious question is, how safe would it be. The person who places the master order could just take the money..

I've done stuff like this with other products and if you pay them with paypal, it's relatively safe. If the product never gets delivered, you file a complaint with paypal and they give you your money back. Plus, I've found most people are good people who don't want to go around ripping people off.

[sgreger1]

Well the obvious question is, how safe would it be. The person who places the master order could just take the money..

It would have to be brokered by a trusted member of the community. most of the people who have been here actively for 2 or 3 years aren't going to jip you. And if you pay them via paypal (as Devin87 said), you can just contest the charge if they rip you off and PayPal will refund you and chase them down.

[Ainkor]

Unfortunately there is a lot more to it than most of us would think. If there were only 2 or 3 brands? Sure it might work but like PP said, it would be razor thin margins and would be more of a favor type thing than a money saving venture.

I'd rather see a snuson discount. There are 404 active members (how ever the site statistics determine that) so it's not like it's everyone. Set up a reward system based on how long you have been a member here, not necessarily post count. Scale it from 1% off for newbies up to something like 10% to 15% off for the old timers. Hell, maybe instead of a discount, do something with the shipping.

[SnusoMatic]

Careful. The one distributing could be considered a retailer. I say, if you want to do it fine but don't kid yourself about it. Sometimes we sit back and think of ways we could beat the law and stay legal. Problem is when one starts messing around with us revenue, atf and usps they don't play. They won't waste their time on two friends sending tobacco to each other. When you go online and advertise a "coop" you could be playing with fire. Please don't blast me. I've had some hard lessons. Friendly FREE advice. and one normally gets what they pay for haha. Seriously, just my two cents. have fun.

Oh yea, just because one don't make a profit don't mean they are not running a business.

[SnusNoob]

Careful. The one distributing could be considered a retailer. I say, if you want to do it fine but don't kid yourself about it. Sometimes we sit back and think of ways we could beat the law and stay legal. Problem is when one starts messing around with us revenue, atf and usps they don't play. They won't waste their time on two friends sending tobacco to each other. When you go online and advertise a "coop" you could be playing with fire. Please don't blast me. I've had some hard lessons. Friendly FREE advice. and one normally gets what they pay for haha. Seriously, just my two cents. have fun.

Oh yea, just because one don't make a profit don't mean they are not running a business.

The use of BitCoins, or Western Union with password/no identification, rather than PayPal would be ideal to counteract that problem. PayPal hands over information without a warrant.

[resnor]

I believe what most are trying to avoid, at least what I see, are the huge shipping costs. A few people ordering together can lower the shipping costs significantly, maybe even getting free shipping, while still meeting regulations. No one would be buying snus to sort of resell to people.