Group buys

[vemura]

My diving community is small. There's a chat group of divers and I know that shop representatives and owners are in there, everybody loves their seasonal promotions from time to time and other dive news, trip cost-sharing opportunities, and dive info is posted in it. There's been this person in particular posting group buys of a limited number of signups, and some of them are really cheap. For instance a mares bag worth about USD220 for USD75, or a Garmin for USD150 off retail. I messaged him privately to ask who he is, because if he has a shop I would have been happy to check him out. The way he answered was cold and the conversation went downhill with him dodging the question at first, and then saying, I don't see a need to tell you. I think he has since blocked me because I don't see the conversation anymore. My question is, where do all these people source group buys from? Is it legit? What is underlying, to make him have to dodge the question?

 

[Marie13]

If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. You may have avoided being scammed.

 

[vemura]

If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. You may have avoided being scammed.

If he were scamming his buyers, we would have found out and kicked him. I'm wondering the only way he could be doing this is if he had some kind of small financial gain.

And I'd just like to learn more about how group buys are sourced. In custom keycaps, it's quite clear that a custom designed and made set of keys would be too expensive to produce by one person, hence the need for group buys where people signal interest and pool money for production.

 

[Marie13]

If he were scamming his buyers, we would have found out and kicked him. I'm wondering the only way he could be doing this is if he had some kind of small financial gain.

And I'd just like to learn more about how group buys are sourced. In custom keycaps, it's quite clear that a custom designed and made set of keys would be too expensive to produce by one person, hence the need for group buys where people signal interest and pool money for production.

He doesn’t answer you and you think he’s blocked you. Do you think someone who is legitimate would do that?

 

[grantctobin]

He doesn’t answer you and you think he’s blocked you. Do you think someone who is legitimate would do that?

Frequently legitimate deals like these disappear when these questions get asked. Do these “inside buys” make for a level playing field vs retail at dealer prices? No. Is it ethical? For you to decide.

It’s more frequently practiced when onboarding dealers and a store needs to meet a first fill quota.

 

[vemura]

Frequently legitimate deals like these disappear when these questions get asked. Do these “inside buys” make for a level playing field vs retail at dealer prices? No. Is it ethical? For you to decide.

It’s more frequently practiced when onboarding dealers and a store needs to meet a first fill quota.

I see. Thanks for the insight. I was wondering how it worked and why he was doing group buys instead.

I did ask the admin if he knew who this person was (some of us in the chat have met each other and some dive stores personally know me) and he said no. I briefly mentioned it to him and his stance is neutral. He said, people just want a good price.

 

[lnjohn]

The items could be sourced from other Countries and they don't want to get those people in other markets in trouble. As many of us know, Scuba Pro in the USA is much more expensive than across the pond. Leisure pro, now Scuba.com used to always have gray market Suunto and other products where they had their own warranty, as Suunto would not cover repairs for computers that were not intended to be sold in the USA.

 

[vemura]

The items could be sourced from other Countries and they don't want to get those people in other markets in trouble. As many of us know, Scuba Pro in the USA is much more expensive than across the pond. Leisure pro, now Scuba.com used to always have gray market Suunto and other products where they had their own warranty, as Suunto would not cover repairs for computers that were not intended to be sold in the USA.

That makes sense, thanks. Now that you bring it up, I heard something like this mentioned by a local dive store, as I had asked how come some people sell shearwater peregrine at $x. They said they wouldn’t trust it because it might be bought from another country and brought in.