I wasn't sure if I should post this question in the Group Buy forum since it seems like only actual group buys go there.. but how come there aren't any group buys? Seems to me that there would be more interest in something like that?

I certainly wouldn't mind getting in on a group buy for a few items. I am simply holding out because I think a lot of the prices are overdone atm due to limited availability.

Thoughts?

 

You should start up a group buy for something you want. Or are you waiting for someone else to do all the work?

 

Well from how I understand it, they have to be approved by moderators and such. I am pretty new to the boards and don't have the trusted rep a lot of others already have. I figure if I go in on a few group buys I could begin to earn that rep. (Mainly because I am not that great with cars to earn my rep from knowledge, feel free to ask me about development though.) Then I could possibly do something like that.

 

it a hassle i tryed to start one by asking who would be interested and i got a few pm telling me i had to pay and so on . so i just deleted it

 

Not only is it a hassle they have the group buy pricing *** backwards. The more you sell the higher the percentage they charge along with the $50 group buy start up fee. You have to pay that percentage to rx8club which negates the benefits of doing a group buy. It doesn't make any sense to me because they'd be making more money if they charged a cheaper percentage and worked off of volume instead. And it would benefit the club members more as well.

 

i have to agree with czr, because group deals are supposed to help us save money and not pay the site and let them make money off it. i don't see the point in this. other car forums don't do that.

 

So is there any way we can get this process changed? Or are we poking a dead horse?

Seems to me that more group buys would benefit everyone...

 

i would like to do some group buys here but as an authorized vendor in several other forums, this ones pricing is a bit higher and the gb thing is backwards.
The biggest problem with the GB thing here is the paying a % of the gb and more if you sell a lot. Probably looks good on paper, but not to vendors.
For instance, if i wanted to offer you all a deal on something, i wouldnt be able to save you all as much money as i could if i didnt have to pay a few more percent. On msprotege.com my group buys are less then my employee cost because i get the single part number qty price break from my manufacturer, then sell it cheap just to give my fellow board members a "hook up". It wont work here, after i get the deals, then i have to mark the price up to compensate for my gb pricing instead of a standard monthly AV fee. On more expensive items, Gtech for example, a few bucks each probably wouldnt make that bigof a difference, but if i did a gb on piaa wiper blades or bulbs or anything else under 50 bucks, how much money would it really be saving you all.
Thats just my thoughts. I wouldnt mind being a vendor here as soon as i get some more parts for the 8 but right now group buys arent going to happen unless AVs can do group buys and it included intheir monthly fees

 

If what you guys are saying is true...gb's don't make sense at rx8club????

"Group Buys" is about saving money...not growing shoping relationships like woman do...lol

 

its just makes it a hassle to save you all more money when i have to raise my prices to put the product in front of you. Im sure a suitable solution will eventually be reached. If not, dont get your hopes up for seeing lots of group buys here.
In fact, the only advantage to doing a group buy here, that i can see, is for new product development where 10+ people are needed to make the part. In that case, hiding a few extra bucks in an item that has no retail price is easy

 

Wow, I didn't know about the vendor having to pay for a group buy %... No wonder group buys fail miserably on this site. Whoa.

 

that would be a good idea dam i should of thought of that

 

please do.

 

So, what is the suggestion. That RX8club.com stop gouging its patrons??

 

I always wondered why theres no GB's here.

The Subaru and Mistu Evo forums have tons of GB's. Their boards must not have this % thing attached.

 

Its not that they are gouging vendors, its just a different way to do group buys that very few forums do. The increasing percentage is different from any other ive ever seen.

Id really like to hear some admin reasoning behind why they do it this way. From a vendors side, it doesnt look like a great idea, but there could be stuff we dont see of know about that led to this policy. Please chime in and let us know.

 

We charge members because any way you slice it, GBs are a form of advertising... SOMEone is making money by using this site. It may and may not be the GB coordinator, and I've found that behind the scenes (and no matter how altruistic the GB coordinators intentions seem to be to members), they usually are making money on the deal. At the very least, the supplier of the product is making money.

But maybe I'll reduce the GB setup fee of $50 to $25 or even waive it entirely depending on the member's post count. Not any more! We reversed the way we do percentages so that the less expensive items have a higher percentage and the more expensive ones have a lower one. Of course, I'm sure someone will find cause to bitch about doing it this way too. Easy now.

Tell me how much you pay to visit and post on this site again? Oh, NOTHING you say?

So given that we don't charge our members, tell me how we're supposed to keep these sites alive (several thousand dollars a month for the infrastructure alone!) if we don't charge people who are making money by using this site? Maybe it's not always the GB coordinator, but you can be SURE the vendor with the product that's behind the GB is not taking a loss on it.

I'm willing to work with you on this folks, but it kinda saps my motivation when people use things like this as an excuse to bash the site.

We charge a percentage of each item sold that is so minimal (3-5%) that it amazes me that anyone would bitch about it. And what blows me away about this, is that no one seems to be able to figure out that all they have to do is mark the GB price to members up by this percentage and no one ever sees it except the GB coordinator. Say you want to sell an item that costs $20 from the vendor... then you just post the GB price as $20.60. When it's over with, ship the items to the people who signed up, pay the $20 per item to the vendor, and pay the (gasp!) $0.60 per item to RX8Club. What's so hard about that?

Secondly, we change the setup fee because USUALLY the people who run the GB - and make money on it - mysteriously disappear when the GB is over with and never pay us. I've even offered to refund this setup to some people I know and trust once the buy is finalized and we get paid for the percentage of the total items sold, and this is still something I'm willing to do. But so far no one has tried this.

Fact of the matter is that you don't see many GBs here because running them is a PAIN IN THE *** for the coordinator, as they have to answer a gagillion questions from members, track the orders, collect all the money, pay the vendor all at once, answer a gagillion MORE questions and flames from members unless they instantaneously ship the item the second people pay, receive all the items from the vendor in bulk, then ship them out to the participants. Oh, and don't forget figuring out the 2 x shipping costs and somehow recouping them from the GB participants. Our attempts to recoup our costs are a minimal piece of this.

 

Thanks for responding and I wasnt trying to bash the site in any way. I was simply trying to answer the original question with my opinion of why more vendors dont do group buys.

You are correct in that the vendors do make money off of the group buys. Thats business and no business will survive not making money or even small percentages of money.

Be Redoing the way the percentages are done, it should help. By reducing the setup fee would help as well.
For instance. If i wanted to sell, lets us the PIAA 540s for example, on a group buy here, i would have to up the amount of people needed to buy to cover the setup fee of 50. I pay 96 dollars and some change for them but i would sell them on a group buy for 105 (this is all an example), thus making under 10%. A 50 dollar setup fee would leave me with 40 profit on a 10 person group buy and the percentage would eat up even more. At that rate, its really not worth the time (as far as the owner of my sites is concerned) and i have to make a decision, raise my gb pricing or give members the lowest possible price i can.
I guess im just used to the other forums that i am a vendor in where i get the right to post GBs included in my AV status and that this method is just different to me.
My suggestion, and this is just my suggestion, would be to either charge a setup fee and no percentage or a percentage and no setup fee. Maybe even let vendors setup up a gb once a month at a reduced fee or percentage. I dont know, its up to you, you have to pay the bills.
Once again, i didnt want to "bash" the site in anyway, just expressing my opinion. I didnt sign up here to be a vendor but to learn more about my car and meet other rotary enthusiasts. THis is by far one of the more active forums i am a part of, more active than some much larger forums i know of. This forum also boasts something that 80% of other forums cant, high quality posts, not your immature punks posting stupid stuff all the time.
Thanks
Justin

 

Thanks Justin. See my revised post above, as I was apparently updating it as you were responding.

And it wasn't you I took as bashing the site... see who the quote I responded to was from.

I'll take you suggestions under advisement though. I'm sure we can streamline this process to some degree. A year ago I hardly got any GB rquests at all as there wasn't much out on the market for the '8, but now that this has changed it's worth taking a look at it.

Oh, and anyone want to run a GB on HID kits for the factory H9 high beams for me? :D

 

Okay, just got the last part, must have missed it the first time.
My company lives and breathes percentages and so having to add any percent to an item is something we try not to do. The advantage for me i guess, would be that i stock almost everything so i only have one shipping charge and i only have to pya my vendors every 30 to 60 days.
I can see how you all would have people "forgetting" to pay you when its over and how asking for the setup fee up front would be a great idea. Thinking about it some more, I would say the thing that holds some back from doing group buys is that they are getting hit with 2 fees to run one sale. Its kinda a physcological thing i guess. 1 sale=2 fees.

I used to hate GBs when i started because they were a pain in the *** but ive got a system now and dont mind them at all.
Thanks again for responding and letting us here your thoughts
Justin

 

Hey Omi, I can see why the fee is charged up front for members, because as you stated they (us) may make money off the GB and then take off forever leaving the site high and dry.

But why is it this way for vendors? There here day in day out (most of them) supporting the site and answering questions. Theyre not going to cut out after a GB is over. I think GB's should be included in a vendors monthly/annual fee they pay to the site.

With no GB fee's for vendors they would get to sell more product, which in turn would mean more site/forum participation and more businesses would be more inclined to sign up as paying vendors.

I dont know why Vivid Racing left the site as a vendor, but my guess is that members never bought anything from them. What was there fee buying them...nothing. With the way the GB's are set up vendors have no reason to offer one.

This is just an after thought, but Ryan has said he will never charge members for using the site. Well by charging a percentage for GB's he is charging members for using the site, just not in a monthly service fee way.

My .02

 

Ok Justin, PM me and we'll work something out. :D

 

Actually, paying forum vendors who have a private forum don't pay a red cent to run a group buy. The ability to do this is indeed included in their forum sponsorship fees. Most of them choose not to do it very often, but if they decide to they don't have to pay anything extra. Forum vendors that DON'T have a private forum do have to pay a minimal fee, but it's not much: $20 one time.

Hope this helps.

 

Ah, thanks for pointing that out.

Well then, theres no reason we dont get any GB's from forum vendors then.

 

Nope, not really.