Have you all done any co-op buying or is that a bad idea? Shipping is bad on stuff. Wonder if we could order in quantity and share. Has anyone done that?

If you can find enough people in your area you might try it. We used to do it with some things when I was working. Seems like someone always felt like they got shafted when they had to pay their part of the shipping charges. Just make sure that everyone is clear on everything right up front. If something gets backordered it can turn into a major nightmare. Make sure you decide whether shipping is divided equally or in accordance with whatever someone buys. If the shipping is by dollar amount then it should be divided by the # of dollars and each person pay accordingly. If it's by item then divided it that way. If it's by weight don't even mess with co-op buying because it creates a horrible mess.

I'm with raptureready, I used to do when I worked and the same thing happened. Someone was always mad about the shipping and sometimes people order, but don't seem to have the money when the items come in(I'll pay you later kind of deal, but later never gets here).

I belonged to a food co-op when my kids were little, it was wonderful and we had a great bunch of ladies.

It's good if you're buying like-items...I've done co-ops for yarn and stuff and it's worked out well. The "hostess" has to be very organized though and have it figured out ahead of time. You know, cost of discounted item, estimated shipping cost, when the payments are due, when they should expect their item, etc. Not to mention there's got to be some history of SUCCESSFUL co-ops. Everyone's gotta start somewhere, but I don't wanna be the one burned for a couple hundred bucks...

I've never done that but I was wondering how you would go about it after you got a group together? Would you buy wholesale and if so, would you need a business license?

Our little quilt group does it all the time. But then we are in Ireland, with few LQSs and much higher prices than in the US. When we band together, we share the shipping costs which saves a lot too.

I just put everything on my credit card, and they pay me back when the goods arrive.

I agree with you guys. I used to order when I worrked and someone always b*****d about shipping. From then on I would order my own and pay for my own shipping. No problems or mad people that way.

I do group orders for bird toy parts all of the time. I just put a few rules in place and if you followed the rules no problems if you didn't the next time you were not in on the order. I have been running it now for going on 4 years without any problems.

I made anyone ordering pay up front by paypal, they covered the shipping charges split among the items ordered. I just increased the price to cover it. (I don't pay shipping since I do all the sorting and repackaging and mailing out).

Could you just buy from someplace like Connecting Threads where over 50 bucks shipping is free? In my mind that is the reason to do co-op. My 2 cents
David