USA buying group has become a total scam. DO NOT BUY FOR THEM. You will not get paid.

I've spent over $200k with them over the years and things have gone relatively smoothly. They are terribly slow in paying out checks but I haven't had missing packages. Suddenly they stopped scanning my packages since the new year. It took them forever to respond to tickets and when they do they gave lame excuses like "We've been doing inventory and will start scanning in a day or two". And guess what, a day or two passed and still nada. I have over $1k packages delivered and not scanned and at this point I'm not holding my hopes up. They'll ask you for proof of delivery and purchase in the ticket, and ask you how many of the same items you bought for them, and they then tell you they didn't receive the package -- and that's when they do respond to me. Now they just ignore me. I still have packages delivered on 12/02/2020 that is not scanned.

Swiping your card for some total stranger is always a risk. Let this be a lesson for anyone reading this thread. DO NOT BUY FOR USA BUYING GROUP. They will not pay you back. You have been warned.

A question I'm wondering about (since I've started dabbling in reselling things locally myself with PS5s and XBox's) - what do these buyers clubs do with the merchandise (aside from ultra hot items like the next gen consoles that sell for hundreds above retail)? What are the doing with dozens or hundreds of iPads bought at a regularly available Amazon retail price?

Short answer is re sell them for profit. Trying to answer that most logical is selling the items overseas. Many items cost significantly more in other countries compared to USA. I’m sure they are making a good deal of profit doing that especially with apple products. They could also have their own local retail store, think NYC for hard to get items or NYC selling to tourists.

Smuggle overseas and flip

Tried these groups for the first time this holiday season.

USA lost an item of mine saying they never got it. I did a UPS claim and then the retailer sent a replacement to my home address. Had some close calls with MYS but they all came through. Buyformeretail was the best of them by far. Fast pay and service. But yeah USA and MYS seem like there's some risk working with them.

Being subscribed to these groups often on email they'll tell you when there's a drop on a hot item. Needless to say I made more when I was able to grab xboxes and sell on my own vs. send to them. Same for coin deals. But all of these groups made plenty of money from my buys as well.

Stacking Amex deals or cash back links for the items with commission worked out as an easy bit of money and SUBs with a few clicks.

I've read here that you can pick up or have items purchased delivered to your home then you can ship to USA. When I look at their sign up page it request you select a drop off location. I don't live anywhere near Delaware. Do you select any location and then when you need to ship you just to an address they provide on a shipping label? TIA

USA buying group - unreliable and shady
 

Exact same situation with 9 of my tracking numbers. Will post screenshots of this correspondence. They are really bad right now and I’m absolutely not going to buy for them now. Over the last two years I’ve done about 120k with them and more with other buying groups. Not doing any more with USA.

noob question.
Where do you list these products? Craigslist, offerup?

BFMR helped me out when LaserShip screwed up my delivery
 

I placed a Walmart order worth more than $1000 for BFMR. Now I know that Walmart sometimes ships their orders through LaserShip, rather LaserShit (look up the reviews if you don't know about them). Given the high worth of my order, I specifically asked Walmart to not ship my order through LaserShip. I guess it fell on deaf ears and Walmart ended up sending it through LaserShip. Anyway, fast forward to the date of delivery, I received a notification from LaserShip that my package was "left at the front door" at 6 PM. Now, I'm aware of the fact that all the BFMR addresses are PO box address. I usually get a "left at mailroom" or "left at a secure place" notification upon delivery. So I emailed BFMR at around 8 PM explaining about my situation and asked them if they can check on the package for me. BFMR was extremely quick with their reply and they sent out someone to check on my package at night. They acted quick and, fortunately, they found the package left right at the door for anyone to grab it. If it wasn't for the BFMR's help, I would have probably lost $1000 that day. Of course, it goes without saying that they sent the payment on the same day.

I felt it was necessary to share my story for everyone to know that (a) LaserShip sucks (b) It makes a ton of difference when you are dealing with a buying group that goes above and beyond.

reload into Amzn using VGCs (or Amazon GCs) ?
 

Wanted to give this a bump. I'm *just* getting into BGs and am considering this strategy as a first dip of my toes into these waters.
jjangoo, mind providing a DP on how much you're dumping VGCs via reload? (range - $1k to $2.5k? less? more?)

To all others - any other DPs on Amzn reloading via VGCs or Amzn GCs direct?

Also, are people using their personal Amazon accounts for this? or a new one that's dedicated just for BGs? I can see it both ways:
- use your personal account - pro: your organic purchase and account history probably de-risks your BG transactions from the perspective of the automated risk algorithms - con: you risk getting your personal account banned if you get too greedy or careless
- use a dedicated account - pro: sandbox your personal from your professional/BG account - con: newly created accounts using VGC reloads and Amzn GCs are likely more heavily scrutinized and flagged at the highest risk by their algorithms

Did two transactions with Pointsmaker in the past month.. went well and transfers completed. Just a data point.

If you have a Chase Ink card, buy Amazon GCs at office stores. Get 5x points per $ spend. Load to your Amazon account. Wash Rinse Repeat

Or

Amex Gold Card, you get 4x per $ spend at grocery stores. Buy the Amazon GC's .....Wash Rinse Repeat

The grocery angle is great if you can use gas points and sync with 2x / 4x promotions.

I have seen safeway and Fred Meyer / Krogers have this 2x/4x kinda promo's. How much does we need to spend to get discount on gas. Examples help.

This means we need to use those Amazon funds for some shopping sooner or later right? Or are there other ways to liquidate Amazon account balances ?

At Kroger, you get 1 point per dollar, and you save 10 cents per gallon for every 100 points. Usually 10 cents per gallon for $100 spend.
Example: spend $100, get 100 points, save 10 cents/gallon. Buy 10 gallons, save $1.00
Example: spend $200, get 200 points, save 20 cents/gallon. Buy 10 gallons, save $2.00
Example: spend $299, get 299 points, save 20 cents/gallon. You don't get partial credit for the extra 99 points.
Example: spend $100 during a 4x promotion, get 400 points, save 40 cents/gallon. Buy 10 gallons, save $4.00
Example spend $50 during a 4x promotion, get 200 points, save 20 cents/gallon. Buy 10 gallons, save $2.00
Max you can save is $1.00/gallon (1000 points, aka $1000 spend, or $250 spend at 4x). Points do not roll over month to month. Use it or lose it
Any more questions about the gas credit should probably go to the Kroger thread

Since the topic is buying groups, I assume the plan would be to spend the Amazon funds on whatever the group wants. Profit from the credit card cashback when buying the gift cards, profit from the gas points, profit from reselling to the buying group. You could also buy personal stuff with the Amazon funds.