Buying Groups
 

Hi everyone. I've been looking into buying groups as an easy, legal way to generate spend with reselling, similar to PFS Buyers Club but on a larger scale. I haven't seen any posts on FT, except for one by one of the companies. I'd like to hear about people's experiences- success/failures, best groups, how taxes work on reselling, etc. Any and all comments welcome. Thanks!

I haven't done it myself, and you're right there's not many threads on it, but here is one
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manu...coin-deal.html

Thanks, Klemhuzzah. I'm familiar with PFS but their deals are only once in a blue moon. I'm referring to ones like USA Buying that have daily lists of products for people to buy.

I have tried the following clubs and here are my review

1. Pointsmaker - Best in the business. Takes fewer risks. Consistent with somepayment times
2. MYS Buying Group - Pointsmaker & MYS use the same type of software. Next best. Comes up with slightly more deals than pointsmaker. Once they asked members to return an item. They compensated for the inconvenience.
3. USA Buying Group - Offers the same deals as MYS. Terrible communications and hardly respond to messages. They also asked to return the same item as MYS. I don't think it went well with the members
4. Simtec (Closed) -
5. YRCW - Handles everything through WhatsApp. Personally, I found it inconvenient. Lesser deals.
6. Buy For Me Retail - Very less number of deals. They offer a lesser amount than other groups for the same deal.

Stores:
Tax free state - If you live in a tax-free state, you will be able to participate in almost all deals. You will ship the products to your home and then ship it to buying groups. Usually buying groups provided shipping labels for qty of 5 or more.

Walmart - Always cancels the order to the buying group address
Best buy - All apple orders to the buying group address cancels. Most other products ships but off late, it has been hit or miss.
Amazon - The easiest. All orders ship.
Google Express - Once google shut google account of members (including Gmail) for shipping to buying groups.
Ebay - Many cases of a permanent ban. Once banned, you cannot create another one with same address.

Thank you for your in depth analysis.

1) Not MS.
2) You are taking all risk and float and have no recourse if the item shows as delivered and the Buying Group claims it wasn't (it does happen).
3) These groups are not transparent with their finances so if they go bust you are SOL (remember TPM).

Just my 2c.

Pretty much mirrors my experiences with buying groups. Very few of them are transparent with their company information and communications are usually terrible.

Wow, thank you [MENTION=839270]Wish2BeAnonymous[/MENTION] for all the good information. And [MENTION=866074]skanchur[/MENTION] for your two cents.

I'm less nervous about losing money on one package here and there and them going out of business, though those are definitely concerns.

I'm more just confused about the legality and profitability of their business models - I don't understand how it can possibly be worth it for them, especially on deals that don't have household limits. Also the fact that Ebay and Google have shut people down makes me think it's very fishy.

I agree with Point 2 & 3 of [MENTION=866074]skanchur[/MENTION].

Addressing your concerns:
Lost packages: It happens. During Thanksgiving, USPS dropped multiple pallets of products and got signature from the warehouse personnel that all orders were delivered. Some packages were indeed not delivered but per the tracking information, it was delivered. Each group handled differently. Some took responsibility right away. Some asked the members to contact Amazon and try for a refund. If Amazon didn't refund, they paid the members. I believe one group asked the members to agree for half payment. Some of this is hearsay.

Going out of business: The one that keeps everyone up at night. Simtec closed their buying group after settling everyone, so that was good. There is a relatively new FB group where members actively share their experience and some company owners are part of the FB group responding to concerns. Also some member who lives near the warehouse, drop their products regularly. I hope they will notice if things are not good.

How does it make sense for the companies: These companies are wholesale distributors. My guess is they sell to companies outside the USA. For example, Apple products are costlier (or sometimes same) outside the USA with hardly any deals like we see in the USA.

Effort: It doesn't take much travel effort like an MO liquidation but it requires one to be organized. IMO, if one can't maintain a simple excel file, they shouldn't do this.
Every time an order is placed, I add an entry and track it with multiple statuses until it is paid. Some go to the extent of tracking the cashback portal payment status.

I'm new to FT so I don't check the platform often. If you need my response, please tag me in your reply.

In my original post (now updated), I incorrectly mentioned that you can create a new Ebay account after a ban. You cannot. Below is the updated text

Does it matter to register under a fake address? Not so comfortable handing personal info to them.

Don't mean to come across as holier than thou..... I've done plenty of things that fit this category. However I feel compelled to point out that the fact that you don't want to give them your personal info says a lot and probably means you should not send them hundreds of dollars of merchandise.

My knee jerk reaction when reading your comment was how can someone be so obtuse, in this day and age, about anyone being reticent about giving out their personal information. We constantly hear news about business and institutions having data breaches or getting hacked. But I get what you are trying to say.

Fair enough

--------------

Next time, when you publish the work of others, try not to be so obvious, make a few more changes.

(the post published by Wish2BeAnonymous was republished here without permission from the author. I'm the author.