i dont know if it is alowed i dont see why not.

what are you proposing?

I don't know, maybe a nice mic or something. I we could get a consensus on a piece of gear, I'll see what the vendors are willing to offer. For example, I asked my rep at Sweetwater if he'd cut a deal on Neumann U87's if there were 20 buyers. He's willing to do something like that (even though that specific example may be a little extreme).

So, let's start off with a mic....

AKG C414
Sennheiser 421

There are two mid-priced suggestions for mics that are pretty standard in the studio. Anyone have any ideas?

I could be interested in a 421 or 2 if I can get them to Australia for the right price.

Markd102: There's a start, I'd buy 2 421's too.

I want to gauge the interest in this because it may be a way to get some great discounted gear. If enough people want in, we can arrange something.

Hmmmm.....maybe I should start a poll.

I'll call around and see what venors are interested tomorrow!

backinthelab wrote: I was wondering, does anyone host any group buys on this forum? Is it allowed? Is anyone interested? Do you think any vendor would be up for it?

I could talk to my rep at Sweetwater and see if we could get a price break on a nice mic or something. Do you think it'll work?

So many questions, so little time.

I don't think we would have a problem with it but I am sure we wouldn't want RO to be the responsible party unless Chris or I were to administer it ... in which case we would probably want to choose the dealer based on a criteria of who supports the site and who doesn't ... (for the record, Sweetwater most likely wouldn't be who we would choose).

If all of you want to go in on somthing on your own, I am not going to delete any threads .. you're all welcome to use the board to facillitate a deal ..

Of course this is all if Chris doesn't have an issue with it ... he calls the shots in the end .. But I don't see it as a problem.

Kurt Foster wrote: we would probably want to choose the dealer based on a criteria of who supports the site and who doesn't

fair call

This is a great idea.

I worked on things like this with sweetwater long ago. Then I started thinking, maybe RO should become a dealer and sell gear to our members. Then I opened a Pro Shop and leased it to a dealer so he could sell awesome gear to our members, sadly, as soon as our Pro Shop opened we had to shut it down because a few old boys club dealers didn't like that fact we he had an edge. hmm... I like this...

I'm 100% certain if we took up a vote on paticular items, I could shop it.

IMHO, So this doesn't turn into a gong show, If you want? I'll set up a module that will log items we want. If we get enough interest in one particular item I will get us a deal.

Cheers!

Damn. I bet this is gonna be good and here I am broke as _____. (fill in the blank with expletive of your choice)

Kurt, Chris, what'd ya think?

If we could get group buy pricing with an obvious disclaimer to alleviate recording.org for personal liability, maybe this could be a good thing? You choose the vendor, we deal with them directly using the forum only as that - a forum to gain consensus on a piece of gear. We buy at a discounted rate and everyone is happy (not to mention the draw this would get to this forum if word got around)!

This sounds like a great idea. Count me in.

If were actually gonna do the 421 thing, I'll take two.

Kurt Foster wrote:
I don't think we would have a problem with it but I am sure we wouldn't want RO to be the responsible party unless Chris or I were to administer it ... in which case we would probably want to choose the dealer based on a criteria of who supports the site and who doesn't

Sebatron supports RO. A group buy on some Sebatron pres sounds good. :D

I'd be in for two 421's and two 414's

Sticking with the 421's right now, we have four people wanting 2 each. Anyone else consider??

audiokid: I you would set up some sort of log/vote, that'd be cool! I think that there is some positive interest here, let's hope for more!!!

If it takes long enough to materialize. I might coax the bank into another loan... :twisted: You must ship to India though....

Only one rule. It has to something good and professional. Ok? No cheap crap. And ya, the MD421 would qualify.

I'm eying a pair of C414's FWIW. I'd surely be in for a group discont (but I don't need 421's right now :( ). I'm sure if you start talking price, more people will jump in. I'm sure that is difficult since nothing is "in motion" yet. Good luck!

Maybe we can still have our own "Sam's Club - Pro-Shop"? ;) (A PRIVATE distributor ONLY for those in the "Pro-Shop Club".). Don't you LOVE loopholes, Chris? :D

:cool:

Just some thoughts Chris,,

when checking with the dealer, make sure to ask if they'll drop ship individually for the discount price... depending on savings, might not make sense to ship and insure twice

let me know when we shop the

Redd 47

DW fearn VT-2

uhm.. mackie control universal

more to follow

SI

i'll take 1 421

depending on price ill take two 421's

i wander what type of deal we could get on gafers tape :)

let me know when we are going to go in on some vintech x73i's or other high quality neve'ish preamps.

:)

rudedogg wrote: let me know when we are going to go in on some vintech x73i's or other high quality neve'ish preamps.

:)

Yeah me too. I've been eyeing a Great River MP-2NV.

Chris, are you looking into this or should I start calling around? It seems that a dozen 421's might get a good deal!

great idea - I'd go in on a 421 as well -- can we look into a group purchase of a shared studio in NYC next? :shock:

Okay all, looking now.

Cheers

Hey Chris

shoot me an email please at hifisanity@personainternetDOTcom

like to get your # so I can detail the Redd 47 offer from John

Thanks

SI

don't 4get to change DOT to (.)

roughly, how much would a 421 cost me ? And the 414 (I presume were looking at the new models)

Sidhu

Hi All, it looks like we could do this a lot.

I have a price that includes shipping to lower 48 states.

Now, Before I go any further I would like to get some ideas on how the members think we should complete this deal and contact you. I don't want to waist the dealers time, sincere buyers and mine.
Should we set-up a system?

Here is one idea, shoot it around please. I could set up an RO group member paypal area, take your cash and once we have a number that works, shop it out? Or what? How does one organize this so we keep costs and BS down to a min. The simpler we do things the better odds of getting continued deals and actually coming through with it all.

Thoughts?

dealers are welcome to chime in here please.

In the past group buys that I've been a part of (even though it was for car mods), one person in the forum contacted the vendor and announced the price breaks at different levels in the forum. ie, if 20 bought in it would cost $X, if 50 people bought in it would cost $Y. The members contacted the vendor directly with their credit card info and ordered the items after the minumum number agreed to purchase on the forum. It's not 100% perfect because some people would shaft out, but it worked for the most part because we always had at least the minimum #. Maybe those that want in would be required to leave a deposit? I don't know, just throwing ideas around here!!!

The Paypal idea sounds cool, but how long would the money "stay in the pot" before the buy would be made? I'd hate to pay for a pair of $1400 mics, and not get them for 6 months, ya know?

Thanks for your efforts, Chris! 8-)

:cool:

Some of my thoughts...

Make a Group buy section,

then chime off a bunch of products for a week,

then from that list , compile the numbers and order the list in most to less.

then depending on who has best contacts, go out and get pricing on various quantities as mentioned in earlier post,

depending on the deal and the dealer, maybe we can publish prices or make them only available to the buyers in group via e -mail,,, ya know, for the really good deals that shouldn't be online
unless ofcourse the dealer doesn't mind,

a key to the success of this is that those adding themselves to a list should be ready to buy.. not shop .

with open prices this should be pretty easy to build a list,

with confidencial wait and see prices, i can understand if someone opts off the list because not happy with " discount"

other then that , try to set up direct payment to vendor and dropshipping, with maybe adding RO to the order number and having a closing date once price breaks are met,,, this way the vendor can have orders counted, and once all are in bill on same day, or whatever,,

i'm sure if we don't hit target on some of the items, depending on the vendor, you may still see and in between price for effort,, who knows,,

as mentioned earlier, i spoke with John re the REDD 47 and have a package, but still need to chat Chris on it ,,

other then that , some food for thoughts here,,

hope i could help with some ideas

SI

Randyman... wrote: The Paypal idea sounds cool, but how long would the money "stay in the pot" before the buy would be made? I'd hate to pay for a pair of $1400 mics, and not get them for 6 months, ya know?

Thanks for your efforts, Chris! 8-)

:cool:

exactly 8-)

I'd say we have a time limit of only days or so. With paypal we can refund the money (click of a mouse) basically within a time duration. I don't want that to happen though., but if it did this would be the solution. I do know it still cost something for paypal to do the transaction (refund or process). I would be willing to do this but definitely don't want to stroke dealers. We have to be serious here. Or,...

you guys just post what you want and the dealers fight it out (but where?)_. I have a feeling (if this were me) I wouldn't waist my time on something I only make peanuts with.
That being said, I think if we had a (this price we buy) then that at least cuts throught the BS and a deal can be done quickly. Regarding thinking any dealer will post what he will do a deal for... NOT A CHANCE. They have rules where they can't publish prices below the map price set out in their contract.

IMO, have a price you'd pay, give someone the cash and it's a done deal.
Here is food for thought. I don't want things like this to cut into our banner ads right? The only way I can pay for this site is through the support of dealers that respect this and support us. The other is the RO Club area.
We kill spam here. So, dealers diving into a forum and constanly saying "CALL ME"... turns RO into a gong show.

That being said. I like to help, and usually do things that help us grow. I've made mistakes running this place and really try to keep those bloopers to a min. If this builds business and helps members, I'm 100% behind it.
Any other suggestions?

audiokid wrote: Any other suggestions?

Get a large enough contingent together then negotiate a "buyin order" directly with the MFG's. Some will, some won't, but it's worth a shot.

You might even be able to get one of the "friend" dealers to do this initial buy for you for like 5 points over cost [covers the paperwork that way] so they can get their numbers up and add lines to their roster.

Best of luck guys.

well if anyone wants info on the Redd qantity break and buy price, e mail me,,

I've also contacted a lot of people not on this forum to get the orders up ( we hope)

SI

Hi Mike.

Sounds like, Sanity, Fletchers, and a few other suggestions could all work.

good luck all.