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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Massdrop.com - New group buy platform

c0ldshadow

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I would like to introduce the LPF community to our newest sponsor, Massdrop.

In an effort to make group buys more efficient, secure and economical, Massdrop is offering
to help LPF members organize and initiate group buys.

They would like to help members create the ultimate community sourced DIY laser kit. Massdrop
has worked with the mechanical keyboard community before, and created an awesome
keyboard together. The LPF community should be able to do the same sort of thing here!

For example, here are some links:


This was the result: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ergodox?mode=guest_open
Individually it would’ve cost $600, Massdrop was able to source it for the group for $200-$300.

So what is Massdrop?

Massdrop is a site that allows you to buy as a group to get the best prices on the products you care about.

To get started, you tell the community about your favorite products by creating a poll or by voting in an existing one. By voting, you help Massdrop understand what products matter most to you (in our case, lasers!).

Once a poll reaches 200 votes, Massdrop calls the manufacturer of the winning product and negotiates on behalf of the group to get the best price possible.

With power in numbers, Massdrop is able to purchase products at group rates from the manufacturer. This means, the more people who agree to buy the product, the lower the price gets!

If the manufacturer is unwilling to work with the group, Massdrop tries to source the other options that were voted for in the poll. That being said, Massdrop has made connections with Viasho, CNILaser, and other laser vendors on the site.

Massdrop is also a place for you to connect with other people who have similar interests. Join the discussion, tell the community why you think your laser is the best, share photos, videos, opinions and most importantly vote, so that Massdrop can help the group get the best prices on the products want.

Massdrop suggests that members start by creating a master list of different lasers we are interested in by color and wavelength, create a poll on Massdrop, vote, and start playing with some new lasers! :)


Multi-GB link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsawST11yRRxdDJKd2NvalgzUzRZQTJNXzFaQm93amc#gid=0
 
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Sweet concept, hope it works out. Will end up better than current GBs although people like ORF put in massive amounts of time so this will cut down on that for them :D
 
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Created a google docs spreadsheet for us on the forum, feel free to edit it/add... I'll moderate it for now. Don't do anything stupid that'll make this thing need to be a "added by PM" rule :eek:

Link
 
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Hi LPF Members and Lurkers!

Thank you so much for the warm welcome Avery! My name is Andrew, and I'm one of the team members at Massdrop. Please let me know if you have any questions, I'll be here for the next several hours to field them.

Take care,

Andrew
 
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IsaacT

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Ooh, this could really simplify the GB process! Subscribing.
 

NKO29

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Unfortunately, i dont see 200 people voting for a laser diode that is over $100
 
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Sweet concept, hope it works out. Will end up better than current GBs although people like ORF put in massive amounts of time so this will cut down on that for them :D
Yeah, I've been reading the GB threads and the biggest choke point I see is just gathering the money, getting killed by fees and fulfilling the orders.

Once a GB is live, it's the same as buying something on Amazon in terms of the check out process, except you don't get charged unless the GB is successful by getting enough people to join. Also, we accept all major credit cards, paypal and bitcoin.

In terms of fulfillment, we have a fulfillment center that breaks down bulk orders and ships them out to the individual users with tracking so no one has to worry about not receiving their orders in a timely fashion.

Basically, we can take care of the dirty work and you guys can do the fun stuff like creating polls to see if the laser you want is also what other would like.
 
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Unfortunately, i dont see 200 people voting for a laser diode that is over $100
You'd be surprised, we have polls that reach 200-500 votes for items that cost $500 plus on the site.

That being said, if we see a poll that is getting votes at a healthy rate, we will contact the diode suppliers and not wait for the 200 vote count since there is enough interest to start a GB and get better pricing on products.

edit: here is an example where we have 250 votes and the tube amplifier kit costs $394 MSRP: https://www.massdrop.com/vote/headphone-or-speaker-amplifier-kits
 
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Once the preliminary voting (gathering what's worth putting on the site) seems pretty solid it'll probably get moved over to your site. Right now with things getting added and edited left and right it wouldn't be much use quite yet-

So... that said... who's gathering the people on PL and WL once this takes off? I vote not me:p
 

IsaacT

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Once the preliminary voting (gathering what's worth putting on the site) seems pretty solid it'll probably get moved over to your site. Right now with things getting added and edited left and right it wouldn't be much use quite yet-

So... that said... who's gathering the people on PL and WL once this takes off? I vote not me:p

Hahaha, yeah...I am not goin near PL or WL with this. I don't post at PL much so I really wouldn't be the best person at any rate.....Hakzaw1? :D



In other news, what sorts of fees does massdrop charge for being the gateway for these group buys. You have to make money after all :beer:

Thanks,
Isaac
 
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In other news, what sorts of fees does massdrop charge for being the gateway for these group buys. You have to make money after all :beer:

Thanks,
Isaac

It really depends on the margins of the product. But you guys will always get the better end of the deal.
 
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keep in mind, im pretty sure massdrop isnt just a community spercific site. iirc ive heard of it before just never seen anything that peaks my interest. Youd be surprised what people buy when the price is good. go take a look at slickdeals.net, people buy all sorts of crap from that site, well get tips as where the deals are and then buy from the sellers site.
 
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keep in mind, im pretty sure massdrop isnt just a community spercific site. iirc ive heard of it before just never seen anything that peaks my interest. Youd be surprised what people buy when the price is good. go take a look at hotdeals.net, people buy all sorts of crap from that site, well get tips as where the deals are and then buy from the sellers site.
man that hurts, just took a look at hotdeals.net and their site doesn't look so great.

We've got a pretty large audiophile community, we are getting into one car (FT-86) platform and even makeup, which has been interesting to say the least. We basically will do GBs for anything as long as the community shows interest.

Edit: also totally forgot about our Magic: The Gathering (playing cards) community, they are huge on our site!
 
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Hey no offense was meant......i think i came across your site once or twice but at that time i had very little money and either the deals were a little rich for my blood or didnt see something i wanted (was either when i was in high school or college since not sure how long youve been around).

Yeah by hotdeals i meant slickdeals.net lol its just a forum where people post deals. if we get a deal going for laser then we can post them over there and maybe get added interest. BAHAHA hotdeals.net is a junk website, dont think anyone has even made it into anything yet, just looked for laughs :crackup:

EDIT: now that i am out of school and have a solid job im in the market for more expensive toys ;) heading over to your site now and seeing what deals you got going or in the works :D

BTW your site is VERY VERY clean and nice to navigate :D sooooooo many deals as well :D :D :D which to buy which to buy :thinking:
 
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Hey no offense was meant......i think i came across your site once or twice but at that time i had very little money and either the deals were a little rich for my blood or didnt see something i wanted (was either when i was in high school or college since not sure how long youve been around).

Yeah by hotdeals i meant slickdeals.net lol its just a forum where people post deals. if we get a deal going for laser then we can post them over there and maybe get added interest. BAHAHA hotdeals.net is a junk website, dont think anyone has even made it into anything yet, just looked for laughs :crackup:

EDIT: now that i am out of school and have a solid job im in the market for more expensive toys ;) heading over to your site now and seeing what deals you got going or in the works :D

BTW your site is VERY VERY clean and nice to navigate :D sooooooo many deals as well :D :D :D which to buy which to buy :thinking:

Hmm might of been another site, we've been operating for about a year now.

Thanks for the kind words, I'm sitting next to the front end dev that helped design the site and he's blushing.
 




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