Re: Interest guage - 200mw 660nm red pointers...
laserman94 said:
Hmm I understand, but did you make a profit or not? I think it should be in the interest of members here to know what goes on in a group buy as we are all members of the forum, and the respective LPF family. If each member were to host group buys for profits, then i'm sure someone will come up and argue that point.
Well, I'll tell you what I do. At this point I refrain from calling things group buys for this very reason - if people don't see you losing money for helping others they get mad.
When I conduct my... whatever you want to call them... I try to factor everything in. Its not just about the unit price the seller offers, its about every bank fee, every shipping fee, every paypal fee, every RMA service cost, and perhaps the possibility you lose it all getting your shipment snagged by customs. I try to factor all those in an set a price.
Most of the time, unless we can get hundreds of participants, that price is pretty decent amount more than the unit price offered by the original seller, but if its still a good price I'll go through with the deal. And honestly? Yes, I normally factor in a very small profit. This profit amounts to perhaps a few cents per hour in my pocket when you consider the time I put in, and ignores the thousands of dollars I have invested in equipment. EVEN THEN, group buys are rarely a smooth process and you can never predict anything. Even after all those precautions I take, and the little profit I try factoring in, I normally LOSE MONEY on the deals.
Now, I keep trying them because I find it interesting and I learn a lot from it. Not to mention I get to play with some pretty cool lasers in the process. However, don't think we're here getting rich off of these group buys. My most recent deal is those IR lasers, and I don't call it a GB at all - I'll openly admit I'm making a few bucks off of every package I sell. With a lot of luck, it'll pay off the hundreds I've lost in past GBs, and who knows, if I turn it into a real business I may even be able to pay off some of the equipment I test the lasers with
(man, this is one EXPENSIVE hobby to have. I could have a pretty decent set of L series lenses if I never heard of lasers)
PS: Oh, and I'm not looking to get everyone here thinking "aww, poor SenKat" or anything. We know what we're getting into and we do it anyway. It'd just be nice to have a little more respect than when people like picrthis portray us twisted profiteers, and for-profit companies as the good guys.
