co-ops - PLEASE READ THIS

[veve]

Hi all

I thought that starting my own thread might be the best way to contact ALLLLLL of the nappy loves in this section.

The mods are aware of the fact that cloth nappy makers are organising coops to get hard-to-get fabrics, and also fabrics at a better price. So far all transations (to our knowledge) have gone smoothly - HOWEVER we are concerned that this loveliness may not continue!! :eek: ( I love that face!)

the mods are currently discussing how we can HELP you .. STILL have the co ops (fantastic idea) but .. without (or at least lowering) the risks ... sending money to members you haven't met/ transacted with before can certainly be risky (especially if you do the math on the price of the fabrics!!!)

does anyone out there have any solutions on how they could be managed more securely? I would love to have contributions from you all .. as YOU are the ones running and using the co-ops..

I dont want the co-ops to stop funtioning .. as I certainly understand their purpose .. but if one (or more .. sigh) dodgy transation occurs .. that is probably what will happen :(

any ideas???
xx
Jen

[bossoflatch]

i have been watching the co -ops, checking the prices and not participating on buying anything to experiment due to that reason - can we not source one supplier - work out sponsorship type deal - bubhub offers advertising on site and they offer discounted 'bulk prices' on all orders which can be put thru on the same day maybe and they pay directly to the supplier??? i mean someone is going to the effort to get a great price for bulk - and surely a supplier might be willing to offer a better price if they know they will keep getting the business....

[MCNmummyof2]

Another option is COD - but that does cost more think its $8 or $9 per parcel, and you cant use satchels, and the person would have to wait longer to get their money.

I cant really think of any other way to do it, other than contacting suppliers and seeing if they will do a cheaper amount if we order x amount of fabric, and they cut the fabric there? But again I think one of the reasons its so cheap is so that they dont have to do this.

I have the next week off uni, so if someone wants me to PM me the suppliers, Id be more than happy to call them and see if something like that could happen? We would do a bulk order, pay for it seperately, and then get it posted to us fron the supplier. Probably wouldnt be as cheap, but might be able to get it cheaper than normal?

But again, I think it may be a risk that you take? I know I only buy off people that have been around for a while (less likely to leave that way!), its the same issue as with the buy, swap, sell boards.

Another thing - do we make registered post mandatory? Again costs a bit more, but then blame cant be told when each party can chase up the parcel? Because Australia post does screw up sometimes!

[ks23]

Hi,

Just a thought,

Maybe Bubhub could "underwrite" the co-op" IE. Someone organise the wholesale prices. Everyone puts in an order on a thread or database, pays into a bubhub account before the order goes through and bubhub writes the final cheque for the order which equals the contributions??? In the US a web based nappy shop actually does most of the co-ops so left overs are absorbed into the business but being a company there is also trust there rather than an individual????

[Shanaynay]

I think reg post only costs an extra $2.35 or something, so that's a great idea :yes:

Is Paypal a safer way to pay?

[MCNmummyof2]

I think paypal is only safe if its a registered transaction, ie ebay or through a store

Ive been known to be wrong tho !! :D

One thing that Im a bit apprehensive about, is I doubt many of us is going to have the decent wad of cash to pay outright for the materials. So that may be an issue too. (for the coop runner)

[Shanaynay]

Well I'm offering this once only to do a co-op soon :D
Only time I'll have the cash :o

I think you're right about Paypal, wouldn't make it any safer in this instance.

[Foxymoron]

How do you mean paypal would be safer if it were through a store? I have an online store.. I'm trace able- I'm a bubhub supporter/advertiser... Does that help?

[HoopDeeDoo]

Well firstly I would not give money to anyone that isn't at least a senior Bub Hub member, or who has a certain amount of posts or something. BubHub may not want to be responsible for money transactions etc.

[Foxymoron]

Me too, not interested in giving my money to someone who has recently joined.
Mind you, I have over 1000 posts, but the march 2006 preggie threads were deleted so my post count went down..:wizard: poof like that LOL

[Shanaynay]

Am I trustworthy :D

Yeah, it would be a lot of work for Bubhub, collecting money then paying the place for fabric etc...
It's hard, you just don't know when to take the chance - I haven't had any bad internet experiences YET :fingerscrossed: but I certainly don't want to start anytime soon!

[Foxymoron]

:thumbsup: Breasturants are very trustworthy.

[Tea Lady]

I'd trust a breastaurant any day too FM!

Hmmm this is a tricky one :detective: I guess I just think of it as being kind of like ebay - with that you're paying $ to someone you don't know at all (although I guess you at least have their record to go by) whereas at least here you kind of know the person.

I don't really have a solution sorry :o

Btw I'll hopefully be posting your fabric tomorrow MCN mummy - I haven't forgotten about you but I need to do a special trip to the PO for yours :)

[KapowSchazam]

Yeah, I think it's a case of 'buyer beware' - if we've seen the co-opper around, not just in the clothie thread for a little while, we're more likely to 'trust' them IYKWIM - and someone who posts in various BH areas is more 'real' to me...

[MCNmummyof2]

Thatl be perfect Tea Lady, think that'll mean Im going to have fluffy mail every day next week!!! lol. Dont rush to get it posted, kids are kids and I understand that they take up time!

[Two Little Buggalugs]

Well, I just did the last coop and was happy with how it worked. I had some money for a change, so wasn't concerned about buying it upfront. I figured that if any of the takers fell through, i would sell the fabric to someone else on bubhub or buyena.

I assume the people who bought from me had seen me around the threads. I think the fact that I could give a 'real' email (the server is my husbands business, so it's not a yahoo or hotmail account) and I gave my full name, mobile, address etc helped. I mean if you looked for me on white pages i would come up.

On nappycino (i hope that's ok to put because it's not a parenting forum?) you have to apply to the administrators before posting a thread about a coop. They weigh up if you have been on the forum long, if other senior members can vouch for you etc. Maybe the same here - if you want to do a coop you should apply to bubhub, give all the information of what you propose to buy and charge, personal info etc, and it is overseen by a moderator? And a sticky with the info like Tea lady said?

i would assume that bubhub and the suppliers aren't looking for extra work being the coop iykwim?

[Shanaynay]

On nappycino (i hope that's ok to put because it's not a parenting forum?) you have to apply to the administrators before posting a thread about a coop. They weigh up if you have been on the forum long, if other senior members can vouch for you etc. Maybe the same here - if you want to do a coop you should apply to bubhub, give all the information of what you propose to buy and charge, personal info etc, and it is overseen by a moderator? And a sticky with the info like Tea lady said?
That's a good idea - if lots of members or mods 'know' the member well either online or IRL, it would be much safer.
Especially if you know where they live :devil6: hehehehe

[MCNmummyof2]

I think applying to do a coop would be great.

[Shanaynay]

Is it ok to start a co-op or should we wait and see what sort of security-type thingo we come up with?

[Zada]

we trust ya phineas;)

[Foxymoron]

:thumbsup: I trust you!

[little_fish]

I'd love to see a buyer/seller rating or feedback system. Not just for co-ops but for the nappy swappers as well. :yes: