Group buys
Run a group buy without fronting the money
Bulk prices need bulk numbers. Crowd lets you find out whether 30 people actually want the thing before you commit to ordering 30 of it.
The problem
Group buys die in the gap between "who's interested?" and "who's paying?". Interest is free, so everyone says yes, and then the organiser is left holding the risk. A threshold with a deadline turns vague interest into a countable commitment.
Why a threshold fixes it
- Set the target to the supplier's minimum order quantity. The action succeeds exactly when the order becomes viable.
- A deadline stops the group buy dragging on. People act when they can see the clock.
- No payment is taken on Crowd, so nobody is charged for something that never ships. Collect money only once the target is hit.
- The link works in any community: a subreddit, a Discord server, a school parents' group, a keyboard forum.
Examples
Tap one to start →- If 30 people say yes……we'll place a bulk order for the custom hoodie at £22 each instead of £38.30 hoodies at the bulk price. Use as template
- If 50 people say yes……we'll order a pallet of firewood for the street at the wholesale rate.50 households sharing a pallet. Use as template
- If 15 people say yes……we'll split a wholesale case of coffee beans, 1kg each.15 people splitting a case. Use as template
How to do it
- 1
Find the price break or minimum order quantity from the supplier.
- 2
Create an action with that number as the target and the unit price in the description.
- 3
Share the link. People join when they're genuinely in, not just curious.
- 4
Once the target is hit, collect payment through whatever you normally use and place the order.
Questions
- Does Crowd handle payments?
- No. Crowd counts commitments. Once the target is reached, collect money however suits your group, for example a payment link or a bank transfer. Keeping money out of the threshold step is what makes joining frictionless.
- What stops people joining and then backing out?
- Nothing technical, and that's deliberate: the join is a promise, not a contract. In practice a public count with a deadline gets far more honest answers than a poll, because people know the order will actually happen. Set the target slightly above the true minimum if you want a buffer.
- Can someone join twice to push the number up?
- Joins are one per device per action, enforced by a signed cookie and rate-limited by IP hash. It's not bulletproof against a determined person with many devices, but it stops the casual double-tap.
- Is there a limit on the target?
- Targets can be anything from 2 to 100,000. Deadlines can be up to 30 days away, and the action date up to 90 days.
Also used for
Ready to set a number?
One link. Anonymous. No accounts. If the number doesn't fill before the deadline, nothing happens and nobody is on the hook.