To Group Order or not group order, 'tis the question

I have participated in several group orders and never had a problem, BUT: I carefully read feedback for the person running the group order before I join. I think the actions of a few immature and inconsiderate people should not scare anyone from joining in a group order.

 

It really depends on what the order is for, what you wan, and who is running it. Check out the organizer's feedback before committing to anything, first of all. Also, if you only want a wig or eyes or something that's already made and other people are ordering dolls, keep in mind that even though your items are ready right now, theirs may take a long time to make, thus delaying your items. I don't know which group orders you're talking about, if it was a wait time of 3 months, I'm guessing it was for dolls or some kind of preorder item? In cases like that it might take just as long or nearly as long if you order on your own. If it was not a case of items needing to be made for the order, that's a pretty huge timeframe- I've participated in lots of orders in various hobbies and most have had a turnaround time of a couple of weeks, except for pre-orders and things made-to-order. : /

 

I don't think I'd participate in a group order for a doll, unless it was with friends--I'm kind of doing that now, in fact, having ordered my Shiwoos now specifically to get the Juri head for a good friend. I want what I want when I want it, and I doubt I'd have the patience for the process of gathering participants, collecting shopping lists, accumulating payments and then still having to wait for the order to be shipped and distributed (I can also afford to pay the $40+ for shipping a doll). On the other hand, if I only wanted, say, one wig or one outfit from a particular website, I might ask around at the next dollmeet to see if anyone wanted to throw in with me. It would depend on how much I wanted the items and who the other people were. I have a low tolerance for flakiness .

 

I've participated in group orders before and they've went really well, but I'm not too enthused about doing them. I'm not really very active in the 'community', so I don't know anyone that well, and I think I'd rather just wait until I have a really huge order to place with a company and order things in one go to make the shipping more cost effective than just buy small things here and there on the backs of group orders.

 

I've hopped on to a group order, and I'm currently waiting for the items to be shipped from the company.

I think that they're really useful - having only one doll, and making all of his clothes myself (no one sells what I want for him), there isn't much I can buy for him. And even though EMS shipping didn't seem all that much for the doll himself, for his wig, it floored me. o.O

So getting on group orders to save shipping money? OH YES.

 

With a group order, whether joining one, or running one, you must always expect that *anything* can happen. Big orders are more likely to be screwed up than smaller orders (ie: something missing, breaking, going out of stock, etc...).

I've only run one group order so far, but have joined many. And my advice to *anyone* planning on starting one.. please keep everyone updated--even if it's the smallest amount of info. What you might not think is a big deal, others will. That's one thing I did with my order-- I updated the thread with every detail and stamped it with a date. When payments are received, orders placed, received contact from the company, etc... Its much easier than having every one pm, and then wonder if the pm was ever received.

But I definitely prefer a group order over an individual one-- unless I'm ordering a doll. I cannot expect anyone else to wait longer because I want a faceup or the like. ^_~ And please be sure to specify if an order INCLUDES dolls, so everyone knows it will be a long wait.

But I always appreciate when someone's willing to run one.. and I'm happy to do the same.

 

I've participated in group orders and had them go fine, but I don't get in on them very often anymore in large part because they don't end up saving me all that much money after my share of shipping from the company, paypal fees, and shipping to me.

Instead when I want to order something I try and see if friends and local doll people want anything from the company and we split up shipping amongst ourselves. It's less stress and it's yet to cost me more than a group order would have, since we tend to meet to distribute items rather than mailing them around.

 

I only personally join group orders if i only want one particular item from the shop and if the person running it has good feedback.

But i have run orders myself and kept them strictly to people i actually know so i could keep in touch better (i've done about 6 friends only orders now) it also really helps joining in a group order that in your country, and ones that don't allow dolls or parts to be ordered.

Otherwise i order by myself, that way i can order whatever i want and not have to worry about causing delays for other people.

 

I'm participating in a group order; so far, it's going quite well and the person running it is capable.

What I did was read up on the organizer's feedback (In fact, before I buy anything within DoA or at eBay, I read the feedback here and use Toolhaus.org for any negative/neutral feedback on an eBay profile. That easily saves me money in the long run.).

 

Regarding the wait, a lot of the group orders are for special preorder offerings, not for in-stock items. Some other preorders include faced-up dolls - those also can take months to arrive. I have participated in a number of group orders and every time the wait was for the items to be received by the group leader.

But some pre-orders are stated as specifically for in-stock small items, no dolls. That keeps the shipping down and the order also arrives much more quickly.

I definitely look for a pre-order when I want something small that I expect to stay in stock, or to hopefully save on shipping when ordering preorder items that will take forever to arrive anyway! But some have saved me more than others and it's hard to tell which group orders will do that. Some group leaders charge Paypal fees to everyone because their Paypal account is a business one, but some have two Paypal accounts - one that accepts credit cards and charges fees, and one that can only accept cash transfer and does not charge fees. Since I can do cash transfer, I love those.

Some sellers use expensive US shipping to send you your items when they arrive - I dislike that because I would prefer NOT to pay for Priority mail with insurance for a single pair of eyes that were in their own sturdy case - the local shipping cost more than the eyes!!!. But some sellers really try to keep the local shipping costs down, even if it's more work for them.

One other problem I have with group orders is that some are self-serving. Some member is buying a doll and wants to defray her own shipping, so she makes it a group order and splits the shipping evenly between all participants. I find that annoying and I think the person who got the doll should be paying more of the shipping than the person who got one pair of eyes. In one that I participated in, the doll buyer payed most of the international shipping and split the rest among the small participants - that was more fair.

Some group orders are good, some are bad.

Carolyn

 

I've done three group orders and in each case, the wait of 1.5 to 3 months was primarily due to the manufacturer taking that long to make the stuff and fulfill the order. I always advise people that there may be a shipping delay on my end when I get the order because I work a lot and am out of town, but I have always gotten most if not all the items shipped on to the buyers within a couple of weeks of getting the order. Most of the orders I've joined as a buyer were also shipped out quite fast by the person running the order. So the wait is really not something due to a group order in most cases, it is due to the artist (eye master, clothes sewer, doll maker, etc.) having to make the items in the order in accordance with their production schedule.

Generally other people have ordered a single item on their own around the same time as my group orders (which have all been for special order made-to-order items as opposed to stock) and the people placing single orders around the time of my orders seemed to have about the same wait as my groups.

 

I don't do group order bec. I tend to order alot to save on shipping. I buy lots of clothes, wigs, etc same time from one co. and I don't buy often probably once or twice a year

 

The more relevant question might be, 'To research or not to research?'

First, what company are you ordering from? Some of the smaller companies can ship through registered mail or air mail which is of course a lot cheaper than EMS. Sometimes, splitting shipping between one other person is as good as going into a group order.

Next and very importantly, who is your group leader? Do they have a long list of positive feedback and experience with group orders? Sadly, even these type of people have been known to suddenly turn flakey but the general rule of thumb is that the more experience and the more good things you know about them, the less likely it will be for the group order to turn sour.

Lastly, get all the details from your group leader before you join in. All the paypal fees, shipping costs, cost and waiting time estimates... These are all things that will help decide if it would be beneficial to joining or not.

Like all transactions, research is the key to less heartache. And some good luck or prayer would be good too of course~

The long and short of it is that I believe you can't apply a general belief to group orders. There's not one statement that goes, "It saves money so we should always group order" or "It takes too long, we should never group order." To do or not to do will depend on each group order and the individual's needs.

 

Somebody (sorry, can't remember your name!) brought up a good point (inadvertanly I think ). If you are doing a group order through a meetup group (aka, people you have meet in person) its very differnt than say a group order through the marketplace. I'd be a little afraid to send my money to a person I'd never meet...
My opinions...

 

Unfortunately I've had group order leaders be less than forthcoming with this information. I was considering joining a group order run by someone who does them quite frequently, and sent a PM asking if it would be possible for her to estimate what my share of shipping would be if I ordered <item> and <item>. In her response PM she simply said she had added me and my items to the order, and didn't give me the info I'd asked for -- or even say she didn't know. It was very frustrating.

 

To be fair, it's often hard to tell how much you'll need for shipping until you've both gotten a shipping price from the company and recieved the item in hand to see how much it weighs (for shipping from the order organizer to you), so I've often had no idea what my % of shipping would be for group orders. But, for her to just add items on after a non-decisive inquiry is bad practice. O_o

 

I am leery of group orders with people I cannot drive to their house to pick up the items after they have received the items. I feel better knowing the person is local and if there ends up being a serious problem it is far easier to track them down. If I only want say two wigs from luts and have to pay $40+ shipping, no way will I do that. I would ask around for others if they want to pitch in to save all of us money. But again it all be local and people I met at meet-ups.

The idea of me ordering a doll and not wanting to pay the shipping, umm yeah that's unfair to ask people to pitch in cause I'm being cheap. Now if I was ordering a Piki from Fairyland and check to see if someone else is looking to order around the same time, why not just place it as one order and save both of us on shipping? That is the only time sharing shipping costs on a doll would fly in my book.

Overall opinion I have on group orders is the same as LKJ, it depends on the order.

 

All the group order organizers I've ever been with have done their very best and have put a lot of work into it sometimes. Any problems have been with the company alone and still would have occured even if I had ordered alone. I usually only group order when the benefits way outnumber the costs. I will pay another $20 shipping sometimes when it can cut a couple weeks off my wait time and assure that I'm the one who gets to open the box of my doll. But when I really only want one or two things, I adore group orders.

 

I tend to do group orders most often with local doll owners who come to our meetups. I know where they all live, so it's hard for them to abscond with my things. XD

It does tend to add some extra wait time to the process of ordering from a doll company, so it's really up to you whether that's more than you can bear. And like any other transaction you need to check the seller's feedback really well before you join a group order.

 

I'd never order a doll through a group order, but small things like eyes, etc, are perfectly acceptable. You must research feedback before you order, just like with individual sales - all sales done over the net, even with the doll companies themselves, are a risk you take on faith that they'll hold up their end of the sales bargain. Most of the orders I've been in on for eyes and wigs, etc, didn't take more than a month, if that.

I'm not really sure what the debate is on this topic. XD

 

I would of been feaked out if someone had just randomly added my order as this person had done...

But how did it work out in the end? Did she take your "order" of the list?

 

I've only done one group order before, and it was with a girl who's blog I had been following for awhile and commenting on. I didn't know her in person, we both owned CP dolls and she made a post on her blog about wanting to do a group order from Luts. I sent her the money, I got my items, and it was worth it. I guess my only advice would be at least have some knowledge of the person you're dealing with and what kind of character they have.

 

This seems more of a discussion of the pros and cons of group order, rather than any sort of debate, per se. As it pertains to methods of buying, I've moved it over to Buying and Selling Questions. Let the discussion continue!

 

I have run a group order previously. Yes, the whole thing took awhile, but we WERE ordering doll parts. Just because you order with someone else doesn't mean your doll gets there magically faster. My group and I waited six weeks for our Dream of Doll stuff to arrive at my door. And that was, of course, AFTER DOD and I angered each other over the PayPal nonsense for nearly a month. Luckily for me, everyone on MY side was patient and understanding. I kept them updated (as can be seen from my thread which is still in the subforum) and no one had any complaints. Nor did I experience undue stress mailing out things to everyone.

I consider it a success myself as I was facing huge EMS costs to get my doll home, but simply by adding some more items to my order and splitting the shipping up fairly (I still bore the majority of the cost since I was ordering more resin than anyone else), I saved myself some money. If DOD decides to stop being...stubborn...and accept PayPal again for good, then I will probably run another group order when I want to get my next doll. It wasn't that stressful.

Understand that group orders take awhile, because the company needs time to produce what you've ordered. I was a participant in another that also took quite a while, but the leader kept us informed. I don't know where you're getting that so many group orders have "miscommunication"...sometimes people are unduly impatient. And sometimes you are the victim of a scammer. It does happen. But that shouldn't sour anyone on group orders. I mean, how many of them run and continue to run through DoA? How many people lead order after order and have no complaints?

*shrug* I just don't see any reason to be so down on group orders as a whole.