Co Op Organizer Guidelines Requirements And Application  

• Potential co-op organizers must have a minimum of 2,000 posts, two years of MDC membership and be a member in good standing without any previous negative feedback involving co-op/buy/sell/trade/swap transactions at MDC. Organizer approval is at the sole discretion of the Co-op forum moderators. To appeal a decision, you may email administrator@mothering.com. 

• We will not permit co-ops through third party co-op organizations. We ask that organizers deal directly with manufacturers or wholesalers rather than an agent, retailer or middleman. You may not organize a co-op for your own business. 

• MDC will not host co-ops that are "discount codes." Only actual group orders are allowed. Drop shipping is allowed if the original order was compiled and submitted by the co-op organizer.

• It is at the co-op organizer's discretion to set the minimum and maximum number of participants they will allow in the co-op; however, MDC reserves the right to assign participation limits as necessary to protect the community's interests.

• Co-ops are to be non-profit, and a co-op organizer should not make a profit from a co-op. Expenses such as shipping and incidental fees can be included in the per participant price. A maximum fee of $2 per participant is allowed unless this fee is broken out to show exactly what the extra money will pay for per person, and these fees must be disclosed to the participants upfront in the initial post. 

• Organizers may only run one co-op at a time unless there are special circumstances previously approved by the Co-op forum moderation staff. Our Co-op forum moderator is HeatherB. 
   
• Organizers are expected to actively participate in their co-op threads. Organizers are required to post shipping totals for all participants. Participants are also required to pay for Delivery Confirmation, and organizers are required to purchase it for every participant. International shipping may require alternate methods to ensure tracking and delivery confirmation, and these methods/requirements for international participants should be outlined in the co-op's first post. Any refunds must be processed by the organizer within 7 business days. Details of the information the original post of a co-op thread must contain can be found here. 

• MDC offers the Co-op forum as a service to our members and while we do set rules and guidelines for posting in an effort to protect participants, co-ops are entirely member-to-member dealings. The staff will do what is possible to help facilitate resolution of issues that arise in a co-op, but we do not bear responsibility for unsatisfactory outcomes. Co-ops are “at your own risk” ventures. Please do your part to uphold the spirit of community, and treat others the way you wish to be treated.  

• At this time we will host a maximum of ten co-ops per month. It is ideal to have co-ops planned one month in advance. We will offer a Co-op Chat forum to host general interest and discussion threads not directly involving an already approved or running co-op. We will also offer a public MDC Co-op Calendar for organizers and moderators to keep co-op participants informed of important dates, deadlines, etc. We ask that organizers complete their co-op within 45 days from the time the co-op is published on the forum. 
   

• We reserve the right to refuse to host any co-op and/or organizer application. We also reserve the right to change these guidelines at any time.

If you are interested in applying to organize a co-op, please copy and paste and fill out the form below and submit it via Private Message to moderator HeatherB for review. Please allow 72 hours to receive a response. All information below must be provided and will be kept confidential. Thank you for your interest!

MDC Co-op Organizer Application: