[HeatherB]

I'm so excited that we're open again!

I'm excited to get to mod the new Co-ops board, as well as organizing and participating in the co-ops.

Gossamer gave a great explanation of co-ops. "Group buy" is another term for it. All the information for the co-ops will be hosted in a co-op-specific thread here in the Co-ops forum, where members can post to participate, add their orders, ask questions of the organizer, etc. (Non "official" co-op business goes here, in the Co-op Chat forum.) All payments will go to the organizer, who will deal directly with the manufacturer to place the order and submit one payment for the whole thing. The order ships to the organizer, who sorts it out into individual orders, packs them up, and gets everyone their shipping totals. Once shipping totals are paid, orders are shipped to participants who get to enjoy their lovely goods!

We are accepting organizer applications now, so go ahead and get those in if you want to run a co-op!

 

[HeatherB]

Ha! I can't believe we forgot to mention that part! It's the whole reason for co-ops: the discount! It varies by company, but typically we get 30-50% off.

 

[HeatherB]

I encourage anyone who is interested in hosting to go ahead and look over the requirements and fill out an organizer application.

Co-op applications can be submitted up to 3 months before the co-op will take place, but need to be submitted by the 10th of the month preceding the co-op, at a minimum. So, start planning!

 

[HeatherB]

Serena, it's up to each organizer whether they'll ship to Canada. In the past, we've had a lot of Canadian-friendly co-ops.

 

[HeatherB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AFWife

Has anyone looked at Azure Standard? Would that be a good one??

What do you have in mind? I'm part of a new drop site, but I'm not sure their items would be cost effective to ship. It just depends what you're after, though.

 

[HeatherB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AFWife

I wasn't thinking anything fresh. I was interested in their spices and herbs mostly...oh, possibly yacon syrup. You know, things that will fit in a flat rate box from the post office

Gotcha! I confess I haven't looked at those much... Are their offerings very different from Frontier's? I am certain we'll have some Frontier orders happening, at least. If there's sufficient interest in Azure, it could work, but we'd have to check all the numbers to make sure it's worthwhile.

 

[HeatherB]

Whenever someone's ready to run one!

We're taking applications for organizers as well as co-op orders. We just need co-op applications by the 10th day of the month before it'll be run. So, organizers should decide what they want to run and get us the info ASAP so we have time to get it all set up in time to go.

 

[HeatherB]

Any interest in WILD CHILD WOOLIES wool shorties and soakers? The discounts aren't huge - $3-4 off each pair - but we can get one in before her prices go up even more. We need a minimum of 12 pieces ordered, so please let me know ASAP if you're interested! Please also let me know how many pieces you'd be wanting to get.

Thanks!
Heather

 

[HeatherB]

The best thing to do is to contact the company directly. Some will have "discount pricing" on their site, which makes it clear that volume discounts are available. Others specifically offer co-ops. You'll find that it's more small businesses, WAHMs, etc., who are co-op friendly. Most large companies are not, unfortunately, though emailing them about bulk order discounts is certainly worthwhile.

 

[HeatherB]

If you can view this forum, you can participate in coops.

Obviously, if there are issues with non-payment for coops users may lose the privilege of participating.

 

[HeatherB]

Dharma would be great! If I can get my life to settle down a bit, I may run that one, myself.

 

[HeatherB]

Baltic Amber and Hazelwood co-op is opening on September 10th! Watch the co-op forum!

 

[HeatherB]

Go check out the hazelwood/amber co-op, OPEN NOW!

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1328867/baltic-amber-hazelwood-co-op

 

[HeatherB]

Any interest in Dharma, like, now? I've been meaning to do a co-op order so we can work on holiday giftables. Anyone up for something immediately?

 

[HeatherB]

Co-ops have certain restrictions on participants (generally 30 posts/60 days) and individual organizers will set their own limits on geography. Many will ship to Canada. Beyond that, it is very unusual to have someone willing or able to ship internationally.