Years ago, we were more open to allowing group buys. After one particular group buy, however, I changed the policy to what it is now. Here's what happened in that group buy:
- The group buy was for an in-ear headphone that was just being released (at the time).
- The organizer of the group buy contacted one dealer, and asked for a group buy price. That dealer responded with a group buy price.
- The organizer then contacted a second dealer (and subsequent dealers) and worked to get the price lowered with each call.
- If a dealer was willing to beat the current lowest price, then the organizer contacted the other dealers again to let them know.
- To make a long story short, one of the dealers decided that, in order to prevent any one of his competitors from fulfilling the order, he was going to sell the headphone at a loss. This is when I decided to change the policy, and told the group buy organizer there would be no group buy for this product on Head-Fi.
Why? In case the reasons are not yet obvious, my reasons included (but were not limited to) the following:
- I saw it as abusive (even though the organizer obviously had no intent to be abusive). In having a dealer sell an item at a loss to secure the deal is to tell that dealer--for the cost and risk of acquiring the product in question, packaging it all up, shipping it all out, answering questions and servicing customers, and dealing with subsequent returns--that his services and support were not only worth little to nothing, but that they'd actually have to lose money, and, thus, pay for the privilege. This, to me, is predatory. (Of course, I am definitely not suggesting that being predatory is your intent, or that it would necessarily be the outcome here, only that group buys--depending on how they are arranged--can be predatory, whether by intention or not.)
- Just about every product that this community might have strong interest in could be had cheaper if we allowed group buys. So where does one draw the line? To me, the fairest line was (and still is, in my opinion) to simply not allow them, unless absolutely necessary. I don't think that muscling dealers into cutting their margins to wafer-thin levels (or worse, taking a loss) for the sake of having one dealer monopolizing the sale of a particular product to this community is healthy for the ecosystem we have here.
- As a community, there has to be at least some support for the dealers who will be here for the long haul--dealers who are regularly picking up good lines and daring products specific to our hobby to sell and service. I don't want to promote a dealer's monopoly of an item's sale to this community who may be doing it as a purely mercenary, one-time measure. For example, I'm not even familiar with the dealer in question, nor do I see them mentioned regularly here by the community.
- I do not want to see group buys used by companies as a primary method of distribution and advertising on Head-Fi's forums.
I do understand that your intent is purely good, XXXXX. After reading my position, however, I hope you can better understand where I'm coming from, even if you still do not agree with me or the decision.
Best Regards,
Jude
