Sunday Campers RTT GROUP BUY CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Francis has asked me to inform you guys they originally wanted 50% down to get the order started, and have moved to 40, then 30. This is his 4th time doing this and they have been very good and honest with him.

 

I suggest we need to pay you 100% up front, and you manage the two payments to China.

I'd hate to see something happen between order and shipping that someone backs out or disappears and everyone is stuck.

 

That is what we were going to do, with me being able to refund 70% of payments if shit goes bad. So essentially we gamble 30%.

 

In

 

Assuming this is the process, I am also still in (up to $700 for the tent+annex). I would very much hate to lose that ~$200 with NO tent, but based on the fact that the company has been willing to build/ship on down payment only, that gives me some comfort.

 

Prices wont go up. I am actually negotiating the same tents with another vendor here on TW. But I would assume prices will go up for that one since they are taking the risk.

 

I’m good with sticking with Sunday Campers.

 

This x100. Seems to be hard enough to get everyone to pay in a few weeks time. Hate to have a few back out and then we're at a standstill again after they're in production.

 

I'm in.

 

Got my refund. Still in however you get it figured out.

 

Still in for any and all options at similar price points.

 

Is my tent at the port yet? lol

I'm in for all similar priced options

 

I'm in if the price doesn't go up to much or take to long.

 

Really not sure what you guys are going to realistically be able to swing in the price range this was at, I've been checking out RTT sales for the last couple years and was in talks with another company in China to do a group buy here but (in typical China fashion) they got cold feet right when everything got finalized and then referred me to an existing vendor in Germany to make my purchases (at retail..).

I have 3 ideas, which may have been mentioned already.

1) You pursue a GB through Geo Adventure Gear - based on previous GBs here on this forum, they're in the same price range and have available accessories. You can also use other brands accessories with these tents, and they may be manufactured by Sunday Campers to begin with. @Ruston is/was a brand manager for them and had a successful group buy here.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/geo-adventure-gear-group-buy.458023/
https://www.geoadventuregear.com/

2) You pursue a GB through Auto Anything on the Smittybilt RTTs - @eccracer104 is an employee of theirs and has an ongoing discount thread. If you can legitimately commit, this should work great for not all that much more money, shipping is free, too.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/autoanything-group-buys-and-discounts.497320/

3) I can either forward my contact info to anybody else who wants to try dealing with my manufacturer in China and see if a bulk purchase can be discussed again. This manufacturer already has a number of successful group buys on this forum and others (T4R, ExpoPortal, etc,.), but is fairly slow to communicate and is very gun shy with messages, if you say the wrong thing or something they interpret wrong, you're dicked. "Group buy" can't be used whatsoever. I had to create a business entity just to get a response from them, then they killed our multi-month discussion because they claimed they didn't want to force another vendor to compete with me, despite me being in California and the named vendor in Germany. I could try to reopen comms with them myself as I'm already familiar with them, and they with me, but I don't have time for this endeavor in any way.

All that said, it would be a third option, but definitely not as reliable as the initial effort here by @docloco @Mrguitarguy01.




Some of you are mentioning time frames not being too long.. this is going to be a problem if you're ordering direct from manufacturers overseas. It's a multi-month process, and even when things are loaded into their container and on the ship - it's several weeks before anybody sees them. Picking up at port, freight forwarders, warehousing.. it's a lot of time and effort. If you can't commit to 2-3 months of wait time then ordering overseas is not for you, period.

 

Worth mentioning resale value also since that's been brought up here a few times. Don't expect to buy a no name tent and then be able to flip it easy in a year for $100 less than new if you hate it. Even the big brand tents see 20-40% depreciation with light/little use, some price theirs just under new, some price theirs to sell in an hour. These tents won't be any less insulated from similar drops in value, but I'd assume it's going to me more in the 30-40% range. Damaged or broken pieces (zippers, cover, material fabrics or something), subtract a bit more still since replacement parts can be hard to find. I have a friend with a Sunday Camper RTT he got in a trade for some welding work (how's that for resale value!) and he can't order a new cover for it direct through SC, and can't find any available from the other brands that fit either. Tepui was the same size cover for their older tents, but not anymore. So.. he's kinda SOL unless he finds that old production cover, he patches it or has one made locally.

There's risk involved in the off brand stuff and it extends well beyond ordering and payment. This translates directly into resale values, so bear that in mind.

 

Similar to one of @T4RFTMFW suggestions I was thinking we could have someone set up an LLC or something and then we could all make CC payments to that company (through some CC payment facilitator like square), which would give us individual purchase protection from our CC companies. Then the person who sets up the LLC just makes the deal with Sunday Campers with the 30% upfront or whatever. I think it's only like $75 to register an LLC so we could each cover part of that cost.

 

.. but then that person needs to file taxes in their state.

 

.....

 

Yea but your costs should be greater than the sales so I don't think you'd have to pay any taxes. You could probably even write off the gas money to deliver the tents. Turbo tax for businesses is only like $50

 

I just meant even if the upfront costs are covered by the group, that's still adding more work for someone to a process that's already a pain in the ass to organize, even without creating a new business and the obligations with the state/feds that come with it.