Virtual association of traders

["cwest" <cwest@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Before my network and server problems, and my vacation, all of which
happened in the same month, I had raised the notion of an association of
traders on this list. I received about 20 responses, which is enough I
believe to establish at least a virtual association. That is, an association
of convenience rather than something formal, the main purpose of which would
be to take advantage of the inherent buying power of several people in
concert. As time goes by other group opportunities will probably surface.

However, manually repeating a group buying function many times implies
considerable work and raises a number of issues. Automating the process as
much as practical is probably essential for it to be administratively shared
and portable. I'd appreciate any suggestions and ideas to make collective
buying as simple as practical. As much of the benefit will be the purchase
of intangibles (data, software, services, etc.), perhaps outsourcing an
ecommerce site where the deliverables are downloaded might be a solution.
How would "we" arrive at prices? Is there such an application as reverse
bidding (software).

Thanks in advance
Colin West