How to run a group buy in Singapore
A group buy is one person ordering in bulk for a group — a condo, an alumni association, a school's parents, a hobby chat — so everyone gets a better price, then handing the items out. The buying is easy. The work is in the orders, the payments and collection day. This guide walks through each step and the mistakes that cost organisers the most time.
1. Agree the deal with your supplier first
Before you announce anything, confirm with the supplier:
- The bulk price and the quantity it needs (the minimum order quantity, or MOQ).
- The order cut-off and delivery date, so you know when your sale must close.
- Delivery: one address or several, and whether there's a delivery fee.
- What happens to damaged or missing items, so you know what to tell buyers.
2. Set your price and say what's in it
Start from the supplier's price, add your share of delivery and a small buffer for breakage. Round to amounts that are easy to pay. If you add a margin for your time, say so — buyers in a community group are fine with it when it's upfront, and it avoids awkward questions later.
3. Decide whether the sale needs a minimum
If the supplier only delivers above a certain quantity, make the sale conditional: buyers pledge first, and only pay once enough has been ordered. That way nobody has to be refunded if the group falls short. letsbuywith can run a sale this way for you.
4. Pick the closing date and the collection points
Close a day or two before the supplier's cut-off so you have time to check payments. Choose collection points people already pass — a void deck, the condo lobby, near an MRT exit — and give each a time window. Ask for the collection point when people order, not afterwards; it saves a round of messages and lets you split the bulk order by location.
5. Share one link, not a chat thread
Taking orders as replies in a WhatsApp or Telegram group is where most of the work comes from: quantities get edited, messages get buried, and you end up copying everything into a spreadsheet. Instead, post one message with what you're selling, the price, the closing date and collection points, and a single order link. Buyers fill in their own order and see their own total.
6. Collect payment with the amount and a reference
Ask everyone to pay by PayNow, and make sure each payment carries the right amount and a reference that tells you whose order it is. Without that, matching transfers to orders is the longest job of the whole sale. See how to collect PayNow payments for a group buy for the details.
7. Place one bulk order
When the sale closes, total each item across every paid order — split by collection point if the supplier delivers to more than one — and send that to the supplier. Check it against unpaid orders before you send, so you don't order for people who haven't paid.
8. Hand out, and tick people off
On collection day, have the list on your phone and mark each order collected as people turn up. Note who left it with a neighbour, and message the no-shows the same evening while they still remember they ordered.
Doing all of this from one link
letsbuywith is a free tool built for exactly this in Singapore. You set up the items, prices, closing date and collection points; buyers order from one link and get a PayNow QR with the amount and reference already in it; you mark payments and collection off on your phone and export the bulk order as CSV. The money goes straight to your own PayNow account — we never hold it.
Read the common questions or set up a store below.