Anyone know what happened?

It appears that they have recently become an official T4R vendor, they suggest reaching out to them for a discount code.

RCI is now a vendor on T4R

hmm... Odd.

I doubt the code will be what the GB would be, oh well.


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Guess we’ll have to wait for Black Friday to get a good discount from RCI

You wouldn't have to wait. The GB is still going on, and posted on Tacoma World well. I'm going to start a new thread today, and RCI will be contacting the forum about this on Monday.

Mike

Mike - Do you mean "No more posts about group buys for RCI?"
or
"No more group buys at all?"

So we're clear, your groups buys are very appreciated here by users and is one of the main reasons I visit this forum a few times a week to check in and see what's next on the group buy list. You're driving site visits and content.
If the admins and vendors are going to try and eliminate group buys their discount codes better meet or exceed what was offered on the regular from the GBs.
GBs are the main way many of us buy gear during the non holiday season and helps drive the community as we link the GBs to our friends and ORV Clubs.

Anyways, rant over, just wanted to throw out some thanks and appreciation as I know there is a solid effort that goes into making these things happen.

There's a lot going on that members of this forum should be aware of, and we're being kept in the dark about it. I'll explain some below.

I received an email asking me to not post any group buys until they get answers. I was also told "in order to post group buys or items for sale, you have to have an Official Vendor status on your account". I pointed out that RCI had an Official Vendor status as of Friday, and have not heard back on that. I was also told that they had reached out to RCI, and said "we are in contact with RCI at the moment". RCI never heard from them or anything about this issue until I emailed them this morning. At that point they promptly sent an email, and as far as I know have not received a response yet.

I also pointed out 14 threads that violate this unwritten rule of needing to be an "Official Vendor", and all of which are still running. At this point it really looks like I'm being singled out from everyone else on the forum, and being held to a higher standard than the rest. I'm was going to become an "Official Vendor" today for my own company. But, have decided to hold off to see how they handle this situation, and all the other GB's that violate the forum rules. Rules are rules, and should be enforced equally rather than singling out certain members.

Mike

It looks like some other group buys were also deleted, including the anytime backup camera group buy.

Your GBs were always legit. I always dealt directly with the vendor from their site and received the discount and product. Never sent you directly any cash and that was working great.
GBs benefit the vendor (influx of sales, no coordinated logistics to put a GB together and community awareness of product), benefit the community (discount, buying stuff we might have not have purchased without a discount) and the web site (drives content and visits).
Sure, maybe sometimes the main person on the forum doing all the coordination would receive an extra product, a deeper discount, whatever; but if they put in the time and effort they deserve it. Good for them and great for us.
Maybe there are underlying factors and I'm just looking at this too high level. Would be curious as to the requirements and details about this change and maybe the admins will shed some light soon.

You'll see a lot of threads coming down. I think mine was just the first one since it was the newest. Looks like it's time we all start playing by the rules!

It's my understanding that all Group Buy must be held by an "Official Vendor" or products from an "Official Vendor". If that's correct this will really limit the amount of Group Buys that will be held in the future.

Mike

That is a huge disappointment. It seems like 100% a cash grab from T4R. Just created an account at TacomaWorld and I'll be watching out for group buys over there from now on. As someone who has run a group buy on this forum, I can only imagine the headaches this is going to cause to any current group buy threads that just got deleted without warning.

Yeah. I doubt a lot of these vendors have the time or resources to go onto the different forums to organize a group buy. Interested in what precipitated this.

in my experience, on previous forums, registered vendors would complain about group buys done that didn't involve them.

For obvious reasons.

especially by vendors that are not on the forums and organized by people like @MStudt and myself.

If that's the case. This marks an end of an era of competitive GB pricing. I've heard of registered vendors in the past agree on "Group Buy" discounts on universal products as to never out compete each other in the forums. Then take turns on "when" to post Group Buys.

I haven't seen it much in the offroad community, but it happens a lot in the racecar forums and what not.

Disappointing, but oh well.

For all my Group Buy followers, if we can no longer hold outsourced group buys here, as @MStudt said, they will be on Tacomaworld, 4runners.com, American Adventurist, etc.

I am found in those forums under the same screen name.