Absolutely massive project to pull off and would no doubt be headaches at every turn, that said, is it possible?
Absolutely, as they say, go big or go home lol!
This kind of massive venture needs members who think far in advance of drop shipping iPhones, it needs members who do think big, members who want to create, members who have drive and ambition.
Now as you say, we have so many members here on the SaleHoo, however one of my biggest frustrations has always been member's lack of interest in utilizing such an amazing opportunity to build networks with other members to create opportunities for themselves.
I don't know if it's people being apathetic, a lack of imaination or just a serious lack of ambition, but the focus is always on building networks with suppliers, hardly ever on developing networks with other members!
10s of thousands of members from all over the world and I'm not aware of any venture where more than two members are networking with each other to create an opportunity. Sure, every now and then someone floats the idea of group buying, but the concept is usually ill conceived and goes no where.
Do we have members here that are capable of dreaming this big. members that have the drive to pull a venture like this together?, well I know we have a few, and I live in hope that we have plenty more waiting in the wings, because the engine room for this sized project are our members!
That to me is the very first place to start, build the engine and this bus can move, it all comes down to members putting their hands up and saying, count me in. I'm going to get out and about and take a look at what possible products are available in my area.
That's where this starts, the technical and legal aspects of a venture like this can be put in place easily enough, but we need the engine running on all cylinders to build the basic framework that the rest can be built around.
Would SaleHoo get behind a project like this?, well I think we would need to get this baby down the road a little before even contemplating taking this to admin, but saying that, I'm sure if it did start rolling in the right direction, it's something that admin would possibly take a look at also getting behind.
For starters, it's up to those of us brave or stupid to think big enough to get this rolling. Once the wheels move, you would most likely find other wanting to jump on before the bus left the station.
From the very start, what we don't want to do is fill the forum up with ideas and questions about this type of thing, because I've seen it before, it can go nuts and questions and opinions can open up in all different threads and are impossible to cover and keep control of.
My suggestion would be to start a network through Skype or similar, somewhere where those members were interested could talk through ideas and essentially build a consensus on how best to proceed.
This venture isn't about throwing money in right now, it's about what interested members can contribute, either as a product supplier or catering to one of the specialty categories that we would need serviced as the venture grew.
So, I'm with you DYO. Lets throw the door open to general level of interest at this point, and lets see where it goes from there : )