‘Tis the season for group gifts. That also means ‘tis the season for the folks who organize group purchases to reach for the headache relief. It doesn’t matter whether you’re shopping for the boss or a grandma, the task of collecting money for a group present can sap the joy right out of giving. This year, buying group gifts got a lot easier. Buyvite.com, a social payment service, has taken the pain out of organizing, collecting, and paying for holiday gifts from the gang.
Hassle-Free Gift Buying
We’ve all been through the hassle. Family, friends, or co-workers owe you money for a group Christmas gift. And what happens?
• You need to scramble to find change for those who give you cash.
• You’re stuck waiting for that one person who always forgets to bring the money.
• You find yourself praying the check from the group deadbeat will clear.
• You’re being offered non-cash payment. (“Hey! Let me buy you lunch instead.”)
Buyvite eliminates all of that. The site is designed so you can easily collect money from others to pay for group gifts. You might collect funds before the purchase so you aren’t stuck laying out a chunk of your own cash. This is a smart way to get paid before buying big-ticket gifts, such as when grown children want to surprise parents with a vacation getaway. You can also use the site to collect gift money after you’ve already made the purchase.
Buyvite is great for buying presents for others, but it’s also the perfect way for a group to give a gift to the community. For example, instead of doing the office Secret Santa exchange this year, collect money through Buyvite to buy toys for a children’s charity or to contribute a big donation to a homeless shelter. The service makes it super-simple for your group to do good.
How Buyvite Works
I love how simple it is to get started. Sign in with Facebook or create a Buyvite account. Enter information, such as who will contribute to the gift, how much money each person is to contribute, and the deadline. Buyvite will send an invitation, through social media, email or text, to each group member. The message will contain a link to the group’s information on the site. Family and friends will make their contribution using a credit or debit card. When all the money is collected, you click on the “Get Money” button to have the funds transferred to your bank account.
The concept behind Buyvite is brilliant, but, if you’re busy like me, you might find the real value lies in how easy they make it to manage the whole process. All of the info you need is shown on your Buyvite Dashboard, a webpage that displays how much progress you’ve made toward the goal and which family, friends, or co-workers have contributed.
Contributors for group gifts will love Buyvite, too. The Dashboard allows them to see information about their own share of the purchase, including the amount they owe or have already contributed. They can also view how much money has been submitted so far toward the purchase. Group members are able to make secure, online payment directly from that page as well. Contributors will also love another feature: their credit or debit card will not be charged until the organizer transfers the money collected into their own bank account.
While you can use Buyvite directly to get money for group gifts, it’s also now a payment option on participating websites. Simply click on the Buyvite icon to pay for gifts like restaurant gift cards, unique gifts, event tickets, or travel and vacation rental businesses.
Fees for the service are very reasonable and based on the amount of money being collected. I think you’ll agree the fee more than pays for itself—after all, how much time would we spend calling, texting, or sending emails to remind people that money is due? And how much time would we waste worrying about the person who hadn’t paid yet? How much of the gift’s cost would we eat ourselves when someone doesn’t come through?
Buyvite was launched by Brandy Wimberly, a music fan who always found herself buying concert tickets for others—and then getting stuck managing and tracking down payments herself. She knew there had to be a better and smarter way to handle group purchases, so she started a site that would make it easy for people to chip in.
Buyvite is a smart way to buy group gifts during the holidays and throughout the year. From shopping for Christmas presents to buying for Administrative Professionals Day (hint: it’s April 24, 2013), this company takes the hassles and headaches out of buying with a crowd. I love a company that makes life easier—don’t you?!
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