Everyone like's a deal, but you're rarely able to haggle your way to one in a shop these days. Massdrop's approach is different, rather than haggling a deal one by one, it uses the buying power of its users to try and get a better deal with companies from clothing makers to camera manufacturers.

How does Massdrop work?

The members only site (don't worry it's free to join) is spilt into a number of different areas aimed at allowing you to get the most from the club: Discover, Drop, Talk, and Polls.

Members can influence the products that appear on Massdrop by creating and voting in polls. If it finds that a lots of people are asking for a given product, it then makes those most requested products available in limited-time events called “drops.”

Each drop runs an average of 7 to 10 days and features different price points that can unlock depending on how many members participate. The more people join a drop, the lower the price. 

And the savings can be huge. A quick scout around the site at any given time shows plenty of products with big discounts compared to buying them direct from the retailer.

How Massdrop is using the power of the many to save for the one image 2
Pocket-lint

What stuff does it sell?

Massdrop is based around a number of communities. There are 20 in total at the moment ranging from men's accessories to beauty to blades to watches to audio gear and much more. Each community features the ability to discover more about what's available, to poll for specific items to be sold and of course the drops, that let you buy products.  

On the discussion pages, you'll find members sharing their new audiophile setups, recently made quilts or diving deep into product details.

Massdrop has already featured products from companies such as Fjallraven, Rancourt & Co., Randolph Engineering, Seiko, Orient, Alpha Industries and Oak Street Bootmakers, as well as LG, AKG, Sennheiser, and DJI.

Creating a poll

The polls feature on Massdrop allows you to suggest things that you would like Massdrop to try and crowd source into a "drop". There are always a list of active polls on the site, but it's really easy to create your own poll too.

If it's successful, the product gets added to the site, an and email is sent out to everyone who voted.

Signing up for a "drop"

You can use the discover feature on the site to see what's coming up and then get involved from there. The drops run for a set number of days and have countdowns, so you know when they will end. There are two types of drops allowing you to buy at any price, or only commit if enough people join for the drop to reach its lowest price point. 

When a drop ends, and only when it ends, Massdrop collects payment from all of the drop participants and places a single order with the vendor. The vendor then prepares the order and ships it to Massdrop who then break down the crates of products, repackage everything, and ship out everyone’s individual orders.

Massdrop Made

Aside from working to get a better price on some great items, Massdrop also works with community designers to bring their ideas to life, as well as big-name manufacturers to create exclusive collaborations. That could be a pair of custom built Sennheiser headphones or a clothing item with a smart design or material change to make it even better.