Is it possible to automate group buys with a smart contract?

[64dimensions]

(FYI I'm not a sw person).

Something of this nature would be directly useful to miners.

There could be many uses. Any person could create a smart contract to order specific quantities stuff like 25 EVGA 1600W Ti power supplies, or say 100 miners etc etc.

Initially, maybe just work with high trust vendors. A further feature would be to at the initial start of the contract, the software sends out an RFQ say to a trusted vendor list for a contract quantity quote.

A point is that this smart contract vehicle becomes a possible way to pool purchasing for a large number of small enterprises (us). We already go direct to the miner manufacturers. It might be possible to do the same with other things (PSU's, MB's memory etc etc)

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[darkshad]

That would be cool.

Especially if some/all of the crypto was in an escrow and if equipment wasn't shipped out by xyz date then reduction in price, refund of money, etc.

[KaydenC]

Yes, it's possible. I am in the late development stages on an Ethereum smart contract/Dapp. It was intended for one to one sale in the marketplace of this forum, with a trusted forum member as escrow but it can work for group buy as well.


The buyer can initiate an escrow smart contract , specify a seller and escrow agent. After creating the transaction, funds are locked until Buyer releases funds in the Dapp.
Seller and buyer can "raise escrow escalation" if a dispute occurs, giving escrow agent the power to refund the funds to buyer or release funds to seller. Otherwise, the escrow agent is powerless in a transaction if it proceeds smoothly.

Note the escrow agent can set his fee and he will take a commission upon completion of transaction. (commission range is limited from 0.1% to 10%). Any time a transaction completes, the seller can withdraw his funds. (if it's a refund, the buyer can withdraw. Escrow agent can withdraw his fees.) You can also accumulate multiple transactions before withdrawing to save gas.

Throughout the process, the escrow agent never owns the funds, the code never allows him to touch the funds. Currently, buyers on this forum send BTC to the escrow on this forum. In my opinion it's dangerous as the escrow can lose his wallet. Having everything on chain is safer.


Here are screenshots (running on local blockchain)



Below are the dashboards of buyer,seller and escrow agent.





The smart contract code is done, I'm working on the front end now.

For group buys, I guess the buyers can each initiate a transaction to the group buy seller, using the same escrow agent. Creating a true group buy smart contract/dapp with the behavior you mention is within the limitations of smart contracts too, but that's a different project.