Hey everyone. A number of years ago, myself and a couple of other GB duders started the Giant Bomb Gift & Bulk Pack Cooperative. It saw some initial success with a lot of people getting together to buy packs of games and enjoy the savings that entails, but I think things died down mainly because big bulk packs stopped becoming so common on Steam.

With the impending Winter Sale, I thought it might be worth gauging interest and seeing if there were enough people interested to warrant trying to get this going again.

The group is currently private and available by invitation only, and can be found here. The membership requirements are:

- You must have been a Giant Bomb user for a minimum of one year

OR

- Be a current Giant Bomb Premium subscriber

If you want to join the group, please link your Steam Community ID here and send me a Steam friend request and I'll send you an invite after verifying your user status. Profiles will be verified by SteamRep. Any kind of VAC, community, or trade ban disqualifies you from membership in the group. Here's my Steam profile:

http://www.steamcommunity.com/id/01025

So, request your invites, talk about the group and whether it's worth maintaining or not, and maybe start getting together for some trades. If there is little to no interest in keeping the group going, I'll dissolve it. Remember that this is an unofficial community organized group - while we never had a single issue within the group on a trade, all trades are conducted at your own risk and the group has no official ties with Giant Bomb or CBS Interactive. Also, and this should go without saying but I'm going to put this out there anyway - the purpose of the group is for GB users to get together and take advantage of good deals on Steam games - not for you to sell stuff! Anyone found to be doing anything shady or taking advantage of group membership will be removed. Thanks!

I'm down for it, seems like a good idea.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/onarum

@onarum: Great, sent you an invite!

@mb: accepted ;)

how were you guys doing this though? like there would be 2 games both with 2 pack deals for example, then 2 guys make an arrangement, each buy a 2 pack combo from each game then trade the extra copies? something like that?

Because doing something like sending all the money to 1 guy's paypal account or something would not be very fruitful because of the ridiculous fees paypal charges.

@onarum: Yeah we were chiefly using PayPal, which wasn't ideal but it was the best solution available at the time. This was before the introduction of the Steam Market and commodities like TF2 & CS:GO keys, so things are a little bit easier. At least there is an option outside of PayPal and everything can be done within Steam itself now.

The downside that I can see is whoever "fronts" purchasing the pack is going to have to use Steam Wallet funds to get the pack, and then is going to end up with a few TF2 keys instead of cash. The keys can be converted back to cash through the market, but there will be a loss when Valve takes their cut. This system isn't a big deal for regular traders such as myself who are always in need of keys, though. Maybe someone can think of a better method of splitting gift packs among several people.

@mb: Speaking of Keys:

Note: Starting in the next few days, items purchased for Team Fortress 2 either in-game or on the Steam Community Market will not be tradable or marketable for one week after purchase. We are making this change to combat fraud and scams, and to help maintain a safe and healthy item economy within Team Fortress 2.

from: http://steamcommunity.com/market/listings/440/Mann%20Co.%20Supply%20Crate%20Key

@bobdobbsjr: Yeah, I saw that. Definitely going to become something to consider when doing trades.

I typically keep 10-20 keys on hand for trades anyway so it's not as big of a deal for me, but I know it's going to be a pain in the ass for a lot of people.

I'd be really up for this! http://steamcommunity.com/id/scrappypixels/

Sorted!

Me, http://steamcommunity.com/id/NTylerWeTrust/

Please send me a Steam request

Patchcoat on Steam, as well.

@mb: Done

I'd be interested! Url is

http://steamcommunity.com/id/nophilip/

Put me in coach!

Great idea. Here you go.

So I can't comment on anything in the group, that common or am I missing something?

http://steamcommunity.com/id/coreyw

Im interested

http://steamcommunity.com/id/sanitygb

I'm a bit behind on some of these invites, plus a few of you haven't added me on Steam so...if you don't get a group invite, that's why. Steam & community features are currently down though, I'll work on this later this afternoon.

No activity in the group so far - not that there are any packs worth buying. If this continues until the end of the Holiday Sale I'm just going to dissolve the group.

Seems interesting. Count me in.

/hassun

Cool idea, I'm up for it. http://steamcommunity.com/id/SunBroZak

Also...if you want invites, please read the instructions in this topic carefully. A lot of people aren't leaving their Steam IDs, aren't sending me friend requests on Steam, or both.