WHAT GROUP BUY ORGANISERS SAY
While Ms Goh had a difficult experience, group buy organisers who spoke to CNA said they have not had similar complaints from hosts’ neighbours.
One of them is Sengkang Group Buy, which has two collection points in the estate and more than 9,000 followers on Instagram.
Asked about minimising disturbance to neighbours, co-founder Cheryl Guo said: “We need to make sure all orders are correct from vendors upon receiving the items, and they have to be on time as well.”
Groupbuyssg, which has more than 6,400 members on Telegram, no longer has collection points as it fully transitioned to islandwide delivery during the pandemic.
But co-founder Winson Lee said he has heard complaints from customers about other group buys, such as food safety concerns over frozen food being left outside the host’s flat.
When Groupbuyssg still had collection points, Mr Lee said the organisers would strongly encourage hosts to establish a good relationship with their neighbours.
“In fact previously many neighbours of our hosts are themselves participants of our group buys. And they appreciate that they stay next to hosts so they can collect their items easily without having to pay for delivery.”
Mdm Jolene Lim, a host who lives in Queenstown, said her neighbours have asked her about her group buys out of curiosity, but have never complained about it.
She has hosted group buys for more than two years, usually on a weekly basis. The scale is “much smaller” now that most people have returned to the office.
She usually asks customers to state the timing of their collection in advance and will get their purchases ready. “Prepare in advance so they can just grab and go instead of waiting,” she said.
For now, Ms Goh has found some relief from her predicament, although it is uncertain if that will last.
Earlier this year, she lodged complaints with HDB and her town council. It took some time, but her neighbour was eventually served a few warning letters and asked to attend a meeting with authorities, according to Ms Goh.
It helped that she had set up the CCTV outside her home at the suggestion of the town council, as this provided evidence of the footfall at her neighbour’s house.
When Ms Goh spoke to CNA in late April, deliveries had slowed to once a day for the past two weeks, and the neighbour would bring the items downstairs for customers to pick them up.
More recently, she said the group buying had stopped entirely as the neighbour appeared to have left the country.