I copied and pasted this from the "ask Bud" page, but figured it should be here too.
As I mentioned earlier, we are waiting to hear from Yves. In the meantime, I've been rummaging through the archives, reading communications between the WOA members involved in the last purchase. It appears that the way the process worked is that one person compiled a list of the buyers and sent the list to Yves at Cape Horn.
Each individual buyer then sends his deposit directly to Cape Horn. Balance due upon completion of gear.
"The Great Purchase," as the last group buy has become known in folk history, was initiated in the month of May but because Yves builds the backlogged, non-discounted purchaser's gear before the discounted people's gear, the building didn't actually begin until June. The first dozen units were available for delivery in the middle of October and people began to receive them in November.
In light of the previous buyers experience with long lead times, I think we should move as quickly as possible. We will be ordering ours two months earlier and I expect the final delivery date will reflect that.
Eric