I'm developing a cart for a surfing camp -- primary current use is purchasing session slots. The proprietor wants to give discounts to groups of folks who decide to all send their kids at once. Ie, the customers would be making their own groups. He asks me:

>When people sign up in groups, they probably won't all be at the same
> computer signing up together. So I guess we need to have them be able to
> receive the discount each on seperate computers. Is that how it's set up
> now?

I say, there are three ways to do this -- and what I'm looking for is advice on the best route.

1) We have the customers pool funds and purchase the slots in one batch, with a qty discount applying.

2) We tell the customers to contact us with the names of everyone in
their group, and we then send out a special "coupon" code to all,
which they can enter upon checkout. Said code would apply to either of
the volume discounts.

3) We have all the group members sign up as users, and give us some indication of who the other members of their groups are (maybe an agreed on word.) Then we assign these customers to a group in the admin panel, giving them a certain discount rate after enough have signed up.

I'm opting for #2, as it could help one track who is which payment
poo more easily. It also would suggest that all the members of a group are pretty serious about actually getting all supposed group members to register and pay (unlike just throwing out coupons.) What do folks think about this?

Lastly, is there any possibility of the customers being able to
form/join groups on their own when they sign-up? (And is it feasible for a non-prgrammer to do so? )

Many thanks! Very much enjoying the Zen experience and reading through such a fine forum.

-J