I did an interview post with Andrew Richardson of Liquid Proust teas about tea group buying, about the non-commercial sheng Olympiad he hosts.
It's more or less an awareness initiative, related to sourcing unique themed versions of sheng pu'er, typically regional, through a group buy.
Other forms of group buying do get discussed here but those might typically be more for profit, about someone buying kilograms instead of smaller quantities and sharing unique product offerings and some savings while at the same time offsetting their costs. Short articles never get far about any subject; it's just a little about that one group purchase.
http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... mpiad.html