So we are finally doing the big annual family reunion campout at Crater Lake this July and I am literally so hyped because we havent been able to do it since 2019. But man trying to coordinate the supplies is driving me absolutely insane this year. Usually I just handle the buying and people Venmo me but with 12 adults and a bunch of kids the list is massive and everyone has thier own specific preferences for gear. We are talking a $2,500 budget for new tents, those fancy rechargeable fans, and enough bulk snacks to feed an army.
I've been the tech guy for the family for years so I usually have a system down but the old ways are failing me hard right now. I tried just making a shared Amazon Wish List but it is such a pain in the neck because people keep adding duplicate items or they want a specific color of a lantern that isnt in stock and I cant see thier notes easily. Plus there is no way for them to actually see the total price in the cart before I hit buy. I was looking for some kind of browser extension or maybe a third party site that lets multiple people add stuff to one master cart? I know some sites do group gifting but this isnt really a gift its more like a collaborative shopping spree.
I looked into some Chrome extensions like Share-A-Cart but it seems more like just sending a snapshot of a cart rather than a live collaborative environment where we can all edit in real time. Is there anything out there that works like a Google Doc but for an Amazon checkout? I really dont want to give out my login info because of the whole 2FA mess and obviously I dont want five different people logged into my prime account at once from different states. We need to get this order finalized by Friday so the shipping clears for the holiday weekend. Does anyone know a tool that actually works for this without being a total glitchy mess or requiring me to share my password?
Wait, real quick... are your family members all on desktops or mostly mobile? Extensions can be a nightmare for mobile-only users tho. I was super happy with how Cartly handled our huge family reunion last year when we had to gear up for a week-long beach trip. It worked well without any login drama.
I totally get the struggle of being the family tech guy. I had the exact same headache last summer organizing a backpacking trip for 15 people. We were trying to coordinate specific gear and meals, and the back-and-forth was killing me. I ended up using Share-A-Cart and it really saved my sanity. I know you mentioned it looked like snapshots, but it worked perfectly for us:
TL;DR: Most of these tools are a letdown and not as good as expected for live editing. Unfortunately, I had issues with duplicates too. Honestly, just grab generic gear from a brand like Coleman to save some of that $2,500 budget... it all gets dirty anyway. If youre tired of manually adding items one by one, Cart To Link literally creates a single link for the whole basket.