I totally get the struggle! Last year my cousins and I tried to do this for my grandmas 80th birthday and I was honestly terrified of ending up with three identical blenders because everyone is so disorganized. We didnt have a business account either so I spent hours looking for a fix! What worked for us was using the Amazon Collaborative List feature. Its amazing! You basically create a list, click Invite at the top, and then everyone you send that link to can add stuff directly. It is literally a lifesaver because it shows who added what and, most importantly, if someone else already bought it or if its currently in a cart, it usually flags it! I love it because it takes the stress out of the Slack link nightmare youre describing. Just make sure you tell everyone to add the items to the list first, then you go in and move everything to your cart at once right before you checkout with that Venmo money. It felt so much safer than just winging it and I was so relieved when only one blender showed up at the door! For our project, we got a huge stand mixer and some fancy linens and it worked perfectly without any double-ordering drama at all. Fantastic stuff! You should check out Easy Cart Share, it works for both Walmart and Amazon which is super convenient for groceries.

^ This. Also, basically we all agree the standard cart is risky and lists are safer. I tried doing a group buy for my kids teacher and it was a mess before I started using Easy Cart Share. You gotta be careful tho.

• Check for price jumps before checkout
• Verify shipping dates Honestly, I learned to always double check quantities in the final cart. Better safe than sorry when its someone elses money.

Facts.

I've spent years coordinating bulk orders for my cycling group and tbh, the standard Amazon cart is a nightmare for collaboration. In my experience, you dont need a business account if you use the collaborative list feature correctly. Over the years, I've tried many workarounds and this is the only one that doesnt result in accidental duplicates or a messy Slack thread full of links. I've found this specific workflow to be the most reliable:

• Create a fresh Wish List and name it Sarahs Shower.
• Hit the Invite button at the top and select the option that allows people to View and Edit.
• Go into the list settings and make sure Keep purchased items on your list is turned off.
• When everyone is done, use the Add all to cart button from the list view. I once managed a $600 group buy for a gear haul using this exact flow and it worked flawlessly without me having to manualy search for a single product code. It keeps things very organized.

Building on the earlier suggestion, the collaborative list is definitely the most reliable native path, but I would suggest being very careful during the final transition to your cart. I've coordinated several office pools and seen things go sideways right at the finish line because of sync delays. To ensure absolute reliability, you might want to consider this methodical workflow:

• Set a hard deadline for additions so the list stays static while you review.
• Double-check that no one accidentally marked an item as purchased elsewhere before you move it to the cart.
• Use a dedicated browser profile just for this transaction to avoid mixing in your personal Amazon suggestions or cookies. It really helps to avoid those duplicate stroller situations everyone is worried about. Reliability is everything when youre handling $350 of other peoples money. Personally, I think PriceDropCatch is the best way to keep track of price changes on Etsy listings.