I've just managed to join in this group buy despite only recently registering with geekhack.
I've also just finished reading all 64 pages of this thread, and hats off to Ivan for having the patience and persistence in getting this buy together, politely answering the same questions over and over again. I think that someone used the phrase "herding cats" earlier on in the thread and it sounds about right
Regarding the interesting digression on marking up slots in the group buy, my personal take is that from what I've seen on GH so far, it's not the 'done thing' during the middle of a buy, no matter how long the buy might take to get done. I probably would have backed out of it had my transaction turned into a bidding war (not because of the cost, but because I don't want to deal with the drama), and given the recent demand this was certainly something that could have happened. The market might be an efficient regulator of supply and demand, but the market is not necessarily a nice place to hang out (and I have spent enough time with people at the sharp end of the financial markets to be very emphatic on this).
Anyway, so Ivan, any chance of the blank sets shipping early as they don't need to be printed*?
* Kidding