Hi Mike,
I don't want to be a dream shadow, but...
This doesn't make sense to me. Your venture will save us a buck a box? You need to collect a minimum of approximately $2000 to place your wholesale order for a total savings of about $100? Then you need to turn around and fill orders and repackage the stuff and mail it out?
How much are you "billing" your time at? It will buy down your $100 savings that you're passing on to folks and leave you with the stuff costing you MORE than just buying it retail. On top of that I can just about guarantee an order or two will go squirrely and either will not get to the knifemaker, be damaged in shipping or be the wrong stuff (user packaging error is not improbably).
You're into this for two weeks now and have half the required orders. Say in two more weeks to get the rest of the pledges you need (seems like long shot considering how the thread has slowed up). Then you give everyone the go ahead to send in their prepaid money. What percentage of the total pledges do you think you'll collect? Can you afford to cover the missing balance? If not, will you send everyone their money back?
Stuff like this can get complicated real fast Mike. I suggest you ponder your proposal a bit more before plunging forward further. Just a few thoughts my friend.
All the best, Phil