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lessthanhalf

lessthanhalf

Explorer
Joined
Jun 27, 2025
Messages
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Location
melbourne
When I check out what a Vendor has posted, here’s what matters to me.

How they accept payment

Costs – meaning current price lists that don’t take forever to locate

What shipping runs and what happens if a package gets seized

Lab results

What I care about seeing the least

Never-ending photos of shipments to customers or customer reviews that the Vendor puts up, sometimes many pages of them

Reposts of earlier content that add nothing new.

I get that Vendors are refreshing their posts almost daily, so every Vendor has to do the same just to stay visible and avoid getting pushed down.

More and more, the details I rely on to figure out whether a Vendor at the top of this list is worth my interest either can’t be located, or I end up digging through multiple pages and multiple posts just to track it down, or there’s no current price list at all. A few haven’t been touched in months, or simply aren’t posted. Making things simple for customers tends to be smart, while making them difficult—like forcing someone to reach out to the vendor just to get a price list—is not. It used to be incredibly simple to always pull up this information fast, and I doubt I’m the only person annoyed by this.

The stuff that’s most frequently absent, or hardest to track down, is up-to-date pricing and payment option details.
 
I'm posting here as well to help get more eyes on this, even though I doubt any vendor will actually see it or adjust how they operate.

On top of that, because of all the vendor spam, I've basically put every single vendor on ignore now.
 
Excellent post and comment. Unfortunately, as has been noted, Vendors will not read this, though it would be nice if they did.
 
For me, the two most important things are an up-to-date price list and clear instructions for getting in touch. That goes double when a vendor operates multiple warehouses. I'm fine with putting in effort to research a vendor, but hunting down their pricing shouldn't be part of that effort — particularly because comparing prices is one of the things I'm researching in the first place.

Also, AI-generated fluff about your business model doesn't help your case at all.
 
It sounds nice in theory, but after spending years in this space, I've come to see that instructing Chinese suppliers on how to act like Chinese suppliers seldom accomplishes much. It's a lot like telling water not to be wet.

Trying to impose Western business norms on Eastern firms has its boundaries.

Another thing to keep in mind: most of the reps who sell you those small vials of powder are at the same time moving counterfeit Gucci bags, Air Jordans, and every other kind of in-demand merchandise. They operate under rigid sales methods set by multiple tiers of managers—methods that have already worked for those other goods. For the vast majority, deviating from the script simply isn't an option.

Even a basic step like posting a price list isn't yet standard practice. The last 3 years have brought significant progress, sure, but plenty of suppliers still don't put out a full price list at all. Instead, they expect the buyer to say what they want, which lets them put together a custom quote. Transformation happens slowly, on their schedule rather than ours.

Consider how much trouble political leaders around the world have when they try to get the Chinese to do business differently. That might shed a bit more light on why Western customers' seemingly reasonable requests so often go unanswered.
 
yrrdead said:

I'm posting here as well to help get more eyes on this, even though I doubt any vendor will actually see it or adjust how they operate.

On top of that, because of all the vendor spam, I've basically put every single vendor on ignore now.
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Indeed
 
It bothers me that pricing and shipping details often require a trip to TG or something similar. Once it gets to that, I usually stop checking. Just my opinion. On top of that, a few of the posts are still carrying over Christmas promotions or CN New Years items.
 
I realize this won't reach them, but... when you share CoAs, either include the verification code or skip posting them altogether.
 
I've checked out the vendors on this site, and I'd like to give them my support, because if they stop seeing a solid ROI, they might not keep the forum going.
 
BNLFL said:

It bothers me that pricing and shipping details often require a trip to TG or something similar. Once it gets to that, I usually stop checking. Just my opinion. On top of that, a few of the posts are still carrying over Christmas promotions or CN New Years items.
Click to expand...
I refuse to use TG or Discord; my assumption is that both have been compromised. Instead, I reach out on WhatsApp to request a current price and availability list, and obtaining one has never been an issue for me.
 
What you're overlooking is this: a number of vendors — the ones actively courting folks in your position or mine — follow precisely the playbook you just described, and that's a deliberate tactic on their part. You and I are exactly the demographic those vendors want to capture.

Meanwhile, for each person like you or me (someone who posts regularly here), there are likely dozens of "drive-by" visitors who found the site through a Google result or a link posted elsewhere, have no intention of signing up, and simply want to obtain some XYZ with minimal effort or deliberation. To that crowd, ranking high on the list (and being easy to spot) is the only thing that counts, because they won't page through 5 screens or run any kind of involved comparison. They'll just pick whoever appears first and seems credible enough, then place an order.

Recall your days as a clinician. Did the bulk of your patients arrive having done thorough medication homework and compared the trade-offs of various choices? Or did they show up mainly because a TV commercial featured a smiling family looking happy at the beach, with that family using a particular brand of drug for [insert health ailment]? Fair enough, this may not map onto your situation as neatly, given you're in Australia and pharma advertising there might not work the way it does in the States.
 
Raptorrunner said:

BNLFL said:

It bothers me that pricing and shipping details often require a trip to TG or something similar. Once it gets to that, I usually stop checking. Just my opinion. On top of that, a few of the posts are still carrying over Christmas promotions or CN New Years items.
Click to expand...
I refuse to use TG or Discord; my assumption is that both have been compromised. Instead, I reach out on WhatsApp to request a current price and availability list, and obtaining one has never been an issue for me.
Click to expand...
I have yet to make any purchase straight through anyone on TG, plus Discord isn't something I care for. Still, I do take a look now and then.
 
tubby said:

What you're overlooking is this: a number of vendors — the ones actively courting folks in your position or mine — follow precisely the playbook you just described, and that's a deliberate tactic on their part. You and I are exactly the demographic those vendors want to capture.

Meanwhile, for each person like you or me (someone who posts regularly here), there are likely dozens of "drive-by" visitors who found the site through a Google result or a link posted elsewhere, have no intention of signing up, and simply want to obtain some XYZ with minimal effort or deliberation. To that crowd, ranking high on the list (and being easy to spot) is the only thing that counts, because they won't page through 5 screens or run any kind of involved comparison. They'll just pick whoever appears first and seems credible enough, then place an order.

Recall your days as a clinician. Did the bulk of your patients arrive having done thorough medication homework and compared the trade-offs of various choices? Or did they show up mainly because a TV commercial featured a smiling family looking happy at the beach, with that family using a particular brand of drug for [insert health ailment]? Fair enough, this may not map onto your situation as neatly, given you're in Australia and pharma advertising there might not work the way it does in the States.
Click to expand...
Direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription medications is completely prohibited in this country; you will see commercials for non-prescription items such as panadol or neurofen.

I never really thought this message would change much, but providing some input to the sellers certainly does not do any harm, and clearly I am not alone in feeling somewhat irritated by the recent flood of updates and the absence of essential details.
 
lessthanhalf said:

When I check out what a Vendor has posted, here’s what matters to me.

How they accept payment

Costs – meaning current price lists that don’t take forever to locate

What shipping runs and what happens if a package gets seized

Lab results

What I care about seeing the least

Never-ending photos of shipments to customers or customer reviews that the Vendor puts up, sometimes many pages of them

Reposts of earlier content that add nothing new.

I get that Vendors are refreshing their posts almost daily, so every Vendor has to do the same just to stay visible and avoid getting pushed down.

More and more, the details I rely on to figure out whether a Vendor at the top of this list is worth my interest either can’t be located, or I end up digging through multiple pages and multiple posts just to track it down, or there’s no current price list at all. A few haven’t been touched in months, or simply aren’t posted. Making things simple for customers tends to be smart, while making them difficult—like forcing someone to reach out to the vendor just to get a price list—is not. It used to be incredibly simple to always pull up this information fast, and I doubt I’m the only person annoyed by this.

The stuff that’s most frequently absent, or hardest to track down, is up-to-date pricing and payment option details.
Click to expand...
Alright, friend
 
People working in sales almost always lean toward whatever benefits them most personally, which means hitting a number. They'll insist the customer comes first and matters more than anything, backing that up with lines like "without taking care of customers, we make no sales."

But in reality, customers rank far lower than the sales figures they're chasing.

There's a range, of course, yet whether it's a small local shop or a massive corporation, sales quotas and the personal gain of the sales team take priority over looking after the customer.

And yeah, the nonstop, obvious flood of AI is irritating, but I'll attempt to shift how I look at it and get some enjoyment out of it.

All in all, I really appreciate what the vendors do🙂
 
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