Trying a new compound without committing to a full kit — how do you do it?

mrmors

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I'm writing from a UK angle here, so I've got no clue how things work in the US or elsewhere. Over the past 2 months or so, whenever something caught my interest, I've ended up rolling the dice and ordering from 'random' UK peptide sites that sell single vials. I've found them a few different ways: a) a site I bought SARMS from years back stocks them and provides COA's, but the prices are high and the range is incomplete b) somebody fairly clued-up on here dropped a casual hint about one without naming the person or site outright, so I pieced 2+2 together and hunted a couple down. Or c) I dug through UK-based reddits and looked at what gym bros or broccolli heads were recommending to each other. It's playing with fire and I'm not comfortable with it, but there isn't much alternative.

Over the last couple of months I've wanted to trial allsorts — I've had Reta, Tirz, Mots, CJC+Ipa, and right now Tesa, Semax, Selank and Klow are sitting ready. All of it had to come from single vial sellers, and half of it arrived with no COA (yes, I know that makes me an idiot and I'm gambling). The thing is, I don't want to order a kit form China, wait a month for delivery, discover I don't get on with it or that it does nothing at all, and then be stuck with 9.x vials of the stuff.

So how do you guys handle this? Do you test with single vials, or does everyone just buy kits even when it's only a test?

I've been reading a few threads on here about group buys, but I don't reckon that's a go-er — I wouldn't even know where to begin, and from what I gather the process could drag on even longer.

It sort of feels like my current approach is to buy 1x vial of whatever I want to try from one of the UK online single vial sellers for a fortune, for pretty much the cost of a kit from China (it seems like across the board here they are 10x'ing their money by charging for a single vial what a kit costs, seems they price fix near enough across every site I can find), if I like it, then I have to add it to a mental shopping cart for when I do another bulk purchase from China as it doesn't make sense to pay $50 shipping for example for a $90 kit.
 
One upside of Chinese suppliers not operating like Amazon is this: bargaining is simply how business is done there, and nobody bats an eye at it.

When you place your usual order, just ask whether they'd throw in a few individual vials for you to try. Chances are good that plenty of them will agree.
 
Didn't know that was an option, appreciate the advice! Since single vials weren't listed on their price sheets, and plenty of the contacts often take days to respond even under ideal circumstances, I figured it was better not to risk it!
 
I’ve noticed some vendors say you shouldn’t hesitate to request a single vial for testing purposes. I haven’t actually brought it up with any of them, and my assumption is that such a request would likely need to be paired with a full kit of a different product. Beyond that, perhaps you could work out an arrangement to purchase a single vial from someone based in the UK?
 
mrmors said:

Didn't know that was an option, appreciate the advice! Since single vials weren't listed on their price sheets, and plenty of the contacts often take days to respond even under ideal circumstances, I figured it was better not to risk it!
From what I remember, HPT and ZJ both handed out free samples at some stage — you could get three free samples alongside an order! When I last checked with ZJ, that offer was no longer available. Whether they do it could come down to how established the vendor is and how quickly or slowly their stock is selling right then. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask.
 
mrmors said:

I'm writing from a UK angle here, so I've got no clue how things work in the US or elsewhere. Over the past 2 months or so, whenever something caught my interest, I've ended up rolling the dice and ordering from 'random' UK peptide sites that sell single vials. I've found them a few different ways: a) a site I bought SARMS from years back stocks them and provides COA's, but the prices are high and the range is incomplete b) somebody fairly clued-up on here dropped a casual hint about one without naming the person or site outright, so I pieced 2+2 together and hunted a couple down. Or c) I dug through UK-based reddits and looked at what gym bros or broccolli heads were recommending to each other. It's playing with fire and I'm not comfortable with it, but there isn't much alternative.

Over the last couple of months I've wanted to trial allsorts — I've had Reta, Tirz, Mots, CJC+Ipa, and right now Tesa, Semax, Selank and Klow are sitting ready. All of it had to come from single vial sellers, and half of it arrived with no COA (yes, I know that makes me an idiot and I'm gambling). The thing is, I don't want to order a kit form China, wait a month for delivery, discover I don't get on with it or that it does nothing at all, and then be stuck with 9.x vials of the stuff.

So how do you guys handle this? Do you test with single vials, or does everyone just buy kits even when it's only a test?

I've been reading a few threads on here about group buys, but I don't reckon that's a go-er — I wouldn't even know where to begin, and from what I gather the process could drag on even longer.

It sort of feels like my current approach is to buy 1x vial of whatever I want to try from one of the UK online single vial sellers for a fortune, for pretty much the cost of a kit from China (it seems like across the board here they are 10x'ing their money by charging for a single vial what a kit costs, seems they price fix near enough across every site I can find), if I like it, then I have to add it to a mental shopping cart for when I do another bulk purchase from China as it doesn't make sense to pay $50 shipping for example for a $90 kit.
I'm in the US. At first I picked up 4 vials, each a different compound I was curious about, and paid way too much — over $200 in total from the cheapest local sellers I could find. But the results won me over, so I went ahead and ordered 6 kits, all of them things I'd never touched before, from Chinese sources shipping out of a US warehouse. My reasoning was that $60 for one vial to test versus $60-120 for a full kit meant the experiment cost roughly the same, maybe only slightly more. If it turns out I don't like it, I can figure out my next move then, or pass it along to family and friends who are exploring similar things.
 
laansasa said:

mrmors said:

I'm writing from a UK angle here, so I've got no clue how things work in the US or elsewhere. Over the past 2 months or so, whenever something caught my interest, I've ended up rolling the dice and ordering from 'random' UK peptide sites that sell single vials. I've found them a few different ways: a) a site I bought SARMS from years back stocks them and provides COA's, but the prices are high and the range is incomplete b) somebody fairly clued-up on here dropped a casual hint about one without naming the person or site outright, so I pieced 2+2 together and hunted a couple down. Or c) I dug through UK-based reddits and looked at what gym bros or broccolli heads were recommending to each other. It's playing with fire and I'm not comfortable with it, but there isn't much alternative.

Over the last couple of months I've wanted to trial allsorts — I've had Reta, Tirz, Mots, CJC+Ipa, and right now Tesa, Semax, Selank and Klow are sitting ready. All of it had to come from single vial sellers, and half of it arrived with no COA (yes, I know that makes me an idiot and I'm gambling). The thing is, I don't want to order a kit form China, wait a month for delivery, discover I don't get on with it or that it does nothing at all, and then be stuck with 9.x vials of the stuff.

So how do you guys handle this? Do you test with single vials, or does everyone just buy kits even when it's only a test?

I've been reading a few threads on here about group buys, but I don't reckon that's a go-er — I wouldn't even know where to begin, and from what I gather the process could drag on even longer.

It sort of feels like my current approach is to buy 1x vial of whatever I want to try from one of the UK online single vial sellers for a fortune, for pretty much the cost of a kit from China (it seems like across the board here they are 10x'ing their money by charging for a single vial what a kit costs, seems they price fix near enough across every site I can find), if I like it, then I have to add it to a mental shopping cart for when I do another bulk purchase from China as it doesn't make sense to pay $50 shipping for example for a $90 kit.
I'm in the US. At first I picked up 4 vials, each a different compound I was curious about, and paid way too much — over $200 in total from the cheapest local sellers I could find. But the results won me over, so I went ahead and ordered 6 kits, all of them things I'd never touched before, from Chinese sources shipping out of a US warehouse. My reasoning was that $60 for one vial to test versus $60-120 for a full kit meant the experiment cost roughly the same, maybe only slightly more. If it turns out I don't like it, I can figure out my next move then, or pass it along to family and friends who are exploring similar things.

That pretty much describes where I'm at too. To be fair, before purchasing anything I've put in as much research as I can, checking whether it'd suit me, the way it works, potential sides and so on, and so far nothing I've bought has been something I'd avoid buying again, so gambling on kits probably would've worked out. The problem is there are no warehouses in the UK, so delivery takes 2-4wks (and that's before you factor in the current lockdown), and my patience isn't that great 🙂
 
mrmors said:

laansasa said:

mrmors said:

I'm writing from a UK angle here, so I've got no clue how things work in the US or elsewhere. Over the past 2 months or so, whenever something caught my interest, I've ended up rolling the dice and ordering from 'random' UK peptide sites that sell single vials. I've found them a few different ways: a) a site I bought SARMS from years back stocks them and provides COA's, but the prices are high and the range is incomplete b) somebody fairly clued-up on here dropped a casual hint about one without naming the person or site outright, so I pieced 2+2 together and hunted a couple down. Or c) I dug through UK-based reddits and looked at what gym bros or broccolli heads were recommending to each other. It's playing with fire and I'm not comfortable with it, but there isn't much alternative.

Over the last couple of months I've wanted to trial allsorts — I've had Reta, Tirz, Mots, CJC+Ipa, and right now Tesa, Semax, Selank and Klow are sitting ready. All of it had to come from single vial sellers, and half of it arrived with no COA (yes, I know that makes me an idiot and I'm gambling). The thing is, I don't want to order a kit form China, wait a month for delivery, discover I don't get on with it or that it does nothing at all, and then be stuck with 9.x vials of the stuff.

So how do you guys handle this? Do you test with single vials, or does everyone just buy kits even when it's only a test?

I've been reading a few threads on here about group buys, but I don't reckon that's a go-er — I wouldn't even know where to begin, and from what I gather the process could drag on even longer.

It sort of feels like my current approach is to buy 1x vial of whatever I want to try from one of the UK online single vial sellers for a fortune, for pretty much the cost of a kit from China (it seems like across the board here they are 10x'ing their money by charging for a single vial what a kit costs, seems they price fix near enough across every site I can find), if I like it, then I have to add it to a mental shopping cart for when I do another bulk purchase from China as it doesn't make sense to pay $50 shipping for example for a $90 kit.
I'm in the US. At first I picked up 4 vials, each a different compound I was curious about, and paid way too much — over $200 in total from the cheapest local sellers I could find. But the results won me over, so I went ahead and ordered 6 kits, all of them things I'd never touched before, from Chinese sources shipping out of a US warehouse. My reasoning was that $60 for one vial to test versus $60-120 for a full kit meant the experiment cost roughly the same, maybe only slightly more. If it turns out I don't like it, I can figure out my next move then, or pass it along to family and friends who are exploring similar things.

That pretty much describes where I'm at too. To be fair, before purchasing anything I've put in as much research as I can, checking whether it'd suit me, the way it works, potential sides and so on, and so far nothing I've bought has been something I'd avoid buying again, so gambling on kits probably would've worked out. The problem is there are no warehouses in the UK, so delivery takes 2-4wks (and that's before you factor in the current lockdown), and my patience isn't that great 🙂
I get where you're coming from. Waiting is not my strong suit either, and I get pretty stressed about customs too... I've noticed 2 Chinese vendors run EU warehouses. Have you checked those out?
 
That's the reason I'm sitting on 7 vials of MOTS-C plus 4 vials of NAD+ — whoever handles my estate can figure out what to do with them later.
 
randompersonrandom said:

That's the reason I'm sitting on 7 vials of MOTS-C plus 4 vials of NAD+ — whoever handles my estate can figure out what to do with them later.
That could be how my story ends up as well, despite not having any kids😂 Still, if you went through 3 vials of MoTS and 6 of NAD, you came out ahead and got your money's worth...
 
laansasa said:

randompersonrandom said:

That's the reason I'm sitting on 7 vials of MOTS-C plus 4 vials of NAD+ — whoever handles my estate can figure out what to do with them later.
That could be how my story ends up as well, despite not having any kids😂 Still, if you went through 3 vials of MoTS and 6 of NAD, you came out ahead and got your money's worth...
at some point, once this forum grows enough, there will be meet-ups with a free table — and what ends up on those free tables will be very revealing.
 
I simply purchase the kit — it beats the hassle of hunting down 1 reputable single vial that isn't priced at 1/2 of what the kit costs.
 
laansasa said:

mrmors said:

laansasa said:

mrmors said:

I'm writing from a UK angle here, so I've got no clue how things work in the US or elsewhere. Over the past 2 months or so, whenever something caught my interest, I've ended up rolling the dice and ordering from 'random' UK peptide sites that sell single vials. I've found them a few different ways: a) a site I bought SARMS from years back stocks them and provides COA's, but the prices are high and the range is incomplete b) somebody fairly clued-up on here dropped a casual hint about one without naming the person or site outright, so I pieced 2+2 together and hunted a couple down. Or c) I dug through UK-based reddits and looked at what gym bros or broccolli heads were recommending to each other. It's playing with fire and I'm not comfortable with it, but there isn't much alternative.

Over the last couple of months I've wanted to trial allsorts — I've had Reta, Tirz, Mots, CJC+Ipa, and right now Tesa, Semax, Selank and Klow are sitting ready. All of it had to come from single vial sellers, and half of it arrived with no COA (yes, I know that makes me an idiot and I'm gambling). The thing is, I don't want to order a kit form China, wait a month for delivery, discover I don't get on with it or that it does nothing at all, and then be stuck with 9.x vials of the stuff.

So how do you guys handle this? Do you test with single vials, or does everyone just buy kits even when it's only a test?

I've been reading a few threads on here about group buys, but I don't reckon that's a go-er — I wouldn't even know where to begin, and from what I gather the process could drag on even longer.

It sort of feels like my current approach is to buy 1x vial of whatever I want to try from one of the UK online single vial sellers for a fortune, for pretty much the cost of a kit from China (it seems like across the board here they are 10x'ing their money by charging for a single vial what a kit costs, seems they price fix near enough across every site I can find), if I like it, then I have to add it to a mental shopping cart for when I do another bulk purchase from China as it doesn't make sense to pay $50 shipping for example for a $90 kit.
I'm in the US. At first I picked up 4 vials, each a different compound I was curious about, and paid way too much — over $200 in total from the cheapest local sellers I could find. But the results won me over, so I went ahead and ordered 6 kits, all of them things I'd never touched before, from Chinese sources shipping out of a US warehouse. My reasoning was that $60 for one vial to test versus $60-120 for a full kit meant the experiment cost roughly the same, maybe only slightly more. If it turns out I don't like it, I can figure out my next move then, or pass it along to family and friends who are exploring similar things.

That pretty much describes where I'm at too. To be fair, before purchasing anything I've put in as much research as I can, checking whether it'd suit me, the way it works, potential sides and so on, and so far nothing I've bought has been something I'd avoid buying again, so gambling on kits probably would've worked out. The problem is there are no warehouses in the UK, so delivery takes 2-4wks (and that's before you factor in the current lockdown), and my patience isn't that great 🙂
I get where you're coming from. Waiting is not my strong suit either, and I get pretty stressed about customs too... I've noticed 2 Chinese vendors run EU warehouses. Have you checked those out?

Yeah, I've looked into the vendors that have EU warehouses, and right now they don't seem to have much on hand — only a few of the GLP's and such.
 
Domestic vendors will sell singles, but one bottle usually costs the same as a kit, or if you are lucky 1/2 the kit price. Ordering singles from China is not much better: they run about 1/4 of a kit and shipping is $50, so you need quite a few samples to make it worthwhile. These days I buy full kits and simply hope. Wish I knew people who run peps, so the ones I do not want could go to them.
 
mrmors said:

laansasa said:

mrmors said:

laansasa said:

mrmors said:

I'm writing from a UK angle here, so I've got no clue how things work in the US or elsewhere. Over the past 2 months or so, whenever something caught my interest, I've ended up rolling the dice and ordering from 'random' UK peptide sites that sell single vials. I've found them a few different ways: a) a site I bought SARMS from years back stocks them and provides COA's, but the prices are high and the range is incomplete b) somebody fairly clued-up on here dropped a casual hint about one without naming the person or site outright, so I pieced 2+2 together and hunted a couple down. Or c) I dug through UK-based reddits and looked at what gym bros or broccolli heads were recommending to each other. It's playing with fire and I'm not comfortable with it, but there isn't much alternative.

Over the last couple of months I've wanted to trial allsorts — I've had Reta, Tirz, Mots, CJC+Ipa, and right now Tesa, Semax, Selank and Klow are sitting ready. All of it had to come from single vial sellers, and half of it arrived with no COA (yes, I know that makes me an idiot and I'm gambling). The thing is, I don't want to order a kit form China, wait a month for delivery, discover I don't get on with it or that it does nothing at all, and then be stuck with 9.x vials of the stuff.

So how do you guys handle this? Do you test with single vials, or does everyone just buy kits even when it's only a test?

I've been reading a few threads on here about group buys, but I don't reckon that's a go-er — I wouldn't even know where to begin, and from what I gather the process could drag on even longer.

It sort of feels like my current approach is to buy 1x vial of whatever I want to try from one of the UK online single vial sellers for a fortune, for pretty much the cost of a kit from China (it seems like across the board here they are 10x'ing their money by charging for a single vial what a kit costs, seems they price fix near enough across every site I can find), if I like it, then I have to add it to a mental shopping cart for when I do another bulk purchase from China as it doesn't make sense to pay $50 shipping for example for a $90 kit.
I'm in the US. At first I picked up 4 vials, each a different compound I was curious about, and paid way too much — over $200 in total from the cheapest local sellers I could find. But the results won me over, so I went ahead and ordered 6 kits, all of them things I'd never touched before, from Chinese sources shipping out of a US warehouse. My reasoning was that $60 for one vial to test versus $60-120 for a full kit meant the experiment cost roughly the same, maybe only slightly more. If it turns out I don't like it, I can figure out my next move then, or pass it along to family and friends who are exploring similar things.

That pretty much describes where I'm at too. To be fair, before purchasing anything I've put in as much research as I can, checking whether it'd suit me, the way it works, potential sides and so on, and so far nothing I've bought has been something I'd avoid buying again, so gambling on kits probably would've worked out. The problem is there are no warehouses in the UK, so delivery takes 2-4wks (and that's before you factor in the current lockdown), and my patience isn't that great 🙂
I get where you're coming from. Waiting is not my strong suit either, and I get pretty stressed about customs too... I've noticed 2 Chinese vendors run EU warehouses. Have you checked those out?

Yeah, I've looked into the vendors that have EU warehouses, and right now they don't seem to have much on hand — only a few of the GLP's and such.
The situation is the same for US warehouses: inventory tends to be quite scarce, though it's worth repeatedly checking back for restocks, or perhaps requesting items on their group wish lists. If a sufficient number of people show interest, you might get lucky.
 
littledragon25 said:

I'll put up a request in a UK BST Telegram group for X Y Z, and more often than not somebody will sell me just 1 vial.

Appreciate it, littledragon — that sounds like the direction I want to head as well. I heard about a TG group for the UK that includes a UK-specific area.
 
A few people in some Telegram groups I belong to have said they'd assist. Just get a sense of them first, then decide whether to proceed.
 
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