My curiosity has completely taken over. If you went through my introduction when I joined the forum, thanks for sticking with it—I know it ran long. Since then, I've been going through this forum and plenty of others like it. I've contacted a huge number of "sources," both overseas and in the US, plus testing labs and so on. I've also worked my way through all the legal wording and similar material. Naturally, I've seen the threads about poor practices, low quality, and people getting harmed.
So here's what I keep asking: why not deal directly with an ISO-certified pharma manufacturer? Yes, the MOQ is far bigger. But the testing is FDA certified, and you can verify every document on accredited websites and the like. My assumption is that procurement takes a lot of time and effort, and on top of that there's the capital tied up in inventory, shipping and customs, and lab equipment like scales, vials, etc.
From a vendor or reseller angle, you'd leave the competition far behind if you could supply documents that aren't photoshopped and use standard payment methods. That also demands capital because of the risk involved, plus you'd be under continuous audits from regulatory bodies over intent and advertising rules. I've found maybe 3 US-based operations set up this way, and they focus on supplying research labs. Their pricing is absolutely wild, and in this particular research area demand is genuinely underserved, so those items tend to be out of stock.
If the margin exists—and I should know within a few days—why isn't anyone pursuing this as a business? I typically take on projects of different kinds similar to this for crowdfunding or investors as a hobby, going back to when owning laundromats and car washes was considered cool. These days you can buy and sell businesses, whether brick-and-mortar or tech companies. What's the pitfall I'm missing?
So here's what I keep asking: why not deal directly with an ISO-certified pharma manufacturer? Yes, the MOQ is far bigger. But the testing is FDA certified, and you can verify every document on accredited websites and the like. My assumption is that procurement takes a lot of time and effort, and on top of that there's the capital tied up in inventory, shipping and customs, and lab equipment like scales, vials, etc.
From a vendor or reseller angle, you'd leave the competition far behind if you could supply documents that aren't photoshopped and use standard payment methods. That also demands capital because of the risk involved, plus you'd be under continuous audits from regulatory bodies over intent and advertising rules. I've found maybe 3 US-based operations set up this way, and they focus on supplying research labs. Their pricing is absolutely wild, and in this particular research area demand is genuinely underserved, so those items tend to be out of stock.
If the margin exists—and I should know within a few days—why isn't anyone pursuing this as a business? I typically take on projects of different kinds similar to this for crowdfunding or investors as a hobby, going back to when owning laundromats and car washes was considered cool. These days you can buy and sell businesses, whether brick-and-mortar or tech companies. What's the pitfall I'm missing?