To all Vendors

[lessthanhalf]

When I look at Vendor posts the things I need to know are.
Payment options
Prices - so up to date price lists that are easy to find
Shipping costs and seized item replacement policies
Test results
The things I am least interested in seeing
Endless pictures of customer shipments or reviews from customers posted by the Vendor, often pages of them
Repeats of previous posts with no new information.
I understand that Vendors are updating their posts nearly every day , so all the Vendors need to do it so their posts will be visible, and not be buried.
Increasingly it has gotten to a point where the information I need to decide if I am interested or not in a Vendor at the top of this list cannot be found or I have to go through several pages and several posts to even find it, or that there are no up to date price lists. Some have not been updated for months, or are not there at all . Making it easy for customers is usually a good idea, and making it hard like having to contact the vendor for a price list is not. It used to be super easy to always find this information quickly, I cannot be the only one bothered by this.
What is missing most often, or are hard to find are current prices and payment option information.

 

[yrrdead]

I'm just adding on to this thread for increased visibility, though I doubt that vendor's will read it and/or change behaviors.

I will also add that due to vendor spam I've pretty much placed every vendor on ignore at this point.

 

[foffspam111]

Great post and comment. Sadly like it was mentioned Vendors won’t read this but it would be nice if they did.

 

[Nopenada]

Updated price list and how to get in contact are my two big ones. Especially if there is more than one warehouse. I don’t mind doing my research on a vendor, but I shouldn’t have to do a bunch of research to find out what the prices are, especially since I’ll be comparing prices as part of my research.

And AI generated BS about your business model doesn’t do you any good either.

 

[ZippityDooDah]

While a neat sentiment, having been doing this for a while I've realized that telling Chinese suppliers how to be Chinese suppliers is rarely helpful. It's very much like asking water not to be wet.

There are limits to trying to force Western business culture on Eastern companies.

It's also important to remember that the majority of reps selling you little vials of powder are also simultaneously selling knock-off Gucci handbags, Air Jordans, and all other sorts of high-demand products, and they are following strict sales practices demanded by their many layers of managers that have proven successful with those other products. Most simply don't have the option of going off-script.

Even something as simple as publishing a price list is still not universal. While there have been dramatic improvements in the past 3 years, there are still many suppliers who simply do not publish a complete price list and operate on the expectation that the customer will tell them what they are interested in purchasing so that they can craft individual offers. Change is slow and done on their timetable, not ours.

Just look at the difficulty political leaders worldwide have trying to persuade the Chinese to conduct business differently, and perhaps it will make a little more sense why the seemingly rational expectations of Western customers are often ignored.

 

[Zydeceltico]

I've pretty much placed every vendor on ignore at this point.

Yep

 

[BNLFL]

I dislike when you need to go to TG or similar to get prices and shipping info. At that point, I generally don't look anymore. JMO. Also, some of the posts are a continuation of Christmas sales or CN New Years stuff.

 

[HereKittyKitty]

I know they won't see this but... If you're going to post CoAs, let's see the verification code or don't bother to post it.

 

[HereKittyKitty]

I have looked at the vendors here and would like to support them since they keep the forum running lest they no longer get a good ROI.

 

[Raptorrunner]

I dislike when you need to go to TG or similar to get prices and shipping info. At that point, I generally don't look anymore. JMO. Also, some of the posts are a continuation of Christmas sales or CN New Years stuff.

I won't go to TG or Discord - I assume that those have been hacked. I ask on WhatsApp for an updated price and availability list and haven't had any problem getting those.

 

[tubby]

Here is what you're missing: Some vendors (who are trying to market to people like you or me) will do exactly what you're saying and that is their strategy. You and I are the segment those particular vendors are trying to reach.

At the same time, for every you or I (who is active on this forum), there are probably dozens of people doing "drive-bys" on the site who landed here from a Google search or a link somewhere else, aren't going to join the community, and just want to get some XYZ without doing a lot of work or thinking. For those customers, being near the top of the list (and visible) is all that matters, since they're not going to scroll through 5 pages and perform a complex evaluation. They're just going to jump to whoever they see first that sounds reasonable and order from them.

Think back to when you were a clinician. Had most of your patients done detailed drug research before seeing you and weighed the pros and cons of different options? Or were they just coming in because they saw an ad on TV with a smiling family that looked happy at the beach and that family was taking a certain brand of drug to treat [insert health ailment]? Okay, this might be less applicable to you since you're in Australia and you guys might not have pharma ads the same way we do here.

 

[BNLFL]

I won't go to TG or Discord - I assume that those have been hacked. I ask on WhatsApp for an updated price and availability list and haven't had any problem getting those.

I've never bought anything direct from any on on TG, and I dislike Discord. I do peak around though.

 

[lessthanhalf]

Here is what you're missing: Some vendors (who are trying to market to people like you or me) will do exactly what you're saying and that is their strategy. You and I are the segment those particular vendors are trying to reach.

At the same time, for every you or I (who is active on this forum), there are probably dozens of people doing "drive-bys" on the site who landed here from a Google search or a link somewhere else, aren't going to join the community, and just want to get some XYZ without doing a lot of work or thinking. For those customers, being near the top of the list (and visible) is all that matters, since they're not going to scroll through 5 pages and perform a complex evaluation. They're just going to jump to whoever they see first that sounds reasonable and order from them.

Think back to when you were a clinician. Had most of your patients done detailed drug research before seeing you and weighed the pros and cons of different options? Or were they just coming in because they saw an ad on TV with a smiling family that looked happy at the beach and that family was taking a certain brand of drug to treat [insert health ailment]? Okay, this might be less applicable to you since you're in Australia and you guys might not have pharma ads the same way we do here.

Prescription drug ads targeted to consumers here are totally illegal, there are some ads for over the counter drugs like panadol or neurofen.
It is not like I was actually expecting this post to make a big difference, but it cannot hurt to give a bit of feedback to the vendors, and obviously I am not the only one a bit annoyed by the more recent endless updates and missing basic info.

 

[Dydanz]

When I look at Vendor posts the things I need to know are.
Payment options
Prices - so up to date price lists that are easy to find
Shipping costs and seized item replacement policies
Test results
The things I am least interested in seeing
Endless pictures of customer shipments or reviews from customers posted by the Vendor, often pages of them
Repeats of previous posts with no new information.
I understand that Vendors are updating their posts nearly every day , so all the Vendors need to do it so their posts will be visible, and not be buried.
Increasingly it has gotten to a point where the information I need to decide if I am interested or not in a Vendor at the top of this list cannot be found or I have to go through several pages and several posts to even find it, or that there are no up to date price lists. Some have not been updated for months, or are not there at all . Making it easy for customers is usually a good idea, and making it hard like having to contact the vendor for a price list is not. It used to be super easy to always find this information quickly, I cannot be the only one bothered by this.
What is missing most often, or are hard to find are current prices and payment option information.

Ok dear

 

[Sid the SeaGull]

sales staff universally have a propensity to do whatever is best for them personally, and that is achieving a number. They will always present that the customer is a paramount and above all else , and justify that statement with comments such as if we don't look after customers we don't make sales.

However when customers are well down the order compared to sales target numbers .

Sure there is a spectrum however overall Local businesses or huge corporate sales targets and perusal advantage for sales staff come before customers service.

And yes the constant and obvious AI barrage is annoying, but I'll try to sheift my mindset to enjoy it.

Overall I love the service that the vendors provide🙂