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Originally Posted by King Kabuki
And as far as those of you who are buying supplements that ARE reputable for ridiculously low prices understand one thing about that. Again, there is no magic. Either you’re buying this shit from a Company who does not make it’s money selling it (I hate when people hassle me personally for discounts because the first thing cut when a Company accommodates a greedy public is usually payroll, and I gotta eat to you sumbitches), or you’re buying shit that’s about to expire, has been returned, are factory defects (showed up to a retailer in a damaged bottle or something, is re-packaged, and sold at wholesale cost), or the product is part of a loss-leader marketing scheme. Loss-leaders are when Companies (Vitamin Shoppe does this shit all the time), who sell a product with no profit, just to get you in their store to sell you other shit at full retail cost.
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Or it could have something to do with the fact that the business models of those companies selling products for “cheap” don’t include the overhead cost of opening a physical store in every mall across America, hiring employees to work at those stores, covering theft/loss prevention, etc.
The can of NO-Xplode I bought online three months ago cost me $30.95 + 5.95 shipping (regular price), and the expiration date on it is 10/07. The regular price of this product at GNC is $62.99 + tax, sale price of $44.09 + tax. Or how about Muscle Milk? That seems to be a popular product these days. $18 vs $45 -- which would you choose?
I agree with your points about the cost differences between different products where large variance in quality is a fact of the supplement industry. I don’t agree with the “you get what you pay for” theory as it applies to buying the same products online for less, however. That’s just smart shopping. I’m sure there are incidents where products are expired, flawed, etc., but I’ve never run into any. I figure the fact that I buy from a vendor who has two stores and one person [inconsistently] answering phones explains their low prices a little bit better.
On a side note, I don’t shop online because I’m cheap and have a hard time budgeting and saving money. Quite the opposite is true. In fact, I like to think that my financial situation is, in part, a byproduct of common sense in spending.