bobas and gorilla juice from another vendor?

[Sedateme]

Just ran into this... smoktek.com is selling bobas and gorilla juice, right at the time AVE is out of stock... Porphy are you aware of this?

edit: thanks pearl, fixed address in my post

 

[pearlheartgtr]

Lookie that. They're selling it at about $1.50 more than AVE without a mention if they're a reseller.

So these guys scarfed up a share of GJ and BB during the sale so they can profit off those of us who couldn't get any because it was sold out. Not cool, man. Though I have a wanting for GJ right now, I'm going to be waiting for AVE to get it back in stock.

The site is actually, SmokTek.com

 

[akasirro]

Wow! its flamboyantly deliberate

 

[LegioX]

Sounds sketchy at best.

 

[KEITH97M3]

He is a legit reseller, who in their right minds would try to pull this? I personally know Rob and was the very one who first introduced him to Boba's and to Ben.

 

[Shilo]

Those two flavors aren't even listed on the AVE website period right now.

 

[mwa102464]

If he is a legitimate reseller of Ben's what is the big deal ? Ben must have sold it to them and cut a deal with them, I see nothing wrong with this what so ever ?

 

[SonnyCrack]

Saved my ..... I ordered a 30 ml from Smoktech last night..

 

[minigoat]

No worries (at least there do not appear to be any)

From SmokTek Home page

 

[sammy43]

I am vaping the last of my GJ right now and have only about 2-3ml of BB left. I may have to break down and order a couple small bottles from SmokTek since it seems AVE will not have GJ and BB in stock until around Dec. 10th.

Porphy - Any updates? I would like some Raf too!

 

[Bowtie]

You own it, you can do what ever you want with it.

 

[Fernand]

It's very puzzling, given the mostly libertarian orientation of the members on ECF, to see people angry at profiteering. Isn't "buy low and sell high" the very foundation of capitalism? I'm not criticizing anyone, but would like to understand the reasoning. Can someone who feels that way please explain what immorality they see in buying up that juice when it was cheap and plentiful and reselling it at a profit?

 

[Vegastar]

I guess my kind of moral high ground for thinking this is a little screwed up would be that these are the AV "signature" Flavors. I don't think there's anyone in the world except Ben and co that could recreate them, and at no point has AV said "oh hey, I know I'm out of stock, but smoktek.com has some that I've been cooking up for resellers.". That means this was created under the guise of being a customer and then resold to turn a profit from doing absolutely no work. It's simply a shady business practice, and with the occasional issues we see with "shadiness" in vendors, the last thing I want to see in this industry right now is more deception.

 

[Adam the Aussie]

I've just gone internally berserk! Smoktek ship internationally! This is great news for the Aussie Vaping community. 120mls of Boba's and GJ coming my way, plus they stock Echo gear, drip tips and adaptors which I also added to my order. Thanks to the OP for making me aware of this. I'm heading off camping for 10 days after Christmas, so i'll be fully stocked with new batteries, cartos, drip tips and juice. You little ripper.

 

[Fernand]

Thanks for the explanation, Vega. But what exactly do you see as "deception"?

It seems to me the nature of ALL commerce is to put in as little cost and effort as possible to secure goods, and to sell the goods at the highest price the market will bear, including any factoring in of "good will", or how the retailer is perceived.

If someone copies a product and sells it as an original brand X, that's a violation of brand X's trademarks, but I can't see identifying it correctly and reselling with mark-up as improper. Their prices here aren't even unreasonable.

One minute you're a customer, you buy a house, or a painting, then you resell it, you're a seller. Shady?

But I'm not sure how the "exclusive dealer" concept works. What legally prevents an individual from buying 100 Mercedes cars and setting up shop? There's often a "grey market" where a product is scarce, and isn't the only recourse some sort of civil suit by the "official channel"? And what can they claim has been breeched? Only THEY have signed an agreement with Mercedes. The "unofficial dealer" hasn't.

BTW, are those nicotine strengths the same AV sells?

 

[Sedateme]

If smoktek isn't an authorized reseller, they are cashing in on the popularity of AVE's Boba's Bounty and Gorilla Juice, plain and simple. Is it illegal? Not to my knowledge... but it is quite underhanded and shady. The fact that AVE is currently out of stock, and these prices are higher than AVE sells them for tells me they probably are not a reseller, and are simply looking to make a few dollars from the markup price. Will smoktek get rich off this? No. Depending on how much they sell, they might only make a small amount of profit.

If you see no problem with this, that's your opinion. If you want to dig deeper into a hypothetical situation, give the following some thought. Vendor A puts on a great sale, and Vendor B makes a huge order. Along with all of the regular juice sales, Vendor B's huge order has depleted the stock of the juices ordered. We now have an artificial short supply situation. Vendor B then turns around and sells the juice at an increased price. If I, as a consumer, want that juice, I *have* to order from Vendor B and pay their increased prices. If Vendor B had not made their order, I might be able to still order from Vendor A. Creating artificial demand and raising prices is a wonderful way of making money, and a wonderful way of screwing consumers. I'm not saying this is exactly what happened, and only outlined this hypothetical situation to clarify why this kind of thing would make me, as a consumer, angry.

Also, yes Fernand they are the same nic strengths AVE sells.

 

[Porphy]

Okay, I'm coming in late here. I apologize you all caught me on the weekend.

This is 100% fine by me. I know the vendor and he is a customer. He has asked and I have approved him to sell my product under my name as long as no alteration to the actual liquid occurs and he has agreed. I do this with all of my bulk purchasers when, and if, they ask.

I can see the finer economic points of this discussion are already being covered so I won't go it those. I do know that no bulk purchaser of mine has yet to put a serious dent in my supply at any given time, so the amount of liquid for sale will be limited.

Now I would take issue with anyone who is selling under my name and not supplying the actual real flavors/juices, but that is not happening here.

As for an update on Boba's, Gorilla, or Raf - we're at about a 1.5 to 2 weeks still. It could be MUCH sooner but until I get shipping confirmation I'm going with a long estimate.

 

[SonnyCrack]

If smoktek isn't an authorized reseller, they are cashing in on the popularity of AVE's Boba's Bounty and Gorilla Juice, plain and simple. Is it illegal? Not to my knowledge... but it is quite underhanded and shady. The fact that AVE is currently out of stock, and these prices are higher than AVE sells them for tells me they probably are not a reseller, and are simply looking to make a few dollars from the markup price.

Truth is, if I order a 30 ml bottle from AVE or a 30 ml bottle from Smoktek, the price WITH shipping is the same or a little less.. SmokTek ships for 1.99 where as AVE is 4.99 (or 4 bucks), something like that.. Thats the difference, of course if you buy 40 dollars or more its free shipping..

But either way, I'm happy.. The last time there was a Bobas shortage, I and many others were forced to pay a buck a ml (or more) in the classifieds section and happily did so..

 

[sammy43]

BTW, are those nicotine strengths the same AV sells?

Also, yes Fernand they are the same nic strengths AVE sells.

But they don't seem to have the 12mg option which is my nic preference. Dang. Guess I could order a 6 and an 18 and mix 'em?

 

[Fernand]

... but it is quite underhanded and shady.

If you see no problem with this, that's your opinion. If you want to dig deeper into a hypothetical situation, give the following some thought. Vendor A puts on a great sale, and Vendor B makes a huge order. Along with all of the regular juice sales, Vendor B's huge order has depleted the stock of the juices ordered. We now have an artificial short supply situation. Vendor B then turns around and sells the juice at an increased price. If I, as a consumer, want that juice, I *have* to order from Vendor B and pay their increased prices. If Vendor B had not made their order, I might be able to still order from Vendor A. Creating artificial demand and raising prices is a wonderful way of making money, and a wonderful way of screwing consumers. I'm not saying this is exactly what happened, and only outlined this hypothetical situation to clarify why this kind of thing would make me, as a consumer, angry.

It's not a question of "my opinion", that's just a way of saying I'm mistaken, or that no truth exists. To tell you the truth, I don't follow your presentation one iota. So-called speculation is one of the mainstays of free-market capitalism. Aren't the most basic business guidelines "buy low and sell high", and the corollary "buy in plenty, sell in shortage"? There are laws and rules against fraud, misrepresentation, collusion-price fixing, trademark violations, etc. I can see you say you consider Smoktek's actions (without AVE's explicit agreement, let's leave that out) shady and "screwing customers", and I see that you are presenting examples of actions you consider shady, but I don't see any argument or logic as to what ethical or legal rules you consider broken, and how. Can you clarify?