everything out of stock

[jwark]

It's getting annoying. Even ridiculous things like needles for filling stuff is out of stock. I have to go to multiple sites just to buy something to fill my tanks with. The shipping adds up. The popular sites seem to be out of half of everything they sell on their sites. I had to look at 20 sites to find a vivi nova 2.5 in stock. about 15 sites to find a vamo I wanted to buy. Had to look at 20 drip tips at one site to find one in stock. The list goes on and on.

Is it really tax refunds or what?

 

[Mdiddy059]

China just had its new year, last week i believe. slowly they are getting back to werk to getting everything back in stock. Usually if i have the extra bread, i stock up just in case delays like this happen . Yea its a bummer im sure!

 

[Standpoint]

I've noticed this too. I have a few sites that I prefer to buy from right now, but everything I need is OOS. Hunting around I've found a vendor or two, but don't know that they are selling guaranteed authentic, so I don't want to buy from them.

Is this still residual from the Chinese New Year?

 

[Mdiddy059]

Last i checked Vivi Novas were in stock at Altsmoke.com (the real ones)

 

[pkj]

Yep - the New Year Holiday in China shuts the entire country down for awhile. It will take a bit for them to get back into production and shipping. I bet they are working on getting us restocked right now. Keep checking your favorite suppliers. And remember this when next year comes around. You might want to stock up before the holiday next year.

 

[jwark]

Last i checked Vivi Novas were in stock at Altsmoke.com (the real ones)

They don't even say what version that is. Another issue with some of these vendors. I just completely skipped those when they don't say.

 

[jwark]

Yep - the New Year Holiday in China shuts the entire country down for awhile. It will take a bit for them to get back into production and shipping. I bet they are working on getting us restocked right now. Keep checking your favorite suppliers. And remember this when next year comes around. You might want to stock up before the holiday next year.

Or maybe the vendors should stock up and not put it on the consumers?

 

[klynnn]

I don't think this is totally the fault of the chinese new year- the economy is in the trash and getting worse in many countries. New laws and regulations are drowning whats left of it. Will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[pkj]

The suppliers do stock up as much as they can. I'm pretty sure all of the suppliers hate it when they can't make the sale. They are limited to what they can get from the manufacturers, the cash on hand / credit lines available to them, and probably many more factors that we are unaware of.

Add to these things the fact that e-cigs have had a large presence in tv, radio, and print advertising, ie Super Bowl Ad, and many people are trying their hand at vaping. The suppliers do what they can to get the products in and estimate customer demand, but they are human.

I am not making excuses for the suppliers. I am trying to explain a few of the many factors involved in supply and demand.

PS - I am not a supplier, nor am I associated with any vaping supplier. I do own my business and can 'guess' some of the logistics in running a vape supply business.

 

[HyperRealist]

Chinese new year was a month ago. Co-ops have been coming in fine for a couple weeks. Time to stop using that excuse.

 

[jwark]

Yeah that makes sense. Well, I hope it ends soon. I had to buy from places I've never used before and worried about their customer service, etc.

 

[D4rk50ul]

Was reading that shipments of ecig parts have been being rejected by Chinese customs. This could be adding to the bottleneck of goods at the moment.

 

[horkus1]

I feel your pain. I went through hell last week trying to find one site where I could buy everything that I needed. Mind you, it was not a lot of stuff. I hate paying for shipping and so paying at multiple sites really frustrates me. I finally gave up trying to find the perfect order and made some substitutions that should get me through until my regular sites restock.

You are not alone!

 

[klynnn]

I learned real quick to make sure I had plenty of stock on hand. I deal with certain vendors who have reliable products and it just takes awhile to learn which ones they are. With the way things are going if you like a product and it works well for you buy three.

 

[juicejunky]

Two crucial times of year to be aware of as a vaper - Chinese New Year (1-2 month supply crunch) and summer (ship your juice supplies before your mailbox/mail truck/airport tarmac turns into an oven)

Venders are already buying most of what China produces for ecigs. Even if they had the money and are willing to take a risk of having an abundant oversupply of yesterday's out of favor ecig widgets, China's supply is getting bought as fast as it is made, especially the quality stuff.

The FDA scare is exacerbating things this year as well. Everything should be back to normal in a few weeks and maybe even some good sales will result.

 

[juicejunky]

Chinese new year was a month ago. Co-ops have been coming in fine for a couple weeks. Time to stop using that excuse.

Co-ops buy a limited quantity of a few items. A vendor orders larger quantities that may be on a boat somewhere. Their profit margins don't allow them to necessarily order one thing at a time airmail. They have quality control people (we hope) over there to check their shipments. Supplies will show up very soon. Vendors would love to have stuff to sell you rather than answering nasty emails and comments accusing them of making excuses for their lack of inventory.

It is what it is every year, so please put the Year of the Horse, Chinese New Year day - January 31, 2014 on your calendar for next year. Join the veterans and order supplies for up until mid-March by January 15th to beat the rush.

 

[StormFinch]

Chinese new year was a month ago. Co-ops have been coming in fine for a couple weeks. Time to stop using that excuse.

Actually, the end of Chinese New Year, known as the Lantern Festival, fell on the 24th of February this year. Businesses in China shut down for the totality of the New Year celebrations. However, New Year vacations aren't set in stone so they might close early, start back up late, or even both.

As far as workers go, a good portion of them are migrant. When CNY hits they may travel hundreds of miles back to their home village, and then not bother to return to work afterwards. The businesses they worked for could be starting back up with 50% +/- of their workforce, so they're trying to do production shorthanded and in hiring mode.

Added to all of this, shipping inspections for larger orders get picky for some reason right after the holiday and it all combines to make supplies just plain slow to arrive right now.

 

[DancingHeretik]

But, I have noticed that I'm starting to get email notices for some of the things that had been out of stock. They're just starting to get stocked back up.

In a couple of weeks, we'll forget all about the shortages. Until next year.

 

[cmknight]

The Chinese New Year Holiday is only a week long, now. Businesses re-open on the 5th day after the New Year. Schools, for the most part are closed for the full two-week period, as are a lot of factories (due to the travel of migrant workers, as Stormfinch stated). It used to be the whole two weeks, but it was too much of a strain on the transportation industry. As well, people were starting to complain to the government that it was getting too difficult to try and stock up on 15 days worth of supplies. It ain't easy trying to stuff 15 days worth of food into a beer fridge sized refridgerator. Especially for a family of four, or if your grandparents are there, too.

 

[d3p]

me too suggest to everyone who came across big road blocks because products OOS etc to mark up chinese new year in their calendars upcoming years so they can make sure they have decent stock and not get the same problem again