Former E-Cig user, coming back to E-Cigging... and woah, wtf's with the pricing!? oO

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meldee

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The shopping cart vendors that would I found ridged and inflexible.

I design websites on a freelance basis (been doing so for over a decade), and currently work in fortune 500 eCommerce (I've been in eCommerce for 7 years). Magento is the best and most affordable shopping cart system I've found (their Community Edition is free and open source), and I've seen a lot of e-juice vendors use them. Even their free platform is pretty flexible and robust. If you can find someone who is familiar with the platform, you can get an ecommerce site up and running pretty quickly and for not very much money.

As far as payment processors, I don't have much knowledge. But there are plenty of ecig sites out there, and they seem to have it down. :)
 

roxics

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I design websites on a freelance basis (been doing so for over a decade), and currently work in fortune 500 eCommerce (I've been in eCommerce for 7 years). Magento is the best and most affordable shopping cart system I've found (their Community Edition is free and open source), and I've seen a lot of e-juice vendors use them. Even their free platform is pretty flexible and robust. If you can find someone who is familiar with the platform, you can get an ecommerce site up and running pretty quickly and for not very much money.

As far as payment processors, I don't have much knowledge. But there are plenty of ecig sites out there, and they seem to have it down. :)

Yeah I have set up a site with magento before. I wasn't too thrilled with it. My problem with those systems is how they tend to force a design on you. What I was really looking for was something akin to paypal buttons that could be put into a site. My idea was to build a full page for each juice. Different theme and layout for each page with big images. Kind of like Apple.com.
But Magento, Volution, Big commerce and all of those tend to use the same structured design. Tiny image areas with a bunch of other crap all over the place. Very ridged. nothing like just building a page in HTML and CSS. Mals e-commerce was the closest I could find. But they are just a shopping cart system, you still need to find a credit card processor separately. Where'as the others will offer you their own if you like.

I didn't just want to sell juice, I wanted to really make the whole experience classy and easy to use. I just wasn't satisfied with what I found. Around the same time I began hearing about legislation to ban tobacco sales online (including anything with nicotine) and that freaked me out a bit. So I backed off from the idea of selling.
 
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@Motoman101: Thanks... in most anything else, over time, prices drop though. :p

@Jermania: 100% agreed... from what I've been looking at, I'd like to try and keep the price-point per mL around $0.50-$0.75... most sites/places I'm seeing pretty much average typically $1.00-$2.50/mL or more, which seems insane to me. I fully understand the cost of staying in operation, and even perhaps prices maybe going up (though, in anything trade-related, overtime prices typically DROP)... but these are *not* the same prices that were around 8 months to a year and a half ago or so. :/
 
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@roxics: yeah, I can understand the cost of running a business... used to run my one one-man IT/Tech/Support company that covered most of New England and then some... was around the clock, had its overhead expenses and all that, and eventually got dun out due to out-sourcing... but yeah, costs are there. Guess I miss even a year ago when there were e-cig sites run by one or two people, many even were regular posters on this forum and gave people deals and such... like I said, I think I recall one was eSmokeyShack, which I think has gone under. :(

@moondaddy: nice, think I'll check that out. I'm also learning as I go; haven't looked at Vapor Station yet, but I'm hoping they're using PG. Back when I used to vape, VG wasn't really anything that jumped off the radar or the widely used, but from what I'm understanding it's pretty much a 50/50 existence now, and VG seems to be more for plume-effects as far as exhaling goes and tends to dull the flavor out... but as one video said, there's also that baseline of one taste/preference to another. Even heard/read about a hybrid PG/VG blend... which I suppose could be okay, as long as it has enough base, throat hit, and flavor to replicate a pack of Marlboro Special Blends... otherwise the e-cig won't help me as much as I'd hope to quit smoking, lol.

Before looking at the Ego-T (and now various other recommended models), I was thinking of getting an e-pipe, the DSE601 I believe it was. Almost went ahead and got it, until I came to learn of two things, something about the vacuum valve getting easily clogged up, and the atomizer when it needs replacing costing almost the same price as the full DSE601 pack all over again. :/
 

Grunj

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You might want to check out some of the specials going on being as price is a major factor for you. Such as Apollo's V-tube having a 30% off with the code vtube30, making the kit about $53, unless you get the ss or the chrome models.

While not a sample pack Vape Dudes gives out 15 bottles of juice every day using the code fbfree, if they are out today try again tomorrow. Took me 2 tries but it was more than worth it, they then have a one time per customer 40% off on a juice order no matter the size.

Thanks for the tips, Nancy! I used a DSE-901b a few years back and ended up switching back to analogs, but have been considering coming back to vaping. After checking those links and doing some further research, I picked up a V-Tube and a free bottle of juice. The discount codes were much appreciated. :D
 

hairball

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NancyR

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Thanks for the tips, Nancy! I used a DSE-901b a few years back and ended up switching back to analogs, but have been considering coming back to vaping. After checking those links and doing some further research, I picked up a V-Tube and a free bottle of juice. The discount codes were much appreciated. :D

You are very welcome. There are a lot of good vendors out there, and through this forum we can help each other out with things like this.
 
Okay, after doing a ton of research (though, still researching where and when I can), I really am thinking the eGo-T is my best bet, and I'll explain why. Bare with me, this post may be a tad winded, and hopefully people can correct me on anything I may be wrong about. Before I originally started vaping about a year or more ago with my original Joye 510 (not T, standard 510), I used to smoke about a pack, maybe a bit more, per day. Once I started using the 510, I was able to go to full vaping without any... analogs (I think I recall that was the name given to standard burn-cigarettes?). I was in heaven vaping, regardless of the cotton-burning issues, and even having to mod the little tiny plastic cartridges/mouthpieces, etc. Once that burnt out, I went back to regular cigarettes as I didn't have the money to buy a whole new setup; (I will add in here, along the way of using the 510, there was maintenance as I did have to replace a few atomizers, get some new cartridges, replace batteries, etc). What I found when I went back to regular cigarettes, is that vaping really does slowly help you stop smoking regular cigarettes, as I'm now a "casual smoker" that smokes 1-3 cigarettes per day, now note that, that's 1-3 "cigarettes" not "packs". I don't inhale hard, or hotbox, or anything of the sort, I just casually smoke now... so I feel like I'm on the brink of kicking burn-tobacco smoking completely, I just need the right system.

Now, from what I've found, I think the reason the eGo-T is a good idea for me, is from what I've researched and found, most leaking issues (though, they're bound to occur with anything... I used to have flooding even with my 510), and flooding of the atomizer issues, come from dragging too hard or too long on the e-cig. Since I'm a casual smoker now, that only would probably need a hit here or there, the eGo-T might be perfect for me, as I'm not really looking to sit for long sessions just toking the bejesus out of the e-cig or anything, with gentle draws for the hit to satisfy the nicotine craving that may arise.

My only one concern, and I think I might logically have it figured out, though assuming, and please somebody correct me if I'm wrong, is evaporation. I recall with my 510, with the cotton-stuff system in the cartridge, what really stunk, was if the e-cig sat for awhile, the juice would dry up, and you'd be pretty much losing what you paid for, (kind of like with a zippo lighter that sits for too long without being used and the butane dries out inside of it). I'm wondering/thinking with the tank-system, without the use of cotton, there's not as much evaporation or drying up of juice I'm hoping? Can anybody confirm this for me please? :)

I'm looking at round abouts of spending about $50 or so for an eGo-T starter kit, and am hoping to get a juice pack of varied flavors hopefully for no more than $15-$25. I would like to keep the whole thing overall, as I don't have a ton of money to dump into this right now, to remain at most hopefully around $65-$70, and might go up to $75 (if I have to go $25 on a sampler juice pack), as long as the S&H isn't too insane.
 
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Screwbag

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Welcome Steve!
The ego kits are a great way to get back into the swing of things. My only advice on them is to go for the USB pass thru battery. Makes it easy to keep charged on the go, like in the car etc...

Depending on price and such, consider the ego-c or maybe upgrade to that after a while. While basically the same, it's a smaller atomizer piece to replace, and it seems to vape a bit better, IMHO. And you have the 510 connection with all the egos so you can always try other tanks, cartomizers etc, without buying whole new kits all the time.
 
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Kay1959

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Whether you have a cartomizer or a cartridge, if you keep it wet, it will not dry out. If you end up using cartomizers, put the condoms on them when not in use. If using cartridges, put the condom on those. Just remember to take the condom off before you try to vape. I don't know how many times, back when I was using cartomizers, I'd forget to take the condom off before trying to take a drag.:oops:

Edited to add: Since you are going to a brick and mortar, you'll probably be able to sample some juice while your there. That will be a tremendous help as far as buying juices that you KNOW you'll like.
 
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@NancyR: Thanx for the advice, I may do that just in case.

@Screwbag: Indeed, the starter kit I'm looking at has two charger/adapters, sounds like one of them may be USB pass thru, not positive from the description, it says:
"1 - AC to USB Adapter
1 - USB eGo-T Battery Charger (do not use with a 510 battery or it will burn it out)"

Well, think I found my starter juice selection, thanks in part to Aurea's spreadsheet, that thing ROCKS... and has helped SO much, thank you tons! Gonna start with: 5 Pack of 10ml Bottles - Smoke Anywhere For Penny's, LLC Store
^ I figure that'll start me with 5 flavors, 10mL each, 50mL total for $18. Hopefully I can find one or two of the flavors to REALLY stand out and perhaps eventually get bigger bottles of said flavors.

I'm going to do a bit more research on starter kits, but I think I may be about sold on the DragonflyEcigs ego-T starter kit with everything it adds (http://www.dragonflyecigs.com/store/joyetech-joye-egot-1000-type-starter-p-257.html); but trust me, if I can find a kit with the same contents for less, that's genuine Joye, I'll probably hop on it; so next step is to peruse for the best buy in the kit category, hehe. ;)
 

Kay1959

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aurea

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Steven, I just have to make a suggestion I personally bought the eGo-T starter kit... and replaced it 1 1/2 weeks later. That thing was like trying to suck start a Harley. Not to mention all of the problems others have already posted. To be blunt I was happier with my KR808 starter kit than I was with the eGo-T. I highly recommend an eGo Twist. Then you can just buy the charger (as they aren't available in kits yet). All said and done it should be about $30 - $40 bucks depending on the vendor. You will want to add another eGo batt when you have the funds available but I promise you the eGo-T was a total waste of money.
 
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