Went to my first B&M last Thursday. Wife and I picked out some juices and I checked out the hardware. Some things were higher priced, some were similar to what I've seen online. The juice prices for their brands were higher than what I find online (like Mt Baker) , name brands were similar in price (like Halo) but it was nice to try before you buy. Will continue to do both since I feel the B&M is a good shop. If it wasn't, I would stick to online.
Shop online or in store?
- Thread starter thernamatooba
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I'm just recently starting to circulate to my local shops, but based on general pricing, they're the showrooms, fer on-line sellors. I'll probably always buy my nicotine 'juice', locally, I've only tried a few as of now, hopefully two of shops I'll scope today have samples of some of the stuff I read being described. ("I have have it here in three days..." Well, so can I...and at my workplace...far cheaper.)
I'm fortunate to have a number of good B&M stores nearby. I especially like being able to purchase what I want and take it home rather than waiting on the mail. For the most part they do charge higher prices than on-line, but it's understandable with the overhead required to run a B&M.
One of my favorite places to shop is definitely VaporShark (there's a number of their stores within a reasonable drive from here).
One of my favorite places to shop is definitely VaporShark (there's a number of their stores within a reasonable drive from here).
I have a B & M store I went to a lot but recently had a problem with them. So I did a search & found this forum for advice & went to an online store to purchase an
ejuice that I think I would like. I'll find out next week when it comes in. If it all works out I will do my shopping online from now on unless otherwise.
ejuice that I think I would like. I'll find out next week when it comes in. If it all works out I will do my shopping online from now on unless otherwise.
Totally online, anymore. When I first started, I often bought juice from a shop near me, but now that I know that I really need to stick to 80%-85% PG, they don't have any juice that I want. I might sometimes stop in there to buy a driptip that I just don't want to wait for, but retail prices are just too high for me, for anything more significant than a driptip. I don't need their "expertise" (such as it may be -- or not!) when I have thousands of experts right here at my fingertips at ECF.
I don't really have a "favorite" site; I shop for bargains and sales, so whoever has the best price on any given thing usually gets my business. The only exception to that is if I'm buying some kinda expensive item (tank or mod) and there's something else I need that isn't quite so expensive; even if I know I can find that lesser thing for a lower price elsewhere, I will buy it along with whatever bigger thing I'm buying, to save shipping costs.
Andria
I even buy my clothes online, so it's websites or eBay for vaping needs for me.
Buy most of my stuff online, hardware from myvaporstore.com and 101vape.com, nic from myfreedomsmokes.com and DIY juice and rebuildable supplies from Amazon.
-Treeburner
-Treeburner
I keep coming back to this thread... lol. Anyhow.
This weekend my wife and I were out and about and decided to just jump in my local B&M (Deleted the name of the shop by request) which usually has a great selection of only slightly higher cost juice than online and I tend to visit as keeping local shops open is one of my kicks... My wife wanted a lanyard for her twist and I wanted to splurge and get some "premium juice" I buy from time to time. A gentleman walked in with a Kanger Subtank complaining that it suddenly started producing some very bad tasting juice. The guy behind the desk opened up his RBA and said that it was because of the wire or wicking as it looked sloppily built. I looked at it, even though it was not beautiful, it was still a functioning build. He stated that it was the build that the "other guy" made for him as the other guy was the owner of the shop I thought it would be a bad idea to bash him and stepped up. I informed both of them about the Kanger's mistake in using a type of plastic that would heat up and produce a bad taste. I told them that Kanger was replacing these free of charge, all that needed to be done was to contact the supplier and they will send it to the shop free of charge (this is confirmed by P Busardo's Youtube review).
I got a response that really upset me, to the point I walked to the back and spoke with the owner, which was "That is too much trouble". Egads people a 2 minute call to be able to replace a recalled product... the service industry is hurting more and more now.
This weekend my wife and I were out and about and decided to just jump in my local B&M (Deleted the name of the shop by request) which usually has a great selection of only slightly higher cost juice than online and I tend to visit as keeping local shops open is one of my kicks... My wife wanted a lanyard for her twist and I wanted to splurge and get some "premium juice" I buy from time to time. A gentleman walked in with a Kanger Subtank complaining that it suddenly started producing some very bad tasting juice. The guy behind the desk opened up his RBA and said that it was because of the wire or wicking as it looked sloppily built. I looked at it, even though it was not beautiful, it was still a functioning build. He stated that it was the build that the "other guy" made for him as the other guy was the owner of the shop I thought it would be a bad idea to bash him and stepped up. I informed both of them about the Kanger's mistake in using a type of plastic that would heat up and produce a bad taste. I told them that Kanger was replacing these free of charge, all that needed to be done was to contact the supplier and they will send it to the shop free of charge (this is confirmed by P Busardo's Youtube review).
I got a response that really upset me, to the point I walked to the back and spoke with the owner, which was "That is too much trouble". Egads people a 2 minute call to be able to replace a recalled product... the service industry is hurting more and more now.
My recent purchase was Sigelei 150 watt online for $90 shipped. B&M is selling it $169.99+tax. It makes me so hard to support them. Also a bottle of 30 ml ejuice is about $16 plus tax. DIY juice cost me less than $1, give or take.
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I agree with you about hardware prices; I understand "retail markup" but some take it to wild extremes.
With the ejuice, it's not at all surprising or really outrageous; I can buy a steak at the grocery store for about $5-$10, that would cost anywhere from $20-$30 in a restaurant, or perhaps even more. In a restaurant, you're basically paying for convenience, and perhaps the quality of the food is such that you yourself can't reproduce it at home. With pre-mixed ejuice, you're paying not just for the ingredients and the actual labor required to put them together, but also for the *skill* in putting them together in such a way that the juice is really outstanding. I'm tired of paying $9.95 for 15ml of Blueberry Muffin, when I can make my own strawberries and cream for less than half that price -- but I can't yet reproduce that Blueberry Muffin flavor, so I keep buying it.
Andria
there are many vape shops here. too many imo. most dont show there prices. i guess they want you to ask, so they can BS you into a sale.
I'm disabled and live in the middle of nowhere, so I buy everything but perishable groceries online. That said, the one time that I was in a town with a B&M and stopped in out of curiosity they completely ignored me (I'm about three times the age of anyone in there) and they had no equipment or flavors of liquid that were of any interest to me.
I was lucky enough to have found ECF before I bought anything, and to have gotten very good responses to the questions I asked about what would work for me. So, I saved a lot of money and got better advice than I would have had I gone off-line to shop.
I was lucky enough to have found ECF before I bought anything, and to have gotten very good responses to the questions I asked about what would work for me. So, I saved a lot of money and got better advice than I would have had I gone off-line to shop.
Exactly the same here; when I got fed up with the stupid drugstore cigalikes, I googled "e-cigarettes" and found this place, and changed my life. I might have been able to vape *something* if I hadn't found this place, but I'm sure I'd have paid too much for substandard products, so maybe not have been able to really quit smoking.
Andria
I'm an online kind of guy, mainly just because I'm so damn indecisive!
It's not my fault though there's just too many cool RDA's, mod's, juice's, etc. to buy out there!
It's not my fault though there's just too many cool RDA's, mod's, juice's, etc. to buy out there!
There's only two vape shops that I know of in my area, and from what I've seen of either of their catalogs, I've either progressed past what they offer, or am really not impressed with their prices. ($60 for an Eleaf iStick, which will probably be my next purchase for a battery? No, thank you. $20 for one Protank III mini? When I have eight of those that I got for around that price in total?) I understand markup, but this is ridiculous. And $20 for 30 mLs? When I can get 30 mLs from say East Coast Vape for like $12, or $15 from Maple Leaf Vapes?
Nah, I'll stick with online. I still buy a lot of my stuff from Canadian or US shops (I think the only thing I don't is tanks and cases), though.
Nah, I'll stick with online. I still buy a lot of my stuff from Canadian or US shops (I think the only thing I don't is tanks and cases), though.
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