So, I've ordered from Bull City Vapor, Ecigexpress, and also direct from Capella and TFA/TPA when I first started mixing. (Yes, I now know retailers offer better prices for what IMO was a lower quality product that wasn't as new or "fresh") There's usually product reviews for each flavor on other sites, but I haven't found a single one on the Gremlin DIY website.
I'm aware that you can check the generic copy-paste notes on ELR, or reference BCV or ECX for a review, but I find it a bit frustrating that Gremlin's site doesn't have a product review for any of the 30-40 flavorings I've looked at purchasing in the past couple days. As a result, I haven't ordered anything yet, but I do want to try them out. I would appreciate any reviews from Gremlin either via PM or comment here.
Before I got into DIY, I ordered primarily from a site that gave me $ credit for reviewing products (1$ per product), as well as $ credit for a proportional amount of $ I ordered (10%). I think Gremlin DIY could heavily benefit their site and increase their user base with a similar practice just for leaving reviews. I'm not going to page Gremlin's rep ATM, but someone else feel free if you think this is a good idea.
Ordering experience:
BCV pros- Great packaging, handy LDPE bottles with user friendly tips and caps. Very reasonable shipping time. (Ordered on a Saturday, showed up Wednesday)
BCV cons- Some of the flavorings were cloudy or excessively dark compared to ordering direct from the manufacturer. Flavor of some ingredients had deteriorated slightly compared to ordering direct from CAP or TFA. Also, they were "out of stock" on 20% of what I wanted to order.
ECX pros- Very speedy shipping. (Ordered Wednesday night late, showed up Saturday) Had everything in stock that I was looking for at 10mL, although most of them didn't have the 30mL option I was after.
ECX cons- 50% of their HDPE 10 mL bottle tips were completely stuck in the caps upon opening for the first time, and had to use a needle nose pliers to extract the tip from the cap. Also, there was very limited availability of 30 mL quantities despite 3x10mL being available for a higher price.
CAP direct pros- Free shipping on 120mL+ flavorings. Everything seemed fresh and clear in color. Prompt delivery.
CAP direct cons- Expensive even with free shipping. No free shipping on quantities smaller than 120mL.
TFA direct pros- Fresh flavorings. Prompt delivery.
TFA direct cons- Only available in 4 or 15 mL. Expensive. Come in glass vials with no dropper/dripper. (which can be fixed easily with the purchase of cheap pipettes) Some bottle caps had deteriorated leaving behind chunks of black plastic from the threads.
TLDR: Sorry this is lengthy, but there's decent info here. I'm also hoping to help Gremlin get some reviews on their website, so if you've purchased from them, please leave a review! I really think store credits help out a ton in getting customer reviews of products, thus increasing revenue.
Good morning,
I haven't had time to read through all the comments, so I may be repeating something. At least I hope I am, as I think this opinion would be shared by most people. I certainly CAN try to put in a reward system, so I can pay you for every review you put up and tell people how awesome every flavor is, but is that really what you want? I will gladly tell you that the Bacon flavor from Capella is the best flavor on the site, I use it for everything from adding spice to vaping to using it for my cup-o-noodles for lunch, a must have to every vape collection. Would this help sway you to buy Bacon flavor?
You buy a lot of flavor from BCV, and that's cool, but I'm confused as to what a review on the flavors you have been buying from another company would make a difference. The smart ass in me wants to post some reviews now "Tastes just like the stuff at BCV does." :) We take a gallon from TPA and re-bottle it into smaller bottles for resale. That's the best review I can say. "TPA tastes just like TPA".
So, in short, the flavors from company to company are the same. I don't expect many reviews on flavoring. If you come across a flavor that doesn't have a review, write one if you like. Reviews are just personal opinions.
In brief, I don't and won't pay for reviews. Sorry, but that's just promoting inaccurate untrue "Best Flavor Ever" statements that mean nothing. As for our company personally with shipping times, we try to ship within 24 to 48 hours (We still can't control how long it takes in transit. Once you have a tracking number, that's all we have too) and do our best to help all of you have a good experience.
Hope I didn't come across as being an ass, I didn't try to, it just comes out naturally first thing in the morning. :)
I think the point is that when shopping for flavours you first select your 'known' ones, then comes the indecision of the 'That might be good to try...' Ones. Which is why it is helpful to have reviews(star ratings) visible at the time of shopping, it helps encourage those impulse buys, converts 'maybe next time' into 'buy now'.
That is regardless of whether the info is available elsewhere, it needs to be to hand at time of potential purchase. So, in theory you could simply import the star ratings from ELR (or similar) and see if it increases sales. (Number of users/raters would be useful next to stars)
Your looking at the reviews the wrong way Mr. Gremlin , your viewpoint would be 100% correct for the people who are used to using and periodically restocking on their DIY flavorings .
What your missing is the extreme importance and value the "new to the game" DIY ers take in reading reviews .
If there were not numerous reviews on many flavoring sites that explained each individuals opinion on that flavor and how they used it i would of been at a complete loss when i started.
Those reviews were so incredibly helpful to me and i look for reviews even today before ordering a new flavor . If i don't see one and can't find any i don't buy that flavor .
They are extremely important especially for newbies just starting out and there are more and more of those every day.
No probs man, I still plan on ordering from Gremlin eventually. I also enjoy snarky comments no matter if I'm on the receiving or giving end. Sometimes it's nice to know if a fruit is earthy and tart or sweet and candy-like. Or if a cream is rich and thick rather than a greasy vanilla. Or if Nonna's Cake has f-ing lemon in it. Generally I disregard reviews claiming it to be good or best ever, because it isn't really the accurate description I'm looking for. Product descriptions help customers make educated decisions, otherwise we'd basically be wasting money on flavorings that we won't use, which I understand is OK for your pocket.
On a side note, you wouldn't really be "paying" us for a review, rather giving customers a reason to come back to your site for their next order rather than spending $50-$100 or more with your competitors. Also, thank you for maintaining a slightly lower price point and keeping things stocked that are on my "to order" list. It looks like this discussion was a success, and I thank everyone who contributed to the downvotes.
I still feel like I wasn't the friendliest host yesterday morning. I've had my coffee this morning so I'm much better adjusted. :) After reading through I do see now the value in what you were saying. I do have the auto emails throttled back as it's something that annoys me, but it's a check box that will email people after the purchase asking for them to log in and review the product they bought. I feel like it's unwanted spam, but I am willing to turn it back on if people want that... I have said in the past and I really mean it, "This is your store, I'm just keeping it stocked for you". so I take to heart ALL suggestions, this one included.
All I could think yesterday was strawberry tastes like strawberry. Now that I'm awake, I can see the value in the fact I really like TPA Strawberry (Ripe) but absolutely LOVE INW Shisha Strawberry for a vape recipe so yes, I admit the difference.
I hope a few read this thread and maybe leave a review or two on their favorite flavors. The last one left was from February.
Get a bulk account at TPA, it is free to everyone and the pricing on 4oz or more is very good.
Noted. Thanks.
Just be REAL sure that you like the flavor. I went a little nuts in the beginning and ordered all the flavors i was curious about in 4oz because of the price. I ended up with well over 100 4oz bottles of useless flavorings that i passed along to my nephews and others.
I'm lazy when it comes to leaving online reviews but I've placed around 10 orders with Gremlin DIY and have no complaints. They ship super fast and even set me a replacement order when one of my boxes went missing in the mail.
Also, the last time I ordered I just needed a single flavor and they included a sample of their Gremlin Crunch Berry concentrate with a note about my single bottle being lonely haha.
They have a review section on every page, but DIYers aren't always leaving reviews.
See the one review here: http://gremlindiy.com/apple-pie-tpa/
Two reviews here: http://gremlindiy.com/bronuts-by-enyawreklaw/
That's basically my gripe here. I haven't found a single review after combing through 30-40 flavors.
EDIT: I was hoping they eventually read this and incorporate some sort of product review rewards deal like I've seen on other vape gear/pre-made house juice sites. It's kind of a pain in the ass to have to refer to another page just to see what others think about a flavoring.
Why would you be pissed at Gremlin for that? That's up to the customers to go and leave a review.
I'd rather Gremlin keep low pricing than pay people to leave reviews and charge me more for the product!
I give you that. Their pricing is low, but I guess it comes at the expense of not having reviews. I really do think their site would benefit on profits by giving someone even 5 or 10 cents credit on a future order just to review a flavor. Most people don't even bother cashing it back in, but the ones that do are likely buying a LOT of product.
Man i had the complete opposite experience of what you had , BVC has the fastest shipping i ever experienced and not a single flavor has ever been anything but perfect .
They also fill all their bottles to the very tip top , something i notice and appreciate .
ECX for me has always been much slower with shipping times and numerous bottles have not been full. Prices are very good just like BVC and Gremlin , i agree Gremlins lack of reviews is disappointing .
why bother with reviews on a website? they're subject to the site's editing, and usually are posted by ignorant people. just use the flavor list on e-liquid-recipes.com or this subreddit.
I don't see many sites editing shitty reviews. I've read plenty of shitty reviews from where I shop online. As for ignorant people posting them, who has a better idea of the product? Someone who bought it, or you who is debating purchase? Also, anyone who has actually read ELR reviews knows it's 90 % copy and paste/single flavor preference %.
I'm pretty sure BCV does HDPE bottles just based off the feel. Correct me with a source if I'm wrong. It's either HDPE or PET. I can order Saturday and get it Monday. Great packaging, no problems with leaks (one in one hundred bottles, replaced free with picture proof no hassle)
Gremlin: great customer service (I once ordered something they ran short on due to somebody having a hot recipe and they emailed me right away asking if I'd like the flavor shipped when they got it with free shipping or a store credit [I'd like the option to refund which is mandated by law if they ship USPS and your payment has already been processed, but I buy from them frequently so I didn't care to ask]) and they doubled my store credit. Thanks guys. I can order Saturday and get it Wednesday.
They use nice LDPE dripper bottles.
They regularly respond in /r/gremlindiy
They post recipes here.
The shipping is better, and shipping seems cheaper for small orders than ECX, and are better in speed to Colorado, and the packaging is always top notch.
Ecx: great selection but limited sizes. They had almost everything I wanted but I don't need 4oz lime tahiti cold press. BCV was better. If BCV didn't have it gremlin did. Their shipping was expensive compared to the others. Packaging was great. Shrink wrapped bottles. Nobody else did that. Otherwise meh. The INW selection on ECX is shit compared to others.
I'll do my best to review flavors individually on each website, especially gremlin.
didn't see why strawberry ripe was concidered good(was very muted and bland with out help from other strawberries) til i had re ordered some at gremlindiy and noticed a few other flavors where also of better quality than i had recieved from another site. going to assume they where stored better.
shipping to me on the west coast was fast even at the busy times i had ordered. order processing has actually taken the same amount of time a few times, about 2 days again this is higher volume sales event purchases.
prefer the bottles used, haven't had a bottle break or cap break thus far. this has been an issue i have had with another vender tho only 3 items. soft ldpe bottles are used , i have actually reused a few for mixing.
i obtain my nic from a separate vender so i don't need the one stop shopping.
everything here is subjective to me your results may turn out different. Currently i don't bother to order elsewhere since all my orders from here have been perfect for me.
flavor reviews on a vender site are pointless to me i always look it up elsewhere or know what i am buying before i go to buy(impulse purchases still happen usually cause i get that oh yeah i read about that one).
I forgot about these as well... there are vendor review links in the sidebar. (Isn't everything there? hehe)
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/3x9zgz/vendor_review_gremlin_diy/
Three is one for each of us I believe. I think the last one for us was left about 3 months ago, so a few new reviews for the vendors would be a good thing.
In regards to being out of stock on a flavor, that happens at every vendor. And if you wait sometimes even a day, it's back in stock
Ahh.. Timing.
I waited 48 hours before placing my order with BCV, despite the 6 flavors I was looking for still being out of stock. I ended up ordering a week later from ECX since they had those 6 flavors I wanted + others which got me to free shipping, meanwhile BCV was still out of stock on the 6 flavors I wanted after 4 days of waiting.
I even emailed them saying that I would wait longer for the shipment if they included the specified flavorings they were out of and added it to my bill. They didn't acknowledge the message but I got what I ordered quickly and everything was correct.