[Local] Industry [is a] Scam

I hope this comment isn’t going to trigger a muffin pooping festival but I have come to the conclusion that the vaping industry is a huge scam with few exceptions (at least where I live). When I became addicted to vaping, after shelling out much $$$ I immediately looked at making my own gear. Thanks to you kind, sharing folks on this forum I was up and running in no time. Since then I am making my own juices and coils at a fraction of the retail cost. and I mean that literally. For example, for the price I first paid for a pair of Claptons, I bought enough pre-wrapped wire to keep me in coils for a year or more, and it really isn’t at all difficult. I’ve pretty much started to master the juice making and as an example, I have a liter of both VG and PG in my fridge that cost me 40% of the price of ONE bottle of store-bought juice. I have located a store whose flavour concentrates are both good and reasonably priced. Even with mods, when you take the trouble to shop around, there’s a huge saving. The Voopoo I bought at a considerable outlay, I found for half the the price at another store.

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Yep the mark-up is high. And then i start thinking about the ever higher wattages and quadrule-octa hive-triplestapled-clapton coils----> and the amount of juice you go trough in a day. Then that shit isn’t funny anymore and in my opinion has only little left to do with quitting smoking or getting good flavor.

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A scam is perhaps a big word, but yes, e-liquid does cost a lot more money when you buy it in a shop, but there are a lot of things you have to take into account.
DIY e-liquid is something you make at your coffee table, commercial e-liquid has to be made in clean rooms. They have to invest a lot in research and development and come up with original ideas. They have to market it, send out samples to lots of reviewers. They have to mass produce these products, let it steep for a while, store it and risk that a lot of a batch doesn’t get used because there’s no demand for it. Every juice comes in a new bottle with a pretty label and in a box with leaflets with all legal information. Those companies have to employ lawyers to deal with all the different regulations across the globe and get it shipped to all those different sales points etc etc.
So compared with your low-budget DIY liquids where you can re-use your bottles, don’t have to care about labels and leaflets and even more packaging, distribution and so on, it’s quite a different business.

When it comes to coils, there’s a big difference between the handmade coils that are pretty expensive because of the time that goes into it, or the automated industry coils (like e.g. demon killer) where you can often find disgusting stuff on the coils from all the machining.

I find you usually get what you pay for and if you want quality, they’re not going to give it away for free. Vaping made me quit smoking, so I already save money (in hospital bills) and doing stuff DIY doesn’t necessarily make things much cheaper. I tend to buy a lot more, I test a lot more (not always successful) with liquids, coils, wicking and so on.

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i think people forget the cost of running a business , payroll , rent , advertising , insurance, cost of goods on a high volume , advertising , labels , the clean room itself is something most of us couldnt afford or had the facility , there are many other cost factors that increase the cost of ejuice and mods , most BnM stores have a 50percent margin which isnt absurd , but from the top ( manufacturing ) it all cost more then many DIYers think about , sure for us its cheap to make juice but dont think for a minute that if you tried to create a line to be sold retail ( legally ) that the cost wouldnt go way up

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Sorry, but this dog won’t hunt. These folks are buying their liquids and containers in bulk at a fraction of the cost that we. the public are paying. I clean my gear everytime I make a liquid. Mass production is always cheaper than the way we do it at home. You think I don’t pay cash money for my bottles? The only real difference is that they order a fancy label which also is bought in bulk.
As far as coils go, I bought the right equipment, flush cutters, ceramic tweezers, pre-rolled SS Clapton wire and quite frankly, wrapping 6 turns around a 3mm mandrel then strumming and squeezing out hot spots is not rocket science and to date the coils I’ve made are at least as good as the coils I’ve bought. Now maybe vape gear is substantially cheaper in the USA but where I live, we get screwed just about every time we walk into a shop.

Well if you think it’s so easy to make big bucks in the industry, why don’t you give it a go?

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Are you always sarcastic and rude when folks disagree with you?

Not at all, I wish you all the success in the world with it. If you can make it in this industry, you have my blessings.

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Who mentioned going commercial?

Something else to consider is convenience. Few people care to spend their time making coils or mixing their own juice. I personally love it and can’t comprehend why my friends don’t. They could save so much money! But then, when I’m spending a Saturday making fused Claptons, cleaning bottles, mixing juice etc. (things I enjoy… I’m not complaining.) they’re out doing things they enjoy. I hear what your saying but even if I purchased all my vape needs from a B&M, it still wouldn’t compare to what I spent on smokes. People have always been willing to pay more for convenience. I often pause to wipe the sweat from my forehead while working in my garden and wonder why people spend so much money on produce at the grocery store. Meh… They don’t know what they’re missing. :slight_smile:

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your thinking very small and only considering the cost of flaves and vg pg and nic keep in mind these guys also have to make 0 , 3 , 6 , 9 , 12 mg nic strengths but also keep in mind the amount of money spent on those bulk items where 10ml is costing us 1.99 a barrel is costing thousands multiplied by however many flaves thats cash up front and then you habe the equipment to dispense the lab grade mixers the SS mixing equipment … my industry holds a 40% margin am i ripping off the consumer @anon28032772 is right period

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I hear you, load and clear, but really I replaced the Claptons on my Alien this afternoon and made a new recipe, must have taken me all of 20 mins…

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so far from the truth smh

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Go and hand build a car, you won’t have time to shake your head…

for one we arent talking about a car , and two you arent considering everything you cant only think of the cost per ml or for the wire you buy come on your way smarter than that , think from a business stand point … the machines to fabricate , the assembly lines , salaries , taxes , regulations it all adds up weather its a car or ejuice cost of business has to go into consideration

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And you only had one customer’s needs to satisfy. Imagine 60 x 20 minutes. Not arguing against your logic, I agree with it for the most part. Just pointing out that a B&M has to be prepared to sell to ALL. Just because you stock a product doesn’t mean the product is guaranteed to sell. You don’t bother making coils and mixing juice that you haven’t already “sold to yourself”. i.e. The individual has no overhead. I’ve owned a retail business, it’s expensive.

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I have no objection to a business making a fair profit. And again I repeat that I don’t live in the States, but the store I used to support make their ejuice in-house, I know the girl who makes them and her method is no different to what I’m doing at home, and I’m sorry but I just cannot justify what would cost me 20 bucks being jacked up to 150 bucks.

thats the truth , people who have never owned or ran a business have no clue how things are and why a margin is needed

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Congratulations on mastering the juice making.

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your only talking about one person and comparing that to an industry , your right but does she have employees , a clean room , does she have inventory ?? it all adds up , to open the doors of a business every morning cost a lot of money

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