Purple-Days availability

[Hennessy1414]

wow spyder look at you prance around....is this your welcome back? sure seems like the good ol' spyder I remember

Some of my friends are attempting to get a PD...all I told em was good luck because you wont be seeing sunlight for 2-3 days when you know they 'might' go on sale. oh well....guess people should have found FC months ago

 

[nobilo]

Four PD's now total through ebay: three sold....one was buy it now for 250 I think. The other two went for 255 and 248.50 in the auction. There is still a used one one there right now with a buy it now of $240. It seems the secondary market is starting to establish a price.....gotta love capitalism. Sorry Tom, I know this isn't what you intended. Voiding the warranty on an indestructible vape doesn't seem to be a deterrent. Perhaps another solution will emerge at some point...or the supply will catch up with demand.

 

[hub]

And another was listed immediately by jimvanmar after he sold a unit tonight. He must be quick on the vapenow refresh.

 

[Hennessy1414]

or he must have bought 50 units on that first vapenow run

 

[Purple-Days]

Indestructible? Nobody at Purple-Days says that.

Matter of fact most problems crop up in the first 72 hours, after that they seem to run with no problems. But several have developed cracks in the first hours of operation. You don't hear about this because we have a good reputation for service. You buy one on Flea-Bay and it cracks, well you bought a 'pig in a poke'. You buy one one Flea-Bay and the center pin on the power jack fails, you can take it to the seller for repair. You buy one on Flea-Bay and have any questions, go ask them, not me.

As to the selling price and then another being available right away from the same guy. Uhh, anybody want to stand up for the scalper? Go ahead, stand up, tell us he just needed to sell his used vape so he could get that operation for grandma.

And did those units sell? Or did the fellow bid his own auction. See how much the last one went for, you better buy now... Scum.

Sure there are fools. Sure they have money. You know the saying.

E-Bay is like a Flea market, or Pawn Shop. While you might get a deal, or find that one of a kind antique (freshly antiqued out back with a hammer), you better kick the tires real good before you leave. It's called an 'outta sight' warranty. Once you are outta sight, you have no warranty.

Buy that 'Sony' NIB at the Pawn Shop. Then a few days later when she quits go down to Circuit City for warranty repair. "But it was "new". It had tape on the box. The guy said it was 'new'...

Yeah, stand up for the scalper and be counted.

 

[Pitzpon]

But several have developed cracks in the first hours of operation.

i can confirm that i got a unit that cracked during the first 1-3 days of being plugged 24/7 (too bad, that one was a really beautiful PD).
i didn't mention it because about 5 minutes after i emailed Tom & Pammy, i got a very personal reply and the issue was resolved in about 10 minutes and mail waiting time, said it before, its the best customer service i ever encountered ...

That's why you buy direct from Purple Days and not from the eBay scalpers,
if you think about it, these guys created a PD shortage and are now using it to make a profit on the rest of us...
they fuck you with buying all the units, and then they fuck you again with the price !!!
lets fuck them this time ... i would like to see what that guy would do when hes stuck with 5 purple days he cant sell.

 

[max]

That's why you buy direct from Purple Days

Only if you're outside North America. Otherwise, it's Vapenow. Interesting-the PD is the only vape that sells at a higher price on eBay. With other vapes, you can at least save a few bucks vs. buying from the same seller on his own vape dealer site.

if you think about it, these guys created a PD shortage and are now using it to make a profit on the rest of us...

Actually, demand exceeded supply months before the first PD showed up on eBay.

 

[The_Algebraist]

Fucking scalpers. Damn.

In order to fight back, some people enjoy creating a bubkus e bay account and place a stupid high bid on an item so that they win the item once the auction ends. The buyer sends an invoice to the winner of the auction but all they hear are crickets chirping sweetly back into their computer. They end up having to file a complaint with ebay, relist item etc only to have some other fun-luvin' scalper hater throw down a different stupid high bid with a newly created ebay account. Alls about e bay can do is ban the non-payer but who cares since it's a toss away account, right?

A cross-country coordinated effort like this would throw up all kinds of isp addresses making it all so confusing for the folks at ebay, no?

If anyone is up for fucking with jimvanmar or other scalpers you should keep it off of these boards as jimvanmar is probably a registered user on fuck combustion. fuck you jimvanmar. fuck combustion will getcha!!! But not me though, some other guy.

 

[spyder]

or he must have bought 50 units on that first vapenow run

There are programs out there that would lock out the page from any other IPs and empty the inventory and then unlock it...

whether you buy all 50 at once or 1 at a time... 50 times

if someone wants them.... nothing you can do to stop it.....


They use a similar program to get late release concert tickets off of ticketmaster (as they don't release all of them at once)... pings the piss out the server till it gets the hit.... the time it takes one to refresh the page...this program has already hit it 100 - 200X

ticket brokers use them all the time instead of paying folks to stand in line

 

[Pitzpon]

Otherwise, it's Vapenow.

well, yes, you get my point, never mind what i buy i always want the warranty, in this case it even cheaper ...

Actually, demand exceeded supply months before the first PD showed up on eBay.

true, but buying and stocking up causes even a bigger shortage, sure the pd is in grate demand but this scalping thing is making things worst for the regular people just wanting to buy a pd.

 

[Beezleb]

Perhaps people should blame some of the incessant whiners that have helped create the issues. People expect scalpers to stop doing their thing but in truth if some people here respected Tom's wishes and request to not ask availability questions and if their was strong moderation on the subject than the issue probably would not exist so much but in truth, are people making too much out of it?

Really, I see one vaporizer and it has no bids. I dont know much about ebay or scalpers or the ins and outs of how they do their thing but it doesnt look like a very successful enterprise.

I would find it hard to believe it is professional scalper but someone or someone who was just riding the purple days hype and taking advantage of a demand bottle point which we allowed to be broadcast and discussed too far.

Everyone who commented unnecessarily are in part at fault, those who did not maintain strong moderation are in part at fault, those of us who played in the drama are in part at fault. At the end of the day it is just something that happens and its not the end of the world.

This whole availability thread, while meant well is not really doing Tom a service but then again, Tom takes risk by speaking and discussing his business, knowledge and genuine efforts to help people and as such it makes him visible and that can have both positive and negative aspects. This is unfortunately one of the negative points.

The question is what to do and how far is too far or is it all good and not really a big deal in the large scope of things?

Probably not winning good forum guy points for this but its my view and what I got to say on the subject.

 

[Purple-Days]

Yes, Spyder, I realized / thought this was possible when I heard of the 2000 refreshes from a single user. No, you can't do much in the 'conventional sense' against an attack like that. But...

Good points, Beezleb.

 

[max]

This whole availability thread, while meant well is not really doing Tom a service

The thread was started so I'd have fewer posts to delete the content from on the PD thread, which I'd already started doing. It's up to Tom whether he wants to put in his here or not. Anyone could have started the thread in this section, since it was set up for anything anyone wants to post about. If you think the topic should be banned from the forum altogether, that's your opinion, but I think you overestimate its importance. IMO what's happened is what always happens with supply and demand, and if nothing at all had been said about it on this forum, it wouldn't have changed things in the slightest.

 

[spyder]

response to other thread


No axe to grind....

I just think it's silly and petty in regards to this whole ebay thing and warranty

I will say openly that I think it sucks that someone would do that... (buy a bunch for resale)

but to say that the warranty is null and void because some ahole buys a couple and sells them for a profit... if it sells for more than the starting price...cuz at $200... you are breaking even.

For the few that are out there... I think you maintain the good support to the product you made in hopes that you never have to service one of those forbidden units...cuz bottomline... everything took place that was suppose to... Tom made the profit he set for himself.... Vapenow made the profit they set for themself... the only issue is..now we are mad that someone else made few bucks. Perhaps someone sold a used unit for a loss because that had too... new owner has an issue and you gonna say SOL... bad business IMHO.... It's like BMW saying we will not service a car bought that is under warranty if it's not bought at a BMW dealer .... a warranty is a warranty is a warranty... support and stand by your product
a year ago you would have and were tickled purple that someone wanted and loved your vape...

 

[Pitzpon]

IMO what's happened is what always happens with supply and demand, and if nothing at all had been said about it on this forum, it wouldn't have changed things in the slightest.

Exactly ... if you can sell something for more then you bought it for then there will always be someone doing it.
the solution is always the same, take away the profit - raise the price or decrease demand / increase supply.

i don't think it will stop scalping completely but the with the warranty void when bought from scalpels, i think most will prefer waiting a little longer and getting their PD the legit way with its full warranty.

 

[Beezleb]

This whole availability thread, while meant well is not really doing Tom a service

The thread was started so I'd have fewer posts to delete the content from on the PD thread, which I'd already started doing. It's up to Tom whether he wants to put in his here or not. Anyone could have started the thread in this section, since it was set up for anything anyone wants to post about. If you think the topic should be banned from the forum altogether, that's your opinion, but I think you overestimate its importance. IMO what's happened is what always happens with supply and demand, and if nothing at all had been said about it on this forum, it wouldn't have changed things in the slightest.

I stand by my opinion but I need to clarify a bit, I meant the whole availability issue and not explicitedly the thread but it is part of my overall meaning in that the issue is overblown in my opinion and I am not the only one I am sure.

Everyone knows that mods are not paid and not professional moderators and dont have degrees in the ins and outs and whatnot of communication. It is common knowledge that the site is still getting its feet and its mods are still learning how to be mods and how to deal and manage different issues that come up as they will. I am not establishing blame, I am discussing factors which are wholly different.

I was not attacking your nor the thread, just stating my view on the issue as a whole. I should of worded "thread" with "issue" which was my overall meaning. You tried to remove the issue from the main PD thread but the issue is still largely a factor and I still see posts in the thread about availability in the main PD thread. Tom did give his 2cents, he agreed with my points but that is neither here nor there.

Realize, creating hype works to create momentum and an atmosphere and this is what FC has done to a degree. Good and bad comes from that. Perhaps deleting the post and taking a stronger position towards those who violate the rules. But that must be balanced and that is easier said than done. Grant it, it is not an easy thing for a mod, but then again, you chose to be a mod.

Said what I had to say, done with the drama.
Happy Vaping!

 

[nobilo]

Everyone bitching about the scalpers needs to understand this is just a function of economics......supply and demand. There are several things that could have been done to prevent this, and this whole situation was forecast by members of this forum before it ever started. These are new units being sold because of the poor distribution system that currently exists for North American consumers, combined with a shortage of supply.

In time the situation could get better......or it could get much worse. A waiting list where the seller has total control over who and how many units go to each address/credit card number/name would have prevented some of this. Perhaps a few units would have popped up on Ebay anyway.......but if you control who gets the product, and how many they can receive.....then you are working toward a solution. I mentioned the way brokers had ruined ticketmaster and concert attendance for the little guy weeks ago.....and was ridiculed. Same with my speculation on Ebay which was mocked and deleted from the PD thread. I am finding it somewhat humorous that the PD thread still is only on topic about half the time....nobody wants to discuss a PD because much of the new traffic on the board is only interested in how to obtain one.

Don't be surprised over the following weeks if nothing proactive is done to see a quarter or more of vapenow's quantities being resold. Folks that don't want the vaporizer will continue to buy them if they can turn fifty bucks a pop. Again, there are thousands of folks that make their living off buying and selling on Ebay. The crime isn't that it is happening.....it's that it was allowed to happen in the first place. Anybody with business sense saw this coming weeks ago. Furthermore, I still think Tom is doing a huge disservice to customers by voiding warranties on these new units. They are in the box and have never been used. Customers who got tired of being shut out over the last TWO MONTHS (1/6 of time PD has been in existence) may have resorted to whatever means necessary to get this coveted item. Is it the consumer's fault that the ordering/supply issue is so screwed up......no. Is Tom making less money off these units being sold on Ebay......no. Is vapenow making less money off these units....no. So who is hurt in the end......only the consumer. Somebody has apparently never heard the phrase "the customer is always right".

I've said it once and I'll say it again.......voiding the warranty only harms the consumer.....not the scalper. These are probably some of the same consumers that have been trying patiently to get this item for two months.....only to be told to sit around and refresh a screen for half their week. Way to go......you really got those scalpers now! (Insert sarcasm here) If a quarter to half of these units start showing up on Ebay, and Tom voids warranties for these units......there will eventually be several folks here and on other message boards talking about how they bought a new PD and it broke.......and even though there was supposed to be a three year warranty on the unit....they got zero service and have a defective device with no recourse. That should be good for both business and karma!

I will not be purchasing a unit off of Ebay, out of principle. I have also stopped checking vapenow as of last week's Wednesday letdown. My buddy who owns one has lent me his while he is abroad for a couple months, and I will be interested to see if the current situation has resolved by the time he gets back. You cannot continue to alienate customers in all the ways that have transpired over the last two months.....and expect them to still want your product enough to jump through forty seven hoops to get it.

 

[spyder]

AMEN!!! I couldn't said it better myself... 3 post up ^^^^^

 

[Beezleb]

Well said Nobilo. It is not any one factor but many factors and often what is done to rectify one factor creates other issues, some foreseeable and some not easily.

What do you think if any should FC do, if anything?

The whole issue reminds me of people anxious for the release of a video game modification and they keep asking the devs when is it going to be released. Generally they simply do not allow the question period...

On one hand the topic has been disruptive but then again this a forum about vaporizers and not the purple days. The purple days is just a category amongst many and people should have a place to discuss their issues about vaporizers on a wide basis otherwise we restrict vaporizer knowledge and information.

How and what to deal with is a question for Vtac and the mods really. What would help is some direction and clarification from Vtac and the powers that be on what is too far. By the existing community not sure on this it has in essence added salt to a wound by promoting people to take sides and form opinions when the only point of order should be the rules and then let opinions stand how they will.

I say this due to the sheer amount of defensive styled posts of people defending the views of others that was made on the availability subject in the main PD thread. While the issue for some is quite serious from my perspective it is sort of comical in seeing how we came to the issue in the first place, watching all the finger pointing and very few genuine discussions on the topic.

If people want to help, lets stop whining about it and discuss the issue from different perspectives and see where that goes. Otherwise we are serving nothing but creating drama and I thought this was about the vapor?

I feel nobilo brought up some good points about only hurting the consumer and the fact ebay is a part business. Think of it like sharks in the ocean, they are good measurement about the overall health and it is overall a good thing for the PD to be so coveted.

Lets actually discuss potential solutions. My god people, Tom is listening and that is rare for a person of Toms position, grants its him an Pam but you know what I mean, and is willing to even speak or care what we have to say. I say lets discuss peoples ideas and views and looking at the conflicting sides of the issue to better understand it before saying outright no. By saying outright no and essentially removing someones ideas and suggestions without discussion into the reasons is to limit our understanding. Theres much to learn, even when think we know it already. Looking at different perspectives and viewpoints can be very valuable and in so doing perhaps can we find some fruitful discussion on the issue.

Thats all I am saying.
Happy Vaping!

 

[ILoveRadiohead!]

I've said it once and I'll say it again.......voiding the warranty only harms the consumer.....not the scalper. These are probably some of the same consumers that have been trying patiently to get this item for two months.....only to be told to sit around and refresh a screen for half their week. Way to go......you really got those scalpers now! (Insert sarcasm here) If a quarter to half of these units start showing up on Ebay, and Tom voids warranties for these units......there will eventually be several folks here and on other message boards talking about how they bought a new PD and it broke.......and even though there was supposed to be a three year warranty on the unit....they got zero service and have a defective device with no recourse. That should be good for both business and karma!

There are plenty of companies who only offer warranties through an AUTHORIZED RESELLER Tom now states it clearly on his website that only purple-days.com and vapenow.com are the authorized sellers.

I bought a Denon reciever from a high-fi store last year. Now I could have bought it for much cheaper online but I bought it from the store that gave me the official warranty. PD consumers have a similar choice, either patiently wait till vapenow is in stock and get a unit with a warranty or impatiently buy a unit from ebay (spending a lot more money for being impatient) and get a unit that has no warranty.

It should be that plain and simple to understand.

 

[Purple-Days]

Let me clear something up. Nobody has had his warranty voided. The original purchaser has a warranty. It is valid. Used vapes, sold by the original purchaser are used vapes. I don't care how clean they are. You think the Pawn shop soesn't have some shrink wrap in the back? These are second hand items. That is USED. The second purchaser has no warranty right any more than buying a used toaster.

What I have tried to make clear is original purchasers have warranty rights. Those rights belong to that person only. They are not transferable. AllPurple-Days sold by anybody other than VapeNow or Purple-Days are second hand product, period. To advertise it as 'New In Box' on E-Bay I believe implies something. Something that is not true. And I am making it clear. I don't care how new it is, used is used, second hand is second hand.

Scalpers are given that name for a reason. They have a right to exist, you have a right to defend them. I have a right to not warrant second hand equipment. You buy it, your choice.

Beezleb, I said good points, not 100% with you, on all of them, but they are well thought out and well presented. That makes them good points. It is comical isn't it? :/

 

[Madcap Laughed]

I wanted a purple days, but since it wasn't available, and i couldn't afford to wait to make my lifestyle change(my lungs were killing me, and the chinese box vape i got locally smelled so toxic it scared me), i ordered a myrtlezap. Hope it comes soon. And i feel confident in it because they have been making it for 8 years or so. I'll post an update in the vaporizer section when it comes!

 

[lwien]

There are plenty of companies who only offer warranties through an AUTHORIZED RESELLER Tom now states it clearly on his website that only purple-days.com and vapenow.com are the authorized sellers.

I bought a Denon reciever from a high-fi store last year. Now I could have bought it for much cheaper online but I bought it from the store that gave me the official warranty. PD consumers have a similar choice, either patiently wait till vapenow is in stock and get a unit with a warranty or impatiently buy a unit from ebay (spending a lot more money for being impatient) and get a unit that has no warranty.

TOTALLY agree. In the retail world, there are a host of products that will ONLY be warranted IF they are purchased from an authorized dealer. This is a very common practice in the consumer electronics field.
Prior to the internet and Ebay, there was something called the "Grey Market", and to combat grey market pricing, warranties were used as leverage. Very common.

The problem though, is that it did not eliminate the grey marketeers because there will always be those that want the product regardless of the warranty situation. It helped, but it didn't stop the process.

There's really only 3 ways to stop this:
Increase production.
Decrease demand.
Control distribution.

Increasing production is NOT on Toms table, so that is not an option.

But you can decrease demand a bit AND control distribution. You can control distribution by creating a waiting list, as was suggested earlier, and then cross referencing the information that was input against an historical data base and null and void those sales with the same shipping address, credit card number, email address, etc, etc etc.

Now this adds a whole other level of complexity to the sales and shipping processes, so to defray the costs of adding support needed to accomplish this, raise the price on the PD to 250, which would also take a bit of pressure off of the demand. You may have to bring this back in-house to accomplish this but with the added admin support, it should help to relieve some of the in-house pressure that you experienced previously, unless of course, VapeNow can accomplish this while still being able to maintain a decent profit margin.

This way Tom, YOU are controlling the process rather than the other way around......or, just continue with the way it is and see how it all plays out.

Thoughts?

 

[Purple-Days]

I'm glad to hear it, Madcap Laughed. We used an original Azap for quite a while. I'm sure you will like it. The myrtlewood comes from right up the road from us (or did). I used to select Rick's myrtlewood for him. Dave, my buddy, saws big slabs on his bandmill. Very neat wood usually.

You will have to start an Aromazap review thread. There isn't one. I'm one of the few here to try one, but I'm in no position to write a review.

 

[Madcap Laughed]

you did worry me a bit about the brass tubings and lead in the zaps. but the purple days wasn't available and i don't know when it would be, and the aromazap people seem respectable and nice, so i had to go with the other! if my girl likes it though, i'll want to get her one for her house to encourage her not to smoke anymore, hopefully it can be a purple days so they can be compared!

hehe, and i thought it was kind of funny that you didnt offer a myrtlezap purple days, even though you came up with that idea! but then, you didnt use their butterfly diffuser either.