Price went up $50 this month with no warning - switching vendors — what worked for you?

FDA_TrackerJim said:

The pattern that distinguishes a bad batch from an exit is behaviour rather than product.

Filing a mild objection. Mild because I might be wrong; an objection because nobody has addressed the case that does not fit. The affordability discussion here usually stops at individual tactics. At list price this class is out of reach for most of the people who would benefit, and no amount of appeal strategy changes that — it is a pricing problem wearing a paperwork costume.

Adding the numbers, since they settle part of this. Red flags, in rough order of how much they should worry you: no verifiable address, no batch numbers, prices far under market, vendor-commissioned tests only, pressure toward irreversible payment, and shipping with no temperature control.

BenResearch_OR said:

The affordability discussion here usually stops at individual tactics.

Adding the part of the answer the thread has not reached. The useful checklist is about verifiability rather than presentation. Independent test results commissioned by buyers rather than by the seller, consistency across multiple batches over time rather than one flattering report, a physical address and a company registration that resolve, batch and lot numbers on the actual labelling, and a shipping practice that matches what the material needs. Everything a good-looking website provides is cheap to fake; none of the items above are.

Following on from TirzTom — and this may be the naive question:

What a vetting checklist should actually contain, as opposed to a list of things that are easy to fake?

Reporting back.

Update: approved on the third attempt after a peer-to-peer. Nothing about my case changed; only who was doing the talking.