Grey Market Survival Guide
Start here
- What this guide covers and how to use it
- Scope and boundaries: no dosing advice, sourcing on demand, or vendor rankings
- How to contribute corrections, evidence, and experiences
This post is the index. Each topic gets its own thread, linked below, and that is where questions and discussion go. Topics without a link are not written yet.
1. Vendors, reputation and scams
- How the grey market actually works: manufacturers, vendors, resellers, and intermediaries
- What's the best vendor? History, consistency, transparency, and track record → What is the best vendor (for you)?
- Understanding the vendor's presentation: assume what you see is designed that way for a reason
- Signs of good vendors: organisation, reship or refund policies for lost parcels, and quality guarantees (mass, purity, endotoxins)
- Known scam patterns: exit scams, impersonation, cloned storefronts, pressure tactics, and unexpected payment requests
- Talk to the real vendor: verify contact details, changed accounts, payment recipients, and identities
- Red flags
2. Payment, crypto and exit scams
- Common payment methods: protection, privacy, acceptance, and reversibility
- What each method reveals about you and to whom
- Crypto basics and avoiding address, network, and impersonation mistakes
- What records to keep before and after payment
- Group buys: organiser accountability, transparency, and common failure points
- Exit scams: warning signs and what options remain after payment
3. Lab testing and quality verification
- Reading test results: identity, purity, quantity, contamination, and endotoxins
- What a certificate of analysis (COA) does and does not prove
- HPLC and mass spectrometry in plain language
- Batch numbers, dates, sample provenance, and chain of custody
- Vendor-supplied versus independent testing
- Independent testing: where to test, expected costs, and how to submit a sample
- How to share results so others can assess them
Discussion: How to find your approach to lab testing?
4. Shipping, customs and delivery
- How long does it take?
- Customs rules depend on destination and product
- Making sense of tracking information
- Lost parcels, reship policies, and refunds
- Inspecting a delivery: packaging, seals, labels, quantity, and batch numbers
- Documenting damage or discrepancies before contacting the vendor
5. Handling and storage
5.1 Sterility 101
Why a vial that is punctured again and again needs sterile technique, and how to work: workspace, stopper, syringes and needles, and when a vial goes in the bin.
→ Sterility 101: Sterile Handling of Vials
5.2 Reconstitution: BAC water and how to reconstitute
What bacteriostatic water is, the alternatives, how long it really lasts, why vendor "BAC water" is a gamble, and how to dissolve a peptide without damaging it.
→ Reconstitution 101: BAC Water and How to Reconstitute
5.3 Making your own BAC water
Sterile water plus pharma-grade benzyl alcohol: the maths behind 0.9 %, step by step, and where to buy in Europe.
→ Making Your Own Bacteriostatic Water
5.4 Long-term storage and freezing
5.5 Storing reconstituted products
5.6 Expected degradation and stability