Posting this as a warning rather than a discussion, and I will edit the post if any of it turns out to be wrong.
Eight months with one supplier, then a change in how they communicate that I noticed before I noticed anything about the product.
A caveat about community reputation: it is a lagging indicator. Reports arrive weeks after orders, so a supplier can look excellent for a month after quality has already changed.
What to check: 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.
If your experience contradicts this, say so in the thread — I would rather be corrected here than have people act on a warning that does not hold.
VendorMark said:Eight months with one supplier, then a change in how they communicate that I noticed before I noticed anything about the product.
That is correct as far as it goes, and here is where it stops going. The pattern that distinguishes a bad batch from an exit is behaviour rather than product. A bad batch comes with communication, a reshipment offer and a batch number. An exit comes with slower replies, pressure toward less reversible payment methods, sudden discounting, and the same reassurance repeated without any new information. The product tells you less than the correspondence does.
VendorMark said:Eight months with one supplier, then a change in how they communicate that I noticed before I noticed anything about the product.
I disagree that testing history is decisive. It tells you what a supplier did when they were being watched. Continuity of behaviour under stress — a late shipment, a failed test, a complaint — is more predictive than any run of good results.
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View ResultsShort answer first, then the reasoning. 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.
mike_nyc said:The pattern that distinguishes a bad batch from an exit is behaviour rather than product.
Mine went the same way, slower. The detail I would add is minor and it is already implied above.