How do you tell the legitimacy of COA’s?

[Randyfrog90]

Just what the title says. I’ve come across a few vendors that aren’t vetted by my usual group I do my research in. They usually have some COA’s but honestly it feels like they could just screenshot someone else’s for the same product and show it. Aside from sending something off and testing it myself, how do you know for sure what you are getting?

 

[indolent]

Exactly. Which is why vendor-provided CoAs should always be considered 100% worthless, and not worth the time considering. Same for CoAs from "customers" you don't know.

Rely on third-party group tests via carefully managed organizations, and then test your particular batch. Don't even consider vendors that don't maintain discipline for batches and batch numbers.

Consider reputable grope buy organisations... which are hard to find as a newer participant. They typically order custom batch runs, and do their own testing, often with randomly chosen volunteered customer samples

 

[Lear00]

Just what the title says. I’ve come across a few vendors that aren’t vetted by my usual group I do my research in. They usually have some COA’s but honestly it feels like they could just screenshot someone else’s for the same product and show it. Aside from sending something off and testing it myself, how do you know for sure what you are getting?

Good vendors don’t send you a screenshot, they link you to a COA hosted on Janoshik’s website.

 

[indolent]

Good vendors don’t send you a screenshot, they link you to a COA hosted on Janoshik’s website.

No. Good vendors don't provide CoAs, because good buyers know they might have provided Janoshik with a non-representative sample, or withheld links to bad results.

 

[Habibibi]

Just what the title says. I’ve come across a few vendors that aren’t vetted by my usual group I do my research in. They usually have some COA’s but honestly it feels like they could just screenshot someone else’s for the same product and show it. Aside from sending something off and testing it myself, how do you know for sure what you are getting?

Most good testing companies will have a way to verify the COA. For example, Janoshik uses a task number and unique key to verify all their COAs.

Now whether you're getting what's actually on the COA is another question. Generating your own COA is the best way to ensure that.

 

[staffn1]

At some point nothing is believable including testing group data because it all relies on batch number, cap color, etc.

 

[Lear00]

No. Good vendors don't provide CoAs, because good buyers know they might have provided Janoshik with a non-representative sample, or withheld links to bad results.

OP was concerned regarding screenshots stolen from another vendor being used instead of actually reflecting the vendor’s product. A COA hosted on the lab’s website is still a step in the right direction.

People should absolutely still test their own as you’ve said, but most of the ‘reliable’ vendors I’ve seen still provide their own COAs regardless. Unless you’ve got some extra god tier ones!

 

[Randyfrog90]

Good vendors don’t send you a screenshot, they link you to a COA hosted on Janoshik’s website.

This is great to know

 

[Randyfrog90]

OP was concerned regarding screenshots stolen from another vendor being used instead of actually reflecting the vendor’s product. A COA hosted on the lab’s website is still a step in the right direction.

People should absolutely still test their own as you’ve said, but most of the ‘reliable’ vendors I’ve seen still provide their own COAs regardless. Unless you’ve got some extra god tier ones!

I’m concerned in general because I’m newer and I have a hard time trusting anyone.

Let’s say a website has COAs posted to their site. Does it even matter? Even more so when the tests are from 10/25?

 

[Lear00]

I’m concerned in general because I’m newer and I have a hard time trusting anyone.

Let’s say a website has COAs posted to their site. Does it even matter? Even more so when the tests are from 10/25?

I think ‘having a hard time trust anyone’ is a good approach to have to be honest.

For me personally as someone who has only come onto grey in the past few months, I’d recommend reading widely on the forum reviews for vendors on this website, and then join the discord for some of the ones that seem widely used to chat to some people who use that product + see if they’ve done their own group tests in the past.

It’s easy for everyone to say ‘just test everything you use!1!’ when it actually isn’t that easy or cost effective to organise a test yourself, nor is it easy to find a group test that’s occurring at the same time and using the same batch you MIGHT get.

Unless you’re willing to wait a few months, at some point you have to just take the plunge on the vendor you’ve noted has had genuine good reviews on this website, has been around for a while, has potentially had some group tests in the past with previous batches and seem to have happy + returning customers on their discord/telegram.

 

[Rolltide61]

People read those things?

 

[Randyfrog90]

I think ‘having a hard time trust anyone’ is a good approach to have to be honest.

For me personally as someone who has only come onto grey in the past few months, I’d recommend reading widely on the forum reviews for vendors on this website, and then join the discord for some of the ones that seem widely used to chat to some people who use that product + see if they’ve done their own group tests in the past.

It’s easy for everyone to say ‘just test everything you use!1!’ when it actually isn’t that easy or cost effective to organise a test yourself, nor is it easy to find a group test that’s occurring at the same time and using the same batch you MIGHT get.

Unless you’re willing to wait a few months, at some point you have to just take the plunge on the vendor you’ve noted has had genuine good reviews on this website, has been around for a while, has potentially had some group tests in the past with previous batches and seem to have happy + returning customers on their discord/telegram.

Sending off your own peps to be tested not being cost effective is literally my dilemma. It’s so expensive. On top of that, I’ve said in another post but trying to find someone in the US i can order from who’s not always empty because of my first order running into customs issues. It’s just so tough to get started and feel like you’re not gonna have some problem one way or another.

 

[Gr33dyOctopus]

I think ‘having a hard time trust anyone’ is a good approach to have to be honest.

For me personally as someone who has only come onto grey in the past few months, I’d recommend reading widely on the forum reviews for vendors on this website, and then join the discord for some of the ones that seem widely used to chat to some people who use that product + see if they’ve done their own group tests in the past.

It’s easy for everyone to say ‘just test everything you use!1!’ when it actually isn’t that easy or cost effective to organise a test yourself, nor is it easy to find a group test that’s occurring at the same time and using the same batch you MIGHT get.

Unless you’re willing to wait a few months, at some point you have to just take the plunge on the vendor you’ve noted has had genuine good reviews on this website, has been around for a while, has potentially had some group tests in the past with previous batches and seem to have happy + returning customers on their discord/telegram.

I did this with ERP and absolutely loved them until i watched them shit the bed here and on telegram ( even thier own telegram has ERP hijinks ) and now i wont buy from them anymore.

Airborne Daddy would be all " Hey, how come your COA's are always 1000 years old motherfuckers?" And they never had shit to say, didnt bother me then, but as i move through this gray space more and more it bothers me now.

 

[staffn1]

Sending off your own peps to be tested not being cost effective is literally my dilemma. It’s so expensive. On top of that, I’ve said in another post but trying to find someone in the US i can order from who’s not always empty because of my first order running into customs issues. It’s just so tough to get started and feel like you’re not gonna have some problem one way or another.

Just because you send one vial from a kit to be tested doesn't tell you anything with confidence about the other 9 vials in the kit. If someone can't believe a COA posted on the testing sites website then you can't believe anything. There are even fake discords.....

 

[dancs]

I assume the worst in every foreign product I receive.

I filter them out to mitigate sterilization issue(s) and use another filter (acrodisc) to mitigate endotoxins. Yes, the 2 times I filter each product, I lose mg's, but rather than getting every vial from every kit I get (most of the time no one else is asking for testing or willing to pay even for groups), so I just hope for the best and pray nothing crazy happens. When the vendors provide recent COA's and the purity/compound amount is good, that's usually enough for me.... Unless, I hear cray cray like Uther's dangerous levels of endotoxins or ERP's lack of customer service, JEEP's sterility issues, etc...

 

[Randyfrog90]

People read those things?

I can barely read anyway so this applies double.

 

[jafarrr61020]

use another filter (acrodisc) to mitigate endotoxins

This is the first time I've heard of filtering endotoxins. I see a couple things searching Google for info but only the AI says anything about this working for peptides; could you point me to some resources on this? I'd love to be able to add an endo filter

 

[dancs]

This is the first time I've heard of filtering endotoxins. I see a couple things searching Google for info but only the AI says anything about this working for peptides; could you point me to some resources on this? I'd love to be able to add an endo filter

https://www.vwr.com/us/en/product/7605181/acrodisc-units-with-mustang-e-membrane-cytiva-formerly-pall-lab?r=1

It costs alot for the official ones, but you can find others on Amazon (50 pack for $250). They may not be as effective but considerably better than doing nothing and hoping for the best.

Keep in mind that even filtering them won't take out all or even most, but will definitely help in some capacity!

 

[jafarrr61020]

https://www.vwr.com/us/en/product/7605181/acrodisc-units-with-mustang-e-membrane-cytiva-formerly-pall-lab?r=1

It costs alot for the official ones, but you can find others on Amazon (50 pack for $250). They may not be as effective but considerably better than doing nothing and hoping for the best.

Keep in mind that even filtering them won't take out all or even most, but will definitely help in some capacity!

Fantastic, thanks! I'd love to test all my kits and am constantly combing for group tests these days, but COA+endo on everything paid alone is just unrealistic. This will be a great risk mitigator if I'm gonna pin anyway right

 

[Gt3294a]

Fantastic, thanks! I'd love to test all my kits and am constantly combing for group tests these days, but COA+endo on everything paid alone is just unrealistic. This will be a great risk mitigator if I'm gonna pin anyway right

The good thing about some vendors with us warehouses or even direct, there is customers who test them and post results. It’s why those issues of endotoxins really came up. Then the SS-31 under dosing. So while not perfect, there is consistent testing of the vendor, but the problem is caught a bit late.