The short version: a quote is only worth what the buyer actually pays. The common tactic is to quote high, wait until your supplies are in their hands, then cut the price and tell you it's too late to change your mind. Before you ship anything, ask a buyer three things: what happens if the items don't match my description, will you show me evidence, and will you tell me before you pay rather than after.
How the bait and switch works
The pattern is consistent. You message a few buyers. One quotes noticeably more than the rest — often more than the supplies are really worth on the secondary market. You ship to them, because why wouldn't you.
Then the message arrives. The dating was shorter than you said. A box looked scuffed. The lot numbers weren't what they expected. The new offer is a fraction of the original, and the supplies are already sitting on their desk. You can take it or argue about it, and most people take it, because what else is there to do?
It works because the high quote costs them nothing. Quotes are free. The only number that was ever real is the one they decide on after your box is open.
A revised offer is not automatically a scam
This is the part that gets confusing, and it's worth being straight about: any honest buyer will sometimes change a price after inspection. Supplies genuinely do arrive different from how they were described. Someone misreads an expiration date, or a box turns out to be opened, or there are eight sensors rather than ten. A buyer who could never adjust a price would be a buyer who pays nothing for damaged goods or refuses to quote at all.
The difference isn't whether a price can change. It's why it changed, whether you're shown the reason, and when you find out.
| A fair revised offer | A bait and switch |
|---|---|
| Names the specific difference"Three boxes expire in January, not June" | Vague or no reason"Condition wasn't as described" |
| Shows you evidencePhotos of the labels and dates | Asks you to take their word |
| Reflects only the differenceTwo short-dated boxes repriced, the rest unchanged | Whole lot repricedOften 40–70% below the quote |
| Tells you before paying | Tells you after, or not at all |
| Quote matches payment when the items match | Price drops even when nothing is wrong |
Five questions to ask any buyer before you ship
Ask these in writing, in the chat, so you have the answers saved. A straight buyer will answer all five in a sentence each. Watch what happens when someone dodges.
- "What exactly would make you change this offer?" You want specifics — dating, seals, quantity. "If the condition isn't as described" is not an answer, it's a door left open.
- "Will you send photos of anything you say is wrong?" A buyer who inspects properly has photos anyway. One who won't share them is telling you something.
- "Will you contact me before you pay, or after?" Before means you're part of the conversation. After means you're being informed of a decision.
- "What happens to my supplies if I don't accept the new price?" Policies differ, and that's fine — what matters is that you know the answer before you ship, not after. Some buyers return them; many don't, because once a package is opened and inspected it can't go back into circulation. Either way you should be told plainly, in writing, up front.
- "How and when do you pay?" Same day, by a named method, is a reasonable answer. Vagueness about payment timing is its own warning.
Other things worth checking
- A quote given without asking for the code and dating. If a buyer names a number before knowing what you have and how long it lasts, that number is decoration. Dating alone can change the value by half.
- A quote well above everyone else's. Buyers all sell into roughly the same market. A number far above the rest usually isn't generosity.
- No real presence. A page with reviews, a phone number that a person answers, a real name.
- Pressure to ship immediately. "This price is only good today" is a tactic, not a business constraint.
- Nothing in writing. Keep the conversation in the chat rather than moving to a call. A quote you can screenshot is a quote you can hold someone to.
Protect yourself before the box leaves
- Photograph everything. Each box, the label with the code and expiration date, and the packed box before you seal it. Two minutes, and it settles any argument later.
- Count on camera. A short video of the contents going in costs nothing.
- Keep the quote. Screenshot the number and the conversation around it.
- Describe accurately. This cuts both ways — the most common reason for a genuinely revised offer is a seller misreading a date. Quote off the earliest expiration in the lot.
What we do
We'll say plainly what our own policy is, because asking you to interrogate other buyers and then being vague ourselves would be worth nothing.
The number we quote is what we pay, when the supplies match what you described. If they don't match — different quantity, shorter dating, a broken seal — we contact you with a revised offer that reflects that specific difference, and we tell you what it is before any payment is made. We don't return mail-in supplies once they've been delivered to us, and that's written plainly in our terms rather than buried: once a sealed box has been opened and inspected it can't go back into circulation. What we will never do is pay you less than we quoted when nothing was wrong, or go quiet and hope you don't chase it.
If you've been burned by this before, we'd genuinely like to hear about it — both so we know who's doing it, and because you'll know what to ask us.
Find out what yours are worth
Use the estimator on any product page for an exact number in about a minute, or text a photo of the box label to 214-898-3911 and we'll price it for you.
Get My Offer