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Comment by auganov | Hacker News Reader

Well at the end of the day you are trying to resell a commodity at a rather high multiple. Your intention of just providing clean and honest information is somewhat conflicting? Even if someone does place their first nootropic order with you, what would keep them ordering from you?

You need to convince people that there's a good reason to order from you (or to not order from others!). Which inevitably will involve some deceptive marketing.

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Hmm, not sure if I entirely agree with you? Providing clear information is in itself valuable — not to everyone, but to some for sure. But also apart from that people tend to stick with what they know. If they've had a successful order from us, then switching to a different vendor would come with more uncertainty.

There's also value in having a good looking product, and value in having a place where you can comfortably send your friends without worrying that they'll buy something dangerous without knowing how it works...

These aren't universal values, some people won't be willing to pay a premium for them. But that doesn't mean that we need to be deceptive in our marketing.

Of course, information is valuable. That doesn't mean I will forever be loyal to you for providing it. If your site is beautiful, information good, packaging pretty, shipping reasonable, reputation great - sure I'll pay a small premium

But you're charging a 2-3x premium and using generic names with no handwaving. If I put any of these into google I get much better deals from sites that are as reputable. What demographic pays 70$ for something that shows up for 30$ as the top result[0]? And what kind of a friend recommends that?

Now if you made a Nootropics.com Cogniboost with 5-10 different nootropics then maybe there's going to be some lock-in.

I don't know how you're expecting to sell a rather expensive commodity at a 3x premium with no marketing magic.

[0] if we were talking about something in the 0-10$ range it's perhaps possible to make people severely overpay.

You're assuming nootropics consumers follow the same patterns as consumers generally, which, given the nature of the product, I suspect is not the case.

In theory you're trying to sell to someone like me. I use several nootropics regularly (Noopept, modafinil, sulbutiamine, melatonin, lemon balm, caffeine+L), and have in the past tried many others.

If you had a small markup, sure, I'd consider you. But you're selling 1.8 grams of Noopept for $29 when Powder City has 25 grams for $27.35 (caps vs. powder doesn't remotely justify this). Sorry, ain't happening.

Side note:

> value in having a place where you can comfortably send your friends without worrying that they'll buy something dangerous without knowing how it works...

There seems to be a fair bit of inaccurate information and bad advice, actually. I saw some posted on reddit, and when looking at the Noopept page on your site also noticed the guideline of 30mg up to three times per day, which is quite high.

Who at your company is qualified to explain product chemistry or make dosage recommendations?

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