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Is Your Supplement Expensive Or Is It A Bargain?

Which factors influence your rating of a supplement as expensive or a bargain?

  • Total voters
    40
strategicmove

strategicmove

Legend
I often read comments that a product's price is great, or that it is "not worth it" at a given price. So, I wondered if you might want to share the thought processes behind your decision in such a situation. No answer is wrong! It is simply your approach!

So:


How do you as an athlete decide if a new or existing product is a bargain or is expensive? Through price alone? Subjective assessment of quality of constituent ingredients? Prices of somewhat comparable products? Your budget? External considerations such as the opinion of others? A combination of the above factors?
 
I judge based on how many servings, what it does and how much it cost. I also like to compare them to other products and I determine which one will I see better results on for a better price. If a product is very effective, for a very cheap price I would label it as a good product. If a product is very effective but extremely expensive for what it does, I might label it crap because their are other products out there that do the same thing for a fraction of the price. Price VS. Effectiveness is a big thing in my books. As a college student, I will not pay 40+ dollars for a month supply of creatine. My interpretation of a good product is one thats effective, and cheaper than all the others.
 
The first thing I do is check out product information and reviews to find out if it's legit. I judge the price on how long the product needs to be used vs. how many days the product will last. There are a few products I really want to try, but don't feel that the price justifies what it does. P-slin and DCP being two of those products.
 
I think it is probably a combination of those factors. A person on a tight budget will probably think a lot of things are expensive. The price of similar products help determine the market value of a supplement and what people are willing to pay. For example if comapny A sells a particular supplement for $10 and Company B sells the a product with the same ingredients for $5, company A's product would seem expensive while comany B's would seem to be a bargain.
 
As an extremely thrifty shopper, I take a lot of time before deciding which supps to get. For me, I look for things that look solid, are supposed to work towards my goals, and are cost effective. Being at that big-boy 300lb mark, if a certain supplement has a table on it saying "Take 6 of these if you are 200lbs or over", I leave it be. If I buy a bottle of something, it's gotta last atleast from paycheck to paycheck!! Amounts based on weight are kinda disheartening IMO.

If something is decently priced, has good reviews from mostly unbiased folks, doesn't have a lot of drama surrounding it, and will last me for 30 days or more, I'm game. If I like it, I'll buy it again. If I don't, I won't waste my money again. Live and learn.
 
If a product is very unique, I'll pay quite a bit for it. If it's similar to something else, or all it's ingredients can be bought in bulk, I'm alot more skeptical. But I do have my upper limits for what I'll pay. Something like 6 oxo extream is just way too much considering it's like a week supply if you take the maximum dose, I don't care how well it works (I live in Canada, so it's particularly expensive).
 
timdull2 said:
As an extremely thrifty shopper, I take a lot of time before deciding which supps to get. For me, I look for things that look solid, are supposed to work towards my goals, and are cost effective. Being at that big-boy 300lb mark, if a certain supplement has a table on it saying "Take 6 of these if you are 200lbs or over", I leave it be. If I buy a bottle of something, it's gotta last atleast from paycheck to paycheck!! Amounts based on weight are kinda disheartening IMO.

If something is decently priced, has good reviews from mostly unbiased folks, doesn't have a lot of drama surrounding it, and will last me for 30 days or more, I'm game. If I like it, I'll buy it again. If I don't, I won't waste my money again. Live and learn.
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something like RPM and Drive in your case would not be very cost effective, and in your case not worth it. Theres a big interpretation of crap sometimes. Crap could mean that a product is too expensive and in this case, 40,30 dollars for a 18 day supply is insane even if the product has good reviews. Im a fan of bulk powders. For some reason, I think certian bulk powders will be good replacements for some products out there but then agian some products are just too complexed to be comparing it between bulk powders.
 
Dancebot 2000 said:
If a product is very unique, I'll pay quite a bit for it. If it's similar to something else, or all it's ingredients can be bought in bulk, I'm alot more skeptical. But I do have my upper limits for what I'll pay. Something like 6 oxo extream is just way too much considering it's like a week supply if you take the maximum dose, I don't care how well it works (I live in Canada, so it's particularly expensive).
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well put. my last point I made exactly. :hammer:
 
Simply an effectiveness to cost comparison... Like, Aspire36 is great, but I wouldn't pay $100 for it... What determines what it's worth? I guess myself, so it's extremely subjective.
 
The fact that $30-$40 is such a standard price for a 25 day supply of a product makes me curious. I mean, I'm sure some of these products are dirt cheap to make, and are only priced that much because it's basically an average in the supplement industry.
 
It's gonna be a "combination" of factors fo sho.

But if you want my opinion, my "supplement" is always expensive :p
 
moklepaul; said:
Simply an effectiveness to cost comparison... Like, Aspire36 is great, but I wouldn't pay $100 for it... What determines what it's worth? I guess myself, so it's extremely subjective.
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Agree, there is a lot of subjectivity involved. That is one reason it is interesting to know how different people evaluate the process. In this sense, a "simple" cost comparison may be objectively difficult. Someone that considers Aspire36 THE SUPPLEMENT in that department, and knows Aspire36 could always be counted upon, may consider $100 a good deal versus having to face the alternative of an evening with his partner with a highly uncertain, and probably embarrassing, outcome. Besides, even if we have certain price barriers we may establish for a particular supplement or class of supplements, hype may lead us to making an exception in some cases. In such instances, we end up paying more than we initially intended to. Subjectivity. Bias. External influence. And so on. All powerful influences.
 
methodice; said:
It's gonna be a "combination" of factors fo sho.

But if you want my opinion, my "supplement" is always expensive :p
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Sometimes, to persuade myself to buy a certain product that I subjectively consider "expensive" (in terms of the required cash outlay), I tell myself that an "expensive" supplement is one that did (or does) not work. In this case, it would be totally irrelevant if it cost $10 or less. It was (or would be) simply a waste, and therefore, "expensive".
 
I find it very amusing the buy tons of bulk powders and try and mix my own stuff up, but the taste... oh the taste lol. 15g Leucine,60g WMS and some BCAA's post-WO straight is some nasty stuff. CEE was the icing on the cake. It was so potent often I wouldn't even waste my time trying to mask all that, just a bit of water and a good chaser .

Very interesting poll though! It's a nice change from "What's the best..." or Should I take "A,B,C"
 
I have a slight advantage here, as I can simply call up my suppliers and find out wholesale pricing on the component ingredients of most supps.

Realizing that companies have to ship these compounds in (which costs $), clear them through Customs (more $), transport them to production facility (shipping $), pay to have them capped/bottles (lots of $) and labeled (more $), then shipped BACK to their warehouse (buttloads of $$).

THEN they have to sell to either a distributor, which sells to retailers, meaning final cost of about should be around 40-45% of final retail cost.

Manufacturing in this industry IS expensive, but I usually perform a cost analysis to see if a product is really a good bargain - or at least REASONABLY PRICED.
 
Results alone determine whether or not it is worth the price. I have bought a few supps that are over $2/day, but their results justified the price. The original NHA stack (RXT, Activate, and LX) is quite pricey, but worth every penny.
 
Steveoph; said:
... Very interesting poll though! It's a nice change from "What's the best..." or Should I take "A,B,C"..
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The various contributors are the stars...
 
dsade; said:
...
Manufacturing in this industry IS expensive, but I usually perform a cost analysis to see if a product is really a good bargain - or at least REASONABLY PRICED.
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Your hard-to-beat prices reflect your efforts! No shoe-licking intended or implied here.
 
Rodja; said:
Results alone determine whether or not it is worth the price. I have bought a few supps that are over $2/day, but their results justified the price..
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Results, for me too, in line with my earlier contribution, are an important criterion.
 
For me its really a combination. i cant pay a ridiculous price for any supplement on my budget, so i need to find something that works pretty good at a decent price
 
Mostly driven by my budget. If something costs $100 for 30 days, I don't care how good it works, I'm not buying it. I also compare it to similar products and try to get the best product for my money (as long as it's a reputable company, I will pay a little more for a product from a company I trust and has good feedback). Finally, it has to work of course.
 
TheNinja said:
Mostly driven by my budget. If something costs $100 for 30 days, I don't care how good it works, I'm not buying it. I also compare it to similar products and try to get the best product for my money (as long as it's a reputable company, I will pay a little more for a product from a company I trust and has good feedback). Finally, it has to work of course.
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I am aware much of the decision process is a complex combination of different factors. I am also aware that the budget plays a very important role, whether directly or indirectly. But if we ascribe an "overly" important role to the budget, could we not possibly end up with a basket of many, but probably sub-optimal products?
Do not get me wrong! The budget is probably (or definitely) king, but given a budget of say $60 to spend, would it be preferable to buy three different (probably) sub-optimal products for an average of $20, or get only one potent one for $65? Yes, $65! You over-spend, but have results. Or did I exaggerate?
 
Better to get something very effective and go slightly over budget than to get sub-par supps for cheap.
 
Irish Cannon said:
The first thing I do is check out product information and reviews to find out if it's legit. I judge the price on how long the product needs to be used vs. how many days the product will last. There are a few products I really want to try, but don't feel that the price justifies what it does. P-slin and DCP being two of those products.
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Irish, PM easyejl about PSlin
 
dsade said:
Better to get something very effective and go slightly over budget than to get sub-par supps for cheap.
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Exactly the point I tried to make!
 
I look at what's in it, vs. what the bulk powder's cost.

In some cases bulk is not available, raising the 'value' of the supplement.


I.e.,

Leucine powder vs. Leukic --> Leukic has NO value to me

Cycle support vs. various powders --> Cycle Support has value to me
 
Steveoph; said:
...
Very interesting poll though! It's a nice change from "What's the best..." or Should I take "A,B,C"
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Thanks!
 
since i have more bling bling than God, I don't think any products are expensive. in fact, I was just burning $100 bills for fun
 
i try to calculate the amount of money spent per month divided by the number of lean body mass gained. try it. you'll be surprised how much money you spend on supplements for a lb or two of muscle.
 
edwards said:
i try to calculate the amount of money spent per month divided by the number of lean body mass gained. try it. you'll be surprised how much money you spend on supplements for a lb or two of muscle.
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Interesting. But how do you separate the effective supplements, in this equation, from the inferior ones? Besides, you would need to hold everything else (nutritional plan, workout content and duration, lifestyle aspects such as sleep and rest, and so on) constant to be able to really say the lean mass was from the supplements. Right?
 
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