Read the primary source rather than the write-up and the two do not agree, so here is what is actually in it.
The variables that decide how a cross-border order goes are declaration wording, the destination country's import rules for prescription medicines, and whether the shipment looks commercial. Personal-import allowances exist in some jurisdictions and not in others, and where they exist they are usually conditional on a prescription and a quantity limit. The failure mode is normally a seizure notice rather than anything worse, and a reshipment policy is the thing worth confirming before ordering rather than after.
Where I think it is weakest: the completion rate deserves as much attention as the headline, because a large effect among those who finished is a different claim from a large effect among those enrolled.
What I actually want to know is which of the variables in a cross-border order actually determine the outcome, and which are superstition. Numbers rather than impressions, if you have them.
Figures above are from the primary publication rather than the press summary. If a number here disagrees with one you have, post yours and we will work out which of us is reading a secondary source.
HPLC_Greg said:The variables that decide how a cross-border order goes are declaration wording, the destination country's import rules for prescription medicines,…
Agreed, with 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.
HPLC_Greg said:The variables that decide how a cross-border order goes are declaration wording, the destination country's import rules for prescription medicines,…
Pushing back on HPLC_Greg here. Import rules are jurisdiction-specific and this board keeps giving US-shaped answers to non-US questions. What is a personal-import allowance in one country is a controlled-import offence in another.
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Shop Reference StandardsTaking the question as asked, rather than the general version of it. 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.
kate.chem said:Agreed, with a caveat about community reputation: it is a lagging indicator.
This is my experience too, for whatever a second data point is worth. I had assumed I was the exception until I read this.