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Guest post by Jason Artman
There’s no denying that online vape shops perform an important service. They often have extensive product selections at competitive prices. If you’re willing to wait a while to receive a piece of vape gear or a bottle of e-liquid, there’s a good chance that you’ll save a little money if you buy that item online.
In some key areas, however, local vape shops like Vapor Chasers have a decisive edge. Only by buying locally, for instance, can you have a piece of vape gear in your hand and take it home immediately after paying for it. Buying locally may cost a little more than buying online, but instant gratification is hard to beat.
Buying vape gear locally, though, isn’t just about instant gratification. It also means that you’re helping to support fun, high-paying jobs in your local community. You can’t do that when you buy from an online vape shop – and as it turns out, there are also quite a few other things that you can’t do when you buy vape gear online. Here are a few of the bigger ones.
Get Advice in Real Time from Someone Who Actually Understands Vaping
Have you ever had a question about vaping and tried to find the answer by reading an online vape shop’s blog? Good luck, because most online vape shops abandoned their blogs long ago. They planned their content marketing strategies, and they wrote articles covering all of the relevant search keywords they could think of – and then they moved on to the next marketing strategy. Anything that you can find in an online vape shop’s blog is probably horribly out of date at this point because no one wants to pay what it costs to update old content.
Ah, but you’ve got another way to get advice from an online vape shop in real time – there’s a live chat function! If you’ve never used a vape shop’s chat feature, though, prepare yourself for a major disappointment because you’re not likely to reach anyone who can answer a question about vaping. Online vape shop owners are often serial entrepreneurs; they start companies in a wide assortment of different fields and quickly move on once a business is able to sustain itself. When you use a vape shop’s chat function, you’re most likely going to reach an outsourced customer support representative who knows nothing about vaping and is only there to provide order support.
At a local vape shop, it’s completely different because the people behind the counters actually vape and have direct experience with the products they sell. You can get an immediate answer to just about any vaping-related question at a vape shop near you.
Ask to See the Back Room – and Discover Some Long-Lost Treasures
Did you know that vaping has actually existed for well over a decade at this point? Vaping has been around for so long that hundreds of vaping devices, tanks, rebuildable atomizers and other products have come and gone over the years. Some of those products have become quite prized by collectors because they represent little pieces of the industry’s history. If vaping is still around a few decades from now, it’s even possible that some well-known classic products will actually be worth a decent amount of money. Already, some people are scooping vintage devices up when they’re able to find them.
If you want to have a fun experience at a local vape shop, ask to see what they have stashed in the back room. If the shop has been around for a while, you’re likely to find all kinds of classic devices and other oddball products that you’ll never see online because all of the online vape shops got rid of those products on clearance years ago.
It’s usually not worthwhile for a local vape shop to have obsolete products taking up valuable shelf space because people who vape are always on the hunt for whatever is new and exciting. In many cases, older products are relegated to a back room, where they’re stored until someone comes along and asks about them. If you find something that catches your eye, be prepared to make a fair offer, and it’ll probably be accepted.
When you buy vintage vape gear, remember there’s no guarantee that an older vaping device with a permanent built-in battery will actually work. Even if it’s never been used, a lithium-ion battery has a limited shelf life. You’ll have better luck with a vintage device that uses a removable battery, but make sure you know what you’re doing. A vape mod that’s very old will most likely not work with a modern tank because the coil’s resistance will be below the device’s supported range. Many older vaping devices don’t work with any sub-ohm tanks at all. New devices are also much better than old devices in terms of their built-in safety features. It’s usually better to buy vintage vapes as collector’s items than as devices you’ll actually use.
Get Help Maintaining or Fixing Your Vape Gear
As far as most online vape shops are concerned, they’re no longer responsible for a product you’ve purchased from them once you’ve removed that product from the package. Many online vape shops guarantee that products won’t be dead on arrival, but that’s pretty much it. Once you’ve removed something from the box and confirmed that it turns on, you’re generally on your own.
Buying from a local vape shop, in comparison, is a breath of fresh air because the people behind the counter can often help you maintain your equipment and keep it working its best. In some cases, the assistance that you receive will extend the life of the products you buy and help you avoid throwing things away unnecessarily.
The maintenance services that you can get from a local vape shop will vary depending on the expertise of the people who work at the shop and the equipment that they have at their disposal. It’s common, though, for local vape shops to offer coil building help if they sell rebuildable atomizers. Some local vape shops also offer re-wrapping services for batteries with torn wrappers. In short, if there’s something that you don’t know how to do yourself, there’s a good chance that someone at your local vape shop can help.
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