Buying Basics

The practical end of the site: two methods you can run yourself, on any product, in a few minutes.

You have probably stood there with a bottle in each hand, trying to decide, and given up. That was not you failing. Supplement products are, as a rule, designed not to be comparable. No malice required: it is just what happens when every company optimizes its own label. One brand sells 60 capsules at a two-capsule serving. Another sells 90 at three. One discloses doses. Another blends them. One prices per bottle, another per “package” of six. Put them side by side and the honest answer to “which is better value?” is that you cannot tell yet.

You can, though, make them comparable. It takes a couple of minutes and a common denominator: convert everything to cost per day and dose per day, then line the ingredients up. What survives that normalization is a real comparison. What does not survive it, usually the proprietary blends, is telling you something too: that product has opted out of being checked.

The second piece is about the checkout itself. That is where a surprising share of the real risk lives: the subscription you did not notice agreeing to, the refund policy that quietly excludes the shipping you paid, the seller whose contact details vanish the moment you need them.

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