Lightsaber Community Drama - What else is new...

So there are a bunch of drama in threads and discussions happening on the r/lightsaber reddit and /lightsaber discord in the private vendor channels (which I have never been invited to even though I am a vendor, requested access and was denied. I don't meet their "qualifications") talking about what I do and how its "hurting" the community. So I guess me running my business and setting my prices the way I want to is unacceptable.

So the story goes. I started this up a few months back. I started it because I was sick and tired of being overcharged for lightsabers. My intention here was to have a place that was slightly more affordable than other places on the net. Not to steal business, not to make a ton of money, but to offer the people looking for their first "commercial" lightsaber affordable options. ($50 to $100 is a lot of money to some people) well apparently this is frowned upon.

Most vendors in the community are fair and are a great places to go and buy sabers. Customer service is excellent, the people are friendly, and customers are happy, but there are some vendors who its about nothing but money. They leverage their social media platform and followers to sell sabers at INSANE prices based on what they actually cost. They are literally screwing over their followers and patrons for lots of money. Not only that they claim to actually manufacture the sabers they sell. They don't, they literally sell the same sabers every other vendor does. The only difference is once in a blue moon the do a special order saber. This is something any vendor can do with enough money. Now apparently when you call these guys out the rest of the community decides to shit on you.

Recently I have been added to the "bad vendor" list. Which is amazing to me considering I have literally had 4 customers and all of them are extremely happy. I have been added to this list because of the pricing I offer on my sabers. People are being told my customer service is horrible, they are reporting me to my suppliers, and one of those suppliers even came to me and told me I was not allowed to sell my sabers for the prices I wanted too. I had to raise my prices on them or lose my ability to sell their products..... "It hurts everyone" I was told. (I will probably lose my vendor license with them after they see this.) I believe in honesty, I believe in transparency, I believe in being real and not lying to people.

All over my website I state that I do not make the products I sell. I MODIFY some of my products and resell them. But the majority of my sabers are made by vendors in China. Those vendors are TXQ and Nexus / LGT / Damiensaber. The majority of my products are drop shipped directly from their factories to you. I never handle the product myself.

A lot of people see this as a bad thing, and I understand their reasoning. They feel like the QC from those factories is bad and that those sabers should come to my place of business and be gone over before they are passed on to the customer. Well as a customer of these factories myself and owning close to 30 sabers, I have never received one that was defective. I have bought 3 sabers from one of the other online shops that are supposed to QC the sabers before we get them and all 3 of them had problems. So please explain to me how when I buy factory direct things are perfect, and when I don't things are messed up?

At The Saber Workshop I offer my customers an option at checkout to have the saber they are purchasing sent to me and gone over before it gets to them. There is an additional fee because I have to pay shipping and labor in order to go over those sabers. Once you add that cost I am the same price as just about every other fair vendor out there. So whats the problem? Do I think the sabers I sell need QC before they get to my customer? No, I don't. But I offer it as an option for customers that want that to have peace of mind.

I am going to get a lot of flak for this. I will probably lose my vendors and have to find new ones. But if deceptive business practices are what these people want me to do, I wont do it. They tell me I will lose customers due to my "attitude" on the Lightsaber Discord and Reddit. They tell me I am a cancer on the industry. That's fine by me. They can have their opinions. But to put me on a "bad vendor" list when all of my customers are happy is just deceptive.

But i have faith that this will all work out, and I will continue to offer affordable prices for those that cant afford to pay a lot of money for a lightsaber.

At least I know I am giving my customers a quality product, and quality customer service. Let the liars lie, there is a special place in hell for them.

J. - The Saber Workshop

(rest of list blurred because I don't need more drama)