Herbal RVA might have gone belly up?

[Catmom2004]

I have been a loyal RVA customer for well over a year and have been pleased with many of the strains I tried.

If any of you guys go to the RVA site, you will see there is no speciosa there. I emailed Jonathan about it and he says that there is now no legal way to import kratom into the US.

Here are his exact words to me when I asked when he will be getting more stock:

"There was only 1 way to legally import kratom, through the mail.

The Indonesian POS (USPS alike) Said they arent shipping any more kratom. So now there is no legal way to import kratom into the USA"

Do any of you guys know what is going on? I was able to use Gaia to pick some up but his prices are a lot higher.

I appreciate any insight anyone here can offer me.

[BrockLee]

I am a RVA customer also. No, they have not gone belly up.

My understanding from their FB page is that they were getting slammed with orders due to some panic buying, and that the website was shut down for a couple of days so they could catch up. They plan on reopening the website for orders Sunday around 7pm, and a restock is expected by the end of next week. So yes, they are still in business.

[A.Phillips]

He told me the same thing that Indonesia wasn't importing kratom anymore. Why would he say that I stead of saying hey our stock is low we will have shipments in soon. I had actually really like their products and now this...everytime I find a vendor something crazy happens. Does anyone have any suggestions on a new vendor that actually has good quality? Thanks for you time

[Catmom2004]

Thanks for replying A.Phillips. I did look at the RVA FB page and saw a post from Jonathan saying that they will eventually get more stock but the strains won't be the same ones as before... It seems like supply and payment issues are common among many vendors.

When this website first started, I went to the recommended vendors lists and was going to try BB and they were out of stock. RVA had the best prices combined with mostly consistent quality that I could find, so these issues are quite a disappointment.

[herbalhippie]

There are other vendors with plenty of stock still. Go through the vendor list and see what you can come up with.

[whiffypants]

RVA is not going out of business. There is a problem with vendors not receiving shipments right now because of backlogs in Asia, but that's slowly getting resolved. JFish decided to take down the site temporarily because he knew he was getting low on stock and had to make sure what was on the website was what he actually has on hand, as well as use the time offline to fulfill the orders already placed.

So relax. I couldn't say that no vendors will be edged out by this temporary halt in shipments from Indo -- Ronnie Moncrief of Seven Breezes announced he's out the other day -- but the bigger vendors should be fine, and RVA is quite possibly the biggest in the US in terms of volume.

All is well, if you have enough leaf to get through a pinch. There is definitely reason for concern, and if you are a daily user for pain you should probably make sure you have some on hand, but it's not like kratom is over forever in the US because of a shipping backlog in Asia. Do what you gotta do to take care of yourself in the even of a few weeks shortage -- just in case -- and otherwise wait and see what happens.

Incidentally, BB's got stock right now -- I just bought some on Friday.

[whiffypants]

There are other vendors with plenty of stock still. Go through the vendor list and see what you can come up with.

Heh, yeah. Exactly. What Hippie said.

[herbalhippie]

There are other vendors with plenty of stock still. Go through the vendor list and see what you can come up with.

Heh, yeah. Exactly. What Hippie said.

Yay! You called me hippie! Please call me hippie forever.

[whiffypants]

Sure, happy to! If I'd known about this preference earlier, Hippie, you needn't have spent even five minutes as plain ol' HH.

[herbalhippie]

Sure, happy to! If I'd known about this preference earlier, Hippie, you needn't have spent even five minutes as plain ol' HH.

I know

[whiffypants]

But now that I know, I will indeed call you Hippie forever, Hippie Forever.

[Catmom2004]

Thanks to all who replied, especially Hippy and Whiffy. I don't go to r/kratom any more since their torching of all subs that even mentioned vending, sourcing etc. Thus, I feel like I am out of the loop on matters kratom.

To be honest, I wasn't coming here either really because RVA was awesome and I had no need to discuss other sources. Once again, the adage that states "the only constant is change" has come true again, much to my chagrin.

I guess it's an indication of my worrier-type personality that I hate change.

But, it is entirely possible that this will be my opportunity to add to my list of favorite vendors (especially since my list had dwindled to only one source). It is a struggle for me to "look on the bright side" when anything (or anyone) that I like changes.

I really appreciate this forum and all of you who work so hard to share info with all of the Kratomite community. <3 <3 <3

[herbalhippie]

I hate change too, you're not alone.

Why don't you give Mystic Island a try? The quality of their leaf and their prices are about the same as RVA. It's hard from the descriptions to figure out what their strains really are because they have silly names but you can always ask us or look at the posts about Mystic Island.

[BallzDeep9]

They plan on reopening the website for orders Sunday around 7pm, and a restock is expected by the end of next week. So yes, they are still in business.

Welcome to MM board, BrockLee - I agree with everything you posted. Looks like they ARE open NOW.

He's swamped with customer emails, phone calls & panic buying.. It's a high volume business. Top strains get sold out quick, after a re-stock .. I ordered a kilo of Green BigBang, as soon as he re-stocked it a couple weeks ago! Mini Review: GBB is very good!

Some negative comments last week, following the "Panic Post" by Joel Badger... We saw how ONE little post, by someone who ppl don't even KNOW... sent Facebook into a doomsday freak-out - with folks jumping online to order - this DID happen last week! The big majority of customers, still get all their kratom News and Info, and vendors... from Facebook

Finally on Friday - Justin @ SoCal made a lengthy Good News correction to assure everyone, it's a temporary delay, and it's expected that POS Indonesia will clear out the logjam and begin shipping again. I guess only Time will Tell, who's right. I posted a Reply to Joel "We sure hope you're Wrong"

[whiffypants]

Finally on Friday - Justin @ SoCal made a lengthy Good News correction to assure everyone, it's a temporary delay, and it's expected that POS Indonesia will clear out the logjam and begin shipping again.

Not on FB myself, so I very much appreciate this update. Thanks, Ballz!

Thanks to all who replied, especially Hippy and Whiffy.

I really appreciate this forum and all of you who work so hard to share info with all of the Kratomite community. <3 <3 <3

No problem! I'm just really glad things are looking up and hopefully we won't be losing vendors to this. Incidentally, I just looked at the RVA site and he's open right now, looking pretty good on stock, so you might want to get on that soon if you need RVA leaf. But do try Mystic as well -- I have never been displeased with anything I got from either vendor. And just in case you're not aware, the current vendor list is here. Good luck!