I made a spreadsheet comparing vendor COAs — what worked for you?

PharmD_Rodriguez said:

They are not contradictory, they measure different things, and this is the single most common misreading of a certificate.

Agreed, and mass spec answers a question purity does not: identity. High purity tells you one thing dominates the chromatogram, not that it is the molecule you ordered. A mass within about a dalton of expected is the identity check.

Worth separating that from certificates of analysis, which this thread keeps folding into the same question. They behave differently and the advice does not transfer.

Dr.RheumBOS said:

Agreed, with a caveat about community reputation: it is a lagging indicator.

Thank you for spelling out the reasoning rather than just the conclusion. Adding it to my notes with a link back to this thread.

PharmD_Rodriguez said:

They are not contradictory, they measure different things, and this is the single most common misreading of a certificate.

I am more sceptical of certificates as a category than this thread is. The document tells you about a sample somebody chose to send, at a moment in time, and nothing about the vial in your hand. Independent purchase-and-test is a different quality of evidence and everything else is inference.

SkepticalSean said:

Eight months with one supplier, then a change in how they communicate that I noticed before I noticed anything about the product.

Vendor reputation tracking for vendor vetting: I maintain a personal spreadsheet with every order I've placed — date, vendor, batch number, Janoshik result, personal efficacy assessment (1-5 scale), and any issues.

After 23 orders across 5 vendors: average purity 98.7%, zero sterility concerns, 0 shipping issues (all resolved). This data gives me confidence in my current source and documentation if issues arise.

I encourage everyone to track their orders systematically. Community data aggregation makes us all safer.

Moderator note: leaving this open. It is being argued well and the disagreement is the useful part.