Jewy, i'll apologize upfront for not being the smartest light bulb in the box. Vendors that have worked themselves into the "blacklist" are ones that we should avoid?
LOL, no worries, that's why I'm here. And yes, you would be correct in that assumption. While there are vendors who redeem themselves and emerge from the blacklist, it's quite rare, and if it were to happen, as it did with Starlite following the so called "dark period", either I or Heisenberg would re-introduce the vendor to the regular areas of the board, along with an explanation as to what the vendor had done to redeem themselves and warrant reinstatement. As for current blacklisted vendors, they are there for a reason, and more often than not, more than one very good reason, so in my opinion, they should be avoided. That being said, there are unusual situations, such as with Palmira for instance, where they have a legitimate product or two at an exceptional value, and members who are HIGHLY experienced with them choose to continue doing business with them, as they possess the knowledge necessary to successfully conduct business with them. Again though, those situations are rare, and in the vast majority of the cases, blacklisted vendors wound up there because they either took payments and never shipped orders, or they shipped counterfeit products. Finally, as a side note, I can't speak for former moderators, but with any vendor that Heisenberg and I would evaluate for movement to the blacklist, there would need to be multiple reports of such issues from reputable members before we would take that step. So, my point being, a vendor wouldn't be blacklisted, at least not by us, due to a single report of bad product or non-receipt of an order.
Anyway, to make a long winded answer even longer, yes, I would avoid ordering from blacklisted vendors if at all possible. Should there be a specific situation arise that led you to be tempted to order from one of these vendors, I would recommend getting in touch with either myself, Heisenberg or another high ranking member to discuss the matter and evaluate the risk - reward scenario. Hope that helps.....
Jewy