Well I know you have had a bad experience with Amazon, but honestly I've ordered probably 2 dozen bulbs from them and they have all been fine. I'm not sure if any of them actually came from an amazon warehouse, or if amazon was just the middleman. I know for sure that buyers I've used on amazon have been petco and Chewey... but I won't even open that wound with you.
All that's to say, I would try ordering from amazon again.
Note it is being sold by a company called "sparkfish". Not by amazon itself.
But once again, I've ordered bulbs for years like this, not necessarily caring about who the seller is, as long as it's prime and I get it here quick, I know that amazon will take care of it if I have a problem..
You asked for reputable, and for me, i've never been let down by amazon. They are highly reputable in my books.
Just my suggestion. Don't kill the mess... suggester lol
It was that one--or one very similar--that we ordered from, and got T8s (calling them HO), which Amazon still hasn't completely resolved. Like many/most, we've done a lot of business with A over the years. Probably won't kill that, but until one issue is resolved, we're reluctant to throw good money after bad.
Did you read the reviews on that link? 1/3 of them were 1 star. Things like:
Only buy if you want boxes full of glass.
Product came smashed and unusable _____Comment: Same issue twice!! Amazon sent a 2nd time and they were destroyed ______________again and we have a HUB HERE!!
Broken
...and the 3 star review: one came in broken
That makes it 44% bad news.
I didn't see "sparkfish" anywhere--it said, "Sold by Boon Sales and Fulfilled by Amazon."
Sorry, but we've had enough of this kind of thing. We'd rather pay a couple bucks extra and get what we paid for, packed properly, timely, and in one piece.
Yeah I did see the reviews, but like with anything, people are more inclined to leave a negative review than a positive one. If I left a good review for every time i bought them, that percentage would be a lot lower. Point is, take it with a grain of salt. Most of those reviews are also quite old.
Anyways, not that it matters. In the end it's your money, so you have to spend it where you feel comfortable.
MrSpectrum":1x7phan4 said:
I didn't see "sparkfish" anywhere--it said, "Sold by Boon Sales and Fulfilled by Amazon."
Ah, it must be a location thing. They pair you with the company that is closest to you I'm sure. If I search through the sellers I see boon sales as an option. However amazon recommends me use sparkfish.
Looking at the 22/24" bulb, 62% 5 star ratings. Most of the 1 star ratings I skimmed were for the same reasons--lousy packaging/broken bulbs, but enough customers were satisfied that the overall rating was still (almost) 4 stars.
I could go through everything we've bought on Amazon (or eBay for that matter) over the last year, but that would be TMI. We have similar results with everything we order on Amazon. In fact, most--if not all--of the items we purchase there have excellent (overall 4 star or better) ratings--or we don't buy them. No offense, but IMO that sorta blows this argument out of the water.
Ok well then don't buy it from them, but realize that is rating for the product itself, not a specific seller. It could have been 1 or 2 bad sellers a year ago who didn't package the bulbs properly. It doesn't matter, amazon keeps the ratings.
Anyways it really doesn't matter. It wasn't a point worth arguing, I was just making a comment...
I don't know what to tell you. You've just gotten unlucky and unless you find one in person, you're just going to have to accept the risk that there is a chance your bulb will come in broken, no matter who you buy from online.
However, many of us here buy our bulbs on amazon; and to be frank, you're the only one i've seen who has had this much trouble. It's just bad luck.
Personally, I'd just try again with amazon but you do whatever you want. Hopefully you can just get a working bulb soon.
You've just gotten unlucky and unless you find one in person, you're just going to have to accept the risk that there is a chance your bulb will come in broken, no matter who you buy from online.