I have followed the founders and DermStore.com for a few years now and basically here is what I see:
If your a professional esty and the line you are using is sold online and without Esty education then the line is not a professional line and the mfgr is using you to educate and train their end users who will either go direct or other.
Dermstore promotes this as does their competitors. Creating more white noise does not help the Esty job description but only makes it harder and the industry more convoluted with misinformation.
Esty's need to take the industry back and refuse to use a line that is sold via this channel.
Marty - I agree with you 100%. Retail is a large part of my business. I sell professional skincare and should not have to compete with online discounters such as Dermstore.com This is one of the many reasons why I chose the specific line I did, they drive retail sales back to their accounts.