Sciencemadness Discussion Board

ridiculous ebay stuff

Waffles - 28-12-2006 at 02:35

I'm curious to see how fast this seller's stuff get's stripped off e-bay. (Not to mention the absolutely nuts prices)
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZbrandonkuh...
Note the HF. There's something I've never seen up for auction!

In case its all gone relatively quickly, here's a list of what he's selling currently. Reminds one a bit of ExpeditedChemicals, no? ;)
-------
Glacial Acetic Acid (technical grade, 1 gallon)

Mercury Metal (elemental) 1 lb (454 gm)

Ammonium Nitrate (prilled) 5 lbs

Ammonium Nitrate (prilled) 25 lbs

Nitric Acid 70% Reagent 500mL

Nitric Acid 65% technical grade (1 gallon)

Acne Cure ( Natural Purifying Clay )

HydroFluoric Acid 1 gallon

Hydrochloric Acid 31.45% Technical Grade 1 gallon

Hydrochloric Acid 31.45% Technical Grade 500mL

Sulfuric Acid 93% electrolyte grade 500 mL

Ethanol (Absolute) Ethyl Alcohol 99% 1 gallon

Methanol 99% minimum purity 1 gallon

[Edited on 28-12-2006 by iamthewaffler]

woelen - 28-12-2006 at 05:19

Ebay is a good source of chemicals. Sometimes you find really nice things on eBay. This seller, however, is not among them. He only has 3 positive feedbacks and does not exist for a long time. But I have purchased many interesting chems (one of them being NbCl5, which is a very reactive and corrosive chem) from eBay, but I always check how long a seller exists and for the more risky chems I also want a seller to have at least 100 different positive feedbacks. That is an indication that it is more legit, otherwise it would have been removed from eBay long ago.

Ridiculous

MadHatter - 28-12-2006 at 06:41

That's the best I can say about this seller's prices. Throw in the HAZMAT fee and it's worse.
Even the 25-LB bag of ammonium nitrate isn't a bargain. 50-LB bags of prills can be had for
a lot less. BTW, seeing the HF on there was a real eye opener. I wouldn't get with 10
feet of that shit !

quicksilver - 28-12-2006 at 07:36

I am in total agreement with madhatter on this; throw in HAZMAT and it's a joke..however; if the seller does NOT ship according to DOT regs and it found (and it's very possible with some materials) the results are not worth the bargin. I am no lawyer but I would suspect that the seller would try to maintain anonyminity and you may be left with the fine.
Hydrofluoric Acid is simply a madman's material outside of a professional lab environment and if something should happen with any of the acids the results could be extremely bad-news. Hg is on every toxic list in the known world and the results from any spill could be astounding in it's complexity.
But another issue is - could you trust a seller on Ebay? For the most part, I have learned some very bitter lessons with collecting books. ....the hassel to get your $ back is a big one.
Plus with the run on chems due to CPSC ruling watch for chems to be all over Ebay in the next few years!

In another board (Crucible) a few people toyed with the idea of putting up a "BUY-SELL" FORUM! This seemed like a workable idea but never materialized. The buyer and seller would take FULL and complete responsibility for the transaction. At least in a forum like this one we speak the same language in terms of what technical grade or Reagent grade chemicals are. We would also know the law. On Ebay a few years back some people were selling List 1 chems....turned out to be a sting. Bad scene.

garryb - 28-12-2006 at 07:38

I completely agree with woelen (I do like your website by the way woelen). I have bought many chemicals via eBay, and have always been satisfied, but I would be very wary of a new seller (ie low feedback) who was selling "dangerous" or "contentious" items. I would however buy "uncontentious" items from a new seller - everyone is new to start!

pantone159 - 28-12-2006 at 10:58

FYI - This Brandon guy also posted something on ChemicalForums...

http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=12040.0

Fleaker - 29-12-2006 at 12:05

All too expensive, not enough feed back. Mercury is twice is much as it should be with shipping!

I just buy glassware and metals off of ebay, never chemicals.

pantone159 - 29-12-2006 at 15:58

BTW - This guy's webpage is here http://www.satutor.net/chemicals.htm
where he lists various things, some of which are on eBay.

His webpage also lists HI, which I thought was interesting.

Chris The Great - 29-12-2006 at 21:52

Quote:
Originally posted by quicksilver
In another board (Crucible) a few people toyed with the idea of putting up a "BUY-SELL" FORUM! This seemed like a workable idea but never materialized. The buyer and seller would take FULL and complete responsibility for the transaction. At least in a forum like this one we speak the same language in terms of what technical grade or Reagent grade chemicals are. We would also know the law. On Ebay a few years back some people were selling List 1 chems....turned out to be a sting. Bad scene.


Actually, it recently got implemented, but there isn't much traffic there at the moment. But hey, come on down (this is a shameless plug).