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Yttrium2
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The disappearance of cheap ebay laboratory glassware
There used to be all kinds of listings on ebay for cheap laboratory glassware, where did they all go, and when will they be back?
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zwt2
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Let's see.
Global pandemic, trade wars, encroaching anti-intellectualism...
Take your pick.
When will they be back?
Someday, hopefully.
"Since you belong to the small number of wise men... tell me, how do you occupy yourselves?"
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monolithic
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International shipping is a mess, many sellers have shut down their eBay store or are coming back in limited capacity until things are back to normal.
My favorite seller, deschem, was shut down for several months. They're back now but with smaller selections and slightly higher prices. I assume this
is because deschem (and most Chinese chemistry sellers on eBay) are just resellers, they source from a small number of factories.
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JJay
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I don't see as much of the really cheap, low-quality stuff that arrives broken half the time. It will probably come back after the pandemic, but if
not, it's not a huge problem TBH.
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Yttrium2
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Quote: Originally posted by JJay  | | I don't see as much of the really cheap, low-quality stuff that arrives broken half the time. It will probably come back after the pandemic, but if
not, it's not a huge problem TBH. |
broken half the time and not a big deal!?
whatever man
For those of us who value our money and our glassware, it is a big deal, what do you suggest doing?
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zed
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I ordered an inexpensive electrical adapter from China, months ago. I paid for it, but I don't expect I will ever receive it. Estimated time of
arrival, keeps changing. When I bought it, the estimate was a few weeks plus.
It's been over a month, and estimated time of arrival is now months off.
Supply lines have broken down.
Even the U.S. mail is breaking down. A few months ago, it was better than ever. Now service is spotty.
Our new Postmaster general, is gumming up the works, possibly intentionally.
If you are in the U.S., expect improvement after our next election. Provided we switch to a president that isn't intent on dismantling our postal
service.
Our relationship with China is strained. And, our own customs may be holding things up.
Now, personally I've never had an item from China, arrive broken. More likely, to be unsatisfactory, but not worth fighting over. Quality control
ain't great. A sliver of metal embedded in a piece of glassware. Dunno. Will it break? Maybe not. But it makes me unhappy.
For now, I would suggest, buy nothing from China.
[Edited on 10-8-2020 by zed]
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andy1988
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The U.S. threatened to leave the 'Universal Postal Union' in order to increase the amount it costs a U.S. person to buy something from China (a UN
body with roots in 145-year-old treaty).
Quotes from the above article:
| Quote: | "The agreement approved by the Universal Postal Union, now a part of the United Nations, in a meeting in Sweden will enable the Postal Service to set
its own rates for inbound small packages [4.4lbs and less] and bulky letters starting in July 2020."
"The new agreement follows a memorandum Trump issued last year in which the president said other nations were unfairly receiving cheaper rates when
sending small packages and bulky letters into the United States than postal customers shipping domestically."
"He explained the entire international community will be bound by the same structure." |
My understanding:
This has to do with the Universal Postal Union classification of China as a 'developing nation' and thus subsidized postage from such developing nations by at the
detriment of developed nations, in order to help developing nations. And they only reclassify countries every 10 years, the U.S. wanted a more
immediate reclassification of China and threatened to leave the Universal Postal Union and take UN funding as a "stick" to get what they wanted in
this "trade war".
There is also the removal of HK's special status so now U.S. tariffs will apply, so I imagine this has also disrupted supply chains.
[Edited on 10-8-2020 by andy1988]
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JJay
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| Quote: Originally posted by Yttrium2 | | Quote: Originally posted by JJay | | I don't see as much of the really cheap, low-quality stuff that arrives broken half the time. It will probably come back after the pandemic, but if
not, it's not a huge problem TBH. |
broken half the time and not a big deal!?
whatever man
For those of us who value our money and our glassware, it is a big deal, what do you suggest doing? |
If you buy the slightly more expensive glassware from the more reputable suppliers, which seem to be operational, you receive higher-quality equipment
that lasts longer. I know I don't like distended joints and bubbles in the glass. I have purchased maybe 20 pieces of the ultracheap stuff... half
arrived broken, half broke, and one is a piece that has seen a lot of use (it's a pore plate funnel, and it has bubbles, but it's held up through
hundreds of filtrations). Deschem sells for a slightly higher price, but I expect that it's higher quality and almost certain to arrive in one piece.
And if it doesn't, Deschem isn't going to try to haggle over the refund.
Most of the time, you get what you pay for.
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Boffis
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I think the problem is that Ebay has become a portal for big business rather than as it was in the early days a portal for amateurs and second-hand
dealers.
About 5-7 years ago I bought a lot of microchemical glassware and other equipment from someone on Ebay with a charity logo. When the stuff arrived it
became apparent that the seller was a large London teaching hospital raising money for various charities. The equipment arrived in its original boxes,
some of them very old, clearly old stock that is no longer used in modern medical research or what ever. I think that the realisation that there was a
way to cash old or surplus stock in many fields lead even larger companies and institutions to use Ebay for this purpose resulting in a lot of quality
material being available at low prices.
In the last 2-3 years these sorts of offers have become much less common and much of the secondhand laboratory glassware is now being offered by
individuals who bought it from Ebay a decade ago and are now hanging up their lab coat.
Most of the glassware now being offered in the UK at least, is from China or India
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macckone
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Many american suppliers are also having issues because the raw glass tubing and joints are made in china and india.
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Fyndium
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Haven't noticed it to be honest. I've ordered literally dozens of packages due to having to refurbish my lab and most of them have arrived in record
time. Median time for arrival has been around 10 days.
Only one package is missing.
I also have had zero breakages of glass.
[Edited on 10-8-2020 by Fyndium]
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Yttrium2
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| Quote: Originally posted by JJay | | Quote: Originally posted by Yttrium2 | | Quote: Originally posted by JJay | | I don't see as much of the really cheap, low-quality stuff that arrives broken half the time. It will probably come back after the pandemic, but if
not, it's not a huge problem TBH. |
broken half the time and not a big deal!?
whatever man
For those of us who value our money and our glassware, it is a big deal, what do you suggest doing? |
If you buy the slightly more expensive glassware from the more reputable suppliers, which seem to be operational, you receive higher-quality equipment
that lasts longer. I know I don't like distended joints and bubbles in the glass. I have purchased maybe 20 pieces of the ultracheap stuff... half
arrived broken, half broke, and one is a piece that has seen a lot of use (it's a pore plate funnel, and it has bubbles, but it's held up through
hundreds of filtrations). Deschem sells for a slightly higher price, but I expect that it's higher quality and almost certain to arrive in one piece.
And if it doesn't, Deschem isn't going to try to haggle over the refund.
Most of the time, you get what you pay for. |
Deschem is about the same as nanshin, I thought you were a talking about buying Corning or some other type class of glass that isn't cheap.
I'd say deschem is one of the cheaper brands, and they too dont have a lot of their inventory posted right now on ebay.
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JJay
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Deschem and Nanshin are cheap, but there's a lower tier... I've seen 3-neck flasks for $5, short path distillation heads for under $20, cheap
soxhlets, $12 Dean-Stark adapters, etc. Right now, there's very little of that kind of stuff on eBay, but since it is typically low quality and
arrives broken much of the time, I don't miss it much.
It looks like all of the essentials are there... is there anything in particular that you can't find?
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Yttrium2
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| Quote: Originally posted by JJay | Deschem and Nanshin are cheap, but there's a lower tier... I've seen 3-neck flasks for $5, short path distillation heads for under $20, cheap
soxhlets, $12 Dean-Stark adapters, etc. Right now, there's very little of that kind of stuff on eBay, but since it is typically low quality and
arrives broken much of the time, I don't miss it much.
It looks like all of the essentials are there... is there anything in particular that you can't find? |
My bad, it is nanshin that does not have a lot of their inventory posted on eBay at the moment. Not too long ago though, I'm pretty sure both nanshin
and deschem were away.
Gone are the days of the uber cheap distillation kits.
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Bubbles
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When China was dealing with the virus and before it spread much, around February, I had some delays and 1 package which didn't arrive, but have
ordered multiple times from nanshinglass without issues since. Only difference was that they started asking 5$ for shipping instead of nothing
(probably a good thing, seems like more 'true pricing').
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JJay
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| Quote: Originally posted by Yttrium2 | | Quote: Originally posted by JJay | Deschem and Nanshin are cheap, but there's a lower tier... I've seen 3-neck flasks for $5, short path distillation heads for under $20, cheap
soxhlets, $12 Dean-Stark adapters, etc. Right now, there's very little of that kind of stuff on eBay, but since it is typically low quality and
arrives broken much of the time, I don't miss it much.
It looks like all of the essentials are there... is there anything in particular that you can't find? |
My bad, it is nanshin that does not have a lot of their inventory posted on eBay at the moment. Not too long ago though, I'm pretty sure both nanshin
and deschem were away.
Gone are the days of the uber cheap distillation kits. |
There's this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/500ml-24-40-New-Lab-Glassware-Kit-D...
The seller is reputable. I've bought from them before, and there were zero problems, and the items were high quality. I'd have to take a look through
my payment history to be sure, but that looks like one of Deschem's accounts.
The price after shipping is a bit higher than similar kits were sold for at around Christmas time by other vendors, but it's still pretty cheap.
The bottom-end vendors have some distillation kits too, but they aren't much cheaper.
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Yttrium2
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as far as true pricing i'm not to sure on the terminology
but I do know that price reflects scarcity
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Frankenshtein
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I bought a set like this recently, Im not sure if it was the same seller though. High voltage supplies are also rare.
Maybe it's time to get a blowpipe
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Dr.Bob
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I realized that one reason that the amount of cheap glassware is down is that most companies in the US that where going to downsize has done so
already, most between 2005 and 2015, and few are left to close. Big Pharma is a fraction of what it used to be, I would guess that 1/2 of research
staff from year 2000 is no longer working. Most of that has moved to India, China, eastern Europe, and other places, some just contracted out to
other US companies, but the carnage is mostly over, so much of the glassware that was being sold off from closed labs is now gone. There are still
some new biotech companies popping up, which are buying up much of the cheap glassware left, but they are pretty much at a steady state now.
Just my thoughts after thinking on this and talking to the people I used to know in chemical research, most of whom are now retired, moved to other
areas or unemployed. There are still lots of academic labs, government labs, and other contract labs left, but they are pretty stable and don;t tend
to close as often, if an academic lab closes, the nearby students pick it clean in minutes...
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Fyndium
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Has anyone any experience on Deschem heating mantles?
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MidLifeChemist
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I ordered a simple distillation kit from Deschem yesterday. Let's see how long it takes to get to the USA from China. But I didn't order a heating
mantle. I'm going to try to survive with just a hotplate / stirrer for now.
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B(a)P
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Deschem can't ship to Australia because of our customs laws sadly. I have been on the hunt for a reducing adapter from 34/35 to 24/40 for a while now
and they are the only ones that I have seen that stock one.
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ArbuzToWoda
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B(a)P!
https://sklep-chemland.pl/pl/szklo-laboratoryjne/nasadki-zla...
https://sklep-chemland.pl/pl/szklo-laboratoryjne/nasadki-zla...
24/29 is compatible with 24/40, there's not much difference.
They have a whole array of adapters. I'm sure they'll ship to Australia if you contact them by email and ask nicely. The prices are miniscule (what is
it, like 4 euros?)
Regards
[Edited on 25-9-2020 by ArbuzToWoda]
[Edited on 25-9-2020 by ArbuzToWoda]
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B(a)P
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Thanks, I had no idea 24/29 and 24/40 were compatible!
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nzlostpass
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The 24 is the angle and the 40 or 29 is the length so they dont seal perfectly due to being diff lengths but do fit. Depends what your use is.
What we need here is someone who can receive and reship items like this to countries that the vendors wont ship to.
I struck the same thing from a chem company in usa....they would sell to me but I had to get someone in usa to receive it and resend to me, which I
knew noone so couldnt go ahead.
Obviously this person w/could be rewarded for their service.
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