evil_lurker
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I'm bout ready to hang it up on glassware sellers on Ebay..
USPS broke ANOTHER piece of glassware... this time it was a Chemglass modified solvent stillhead used for a sodium benzophenone ketyl still... a very
nice large 1000ml model.
Snapped the damn outlet right off the bitch, cracked both the lower vapor tube and the side tube.
Paid $40 to ship the damn thing an the stupid seller was too freaking cheap to get insurance.
Needless I had to take a freaking Xanax to calm down and am filing a dispute with paypal in the morning.
Hopefully I'll get my money back.
From now on, I will stick to UGT, make sure EVERYTHING is insured (to full replacement value), and avoid other glassware sellers like the plague.
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kaviaari
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This is one of the reasons I don't like buying any stuff from ebay etc. I prefer clean, new, neat glassware form well known company. It might be a bit
expensive, but you know what you get.
[Edited on 14-4-2007 by kaviaari]
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Sauron
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Sorry to disabuse you but, USPS basically NEVER pays off on such claims even if the shipper purchased insurance.
If you want insurance insist on UPS or FedX, and insist on proper double boxing. If the shipper packs negligently no one will pay off. A seller
shipping lab glass needs to know how to pack competently.
My people in SF CA who transship to me, are professional shippers, and the above is their advice. USPS insurance is like burning your money.
PS eBay SUCKS. PayPal which they own blows corpses.
[Edited on 14-4-2007 by Sauron]
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evil_lurker
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Sauron
Sorry to disabuse you but, USPS basically NEVER pays off on such claims even if the shipper purchased insurance.
If you want insurance insist on UPS or FedX, and insist on proper double boxing. If the shipper packs negligently no one will pay off. A seller
shipping lab glass needs to know how to pack competently.
My people in SF CA who transship to me, are professional shippers, and the above is their advice. USPS insurance is like burning your money.
PS eBay SUCKS. PayPal which they own blows corpses.
[Edited on 14-4-2007 by Sauron] |
Amen.
But, I have never gone wrong with United Glass Tech and have bought many items from them via Ebay, most of which get shipped via USPS. Everything is
packed well, even the very fragile items and I have never had anything broken. Their glass is also Pyrex equivalent, and from what they have been
stating as of late is that much of their newer glassware is real genuine Pyrex.
On the upside, I did get a slightly used and very clean Pyrex brand 500ml gas wash bottle for the low low price of $30 from another seller... course
it was shipped UPS and came in great condition. Figured that would have set me back about $175+ new.
Hell I may just see if UGT can manufacture me a stillhead. I'm looking at one of the larger ones anyways, up to 2000ml capacity in the resevoir.
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Aurum
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evil_lurker
Posts: 361
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Mood: Addicted to Ebay!
You need to change your mood.
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JustMe
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Uhm, its legal to sell glassware on eBay???
Wow. I still have all my old stuff (some unused) from 35 years ago. Just packed up and in storage. I can sure use some extra $$$. Hm, will have to
look into this. I just hate having to set up a paypal account.
Interesting, yes, interesting. (I don't even know what one of the things I have is called, LOL.)
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chemrox
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STAY AWAY FROM EBAY GLASS
you're right ..STAY AWAY FROM EBAY!!
I don't need the competition
[Edited on 14-4-2007 by chemrox]
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Blind Angel
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you all sound like if you would have something to sell, me might be interested if you have better cheap glassware source.
/}/_//|//) /-\\/|//¬/=/_
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Magpie
lab constructor
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Mood: Chemistry: the subtle science.
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Evil, I sympathize with you on breakage of your much anticipated fancy piece of glassware. My first eBay purchase was a large antique desiccator and
it arrived broken. It was poorly packaged due to inexperience/poor judgement of the seller. I have bought a fair amount of glassware since off eBay,
all unbroken, so far. You are just taking a chance with any naive shipper of glassware.
I've had great packaging with all of the professional supply houses except one: Fisher Scientific. They sent me 2 broken high temperature
thermometers. I had to make many phone calls, finally to their corporate office, to get my money back. They ship from warehouses all over the
country and seem to have little quality control or consistency.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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obsessed_chemist
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^ May I ask how you managed to get a personal order from Fisher?
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Magpie
lab constructor
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I've never had any problem ordering equipment over the phone or internet via credit card. They won't sell an individual chemicals, however. Same
goes for the other big boys.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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JustMe
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(Cue the music) Anticipation....
You guys have got me motivated. So if I can clean up the stuff and figure out how to post a picture I'll start a thread to see if anyone is interested
(in the USA) in my old glassware... untouched for about 30 years. Glancing through it I noticed multiple ground glass round bottom flasks, a straight
condensation tube, a really, REALLY fancy ground glass reflux/condenser/fractioning column???? thing a ma jig (I dunno what it is or where I got it),
pipettes, a thermometer, other miscellaneous flasks... possibly a beaker or two (it is all jumbled), just stuff. Thing is I don't want to part it out
if I can help it... want to start as a package deal.
Although not encrusted, the stuff has been sitting around and is dirty. Dumb question... because I don't have any brushes or KOH, can glassware be
cleaned in a dishwasher?
Anywho, cleaning (maybe), figuring out the "value", taking a picture and posting it will be a weekend project soon if I see interest. I've been
informed it is okay to offer this for sale here, but that this board makes no assurances either for me (seller) or the buyer. Hey, I'm cool with that.
Best to offer it here first before going through the trouble of finally setting up that eBay account. LOL.
I still have to figure out a fair price or whether to allow "bidding up." Feedback, guys?
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Blind Angel
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@Magpie: Strange I tried to order the Metabolic Pathways poster from Sigma-Aldrich and they did not want to take my order since i was an individual.
/}/_//|//) /-\\/|//¬/=/_
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Magpie
lab constructor
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Blind Angel, I was referring to major scientific supply houses. Not what I think of as principally chemical supply houses like Sigma Aldrich, Alfa
Aesar and the like. I have never tried to order anything from them - I didn't think it would do any good. I imagine the govt has already done a
thorough job of intimidating them.
It is amzing that they wouldn't sell you a fucking poster for crying out loud. Blanket policy I imagine. One size fits all, etc.
[Edited on by Magpie]
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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visitation123
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Join the club
They broke a vacuum dessicator we ordered. Luckily it only cost me 10USD + postage.
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evil_lurker
National Hazard
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Ok Ok, so I got my money back and am back at Ebay buying stuff like a dumbass, lol.
Here is what I have developed for instructions to give to sellers for shipping delicate glassware:
It has been my experience with previous sellers that some items are not packed sufficiantly to survive transport. Please
ship the item UPS as USPS has broken several expensive items already and refused to pay insurance claims. Please take the item to a UPS store and have
them do the packing so that if the item is damaged during transport they can't place the blame on you for improplerly packaging the item and
subsequently deny the claim. Make sure they leave a minimum of 6-8" of distance between the walls of the box and all parts of the item, plaster
"fragile" stickers on the outside of the box, and insure the item in the amount of a brand new replacement ($xxx.xx). I realize this may require some
upcharge in shipping and handling costs, please let me know how much and I will send the amount via Paypal.
[Edited on 29-4-2007 by evil_lurker]
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BeanyBoy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by JustMe
(Cue the music) Anticipation....
You guys have got me motivated. So if I can clean up the stuff and figure out how to post a picture I'll start a thread to see if anyone is interested
(in the USA) in my old glassware... untouched for about 30 years. Glancing through it I noticed multiple ground glass round bottom flasks, a straight
condensation tube, a really, REALLY fancy ground glass reflux/condenser/fractioning column???? thing a ma jig (I dunno what it is or where I got it),
pipettes, a thermometer, other miscellaneous flasks... possibly a beaker or two (it is all jumbled), just stuff. Thing is I don't want to part it out
if I can help it... want to start as a package deal.
Although not encrusted, the stuff has been sitting around and is dirty. Dumb question... because I don't have any brushes or KOH, can glassware be
cleaned in a dishwasher?
Anywho, cleaning (maybe), figuring out the "value", taking a picture and posting it will be a weekend project soon if I see interest. I've been
informed it is okay to offer this for sale here, but that this board makes no assurances either for me (seller) or the buyer. Hey, I'm cool with that.
Best to offer it here first before going through the trouble of finally setting up that eBay account. LOL.
I still have to figure out a fair price or whether to allow "bidding up." Feedback, guys? |
Probably not a lot of deep pockets here, so unless your expected price for the whole package was really lucrative, I'm not sure how much heat it would
get. OTOH, broken up (oops bad way to describe a collection of glassware) into "packages", like all the pipettes together, etc, might be more
attactive. I'm buying both new and used, even though it seems like I spend the difference cleaning the used stuff.
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Chris The Great
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Actually, I've have UGT send me a broken condenser AND claisen... but a quick phone call got them replaced with no hassle other than me being away at
school at the time and my parents forgetting to send it back for a month 
I have found chemglass makes much higher quality glassware than UGT, for when I decide to buy new. I prefer to avoid doing so though, as it is very
expensive compared to eBay. Although it is a heck of a lot easier to just buy from UGT then to scam your way into getting chemglass to sell to you
lol
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conducter
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i fucking got stiffed on a teflon stir bar! i mean im happy that it was only 7 bucks, but still. It pisses me off, cuz stir bars can run about 20
dollars, and this was a great deal.
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Magpie
lab constructor
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Conducter I assume you are aware that you can report this "failure to deliver" to eBay. eBay has ways of putting more pressure on the seller than you
can. I put this technique to successful use in one instance.
It was a strange case. The seller was polite but just had one excuse after another, ie, (1) went on vacation, (2) death in the family, and (3) very
ill. This dragged on for about 2 months. Then I gave her an ultimatim and started processing it thru eBay. She came thru shortly thereafter.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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conducter
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hmm i will check that out, but i have never heard of that magpie. If you could maybe tell me a little more i will definatly do that.
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Magpie
lab constructor
Posts: 5939
Registered: 1-11-2003
Location: USA
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Mood: Chemistry: the subtle science.
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Go to eBay's homepage. At the bottom of the page toggle "Security & Resolution Center." From there on just fill in the blanks.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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late-nite
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Question on UGT... does their packaging, particularly their return label make it obvious to the snooping bystander as to the contents? BTW, I've
bought many pieces of glass off of ebay since '99, never had a problem yet except the 6 sep. funnels that had rubber bands as clips for the GG
stopcocks. A minor detail they forgot to mention...
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Nick F
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I´ve had one experience with UGT, and I was basically happy, BUT - I spent about $1000 on glass, and they "forgot" about $100 worth. I emailed them
about it but got no response at all. So IMHO, their glass is good quality and was well packed, but their customer service could be improved...
As for rubber bands holding stopcocks in place... I agree it´s not ideal, but hey, it works!
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blazter
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I've been unlucky enough to have lost a 1000ml pressure equalized addition funnel from an ebay seller. The dumb seller didnt even add any padding,
just left it in the manufacturer's box. Fortunately, the shipper did put insurance on it, and after a couple weeks of messing around getting the
necessary papers, USPS did mail me a money order for the purchase price of the glass.
It was kind of odd bringing it back to the local post office though. A broken addition funnel of that size could have been mistaken for some kind of
exotic bong.
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