Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Buying chemicals in Poland "OTC"

Buying chemicals in Poland "OTC"

DrScrabs - 8-8-2019 at 04:25

So I am in Poland visiting the family of my girlfriend and was hoping to may get some nice chemicals in my hands wich are either too expensive or hard to aquire in Germany. I had no idea how it will turn out and didn´t expect anything as I never tried to find a supplier in Poland. But I thought there have to be chemicals like KNO3 wich should be OTC because there has to be a reason why I like to call polish firecrackers "flying fingers".

It tourned out they are not OTC, they are off the pallet.
I asked for 3 or 4 kg´s of KNO3 and I expected an answer like in Germany (too dangerous, they don´t sell, etc) but the answer was "Too less, we only have 25kg bags for 170 Zloty (40 Eur)". Of course I bought it and it turned out to be ACS/Ph.Eur. grade stuff. There were no questions asked, wich was totally unbelievable for me, maybe I am too "german".
They had everything I could think about at the moment and more in the stock!
It was amazing, I think I have to marry my girlfriend

The only drawbacks are that you need to take quite big amounts like 25kg+ but they are cheap, and you can´t trust them with the ACS grade. The guy who helped me finding the KNO3 didn´t had a clue about chemistry and while looking around, he put his hand in an open bag with Cr(III) and Cr (VI). I dont even know why they where open. And you need somebody who speaks polish or the substance translated in polish written down.

I myself will never ever order expensive chemicals in Germany again. I found my supplier where I can buy lifetime stocks of chemicals or low! Chemia Bielsko, where I have been

DrScrabs

Tsjerk - 8-8-2019 at 08:13

Marry her and take the hands in ASC grade chems for granted

DrScrabs - 8-8-2019 at 11:03

I think I will, just waiting to get two tiny pieces of the rocks they brought with the apollo missions for the rings

.
Nevermind, somebody of you has a good idea for the rings? I really dislike diamonds. Rh, Pt and a nice stone are the way to go IMHO.

mackolol - 8-8-2019 at 11:44

I'm from Poland and i can recommend you companies such as:
http://hadronscientific.pl/en/ - cheap, useful chemicals ;
http://chemik.aip.pl/ - variety of chemicals, very vast assortiment even some exotic ones, cheap;
https://pol-aura.pl/ - good quality stuff,
http://www.odczynnikichemiczne.sklepna5.pl - there you can buy little quantities just to test reaction, also vast assortiment and some exotic stuff, you can also order bigger quantities but you have to text the owner.
https://www.sklep.archem.com.pl/ - there you can buy lots of acids, for just about nothing, for example 20l of sulfuric acid costs just about 90zł (20eur) + shipping to Poland like 150zł (35eur)
welcome to Poland paradise for amateur chems

Loptr - 8-8-2019 at 12:39

You guys sound very lucky! I wish I lived in Poland.

Tell me something bad about living in Poland to keep me from up and moving there.

DrScrabs - 8-8-2019 at 13:19

Quote: Originally posted by mackolol

welcome to Poland paradise for amateur chems

Yes it is! Thanks for your recommendations, they are really helpful! I really love the mentality of poland. They are not feared about new or unknown stuff. They are amazed if you know stuff.

Quote: Originally posted by Loptr

You guys sound very lucky! I wish I lived in Poland.

Tell me something bad about living in Poland to keep me from up and moving there.

Well, the woman are beautiful, stuff is pretty cheap if you exchange from another currency and if you buy a pallet of beer on a festival with a million visitors, it´s cold!

Tsjerk - 8-8-2019 at 19:55

Quote: Originally posted by DrScrabs

I think I will, just waiting to get two tiny pieces of the rocks they brought with the apollo missions for the rings

.
Nevermind, somebody of you has a good idea for the rings? I really dislike diamonds. Rh, Pt and a nice stone are the way to go IMHO.

If I had a choice I would go for rhodium... but you will need a very skilled craftsman to make a durable ring out of rhodium; won't be cheap! But hey! If you want to marry her, go for it.

TheMrbunGee - 8-8-2019 at 22:49

Quote: Originally posted by mackolol

I'm from Poland and i can recommend you companies such as:
http://hadronscientific.pl/en/ - cheap, useful chemicals ;
http://chemik.aip.pl/ - variety of chemicals, very vast assortiment even some exotic ones, cheap;
https://pol-aura.pl/ - good quality stuff,
http://www.odczynnikichemiczne.sklepna5.pl - there you can buy little quantities just to test reaction, also vast assortiment and some exotic stuff, you can also order bigger quantities but you have to text the owner.
https://www.sklep.archem.com.pl/ - there you can buy lots of acids, for just about nothing, for example 20l of sulfuric acid costs just about 90zł (20eur) + shipping to Poland like 150zł (35eur)
welcome to Poland paradise for amateur chems

OMG, the prices, the assortment, so envious!

Herr Haber - 9-8-2019 at 00:42

I've had a bad experience last year with https://keten.com.pl/
Never sent the goods, plays dumb and plays dead most of the time.

Basically a thief.

My only bad experience with a Polish supplier.

I of course strongly recommend Mario from this forum and Onyx Met (elements candy store)

mackolol - 9-8-2019 at 08:04

Also the very interesting stuff with supliers in Poland is that many of them sell a lot of suspicious but still legal chemicals. Such as methylamine hydrochloride with photo of barrel written "Breaking bad" on it and they dont give a shit. You can also buy p2np, formamide, methylformamide, substituted acetophenones, but I'm pretty sure that if you order p2np or such, you can be checked by police, because however chemicals more dangerous are monitored and p2np's use is only one.
And of course things doesn't go so well if it's matter of local chemical shops. You must sign yourself in, when you buy acids or such and if you dont have company youre not gonna get lot of things and of course you must be an adult to even buy a salt from shop (in comparison to internet buying I, as not adult person can get everything by myself).

dawt - 7-5-2020 at 10:18

Anyone know what's up with Hadron Scientific? I sent an email inquiring about ordering a bunch of stuff over a month ago, but haven't heard back from them. All emails are going unanswered.

mackolol - 7-5-2020 at 23:57

Hadron scientific is quite good company, I order from them from time to time, but unfortunately now, due to problems with shipping from China, because of epidemy, they're nit available.

Bedlasky - 8-5-2020 at 02:21

Quote: Originally posted by DrScrabs

I myself will never ever order expensive chemicals in Germany again. I found my supplier where I can buy lifetime stocks of chemicals or low! Chemia Bielsko, where I have been

Bielsko is close to me, just accross the CZ/PL border. It's good to know about supplier which is that close to me. Maybe in future I'll look at this store. But for now I have few good CZ suppliers and can get lot's of interesting chemicals from my friend. Thank you for info!

metalresearcher - 8-5-2020 at 08:40

Quote: Originally posted by mackolol

Hadron scientific is quite good company, I order from them from time to time, but unfortunately now, due to problems with shipping from China, because of epidemy, they're nit available.

No problems here. Ordering via Amazon or ebay works normally. Today I got an order (electronics) ordered 2 weeks ago.

mackolol - 8-5-2020 at 12:43

Quote: Originally posted by metalresearcher

Quote: Originally posted by mackolol

Hadron scientific is quite good company, I order from them from time to time, but unfortunately now, due to problems with shipping from China, because of epidemy, they're nit available.

No problems here. Ordering via Amazon or ebay works normally. Today I got an order (electronics) ordered 2 weeks ago.

That's interesting. Can you give me the link? I can't find them at these websites, neither do they sell electronics.

Last time, when I phonecalled company service to ask about some chemicals, they told me that due to such problems these reagents are finished.

DavidJR - 8-5-2020 at 19:02

I think that was a general comment on shipping out of China.

mackolol - 9-5-2020 at 00:44

Quote: Originally posted by DavidJR

I think that was a general comment on shipping out of China.

For what I have understood, they just take their reagents from China and now their source is limited, as it is company in Poland.

DavidJR - 12-5-2020 at 19:30

Quote: Originally posted by mackolol

Do any of these companies ship internationally?

B(a)P - 12-5-2020 at 20:19

Quote: Originally posted by DavidJR

Do any of these companies ship internationally?

Hadron does.

Edit: see above in this thread, it appears they are having stocking issues ATM.

[Edited on 13-5-2020 by B(a)P]

Refinery - 13-5-2020 at 06:00

At least a couple of them will do domestic PL shipping only.

mackolol - 13-5-2020 at 06:43

I believe that Pol Aura does, they even have english version of the site, but I don't know how is it now during the epidemy. It used to be one of the biggest chemical companies in Poland since very long. They have list of manufacturers on their site.

[Edited on 13-5-2020 by mackolol]

DavidJR - 13-5-2020 at 09:22

Okay, thank you. I will report back if successful.

outer_limits - 13-5-2020 at 09:27

Regarding Pol-Aura - I'm not so sure.
In conditions, they included information that only domestic delivery is available.

Mabus - 13-5-2020 at 09:45

Do any of these companies accept payment via Transferwise or Paypal?

DavidJR - 13-5-2020 at 10:00

Quote: Originally posted by outer_limits

Regarding Pol-Aura - I'm not so sure.
In conditions, they included information that only domestic delivery is available.

It seems that is correct. On the basket you have to select the country, and although United Kingdom is in the list (which is not just the standard list of every country, it's shorter than that) it just says there's no available shipping/payment methods. If I select Poland then that changes.

mackolol - 13-5-2020 at 12:04

Quote: Originally posted by DavidJR

Quote: Originally posted by outer_limits

Regarding Pol-Aura - I'm not so sure.
In conditions, they included information that only domestic delivery is available.

I think you're right, Poland doesn't export much things on common market

[Edited on 13-5-2020 by mackolol]

DavidJR - 13-5-2020 at 15:46

Quote: Originally posted by mackolol

I think you're right, Poland doesn't export much things on common market

Isn't Onyxmet based in Poland? I've ordered from them many times.

outer_limits - 13-5-2020 at 17:30

Yes, he is from Poland.
You can check also https://www.n2o3.com. I don't see any shipping restrictions there.
Regarding quality - I made 3 orders there. Sometimes you have to wait few weeks but quality and service is good.
The first time I bought something there the container of one of the chemicals broke in the transport. After a call they just asked if I can wait for another one. One week later I received the product.

mackolol - 14-5-2020 at 02:53

I never ordered from these sites to be honest. I never paid attention to Onyxmet and n2o3 always seemed little too expensive for me in comparison to other sites.

Tellurium - 15-5-2020 at 08:06

Quote: Originally posted by mackolol

I'm from Poland and i can recommend you companies such as:
http://hadronscientific.pl/en/ - cheap, useful chemicals ;

Are they still active? Because no one responded to my order the last nearly four days. Or do I have to write in polish? I wrote in english, because the website apart from polish is also in english

mackolol - 15-5-2020 at 10:50

Quote: Originally posted by Tellurium

Are they still active? Because no one responded to my order the last nearly four days. Or do I have to write in polish? I wrote in english, because the website apart from polish is also in english

They suck in e-mail responsing, that's why I always phonecall them. I wanted to order o chlorobenzoic acid from them since december though, but they had some problems with moving the company to another place and the guy didn't care enough to find the last bits of it in stock and now, due to epidemy, you won't order much from them and my OCBA is gone :'/ . That's why, I believe they don't give any responses for emails.

Tellurium - 16-5-2020 at 04:18

Well good to know, thanks! I'll try to call them!(hope they understand english lol).
I really would like to help you out with OCBA, but mine is also gone since a few days

But just take Phthalimide(or make it from phthalic anhydride and ammonia) and make a Hofmann rearrangement(I used NaOH and Br2, but you can also use NaOCl) to get Anthranilic acid. And then just make a diazotation followed by a sandmeyer with CuCl - thats how I got mine

dawt - 16-5-2020 at 06:05

Quote: Originally posted by Tellurium

I'll try to call them!(hope they understand english lol).

Let us know how that went! I tried ordering ~50 items by email and would hate to have to relay all that over the phone to someone who doesn't understand me D:

Tellurium - 16-5-2020 at 06:19

I didn't reached anyone through the phone yet, maybe they don't work on saturdays. I'll try again some other day.
Well I guess we both have the same problem, I also tried to order quite a lot

Just curious: When did you send your email?

G-Coupled - 16-5-2020 at 06:55

I must say that the prices on reagents from the listed Polish companies are absolutely mind-blowingly reasonable. If any/all of them do EU shipping, then that is like a dream come true.

Would it be reasonable to say that only the most 'watched' of reagents such as Phenylacetone would be problematic to order, I wonder?

[Edited on 16-5-2020 by G-Coupled]

Tellurium - 16-5-2020 at 09:29

Oh yeah, its absolutely mindblowing how cheap stuff can be there! You won't be on the watchlist as fast, as when you are ordering stuff for example in germany(I know someone that ordered Acetone and beakers and had the police coming, absolutely ridiculous :mad:

). But still I wouldn't order stuff like Phenylacetone, or 4-Bromo-2,5-Dimethoxybenzaldehyde(offered along with 2,5-Dimethoxybenzaldehyde and a lot of other "suspicious" stuff on ebay by seller aldehydcom), because everyone knows, what this is used for, and most of these things don't have other legitimate uses

Also Phenylacetone can be made quite easily! Just for fun I did a small scale synthesis using freshly prepared Bromoacetone and Benzene using a two times molar excess of AlCl3. Even 2,5-Dimethoxybenzaldehyde isn't that hard to make, I'm currently working on that as my next video project

Maybe I will instead make 2-Ethoxy-5-Methoxybenzaldehyde, but the process is exactly the same, maybe I'm also doing both

[Edited on 16-5-2020 by Tellurium]

[Edited on 16-5-2020 by Tellurium]

[Edited on 16-5-2020 by Tellurium]

G-Coupled - 16-5-2020 at 10:35

Quote: Originally posted by Tellurium

...Even 2,5-Dimethoxybenzaldehyde isn't that hard to make, I'm currently working on that as my next video project...

That's cool - I very much look forwards to your video.

Tellurium - 16-5-2020 at 10:53

Thanks! I already tried the reaction out yesterday, but my addition phunnel didn't hold the CHCl3 when pouring in so the Reimer-Thiemann-Reaction rised to over 70°C evaporating off all the Chloroform and giving me a ton of tar without any isolatable product

And I have to wait to get new Chloroform from Mario. But in the meantime there will be a synthesis of 5-MeO-Tryptamine, if the reaction today works, like it is supposed to

In regards to ordering from poland:
Today I nearly fell for a polish website, that looks like a scam website! I even placed my order, but I won't pay and cancel the order!
This Paraformaldehyde looked very cheap, even cheaper, than buying 1kg somewhere else, so I wanted to get that and sell the remaining 24kg very cheap here on SM.
But it appears, like the trusted shops Icon is completely fake, which is extremely suspicious! Also for a website, that you will find nearly no information about a visitor count of 14074463 seems way to high! That is the german website, that I found(which is polish in parts anyways, they also have a website, thats entirely in polish).
Thats the website: https://galvet.de/paraformaldehyd-25kg-transport-adr-un-2213...
After searching for them on facebook I even found someone, that claimed to have ordered for there and never got anything - thanks god(or the flying spaghetti monster), that I haven't paid yet

dawt - 17-5-2020 at 06:50

Quote: Originally posted by Tellurium

Just curious: When did you send your email?

First mail was sent late March, second one late April.

Quote: Originally posted by outer_limits

Yes, he is from Poland.
You can check also https://www.n2o3.com. I don't see any shipping restrictions there.

Christ, finding anything on that website is terrible. :/

I'm wondering if you could use a reshiping service from Poland to order at Pol-Aura? I'm drooling all over their catalogue. Pricey, but I see all sorts of things I never knew I wanted.

mackolol - 17-5-2020 at 11:14

Quote: Originally posted by Tellurium

Well good to know, thanks! I'll try to call them!(hope they understand english lol).
I really would like to help you out with OCBA, but mine is also gone since a few days

I tried it, but haven't obtained any product and to be honest I don't want to use my precious anthranillic acid for making OCBA because I hate the reaction, it's complicated and annoying.

TGSpecialist1 - 28-6-2021 at 05:27

More shops:
https://warchem.pl/
https://chemik.aip.pl/
http://www.pyrogarage.pl/chemicals.htm
https://zielonyklub.pl/
https://www.agani.pl/category/en/surowce
https://www.zrobsobiekrem.pl/pl/i/O-nas/1
https://ichemia.pl/
https://sklep-chemland.pl/en/
https://envolab.pl/sklep/
https://biochemia.com.pl/
https://organicchemistrypoland.pl/

Oxy - 28-6-2021 at 06:52

The last 2 look like police honeypots

FrenchChemist - 28-6-2021 at 07:02

Quote: Originally posted by Oxy

The last 2 look like police honeypots

And you are right, according to a message from my good friend (info from the beginning of last year), the first one is constantly monitored by the police and even changed the company to a colleague, while the second one has frequent checks and contact with him is also quite risky.
Unfortunately, the police can also use the Internet and the products offered (even phenylacetic acid) do not pass without attention.

Fery - 28-6-2021 at 07:03

TGSpecialist1 thanks for the big list !!!
I recommend chemland, I've bought a lot of glass from this company. They also sell reagents but only after providing business ID, these are very cheap though only very limited (circa 20 reagents today like inorganic acids, solvents like methanol, dichlormethane, acetone, isopropanol).

karolus28 - 1-9-2021 at 05:50

allegro.pl is like polish eBay. There is a ton of stuff on there, but even though there are some links in english at the bottom of the site, the interface is only in polish.
Some sellers I collected:

Hadron: https://allegro.pl/uzytkownik/chemdreamland ,

https://allegro.pl/uzytkownik/kemikals ,

https://allegro.pl/uzytkownik/KeteN-33 here they sell, some cool stuff like diethyl eter, methylamine(with bussiness ID but still), KMnO4, hydrogen iodide, a kg of sodium, potassium chloroplatinate,

https://allegro.pl/uzytkownik/Chemia1902 - 1l HCl for 10pln, is the only reason to put em here,

https://allegro.pl/uzytkownik/AKTYN_POZNAN ,

https://allegro.pl/uzytkownik/SELKAT_PL , a TON of powdered metal and other stuff,

https://allegro.pl/uzytkownik/warchem_spzoo official warchem's store,

https://allegro.pl/uzytkownik/biomus_natura a lot of stuff cheap

If you're on PC you can do something like this

Screenshot from 2021-09-01 15-49-03.png - 61kB

[Edited on 1-9-2021 by karolus28]

karlos³ - 1-9-2021 at 07:51

Do you know if the sellers there also ship inside the EU?
I guess it will be very expensive, as most shipping from poland is.

Fery - 1-9-2021 at 10:59

karlos³ shipping from Poland is not so expensive, I ordered lab glass few times already at scale like 250 pieces which arrived on wooden palette and of volume > 0,5 m3 and the shipment was always like 20 EUR, but we are neighboring countries... the courier was always Raben (for such bulky packages)

Fyndium - 1-9-2021 at 11:13

A pallet of glass cost me about 40€ when I ordered it from PL sometime ago. Normal packages from courier services tend to cost between 15 to 30 €, so I don't see it getting expensive.

karolus28 - 1-9-2021 at 12:59

Quote: Originally posted by karlos³

Do you know if the sellers there also ship inside the EU?
I guess it will be very expensive, as most shipping from poland is.

afaik it used to be like "allegro's international shipping" that was like 30 PLN, but now they changed some policies and I guess you're now supposed to ask the seller about international shipping

you also have to make an account to buy

karlos³ - 1-9-2021 at 15:20

Well, I meant "expensive", which is around 30€, not really expensive, but in comparison really.
Especially from poland to germany, when I pay 30€ for this I feel ripped off.
When other countries next door, one border, and even further away, still cost rarely half as much.

Guess the only polish supplier who was a nice exception, for me personally, was Tom from onyxmet so far.

[Edited on 1-9-2021 by karlos³]

Fery - 1-9-2021 at 19:19

I'm also very satisfied with onyxmet, I have bought from Tom a lot of times already. IIRC when the order was in few hundreds of EUR the shipment was free?
Of course order from other PL supplier which has to be delivered on pallet - in such a case I buy so many items that the price of shipment is negligible. I wouldn't expect pallet delivery to be free.
karolus28 thx for the info, maybe I'll try to buy something from allegro.pl, just to have this kind of experience and report it here, so it could help also others

[Edited on 2-9-2021 by Fery]

Fyndium - 2-9-2021 at 01:27

Is it true that purchasing many reagents is actually quite restricted in Poland for an individual?

chemship1978 - 2-9-2021 at 02:42

Yes, please keep in mind that without a business reagents like permanganate or red phosphorus or conc. acids are restricted by drug precursor laws and anti-EM laws.

karolus28 - 2-9-2021 at 05:41

the others are, but potassium permanganate I think is possible to buy, though you have to fill some kind of a "declaration of use", so they send you a paper, you have to print it, sign it, and send a picture to them, I've never done this before but if you're not from poland then it might be problematic so I wouldn't reccomend doing that

nitrates and metal powders are on the "monitored" list

UE says that ammonium nitrate above about 50% (16% of nitrogen) is illegal but in Poland you can buy it as fertiliser 95%pure (34% nitrogen), just search "saletra amonowa 34" here they sell 1kg of that fertilizer but the frice is as if you were buying a 25kg bag, I bought 3kg of urea, 1kg MgSO4 and 8kg of AN from them - everything dissolves and crystalizes as it sould

[Edited on 2-9-2021 by karolus28]

Bedlasky - 3-9-2021 at 09:30

I can by KMnO4 without any declaration in my country.

Fyndium - 3-9-2021 at 10:00

Apparently I can too. At least a couple of online stores sell it by the kilo, for various reasons. It is listed as a precursor, but apparently the list is not that absolute.

After the new ban directive, there were two options countries could adapt: a licensing system, or total ban. Some countries chose total ban, and as I was under impression that Poland was one of these countries?

valeg96 - 6-9-2021 at 11:39

I went to the Czech Republic and Poland for the holidays and had to stop in Warsaw, so I said "why not?" and placed an online order with Warchem and selected "cash" as payment method.

They don't speak english, but I sent them an email with the days I was going to be in Warsaw. Turns out public transport in Warsaw is very efficient and there is a bus stop in front of their store, so I just went there, handed them the money and they pulled out my tray of reagents.
The same day I shipped them home with economy mail.

Overall I paid 120€ for 40 different reagents (15 indicators in the 1-5 g scale and some analytical primary standards as well such as acid potassium phthalate or inorganics I didn't want to make like CdO or PbO).

No questions asked and good quality chemicals you can't find in many other places. If you provide them with your ID they even sell As compounds to the general public, fyi.

If any of you ever stops by in Warsaw I highly suggest placing an order online. They don't speak English but they are professional nonetheless.