Sciencemadness Discussion Board - I ordered chemicals from TEMU so you don’t have to…

I ordered chemicals from TEMU so you don’t have to…

moviez - 23-9-2025 at 17:19

I ordered a bottle of nitric acid from temu for almost $30. After more than 1 week, I received “nitric acid substitute” in my mail.. This is in fact sodium nitrate which you can buy with decent purity from fertilizer store for $2-3 per lbs…

To be fair, temu wasn’t always a disaster. I ordered some simple glassware (test tubes, flasks) on temu and they were fine. But apparently it’s not a place to order any chemicals…

Just wanted to share this with my fellow science lovers.

Sulaiman - 23-9-2025 at 23:59

does temu not have a refund policy ?

greenlight - 24-9-2025 at 09:22

That is more than unsatisfactory.
They could have at least made it a DIY kit and included sufuric acid to distill it yourself.

Surely you can get refunded for that, it is clearly not the product advertised.

moviez - 24-9-2025 at 16:03

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman

does temu not have a refund policy ?

I have requested a return for refund. My intention was to just share my experience so hopefully no one else will experience this issue.

moviez - 24-9-2025 at 16:05

Quote: Originally posted by greenlight

That is more than unsatisfactory.
They could have at least made it a DIY kit and included sufuric acid to distill it yourself.

Surely you can get refunded for that, it is clearly not the product advertised.

Thanks. It’s indeed quite disappointing because nitric acid is not something that one can easily acquire for a reasonable price. Apparently Temu was not one of those places.

bnull - 24-9-2025 at 16:15

Sulfuric acid? No, the instructions are very clear:

Quote:

Mix this NITRIC ACID SUBSTITUTE with hydrochloric acid, to produce nitrogen dioxide gas, which is then dissolved in water to form nitric acid.

I've seen some very interesting items for sale on Temu a few years ago but, given that the platform is ripe with scams, that its customer service is as good as a dog turd, and that it has loads of legal problems, many of them related to user data, I prefer to stay away from it. Waiting weeks for an acquisition to arrive only to see that what reaches my doorstep is the functional equivalent of a brick is not in my plans.

Thank you for serving as a Guinea pig. May you get your refund.

[Edited on 25-9-2025 by bnull]

MrDoctor - 25-9-2025 at 00:27

my experience buying iodide salts from similar places has resulted in getting mixtures containing large portions of chloride resulting in horrible yields and usually losing a bunch more to the formation of iodine-chlorides which form pretty, solid red gasses that resemble NO2. on the plus side, im now really good at iodine recovery.

DraconicAcid - 25-9-2025 at 07:35

I honestly wouldn't even try buying anything liquid from Temu or Ali. I wouldn't trust it not to leak en route.

Fulmen - 25-9-2025 at 12:02

I simply refuse to do business with them based on their more than questionable ads. What can you get there that you won't find at aliexpress?

chempyre235 - 25-9-2025 at 12:42

I'd recommend Carolina, or DIY Chemicals.

bariumbromate - 25-9-2025 at 14:21

aliexpress does have pretty good glassware and i got a great microwave kiln from temu for only $30 aud..

chloric1 - 26-9-2025 at 13:31

Quote: Originally posted by chempyre235

I'd recommend Carolina, or DIY Chemicals.

Don’t be afraid to cross compare! DIY prices on certain things can be VERY high but they include shipping in the price. Alliance chemical is another good vender. So figure out what Alliance will charge for shipping compared to DIY chemicals.

moviez - 26-9-2025 at 21:33

Quote: Originally posted by Fulmen

I simply refuse to do business with them based on their more than questionable ads. What can you get there that you won't find at aliexpress?

To be fair, I ordered glass test tubes and beakers from Temu and they arrived alright. It depends on the seller- once I know which seller is reputable I’d buy from the same seller whenever their items are on sale or I have credits to use. Temu’s screening process for reputable sellers is almost nonexistent so there’s always a risk you buy from a dishonest seller and won’t get what you paid for. So if you prefer to avoid headaches completely it’s not a bad idea to not buy from them.

myzel9 - 28-9-2025 at 00:34

You can find legit 1,4 B-diol on both sites. But you have to read between the lines. Some are so cryptic you'll have no clue what they are selling It came when it was sorta cold and froze slightly below rt.

bnull - 28-9-2025 at 02:45

There is another thing that helps to find good stuff, at least on eBay: the power of typo. People misspell names, either by accident or by ignorance. There is a site, FatFingers (https://fatfingers.com/), that helps to find misnamed stuff. I don't know if it is still as good as it used to be but, given that the art of misspelling hasn't changed, the site probably works as before.

chempyre235 - 29-9-2025 at 08:59

Quote: Originally posted by chloric1

Quote: Originally posted by chempyre235

I'd recommend Carolina, or DIY Chemicals.

Haven't heard of them. I'll have to add to my list of suppliers. The list on this forum is very outdated, so I made my own. Do you know if they ship to residential locations?

[Edit]: While searching, I came across another US-based distributor: Level-7. Seems reputable, but only does bulk quantities. They will ship residential, but with some restrictions. Might be a good one to add as well.

[Edited on 9/29/2025 by chempyre235]

GoFisch - 29-9-2025 at 14:17

I recently ordered several chemicals (of the uncontroversial variety, like sodium thiosulfate) from Antec (kyantec.com), and they shipped to my residential address with no issues.

They do have nitric acid in their catalog -- https://kyantec.com/product/nitric-acid-67/ -- but I don't have information as to whether they would ship that to a residential address. I don't think it would hurt to ask, though.

As a heads-up, a lot of the functionality of their web site is fairly uneven, and it doesn't seem able to calculate shipping charges. But they were very responsive to inquiries by e-mail or via the contact form on the web site, and you can even place your order with them by e-mail if you don't want to deal with the vagaries of their shopping-cart mechanism.

moviez - 29-9-2025 at 17:29

Quote: Originally posted by chempyre235

I'd recommend Carolina, or DIY Chemicals.

Thank you, that’s good to know. Does Carolina sell to residential buyers? They have a good selection of chemicals but I’m not sure if they sell to residential customers.

moviez - 29-9-2025 at 17:32

Quote: Originally posted by GoFisch

I recently ordered several chemicals (of the uncontroversial variety, like sodium thiosulfate) from Antec (kyantec.com), and they shipped to my residential address with no issues.

They do have nitric acid in their catalog -- https://kyantec.com/product/nitric-acid-67/ -- but I don't have information as to whether they would ship that to a residential address. I don't think it would hurt to ask, though.

As a heads-up, a lot of the functionality of their web site is fairly uneven, and it doesn't seem able to calculate shipping charges. But they were very responsive to inquiries by e-mail or via the contact form on the web site, and you can even place your order with them by e-mail if you don't want to deal with the vagaries of their shopping-cart mechanism.

That’s good to know, thank you! Their website seems to be glitchy though.

GoFisch - 29-9-2025 at 18:26

Yes, the web site could use considerable help! But the people or person at the other end were very pleasant to deal with.

Texium - 30-9-2025 at 05:32

I know a couple of our Kentucky-based members have shopped with them in person and had good experiences.

chempyre235 - 30-9-2025 at 06:22

I checked out Antec's site but couldn't see most of the reagents in the list, due to glitches. Opening the site map avoids this issue.

wvcruffler - 17-10-2025 at 14:19

Bought a few things from AliB (Resin Pentaerythritol Ester, gum mastic). The RPE seems right but the gum mastic was frankincense tears. I can still use it but it was too expensive for what I got. Mostly varnish making stuff thats pricey or reqires 55# stateside. Ive done barely OK with my AliB deals and would probably not recommend it.

bariumbromate - 19-10-2025 at 18:22

you can buy very cheap mercury tilt switches from aliexpress to extract mercury from.

woelen - 20-10-2025 at 06:53

This is one of the few things from AliExpress, which indeed is fine.
I have 100 small switches, each switch containing around 200 mg of mercury. I had them from eBay, but recently, they also are available on AliExpress.
This is good for 100 experiments with a small quantity of mercury.

One of these experiments is on my website: https://woelen.homescience.net/science/chem/exps/Hg_chlorite...

The amount of mercury in one such switch is just perfect for small scale experiments, which nicely demonstrate the chemistry of mercury, without using way too much, producing unneccesary amounts of toxic waste.