Ebay is Banning Chemical sales

[Phildo]

I had a Potassium Nitrate listing ended on Ebay a few days ago because;

 

The Fixed Price listing was removed because it violated the eBay Hazardous Items policy. For more information on the eBay Hazardous Items policy, please visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/hazardous-materials.html

 

Please note: violation of this or other eBay policies may result in forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings, limits on account privileges and account suspension.

 

When I questioned this and pointed out that Potassium Nitrate was not listed anywhere in their prohibited items list, I got the following reply;

 

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to the Potassium Nitrate listing which was removed. We regret any confusion with the removal of this listing. Potassium Nitrate can generally be listed on eBay, provided the item is shipped ORM-D and this is addressed in the listing. However, eBay does not permit the sale of any chemical or component marketed as part of an explosive or pyrotechnic device. Your listing marketed the item for use in rocketry, which is not permitted.

 

Please note that the original email said nothing regarding rocketry, it simply stated Potassium Nitrate was prohibited and if I continued to list it, I faced suspension.

 

Unbelievable! I understood the explosives part but there is absolutely no published rule on Ebay that states you cannot list a chemical component for rocketry. When I asked for a link to this "policy" I received this response;

 

We understand that this policy may not be specifically mentioned on eBay at this time. However, some items may be harmful to the community or against the law. eBay supports policies that help to protect the safety and security of our members. For this reason, the sale of some items is not allowed on eBay.

 

Please note that, with the infinite number and types of products that are continually being introduced to the market, it would be almost

impossible to have a set list of items that are prohibited for sale on eBay.

 

At times, eBay needs to remove auctions in order to bring a policy to our member's attention (such as in your case). In these situations,

please rest assured that, should you apply the information provided in our emails to you to the items you sell, your account will not be

negatively impacted by the one auction removal. The auction removal and email will simply serve as an educational notice informing you of our policy specifics.

 

In other words, "We're not going to tell people what is and what isn't allowed. We're just going to start ending auctions and let you figure out why"

 

I believe Ebay is working up to a total ban on all pyro chemicals. These "rules" are not published but Ebay is starting to enforce them. Since Ebay refuses to publish them, they can be changed at any time. When they banned Potassium Perchlorate, (good luck trying to find a rule stating this) the few listings snuck in sold it for $40 per pound and up before Ebay ended them.

 

As it stands right now, they're allowing Potassium Nitrate and Sulfur but you cannot mention what it's for. Tomorrow, , you might wake up to find no chems for sale on Ebay.

[lja]

Ebay has a lot of idiots working for them and you got one. Probably some clueless soccer mom looking to justify her worthless existence by saving the worlds youth from deadly saltpeter.

 

I've had a few auctions cancelled on me, if ebay was correct, oh well. But they have been wrong a few times and I just told them to read their own rules and relisted the item without incident.

 

They aren't going to ban chemical sales unless they get political pressure like they did for Potassium Perchlorate.

[MisterSteve]

noooo thats where i get all my potassium nitrate! I'll have to order a couple 20lbs bags now.

[Phildo]

I have corresponded with no less than 5 Ebay reps regarding this so it's NOT one particular idiot that is making up rules. How many Ebay sellers have suddenly stopped selling? Trust me, it's not because they weren't selling product.

 

I was told by Trust & Safety (what a joke) in an email this afternoon that Ebay is getting pressure from the Postal Inspectors and shippers because of all the illegal shipping.

 

..we have been asked by numerous mail and postal companies not to allow the listing of such hazardous materials on the site.

 

I would be very nervous about having some of these morons sending out packages addressed to me.

 

I got a call from a Postal Inspector last month regarding the shipping of chemicals. They are aware that some sellers are simply tossing chems in a Priority Box and not properly labeling it. I researched the hell out of the regulations before I started shipping so I wasn't too worried. I even went so far as to get registered with UPS as a ORM-D shipper.

[mormanman]

Guys come down there are other places to get KnO3 for alot cheaper to but some people where there aren't places some one nice and willing to help you out might come along like just talk to some people on here send them some money for shipping and the chems and they might get it for you.

[styropyro]

I used to sell some chemicals on eBay a while back and every once in a while eBay would cancel my auctions. I just relisted my items after they canceled them with the refund they gave me and then they usually wouldn't be cancelled after that. Usually about 10% of my auctions got cancelled. eBay just cancels an auction with one report and they don't even investigate it so just relist your stuff again.

[michigander]

Hehe, I saw 12lbs of the potassium nitrate for 27 bucks shipped. My eyes popped out of my head when I saw 10lbs of pure ammonium nitrate for about 30 dollars. Must be an FBI trap or something

[Guest Mark_the_pyro]

http://www.pvconly.com/KNO3.html

^Very cheap site for kno3. And with ebay, thats just silly. I know they are a business, but the fact they take a slice of your earnings out when you sell something just makes me mad. Someone should make a PyroBay or something of that nature without all the pussy regs .

[psyco_1322]

Then put it up for sell as a anti-errection chem then. then see what they say. lol

[deadman]

Mark: If you want you can post suppliers in the supplier part of the forum. That way things around the forum stay neat.

 

UPDATE: I just did a search on ebay and found:

 

Potassium Nitrate

Potassium Chlorate

Potassium Permanganate

Nickel Perchlorate

Willow airfloat charcoal

Sulfur

Aluminum powders (black head, german, atomized)

Magnalium powder

Magnesium powder

Sodium benzoate

Potassium benzoate

 

I'm sure there are many more but didn't search. So for those of you using eBay I'm sure you shouldn't be in too much of a sweat.