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cracker
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Posts: 17
Registered: 17-1-2009
Location: Washington State
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Mood: Pyrotechnic-Scientific
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Just wanted to say I havnt faded out. Just very busy, Ill take the time to answer some of this, when everything is organized up here.
Hectic> - thanks for the positive input, I appreciate your comments
Underground Gadgets LLC
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chloric1
International Hazard
Posts: 1146
Registered: 8-10-2003
Location: GroupVII of the periodic table
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Well cracker, you where very professional and considerate with me in the email you sent. I was the one asking about 5 gallons of monoethanolamine as
well as surfactants. I am going back to my country next week and look forward to talking to you.
Fellow molecular manipulator
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panziandi
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Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: UK
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Twisted logic but, you will probably find you make more money if you LOWER prices on some items! Sounds weird but if you have 10 items at $10 an item
and you sell 1 item you make $10, BUT if you have 10 items at $5 an item and you sell all of them then you make $50. Factor in cost price etc and you
will still find you make more money because you actually shift the stock, no good charging full wack or more than full wack if it means you have the
stock sitting there for ages!
The reason large companies like Acros and Sigma etc can get away with charging the same price for 5g of material as for 100g of material is because
they know many companies use small quantities as a screen or chemical library and these companies are like GSK etc which have the money to spend. No
point in charging $5 for 20g of aniline when you can spend similar price and get at least 100g of it.
Most of the chemicals are grossly over priced in my opinion! $10 for 1g of iodine is attrocious (sorry to say) and what is the shipping on that? $15?
Taht would be $25/g for iodine including postage? I can get with out much difficulty atleast 100g for that price, but here it is not illegal!
I think restricting some chemicals is good such asthe ethylene oxide, but will/do companies buy chemicals from you? You are competing with the likes
of Dow, Sigma Aldrich, Fisher Acros, etc. A company will more likely buy from a reputable seller such as these than through someone like you, likely
unless a small lab who has just set up takes the ethylene oxide off your hands I expect you will be sat with a pretty heafty lecture bottle for some
time!
If I may make some suggestions?
1) cut the prices, just because you have only 1 bottle of half an oz of chloroform (not even 15mL) you can't expect people to pay $10.00 (£7 UK) that
is rediculous! I pay perhaps $30 (£20 ish) for 2.5L of chloroform (not taht I happen to have any or use any for about 5 years mind!)
2) take photos of your chemicals in the packaging they will be shipped in, you seem to have done that now but avoid using google-images etc
3) Packaging is correct! Chlorobenzene I would prefer to see in Amber glass bottles than PE bottles. Organic solvents esp substituted aromatics
(bromo/chloro/nitro benzenes) leach into plastic, dissolving and softening plastic, I once had nitrobenzene delivered in plastic and it released
noticeable vapour through the container! Not nice since nitrobenzene is quite toxic! Chloroform should be in amber glass ALWAYS!
4) Make sure labels are correct! You NEED your telephone number, address and name on ALL labels. A number for a poison centre I think is required on
labels in US and AUS etc. Detailed information about hazards R and S phrases, hazard plaques, CAS & UN numbers, chemical name and synonyms,
quantity purity physical constants. Clarity of labels too. Look up sample UN labels etc and follow guidlines!
Basically I like your idea, little too expensive on MOST of your items for my liking! Register yourself as a professional company, get a proper
warehouse, obtain licenses and contact fire/police etc in your town, buy semi bulk industrial chemicals that are commonly required for hobby chemistry
etc, acids, bases, solvents common salts, repackage into suitable containers and sell on cut price. Do not try selling over priced salvaged chemicals
since you wont get very far and you are more likely to attract professionals if you supply decent purity reagents as a professional company yourself.
Perhaps make it more orientated towards small labs and schools but in the terms and conditions mention willingness to supply to the public.
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chloric1
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Yes that would be the right path to go. Small labs and educational institutions usually have more consistent buying habits. I only sell on ebay as
of now but I routinely sell chems to labs and businesses. I am very upfront about grade of the chemical and I charge low prices. I also steer clear
of the real dangerous stuff, particularly pyro chems like potassium perchlorate, ammonium nitrate etc. Remember what happened to United Nuclear in
2003.
I also feel the prices on Underground Gadgets many things are WAY too high priced. But I found a handfull of REALLY good prices on others. How
about $2 per pound of sodium metasilicate? Or, how about 19 Liters of Reagent HCL for $125! This is not the place to buy chloroform or nitric acid
but the ones I mentioned are worth considering. Also, this is the only place I have seen that has glass wool. Real handy for filtering home-made
chromic acid!
Stay away from pyro and explosives and you should be OK. Another suggestion would be to have you business cater to a craft or some other chemistry
related organization. Some examples are: soap making, ceramics, photography, patination, hydroponics etc etc. Select one or any combination of
these outlets and in the background offer various equipment fro R&D work. Many of the oddities you sell can fall into te category of R&D for
developing new glazes for pottery, a new photo developer, or use to make up standardized solutions for analysis of samples.
Fellow molecular manipulator
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hissingnoise
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| Quote: | Originally posted by chloric1
Also, this is the only place I have seen that has glass wool. Real handy for filtering home-made chromic acid!. |
The stuff to avoid is the fibreglass used with resins.
It's plastic-coated and will mess up your acid.
I tried it with H2SO4 and the filtrate was almost black.
I got me a fritted funnell and haven't looked back. . .
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chloric1
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| Quote: | Originally posted by hissingnoise
| Quote: | Originally posted by chloric1
Also, this is the only place I have seen that has glass wool. Real handy for filtering home-made chromic acid!. |
The stuff to avoid is the fibreglass used with resins.
It's plastic-coated and will mess up your acid.
I tried it with H2SO4 and the filtrate was almost black.
I got me a fritted funnell and haven't looked back. . . |
Good tip! Much appreciated! Did the sulfuric acid make a hissingnoise? (just kidding)
Fellow molecular manipulator
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hissingnoise
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Best I could come up with--different acid, you must be thinking of chloric 3, chloric 1 (wink). . .But I remembered why I tried the resin-type
fibreglass---I'd already tried the orange insulation stuff with a similar result.
For filtration the fibreglass must be white and abrasive to touch.
Then again, fritted funnels aren't expensive.
[Edited on 30-1-2009 by hissingnoise]
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panziandi
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Ok Chloric1 ... the $2 per lb of Sodium Silicate is a good buy! Who would want 19L of reagent grade HCl? Be better off dividing that up into say 1L or
2.5L lots and selling them?!
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chloric1
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Who wants 19 liters of HCl for 125 BUCKS! Are you kidding me?! I don't know about you but selling chems help fund my hobby and pays my bills.
Divide it up into 500 ml bottles and sell it for a 50% or 100% markup.
Lets assume shipping is $75.
Total cost--$200 thats $10.52 per liter or $5.26 per 500ml
With a 50% markup- that is merely $7.89 per 500 ml of REAGENT grade HCl. I am sure that many in this forum would find the price agreeable.
Incidently concentrated HCl is shippable as ORM-D up to 500 ml
Fellow molecular manipulator
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panziandi
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Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: UK
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Oh yes! If you are selling it on! But I meant who (as in an amateur chemist) would want 19L of hydrochloric acid (unless he was selling it on)... but
then... why don't tehy just divide it up and selling it in smaller, more usable lots, themselves?!
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chloric1
International Hazard
Posts: 1146
Registered: 8-10-2003
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Panzi, you are absolutely right, but why ask why? As long as something is a good deal and if the product is what they say it is, then grab it. I do
kind wonder about there motives. Some products it seems they want to move VERY quickly and others they coud care less how long it takes. But
chemical sales is a very demand oriented business. In this I mean that no matter how cheap you make some chemicals, hardly anyone notices. On the
flip side I have bought chemicals and DOUBLED the price and could hardly keep up with the sales! Go figure!
Fellow molecular manipulator
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dann2
International Hazard
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Registered: 31-1-2007
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Hello,
Picric acid on ebay here:
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p4634.m38.l131...
It's a water solution that will contain at most 13 grams per liter approx.
Sounds strange to be able to sell that stuff on ebay.
Dann2
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bfesser
Resident Wikipedian
Posts: 2114
Registered: 29-1-2008
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Interesting keyword list from the undergroundgadgets.com wesbite (pasted directly from their HTML header):
| Quote: | | chemicals,pyrotechnic,pyrotechnics,supply,supplies,pyro,tubes,pyrotubes,security,theft,powder,paypal,check,money order,cash,credit
cards,firework,fireworks,visco,fuse,fuses,material,materials,science,kit,kits,scientific,potassium,barium,strontium,nitrate,nitrite,ammonium,chlorate,
chloride,acid,alkalides,alkaline,solvents,perchlorate,sulfur,charcoal,carbon,permanganate,underground,gadget,gadgets,plastic
capsule,hemisphere,hemi,ignitors,sulfide,trisulfide |
Draw your own conclusions.
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sbreheny
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I just came across this old thread because I was searching for info about this company. I recently purchased several hard-to-find items (but not
explosives related) from them and overall I would say that they were packed properly. Anyone else have recent experience with them?
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*FWOOSH*
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Location: ooo esss ahhh
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Dunno, but they look pretty legit to me. I saw this thread just now and took a look and ended up placing a $100+ order. Cheapest DCM I've seen in a
while, CTAB is a BITCH to find and I got some LiBr for not to shabby a price.
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Electra
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Quote: Originally posted by *FWOOSH*  | | Dunno, but they look pretty legit to me. I saw this thread just now and took a look and ended up placing a $100+ order. Cheapest DCM I've seen in a
while, CTAB is a BITCH to find and I got some LiBr for not to shabby a price. |
CTAB is not hard to find! It's one of the most widely used industrial surfactants, found in nearly all soap products...ever... I just picked up 5kg of
the stuff for a little under $15/kg, which is a lifetime supply for anything I'll ever need it for.
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*FWOOSH*
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Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places then haha. Where did you get it?
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