I was joining Lookchem one month ago and now I get every day mails from companies who like to sell their chemicals - mostly bulk but very cheap. Are
there members that already purchase chemicals from China? Do you need to be a company to get rid of the offered chemicals?
Actually, I'm very frustrated that I couldn't buy NaCN, KCN, NaNH2, KNH2, nitroalkanes,...I'm a educated chemistry student with already a bachelor
degree in science. And making NaCN is much more dangerous than just buying them.jon - 28-7-2011 at 01:05
lookchem gets you bombarded with emails yes you lie you say your this or your that you get a business email address to look legit.
mostly you get spammed with offers.
the chinnesse dont give a what i could buy carfentanyl precursors by the drum if i wanted to.
[Edited on 28-7-2011 by jon]Bitburger - 29-7-2011 at 13:56
It seems intresting (low prices) but you have to pay way too much for shipping these small amounts of research chemicals (like Lithium, LiAlH4,
NaNH2,...) If you are rich you can get everything. But it's better to wait until the opportunity arises, because there are chemicals that are
impossible to make it in the lab. (like unsubstituted pyridine, sodium amide, halogenated pyridines,...)
You need special reactors and catalysts and high pressure systems for that...
But, there are idea's enough to spend my time on other exciting reactions.AndersHoveland - 29-7-2011 at 14:21
Do you think a company that has no problems labeling "glycerin" on drums of ethylene glycol, then selling it to toothpaste factories is going to care
whether you are really an institution?
Where do you think all those cheap landmines that are smuggled to war-torn African countries for 2-dollars each come from? They would manufacture and
sell nerve gas on ebay if they thought they could make a little money. Legal institutions in China have not kept pace with the rapid
industrialization. Plenty of dangerous chemicals are freely floating around in the country for dirt-cheap prices: small tanks of fluorine gas and
aminotetrazole, for example. It is a veritable chemical wonderland!jon - 30-7-2011 at 00:44
yeah they don't care and i like it! i like it a lot!!!
thing is watch out for scammers the russian business network is a good place to double check.
[Edited on 30-7-2011 by jon]Bitburger - 2-8-2011 at 01:06
What means FOB, does it mean that you don't have to pay shipping costs? Steve_hi - 2-8-2011 at 17:01
FOB free on board means the company is no longer responsible for the condition of the goods once they have been shippedBitburger - 3-8-2011 at 03:02
But FOB implies also that you have to pay for the shipping costs. To ship chemicals from China to Europe you have to know that FOB stands for 1015
USD
That might be interesting if you are a company and buy a ton of it, but if you are a garage chemist or research chemist then you have to pay at least
30 USD for 10 kg sodium amide (which is cheap) AND the 1015 USD
To summarize: 1045 USD for 10 kg sodium amide.
Someone interested?
LOOKCHEM IS USEFUL, BUT ONLY FOR INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES (and people who live nearby China)Fusionfire - 3-8-2011 at 03:12
So the solution is to find a trustworthy collective of people who are interested in the same chemical, buy in bulk and then distribute among
yourselves.Bitburger - 3-8-2011 at 03:24
That's a good advice.
But what about the Russian chemists on this forum who can give useful information about spammers and good chinese companies? Don't put their member
names in a online message please, send it to my U2U.
Also, people who are interested in sodium amide sold on a reasonable price, just send a U2U.
Fusionfire - 3-8-2011 at 04:06
Unfortunately, that has been tried on Sciencemadness before. The interest in forming "buying blocs" is apparently small (I'd be surprised if you can
find more than a few people), probably because the odds of someone with interest in buying the same chemical reading the right thread at the right
time is small.
Also the problem is that if you end up dealing with a crook who takes your money and ships nothing, who bears the loss and how do you know your
"friend" isn't just keeping the whole shipment and your money to himself?
I wonder if the mods should start a new sub-forum with threads for each chemical of interest? People can post how much they want, where they want it
posted to and experiences with suppliers for each thread.
Finding good trustworthy Chinese companies is very valuable. IME knowing a Mandarin speaker to resolve communication issues and gain the respect of
the Chinese suppliers helps a lot. For small orders expect to pay cash up front by T/T so you can either lose all your money and get nothing, or get a
bargain. Caveat emptor.Bitburger - 4-8-2011 at 09:39
Why not to choose for the FOB system mentioned above but use CIF instead, than you have insurance if the goods never reach you.
What does HS-code implies, since I ask him for a international tracking code...does it exist?
smaerd - 9-8-2011 at 21:56
I'm not interested in multi kg quantities of anything. My hobbyist interests are small scale, and simply for fun and learning, not industrial basement
synthesis, lol.
Though these companies on this web-site have damn near anything!
My question is, is it possible to request to buy ''sample sizes'' and have them shipped residentially? I'm not willing to impersonate a business or
rent out a P.O. box to divert chemicals. In my opinion that makes the hobby look awful! Mildronate - 10-8-2011 at 01:45
Anbody using alibaba.com?Nicodem - 10-8-2011 at 06:06
My question is, is it possible to request to buy ''sample sizes'' and have them shipped residentially? I'm not willing to impersonate a business or
rent out a P.O. box to divert chemicals. In my opinion that makes the hobby look awful!
The Chinese companies don't care whether you have a registered company in your country or not. They don't care if you get into legal troubles with
your local customs agency or break any law. It is your responsibility to avoid breaking any regulations or laws.
Yes, they do sell samples. It is a common practice for any buyer to first buy a sample. The usual amount is a kg or less, depending on the compound
and need (for research and development and small scale use tests it is usually 0.5 or 1 kg, for use tests on a pilot scale it can be more). But often
these samples are more expensive than buying the same compound from local chemical sellers and this is without even including transport and customs
duty. It can happen that you pay more for 1 kg as much or more than you would pay if for the whole drum and there is no established practice to
bargain for the price of samples (obviously bargaining is done for the bulk price).Lambda-Eyde - 10-8-2011 at 06:43
Nicodem: I have experiences indicating the contrary. A year ago or so, I asked around on Alibaba.com for free sample chemicals. Almost all of the
companies I asked were willing to give out free samples (0,5 kg - 1 kg) in return for shipping fees. Nicodem - 10-8-2011 at 07:17
Nicodem: I have experiences indicating the contrary. A year ago or so, I asked around on Alibaba.com for free sample chemicals. Almost all of the
companies I asked were willing to give out free samples (0,5 kg - 1 kg) in return for shipping fees.
I hope you don't mind if I quote you in the next communication with the purchasing department at my job.
I guess it may happen occasionally that we are given free samples, but I'm sure that this is only the case when there is some economic incentive
behind it (which is usually for trivial compounds or solvents where the market is over-flooded with suppliers). I'm not aware of our department ever
receiving any free samples for a fine chemical compound that was specifically asked for. I'll ask around though, because I was never interested enough
to follow the experiences for sample ordering. I only know the samples I ever ordered were bloody well paid! At least relatively so when compared to
the bulk price or frame of bargain.
With the Chinese you can be quite dare and ask many things that European companies would never ever do. For example, it is common practice for the
Chinese companies to mislabel products or give wrong declarations in order to evade custums bureaucracy or hazmat taxes. This can get you in a bunch
of troubles though!Bitburger - 11-8-2011 at 12:07
No, that particular site is not suited for a research chemist who behave like they form a company.
They sell in Bulk (ton scale), if you ask for 100kg these sellers ask a price that is 5 to 10x higher than the normal price/kg when you are selling it
in drums of 1 ton or more...
There are professional European buyers that have close contacts with China and they travel to take a look at these companies where they do business
with. It's their full-time job!
If you are such a ghost company then you may suspect several phone calls from China. They ask what your current function is in the company, what you
produce, the name of the company, the number of your fax.
Furthermore, the site owner did send me a mail to registrate me as company, that means that I must have a fax and a portfolio of products...
If you like to get daily SPAM mails from these companies, you can easily get a sign in, but forget to get cheap chemicals on a very small scale for
reasonable prices (I briefly mention transportation costs)
