Possible ebay sting operation

[DMSOnMyVeins]

I did a search on eBay for GAA, and almost purchased a gallon of GAA from seller name "brandonkuhn". Before I clicked the "buy it now" button I decided to click the "seller's other items" link....

That's when I noticed that this seller is specializing in chems geared toward explosive manufacture. He only has a handful of chems for sale and those include:
Ammonium Nitrate
Nitromethane (seller states very high purity)
Nitric acid manufacture kit
Nitric acid being sold under the name of "Hydrogen Nitrate"
Mercury
Perchloric Acid!

He also is selling Hydriodic Acid:eek: ..........

If you purchase or have purchased from this seller keep your nose absolutely clean.....

[Alexires]

Thanks DMSOnMyVeins, although I'm guessing this seller is American is still good to tell forum about people like that.

Remember to be vigilant people, if it seems to good to be true, it often is. Then again, sometimes it isn't but I wouldn't risk spending a long time with only Bubba for company.

[knowledgehungry]

The guy certainly is pretty good at listing things discreetly, he is also selling "quick silver metal" ;).

If you were to buy from this guy I would definitely contact all of the other people who bought from this seller first. If they don't answer you take it as they are currently unable to do so as Guantanomo does not have internet access ;).

He is selling 5 lbs of AN for 60 dollars(fertilizer grade) which makes me lean towards thinking of him as someone just trying to make a killing on ebay, rather than a Fed, but it doesn't mean the Feds aren't watching him.

Good looking out DMSOnMyVeins.

[Frunk]

Perchloric acid...?

Given that you can't even find xClO4 on Ebay most of the time, this seems too good to be true. People have a hard time making/buying nitric acid and this guys wants to make me believe he's distilled H2SO4/Perchlorate mixtures just to sell it on Ebay? Maybe he has industrial contacts, but what is HClO4 used for in industry anyways? I have never heard of even professional pyrotechnic corporations making perchlorates by neutralization.

[Shalashaska]

I've actually been watching this seller for about three months, since it appeared to be the best seller of AN I could find. Since then though, another seller (glk4life), has started a pretty constant auction for 1/3 the price. 5 lb bags for $10! I've been planning on having someone bid on this for me when I start work up again in April, but just one thing is frightening me... check out the pic.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2 F&fkr=1&from=R8&satitle=ammonium+nitrate&category0=&submitSearch=Search

[ultma]

Perchloric acid is used as a oxidative digesting agent for the analysis of phosphorus, percholric acid is the most time consuming and dangerous choice but must be used on difficult samples like sediment.

On a side note the other two digestion methods are ammoniumpersulfate, and conc.HNO3/conc.H2SO4 ;)

[LibertyOrDeath]

I'd be super-careful about buying any such things off eBay. Take a look at this article:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=264863&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=264863

"We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases," Sullivan told his listeners. "When someone uses our site and clicks on the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details - all without having to produce a court order. We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site," he adds. He says he receives about 200 such requests a month, most of them unofficial requests in the form of an email or fax.

[knowledgehungry]

Wow, I guess that explains why I got letter from the CPSC a while back after ordering some Al and KClO4 from ebay telling me not to make m-80's. Thanks for the heads up.

[Shalashaska]

Until now, eBay seemed like the best place to get around lots of formalities and restrictions... now it seems like a place to get your name on a long invitation list to jail/Guantanamo.... despite all this, I'll still probably get my AN off of eBay, since it looks like I'm not gonna get it anywhere else.

[Mr Science]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ammonium-Nitrate-34-0-0-OXIDIZER-5-1-50LB_W0QQitemZ130081119909QQihZ003QQcategoryZ10423 3QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
For AN he seems reliable. And in other terms for ebay, I feel another site for pyro and other 'questionable' items should be made. Let it be chems, 37mm rounds, etc; pretty much all the items ebay is scared of having on the site. And this new site should function the same way as google email; you only register on invite, and upon registration you can give your code to a max of 2-4 people perhaps. It will keep the wrong people out, such as kewls, idiots, etc, and leave the more responsible people in (hopefully). There should also be moderation as well on it, and anyone seeming to cause trouble there gets their IP/acct permabanned. I know I am rambling, this is my first post, and kinda irrelevant to the thread, but I think it would be a fantastic idea. I am sick of ebay babysitting everyone and telling us what we can and cannot have. The only way this will ever change is if someone steps up...

[Shalashaska]

This all sounds good on paper, but what happens when your site gets taken down like KNO3.com or Pyrotek or like Firefox will be if the CPSC gets what they want... Also, along with all the great features of Internet "anonymity," there are the bad things, like the ability of people to simply click "Renew IP Address" or "Repair Connection" and join right back up.
Even The Forum gets kewls over and over again because of it. And just because we can get rid of the ones that are completely retarded, picture a kid that wants to kill all of his classmates. He'll find a friend with an invite, order, and not say a word, and just appear like a normal "farmer" ;) that wants some AN. Then you've got 10 deaths, angry parents, and background checks on the kids computer. The parents go to high schools around the country, pleading people for sympathy for their children and for your site to be taken down. Thus, we have the cycle of pyrotechnics suppliers, or at least something like it...

IMHO, the sites that have M-80 Kit's deserved to go... they were just asking for it.

Edit: Not to mention the fact that even IF you didn't eventually get a rat to let the cops in on it, such a small quantity of people probably wouldn't be practical, since the main sites like UN and Skylighter buy in bulk.

[fused]

I recently purchased some chems from ebay as well.. its so nice to know that big brother is looking out for me.

Anyway, I saw that ebay seller "glk4ever" has ammonium nitrate in 1, 5, 10, and 20lb bags (finely powdered)

Has anyone here had dealings with this seller? I'm only slightly edgy about ordering, just hoping to get some input before hand.

[megalomania]

A nitric acid manufacture kit... Now that I would like to see. I found the expired auction link searching via google. From the picture it just looks like a bottle of acid. There is something suspicious about this guy.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nitric-Acid-manufacture-kit-500mL_W0QQitemZ130074665326QQihZ003QQcategoryZ1042 33QQcmdZViewItem

Of course I hate all ebay sellers with a passion and refuse to use the service. Nothing but opportunistic scammers trying to rip you off with overinflated shipping. They should treat these people like businesses: as in I want their names, addresses, phone numbers, and physical descriptions... the better to help me file "complaints" in person.

I find this guy's items to be quite overpriced. Hmm, I guess I am in the wrong business. $35 for 500 mL of hardware store hydrochloric acid indeed.

I see from his feedback he has only existed since just after Christmas, barely 2 months.

[DMSOnMyVeins]

I messaged this guy using the eBay messaging system 2 weeks ago telling him he is headed for trouble if he continues selling these auctions:

http://cgi.ebay.com/FLASH-POWDER-A-B-MIX-1-OZ_W0QQitemZ130083260320QQihZ003QQcategoryZ104233Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I got no response and he continues to sell these "kits".

What he is doing amounts to selling a C-4 A/B mix (Nitric acid and hexamine).

Since Flash powder is considered a high explosive is it just me or is this guy headed for trouble?

[Cobalt.45]

The "brandonkuhn" seller has a very good feedback rating. Too good? You decide.

Of the fitst ten items receiving positive feedback, nine were for different items.

[tmp]

DMSOnMyVeins, Skylighter sells flash kits for use in flash pots. Even the
warnings this guy posts are the same as Skylighter's. I don't know about any
legal ramifications for his kits but I thought eBay usually didn't allow this
given the potential for making(admittedly expensive) about 10 M-80s. As for
the eBayer brandonkuhn, his prices are a ripoff IMHO !

[TORCHed]

I'd be super-careful about buying any such things off eBay. Take a look at this article:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=264863&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=264863

Article:
"We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases," Sullivan told his listeners. "When someone uses our site and clicks on the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details - all without having to produce a court order. We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site," he adds. He says he receives about 200 such requests a month, most of them unofficial requests in the form of an email or fax.

I read the article, and it is very disturbing. However, I don't feel the exert above could possibly be legal. Also, I would like to note that at first it seems as if it is referring to the buyer's information, but then switches over to the seller's identity and information.

It almost makes you think who would be more at fault, would it be the seller of the items, though stating their own disclaimer, or the buyer whom is purchasing such chemicals in a legal fashion.

Thank god, the government can only somewhat regulate such chemicals, rather than completely ban them for sale due to the many different uses of them.

Its ironic you posting the links to those sellers, since I've planned on buying 100lbs of AN from one of those sellers.

DMSOnMyVeins, Skylighter sells flash kits for use in flash pots. Even the
warnings this guy posts are the same as Skylighter's. I don't know about any
legal ramifications for his kits but I thought eBay usually didn't allow this
given the potential for making(admittedly expensive) about 10 M-80s. As for
the eBayer brandonkuhn, his prices are a ripoff IMHO !

Skylighter has their ups and their downs. I do remember purchasing last year, where I did purchase the max amount allowed of German Blackhead Al (though I have found better 2 micron powder elsewhere), and Potassium Perch, and P Chlorate as well. They had no problems with these orders, but did ask questions of my intentions before ordering. A year later, I tried to purchase 6 inch rocket tubes, and was rejected the sale (no chemicals purchased) because they believed I was planning on using the tubes for on-ground firecrackers... ok, so maybe I was, but thats beyond the point.

Judging by Skylighter's site this year, they have restrictions where you cannot purchase a Chlorate or Aluminum powder as your first purchase. The prices are great, but you easily risk having your order denied, and possibly blacklisting your address in their records.

I messaged this guy using the eBay messaging system 2 weeks ago telling him he is headed for trouble if he continues selling these auctions:

http://cgi.ebay.com/FLASH-POWDER-A-B-MIX-1-OZ_W0QQitemZ130083260320QQihZ003QQcategoryZ104233Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

What he is doing amounts to selling a C-4 A/B mix (Nitric acid and hexamine).

Since Flash powder is considered a high explosive is it just me or is this guy headed for trouble?

I must say, that guy is beyond stupid if you ask me. He'll be shut down fast. I will disagree with you and say it is not like selling a C-4 kit, and I could have sworn Flash Powder is not considered a high explosive. For an explosive compound to be considered a high explosive, doesn't it need to explode (not just flash) without confinement? For example, if you put a gram of flash powder on the ground and ignite it, you get a fast burning poof of smoke, however detonating a gram of C-4 will leave you with a crater.