McMaster-Carr will not sell to me...

I need new orings!! I placed an order online twice with McMaster-Carr. There was no record of them when I called to follow up. When I explained that it was the second time this happened they put a fellow on told me this was an order that they have determined to be going outside of the country... This is a personal purchase I am making that I ordered to my place of work that contains the word "International" in it... I have a credit card with my work adress for all my online purchases since i'm at work when ups or fedex drop by.

I told this man that the orings were for my personal use and if I ordered to my home could he sell it to me? He said no since he knew what the orings were for. This is their "stance"
I was told any orders placed by a person that is for export will be denied. When I asked how they would determine if it was for export if joe shmo shipped it to his house he said "funny you should ask that but we have methods of finding out."

I'm pissed that I wasn't told these orders did not go through and merely ignored. This company is being unreasonable in assosiating me with my company for any future orders. I understand they can't export but I don't want to export it.

Does anyone know of another place I can get the keg orings cheap?

Where are you located? I wouldn't mind ordering the rings and shipping them on to you (minus some rings to cover the postage). Of course, this assumes McMaster-Carr doesn't monitor these boards and blacklist me as an evil exporter.

So wtf, O-rings can be used for al qaida keggers now, so they don't wanna export them, because export companies are all fronts for terrorists or something?!?

Try fastenal.....Home | Fastenal

You might be able to try Grainger but, I'd just suck it up and try ordering without the business association and have them go to your home. I don't recall if MMC uses USPS service but, if they do (unless you are ordering a crapload of rings) the order is likely to be small enough they'll just stuff it into your mail box.

You could also try Foxx Equipment. They are wholesalers and will likely ask for business info. leagally all you'd have to do is file a use tax on your monthly report.

order from your home computer or one at the library ..

Wow. Guess they can't sell to IBM then......

I'd call again anyways. This sounds like BS. Are you ordering from the Atl. Warehouse?

Damn, what kinda o-rings are you trying to buy?

This seems utterly ridiculous. My guess is the guy is a tool. Maybe you can call again and get someone else? Just don't use the "I" word in the company name.

Good luck

ivanavich said:

... they have determined to be going outside of the country...

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I work for a competitor of theirs, although we sell mainly metric components. McM-C has been doing this b/c they have been getting hit with duty penatlies and hassled over product "dumping" laws. In fact, they won't sell to anyone in Canada any longer unless you are a long-standing customer and thus, 'grandfathered' in. My company has been scooping up some of their lost business b/c of these new policies!

They have ways.....hehehe Sounds like a freakin' retired elementary school teacher to me.
You know though....maybe it's your name. I mean, "Ivan".... Now, if it were something less noticeable, like....say, Mohammed, or Mustaff Herod Upyur Pooper. Then you could order without the hassle.
Dude, you just need an alias.

How can McM-C be held accountable for exported goods sold to a non company???

Anyway, Rhoobarb, Dunno the specs of what I need since I was basically copy pasting the part numbers from the kegging faq. Do you have part numbers for me to buy them from you (Misumi)? I need all the keging orings basically including pin and ball lock post orings.

I have a bunch of extra o-rings that I got from McMaster Carr. PM me and we can work something out.

Hmm I haven't had problems from McMaster Carr with orders here in miami, best to send it to your home instead of your business. They should be shipping from out of the Atlanta warehouse.

You should have had mister a-hole put his supervisor on, then have HIM explain their super powers.

mrkristofo said:

I have a bunch of extra o-rings that I got from McMaster Carr. PM me and we can work something out.

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Be careful with all that subversive stuff now...



Remember "they have ways"

ivanavich said:

How can McM-C be held accountable for exported goods sold to a non company???...

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Because they're the shipper of record, should it come back to them.

ivanavich said:

...Do you have part numbers for me to buy them from you (Misumi)? I need all the keging orings basically including pin and ball lock post orings.

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Nah, unfortunatley, they won't convert over properly b/c all the o-rings we carry are metric. Closest would be an 8mm (our # NPS8) and 38mm (NPS38) and we don't go large enough for the 3-1/2" tank lid o-ring (90mm). Wish we did, I'd have an endless supply of o-rings! Sorry.

ivanavich said:

Does anyone know of another place I can get the keg orings cheap?

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Lowes.. in the plumbing section (fauset repair)

For the keg lid Orings I went with PorterSealCompany.com part number AS568B-417

I ordered 55 for $1 each from them.

I imagine they have the other O-rings too, just check their site. They were great! I had to call for a price quote. I ordered these a year ago so price may have gone up a bit.

Porter Seal Company | Custom rubber and plastic components distributor - O-Rings, Bell Jar Gaskets, Molded Gaskets, Die-Cut Gaskets, Extruded Gaskets, Grommets

Guess they won't ship to an IHOP then either...

"funny you should ask that but we have methods of finding out."

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Man, that's worth the price of admission. It reminds of Arte Johnson's character on Laugh-In:
Very Interesting, But Stupid

I just worked with them on another issue a couple of weeks ago. Their Tech. dept. was extemely helpful. As much business as HBTrs do with them, we need to contact their customer service dept. and explain what happened. Maybe get a contact name to help resolve future issues. If they're not interested, as a group, let's cut them loose. It won't break them, but they might notice. Dwain

I sell electronic test equipment for a living and can safely tell you that this is a general practice that most companies adhere to. If I were to sell something that ended up in the hands of someone that was on our governments no commerce list, my ass would end up in a sling and so would my company's. I have to be very cautious of who I sell to. I don't know about you guys, but I need my job to feed my family, so yes there are some companies that I refuse to sell to. Obviously there are some rather large companies that export legally but there are companies out there who once they procure a product or technology, will sell it to the highest bidder anywhere in the world. I am always weary of companies that have International or Limited in their name or have foreign nationals as owners. There are lists of these types of companies compiled by the government that are at my disposal. This all makes my job much more difficult and sometimes honest businesses fall prey because of the caution we must take, but these measures are meant to prevent certain products or technologies from falling into the wrong hands. I know it sucks to have to do business this way but neither I or my company make the rules. I hope you understand.

I still don't get it. If you have no control over where the product goes after it is sold how can you be held accountable. What about military vehicles captured by enemy's in war or a plane crash washing up on a blacklisted country's beach?

If the penalty is so bad for this shouldn't a terrorist be able to cripple our economy by buying a ton of products, taking them to Cuba(this already happens), and then telling our govmnt what the evil american companies have done??? Didn't mean to turn the thread into "another thing the gov does that doesnt make sense."

I'm gonna try one more time with MMC. Maybe their stance is merely recorded conversation that needed to take place to cover their ass.

It isn't liability issues. It is strictly duties and anti-dumping laws. Moreso duties for them. The cost and paperwork isn't worth the hassle unless the order is a substantial dollar amount. They'd rather see you go to a local industrial supply house to buy rather than have any possibility of someone coming back to them asking for paperwork, fees, harmonic codes, etc.