Sourcing metal for projects $$$$

I'm probably in a minority, but I try to avoid Ebay as much as possible. Amazon is my go-to place for just about everything: 2½" sq x 4 ft 6061 mill finish is $38.37 and free shipping (assuming that would worked for your project).
Amazon Al
Besides avoiding Ebay, I almost never pay shipping. Amazon, in my experience over the years, has been a breeze to work with, and stands behind everything I buy. My experiences with Ebay are just the opposite, particularly when dealing with a couple of illegal transactions. Just my 2¢, of course, and no offence to any Ebay sellers here.
 
Like bfd, I've found ebay can be hit or miss, but I've found good bargins there on drops where I only wanted small
pieces. I usually buy steel from the rack where drops or rusty stuff lives unless I need a particular alloy: the steel yard sells that stuff by the pound. Since prices vary so much between suppliers, I always comparison shop.
 
poplarhouse said:
I'm probably in a minority, but I try to avoid Ebay as much as possible. Amazon is my go-to place for just about everything: 2½" sq x 4 ft 6061 mill finish is $38.37 and free shipping (assuming that would worked for your project).
Amazon Al
Besides avoiding Ebay, I almost never pay shipping. Amazon, in my experience over the years, has been a breeze to work with, and stands behind everything I buy. My experiences with Ebay are just the opposite, particularly when dealing with a couple of illegal transactions. Just my 2¢, of course, and no offence to any Ebay sellers here.
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There must have been on hell of a price increase...it shows $151 now from that link you posted!
 
Your govt has made it a strategic metal, so there is both tariffs and likely a bonus premium (aka gouging) due to less supply. Any pricing from a month or 2 ago is meaningless now. I am about to find out how much Al 6061 will cost me up here for an upcoming project. Amazon is not an option here for metal. It will be interesting to see if MSM charges a premium here since 40-50% of your Al comes or came from Canada. I suspect they will be charging similar pricing here 'since they can'.
 
poplarhouse said:
I'm probably in a minority, but I try to avoid Ebay as much as possible. Amazon is my go-to place for just about everything: 2½" sq x 4 ft 6061 mill finish is $38.37 and free shipping (assuming that would worked for your project).
Click to expand...

Is that square tube because a solid 2 1/2 square 4' long gotta be more than 39 bucks McMaster Carr list it at 150.00 which they're not bad on pricing but still a premium. And tariffs have raised prices.
 
I never buy anything from Amazon. Amazon has done more to hurt small and large businesses than any other organization in the country. And I have found that I always seem to find better deals elsewhere.
One example on Amazon's business practices. My son works for Reef Sandals. Probably the largest sandal maker in the world. They have constant problems with Amazon buying stuff through straw buyers and them dumping their sandals on the market.
I have bought and sold on Ebay for many years. I have experienced a few bad sellers and buyers over the years. Less than 1%. I have always come out ok and have never experienced a loss on Ebay. When Ebay first started Ebay tended to favor sellers in disputes. That policy didn't last long once Ebay realized that buyers were the driving force in their growth and that sellers were a dime a dozen and could be easily replaced.
I have been looking for cutoff blades to fit an Armstrong No. 19 tool holder at all the usual suppliers. Prices I have seen were exorbitant to say the least. Just searched on Ebay and found a seller with genuine Armstrong blades for $9 including shipping. I plan to buy several.

Getting back on topic with this thread finding materials for projects is a real pain for me. I live in a rural area and nothing is close to me. The nearest metal suppliers are a 70 to 100 mile drive. I tried making that drive once and came up empty handed. So I buy online and pay for shipping. In the long run it is cheaper for me to do that. I have not bought any material on Ebay yet. I will give Ebay a try for my next project.
 
No, it was solid— I checked several times, and followed the link again when I posted. Apparently, it was just priced wrong on the page. I wonder if my looking at it triggered their review?
 
mickri said:
I never buy anything from Amazon. Amazon has done more to hurt small and large businesses than any other organization in the country. And I have found that I always seem to find better deals elsewhere.

Like I said, just my opinion and I certainly don't want to offend anyone. I have bought through Ebay even after their worst transgression (get a mental picture of Homer Simpson pulling out his list to add another name and that's me). I bought a past version of some rather expensive software, and it turned out to be counterfeit. After confirming it with the company (Adobe), I contacted Ebay to find out what to do about it. The short version was they sided with their seller and told me to return it to him at my expense and get a refund less shipping. I emailed back that I really expected to send it back to them, since it would be evidence lost otherwise— this was a federal crime. They were evasive and ultimately I did as they said, after making copies of everything. I filed a report with the FBI and sent them the copies, but never heard the resolution. The seller continued to list his counterfeit software for sale, so I guess he didn't go to jail. I know companies can change their administrations and improve, but I generally avoid the ones that have treated me badly, and their support of illegal activity made me wary.
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I have never had that problem. When I have had to return stuff due to misrepresentations by the seller I have always been compensated for the return shipping costs. Often the seller doesn't even want the stuff back. Like buying anywhere it pays to check out who you are buying from. I always read the negative feedback on a seller and see what the seller's response was. If I don't like what I see I don't buy from that seller no matter how good of a deal it seemed to be. I also always buy with a credit card through Paypal. Never ever use a debit card or direct transfer from your checking account. When I have had a problem I go through my credit card in addition to Ebay and Paypal. Whenever I make a claim with my credit card they immediately rescind the transaction. This causes lots of grief for Paypal and Ebay.

I don't know when your illegal transaction took place. Sounds like it was years ago. These days Ebay routinely removes sellers that don't have a 4 star or better rating. I have had a couple of experiences over the last several years where I went to buy something and received a message to the effect that the seller is currently unable to sell stuff on Ebay.

Another thing that I learned about Amazon from my son. Amazon sells stuff that it owns and also acts like Ebay with independent sellers. If Amazon has something for sale at X$$$ and one of it's independent sellers has the same item for less money Amazon will undercut that seller. I don't know why any seller would put up with that.

Because I don't like Amazon's business practices I don't buy from them. I would not buy from Amazon even if I had to pay a higher price somewhere else.
 
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