I am not sure if this would go in the supplier section but...

Is it safe to buy cactus cuttings off ebay?

good question. buying cacti like san pedro is perfectly legal in the us. its best for the long term sustainability of access to san pedro to buy actual cactus and not powdered or chips. i have bought cactus cuttings off ebay a few times from the same seller with no problems. you can also buy direct from some by clicking on their website. this cuts out ebay.

i try not to use ebay because they openly and proudly boasts their assistance in working with law agency's
heres a quote from ebay from another poster about ebay's policy's. its quite eye opening.

Quote:
Let’s start with some background on why eBay has a team that works with law enforcement. As you know, eBay Inc. is committed to creating a safe, well lit marketplace. When people break our policies, violate consumer trust and the law of the land, eBay and PayPal work with law enforcement agencies around the world to apprehend and prosecute fraudsters. For that reason, eBay created the Global Law Enforcement Operations team.

1) We support on-going investigations conducted by law enforcement by collecting, analyzing and presenting critical evidence in response to an official request. Often times this requires our investigators to testify in trials.
2) We initiate and prepare cases we find through member reports and internal reports.
3) We travel the globe to train law enforcement on trends and techniques.

That is surprising. Does that apply to both the seller and the buyer?

i'm pretty sure its safe as i've done that once myself b4..but its better to just buy from a legit vendor and not risk bunk/weak cacti cuttings, cuz when i ordered mine b4, i got 120$ worth of bunk cacti:evil:

I have also ordered cacti off ebay that was dud cactus. Reputable vendors sell good stuff for comparable prices and don't have some kind of global watch thing, or whatever it is ebay has.

Ahh... two people with dud cactus. I regret bidding then. All of the vendor's I have looked at are out of stock, not selling anymore or significantly more expensive then I'm willing to pay. At least I'll get to grow some cacti, regardless of Mesc content.

Thanks mons for pointing out the problems here. I can add that (at least in gerrmany) there have been cases of police raid because of a seller offering cacti cuttings. Raids both on the seller and buyer side. That does not mean that it's the same in the US, i just would advise caution when it comes to ebay.