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Comment by rdl | Hacker News Reader

What types of items have you purchased, and what's the loss rate? Does it vary with types of products?

I have an HSA insurance plan where I effectively pay out of pocket, so I'm starting to get more and more tempted to buy non-US drugs for which I have or could get a valid US prescription. Not particularly drugs of abuse, but something like ciprodex (ciproflaxin antibiotic + dexemethasone (steroid) otic (ear drops); $140 in the US and $55 in Canada). Stockpiling some other drugs (tamiflu, etc.) might also be tempting.

The only drugs I see on SR seem to be psychoactive, either research chemicals or boring prescription psychiatric drugs like xanax or adderall.

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I purchase mostly opiates, though I have occasionally purchased other classes of drugs as well.

I have been scammed a couple of times, but I have never lost a package that was actually sent by the vendor. I have a 100% delivery rate.

Every time I was scammed was the result of finalizing early. This is bypassing the escrow system and giving the vendor the money immediately. Usually new users are asked to do this, and some vendors require it. I've learned my lesson and never FE (finalize early) now.

You can find non psychoactive/psychiatric drugs, it just varies a lot and you need to keep your eyes open. Certainly the market for what you are looking for is smaller, but it is there if you are persistant about it.

Things like antibiotics, ssris, antivirals and other mainstream drugs that aren't abused are often available relatively inexpensively from online pharmacies based out of India due to their price controls and flexible intellectual property laws.

How do people find reputable online pharmacies that sell real meds?

The scary thing is I remember reading about people buying and then GC/MSing the drugs promoted by spammers. 10 seconds of googling doesn't find the result. I think they were mostly real/safe, although some were somewhat under-strength.

anything unsolicited = scam anything for ED = good chance its counterfeit

google for pharmacy review sites, pick ones that include reviews from users and the site owner. if there aren't any bad reviews trash it. Usually a few will get most of the discussion - these are usually the safest bets, but make sure to read the last few weeks worth in case somethings gone wrong.

Try to pick one thats been around at least a year and ships a good variety of drugs but skips commonly abused stuff like sedatives, stimulants, steroids and narcotic pain killers as they are much more likely to be a scam.

India is probably the safe choice. Don't order from anywhere that doesn't disclose their location. Don't order from "brokers".

A large variety of boring medicines in every dose manufactured is almost always going to be legit, trustworthy and not counterfeit. It'll usually come wrapped in foil strips that are verifiably the local licensed pharma manufacturer.

Always pay with a credit card and always expect 2-3-4 week deliveries.

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