Okay, so I have a plan in place to start building/selling my own custom made pipes. I would likely sell them on Etsy.com, since that site is pretty popular for independent arts n' crafts enthusiasts. I've seen "tobacco only" pipes sold on Etsy before, so I don't guess they necessarily have a policy against it. But, when I discussed this with a friend of mine, he immediately shut the idea down. He said I shouldn't do it, because it would be reason enough to "call attention" to myself, at the very least. "It wouldn't be immediately, but I think you'd be setting yourself up to get caught." Now, I get where he's coming from. Obviously, 95% of the tobacco products sold on the internet are never used with tobacco, so I can see how selling (basically) unused paraphernalia could call some attention to myself. But, wouldn't you think authorities would be more concerned with shutting down bigger sites/distributors (Heaven forbid but, Grasscity, for example?), rather than sniping one guy who sold a handful of clean pipes online? My sales footprint wouldn't probably even match 1% of what this site sells, so why would they hunt me down? Until my friend brought this up, I thought this plan would be easy street and I'd have nothing to worry about. Was I correct in being carefree? Because I feel like I was... But I'd sure hate to be sitting in a cell, kicking myself for not taking his advice.
First off, I don't think you should ever be carefree with anything Cannabis related but I believe your friend is waaaay to paranoid about it. It's not like you're putting your address/ workshop out on the internet for local cops to come and try to bust you. As I understand it you'll just be making pipes and shipping those bad boys out. Long as they haven't been used I can't see any downside. I've received and sent tubes and other glass in the mail for a few years now and have yet to run into any hiccups, knock on wood. Just to note, there are I believe... 3 states that you simply shouldn't try shipping to because they have stricter paraphernalia laws and I think theey were... Illinois...Penn and... I don't know the last one but I believe it's Ohio. You can look that up. I don't know how heady yoru work is but you could try selling stuff on BM, a lot of good artists are. Etsy has been cracking down slightly on people selling pipes and etc. That's why brands like SSFG, DWB and GMD don't anymore.
Just don't ship to Illinois and Pennsylvania like Boguisity said. Most people selling pipes and such on sites like Etsy include that they do not ship to those states. Also, just include a disclaimer saying it is for 18+ and tobacco only. What is done with it after sold to customer is their choice and wouldn't come back at you. What kind of pipes are you making? I do believe Etsy has a few regulations on pipes now.
Just one last question; is anyone on here 100% sure about the states that I shouldn't ship to? Illinois and Pennsylvania seem to be agreed upon by you guys, so I won't ship there. But, I have honestly been trying to find this info on Google, and it's just not working out for me... So, can anyone here help keep me out of jail? Thank all you guys for your responses! EDIT: Nevermind guys, I think I found it. It seems like a lot of online shops (legalbuds, monstersmokeshop, etc.) restrict shipping to Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Iowa. I'll take my cue from those guys! THANKS ALL.
Look forward to seeing what you put out man! Hit me with a pm when you find out where you're going to sell them. Don't want GC to shut down another thread bc of 'promotions' lol