Simple way around all of this . List your "Contraband Lighting" by using vague generic terms that the eBay A.I. sensors won't catch !

 EXAMPLES I'VE SEEN :  Incande$cent , "not LED" , high intensity lightbulb , lightbulb , tube light , light .

 As for the extrodinarily high prices , NEVER GONNA HAPPEN !! All that is is fear mongering ! NO ONE will list something for a crazy price like that knowing damn good and well that NO ONE WILL PAY IT !!

I haven't got an issue with smoking, or weed for that matter. it's nice enough. Vaping tasted horrid, makes you look stupid, and still has nicotine 9/10 times. Smoking things is bad for your health, and everyone who does should know the problems and risks.

 My biggest issue with pot is DO IT AT HOME !!! Now that it's legal here I frequently smell it while driving and while "out and about" ! Also , there's someone here at work who has one of the "pot vapes" There's days I can clearly smell it at work but can't determine who exactly is using it . When I do , I promise that HR will find out and the user WILL wind up unemployed !!    Last thing I need is to wind up hurt by some dumbass who's high at work !

OK, now I doubt that non-LED lamps will ever become that expensive. Chances are a new, better lighting technology will come around before non-LED lamps will become that expensive, and maybe then us lighting collectors will start collecting LED stuff.

@xmaslightguy, highly agreed. I actually had to take apart literally every socket in all five of the "LED ready" fixtures in my upstairs loft, to get them prepared for the wiring of each HPF magnetic Rapid Start ballast that I installed. I had to open up the "back door" of each socket, force the tabs up to release the LED ready wiring, insert the copper portion of the ballast wiring, then re-bend the tabs downward to further guarantee official contact with the tabs and the copper portion of each wire. After that, I'd close the "back door" of each socket. After applying power supply to the ballast, using only one lamp, I checked for visible electrode filament heating on both sides of each ballast. I did this with all of my fixtures, and all of them passed the test. (Except for that one ballast I told you about in the middle fixture. That is the only one that had an issue with filament heating. I'll be checking that ballast soon.)
But all 11 of my fixtures are working flawlessly with each and every start up so far, although I know for a fact there was probably an easier way for me to handle the "LED ready" socket wiring during ballast installation.
But yeah... the tabs making contact with the copper portion of the ballast wires... that's a big deal. It may seem as if the wire is snug in place, but that does not mean the copper portion of the wire is making contact with the tabs, @Emersyn.

Street View photo of a rest area on I-95 SB in South Carolina that's lit with "cobrapacks"

Santee Welcome Center

Be aware of a few issues here...

If one plug is unplugged, it is live and would shock you if touched, arc to things it comes in contact with (in series with your intended load) and so on

Won't work on GFCI protected circuits

What are you doing with the Neutrals ? Some "240V" uses may still require N for an 120V load inside (like a photocell or controller)

 - If in any of the wall sockets L-N are reversed, your 120V component will be getting 240V

 - If you take N from just one of the plugs, then during the plugging and unplugging, a moment may happen when both L's are connected but N is not. This is essentially an open N condition, by which some loads may be damaged

 - If you take N from both plugs and in one wall socket L-N is reversed, fireworks will happen when you plug both in. The 2nd plug itself, when unplugged may arc (full short circuit, not in series with the load) if anything shorts across the plug pins

Switching on/off any loads which are inductive or have significant inrush current, will generate a pulse of electromagnetic interference around the used circuit cables throughout the house. It may affect other devices or trip AFCIs on unrelated circuits

So... ok for limited "hacking" use if you are competent, careful, and nobody else is present around to mess with it. Not for more than that



For GFCI, just get an IEC RCD and wire it in your setup after the plug. Few options here :

 - Simple 240V connection - 2 pole 30mA RCD

 - Simple 240V connection - 2 pole 10mA RCD (available up to 16A rating) (less common type, not always easily available)

 - Simple 240V connection - 4 pole 30mA RCD, with the circuit looped twice through it, gives 15mA protection

 - 240V with Neutral connection - 4 pole 30mA RCD, wire the 3 circuit wires through it, leave 4th position empty. (May require wiring the phases to specific terminals to get the TEST button to work, so the test circuit gets 240V and not 120V. This in turn may prevent wiring N through the terminal intended for it, affecting the contact break/make sequence)

Cost - $60 for Eaton PFIM-40/4/003/A (40A, 4 pole, 30mA tripping, type A) if i convert the sale price at my nearest brick & mortar wholesale (~190 ILS) to US$. Possibly overpriced in the US due to being non-standard part, but you can order online

sometimes a wire will slip out of a socket which causes cathode heating issues.

This is not a problem of the ballast or the fixture, but the sockets themselves...
The little metal tabs that hold the wires can become bent/lose their springy-ness so they don't grip very well ... especially if ballasts have been changed a few times.  It might at first 'feel like' the wire is in place good, but in reality it isn't & ends up popping out fairly easily later on.

Depending on how the sockets are made, some can be taken apart & its simply a matter of bending the tabs just slightly so they again are putting pressure on/holding the wires tight. (I've done this a number of times!).
Some though don't come apart, so you'd have to replace 'em (they're not that expensive so its well worth doing)

Consider this : If that would be the case, then i from the other side of the world, can send you in jail in your country, just by knowing your mail address and sending an unsolicited package to it

Epic isn't it ?

Lately, as I have been seeing that the US eBay is appearing to rapidly remove listings for non-LED lighting and have been seeing that some international couriers are preventing collectors from privately importing non-LED lamps from across the world due to mercury content inside many lamp types, I am starting to have worries that whenever I am privately importing mercury containing lamps such as HID and fluorescent lamps as well as incandescent and halogen lamps from countries outside my home country of the USA, I am feeling concerned that when countries are banning non-LED lighting, I am having worries that private imports of non-LED lighting will be classified as smuggled contraband and collectors would be accused of smuggling charges and be sent to prison for their lighting hobbies. I just have a feeling that there might be a time when collectors will be forced to stop expanding their collections of non-LED lighting altogether as a result of aggressive lamp bans and the Minamata Convention on Mercury appearing to tighten restrictions on the trade of mercury containing products.

In case anyone wants more information on pulse ignitors for 10w and 18w SOX LP sodium lamps I have a video here. It's seem possible to use the same design for 35w too.
https://youtu.be/diUufz3iuAA