It seems to me that over the past several months, mercury vapor lamps that were once common throughout the USA are suddenly becoming rare and virtually unobtainium virtually overnight within the past few months especially since I have seen that the US eBay has been rapidly taking down mercury vapor lamp listings overnight.

I wonder what might be the best way to obtain hard to find North American market mercury vapor lamps going forward via websites other than eBay or facebook marketplace.

Gotta keep pointing people towards forums like this, to not be dependent on big anonymous conglomerates like ebay, google and facebook, who can change their rules on a whim, or are big enough to be scrutinized by customs in a way that a tiny forum isn't.

 I still say it has to do with the local of both the seller and buyer . I still see plenty of MV listings on eBay . Plus , as I thought , several sellers are listing their MV lamps using creative wording such as high intersity lamp , vapor lamp , large old bulb ,Incande$cent , etc .

 The USPS has toughened their rules for shipping mercury related items , my way around it is when asked "anything liquid , fragile ,flammable , glass or mercury ?" I answer "yes , fragile glass , it's an vintage lightbulb . Never had even a second look ! I've even shipped mercury lamps overseas to countries with strict mercury bans with no problems.by simply putting old light bulb on trhe customs form .

 There ARE ways around all of this if the sellers actually put some effort into it !