Quality Spore Store, A Trusted Source for Mushroom Spores
At our Quality Spore Store, which is recognized as one of the best places to buy psilocybe cubensis spores and as a most trusted source online, our team of mushroom spores experts has watched the exotic mushroom spore industry grow from a handful of trusted vendors, like us, to hundreds of smaller vendors with questionable credibility.
In many ways, we welcome such “competition”, because it means that our industry is growing. But far more importantly, it indicates that on a larger societal level, people are starting to understand mycology and the benefits of taking up a hobby like amateur microscopy and researching how to buy psilocybe spores safely.
Paying attention to mushroom spores fungi safety means that people are interested in learning more about psilocybe cubensis spores viability and about the benefits of psilocybe mushrooms, even if it hasn’t been legalized in their jurisdiction yet. The amateur mycologists and microscopists studying psilocybe spores today are the pioneers of what is quickly becoming a massive social and scientific movement.
Mushroom Spore Syringes on Etsy
Having said that, we’ve seen a lot of buzz lately about people buying their mushroom spores through outlets like eBay or buying their spore syringe on Etsy. While we have a certain degree of bias and would love it if everyone chose to shop with us instead of buying psilocybe spore syringes on Etsy, we wanted to publish a post describing why buying mushroom spores from these platforms is often a bad idea, or at least a road that may lead to certain disappointment, and that’s true whether you shop with us or another vendor with similarly strict quality control requirements.
In other words, we want to be clear that this post isn’t about besmirching other individuals or organizations in our shared industry. We don’t need to do that, because we’re quite confident that Quality Spores will remain a leader in this space for a long time thanks to the quality of our products, great customer service, and affordable prices.
Mushroom Spores Ebay
What this post is, however, is something of a PSA. If you’re considering buying mushroom spores on eBay, Etsy, or other marketplaces, you may want to reconsider; there are quite a few things that can go wrong, which will be described below. But perhaps worst of all, you won’t even save any money by taking these risks. We’ve seen prices on psilocybe spores that attempt to match low spores pricing, but in some cases are even higher!
➢ Quality Spores Deals, Special Pricing, Sales, Discounts, and Packages.
Psilocybe Cubensis Spores Ebay
Buying Mushroom Spores From eBay or Etsy is a Quality Control Nightmare: Here’s Why You Want to Source Your Spores From a Mycology Lab Instead
If you’ve been working with mushroom spores for any length of time or have been researching special mushroom therapy benefits, Psilocybe or otherwise, you know that spores are delicate. They’re easily subject to contamination or spoilage if not properly handled—and that includes how they’re handled before they get to you; the internal practices of your spore vendor matter.
Trusted Spore Vendors
Trusted spore vendors and reputable companies will source their mushroom spores from a real mycology laboratory. Real “myco labs” have strict requirements for cleanliness, handling, and product testing. In other words, the lab itself has sterility requirements to prevent specimen contamination, and each batch of spore syringes produced are tested to ensure sterility and viability (more on viability later).
When you buy mushroom spores on eBay, Etsy, or other “bespoke” platforms, you have none of these guarantees. The spores you buy could be contaminated, non-viable, in the early stages of colonization if proper care wasn’t taken to suspend them in a non-nutrient solution, or any number of other problems.
Authenticity Risks Associated With Mushroom Spores from eBay
When we first launched our Denver, Colorado company, we knew that there were three main areas of the spore industry that we wanted to focus on, since these were the things that bothered us the most when we were customers, not business owners.
- Authenticity
- Customer service
- Viability
So, that leaves us with authenticity to discuss. One of the biggest problems we used to have, and it seems to remain a problem if the many, many anecdotes we’ve heard from new customers have any validity to them (and we believe they do!), is that vendors will claim to have a certain psilocybe mushroom spore strain and, when you receive it, it’s something else entirely.
Don’t Buy FAKE Spores
For example, there was a spate of fake spores being sold a while back which claimed to be Penis Envy Mushrooms or Penis Envy spores, the famed strain supposed to have been developed by the McKenna brothers. This particular strain is always in high demand, because it’s simply wonderful to study in the microscopy lab, and because of its famous background. Thus, fakes abound. One of our pledges is to always provide our customers with authentic spores of the strain they’ve selected—no compromises.
When you purchase mushroom spores from eBay or Etsy, there’s no guarantee that the individual selling you those spores will actually provide authentic cubensis mushrooms special strains. They might be mushroom spores, and if you’re really lucky they won’t be contaminated, but are they what you actually paid for?
Viable Spores vs. Non-Viable Spores – The Difference and Why it Matters
Viable spores are mushroom spores which, if given the right set of environmental conditions, could potentially mature into mycelium and fruiting bodies (mushrooms).
Non-viable spores are the opposite: they’re effectively “dead” spores which will never grow into anything. In addition mushroom spores can go bad over time.
➢ Mushroom spores can in fact go bad.
It does in fact matter that the spores are viable. Viable spores have different characteristics than non-viable spores, so if you want to study a mushroom spore as close to it would be found in nature, you must have 100% viable psilocybe spores. Many vendors lean on the incorrect notion that it “doesn’t really matter” whether their spores are viable or not, when in fact the truth is anything but. Scientists must have access to viable spores to study if they want to engage in accurate research, so that’s exactly what we provide them with.
Price, Shipping, and Packaging Concerns When Buying Mushroom Spores From Non-Specialists
As we’ve already established, there are many risks to buying mushroom spores from eBay or other non-specialist vendors (the worst of which is actually about to be described in the following section). One would think that with all of these inherent risks being present, buyers would at least be incentivized through attractive pricing, but our research has indicated that this just isn’t the case—our prices here at Quality Spores are at parity or, in some cases, even better than the eBay vendors.
Shipping and packaging concerns are a reality with non-specialist vendors. Our spores are always shipped in packaging that ensures your syringes will arrive to you safely; breakage of package contents is so rare for us that it’s practically a non-issue. We also take steps to ensure that your spore syringes will remain uncontaminated throughout their journey to your microscopy lab, and our packaging is always discreet. The same cannot be guaranteed for eBay or Etsy mushroom spore sellers.
Thinking of Buying a Liquid Culture on eBay or Etsy? You Might Be Breaking the Law
During our research, we discovered many vendors on eBay, Etsy, and similar platforms who were purporting to sell liquid cultures. Quality control concerns aside, for many varieties of fungi (such as Reishi or Lion’s Mane) this is fine—but for mushroom or any other psilocybe-containing species, it’s a terrible idea, and in most jurisdictions would be against the law… both for the seller and you, the recipient.
Are you concerned about mushroom spore legality or about are mushroom spores legal read about the laws and regulations. As you likely already know, mushroom spore syringes are legal in 47 of 50 states because spores contain no psilocybe. Psilocybe only becomes present (and thus illegal) when the spores mature into the mycelial or fruiting body stages of fungal development; that’s why it’s legal to have the spores but not to cultivate them in any way. Liquid cultures aren’t just spores; they’re maturing fungi in the colonization phase, which will contain psilocybe.
We strongly urge our readers to never purchase liquid cultures of any psilocybe-containing fungi. While there’s a lot going on in the legal framework surrounding psilocybe and future legalization is looking hopeful, that’s not the case yet at the time of this writing—so please always abide by the laws of where you live.
➢ See our article on the difference between liquid cultures and spore syringes for further clarification on this topic.
When You Shop With Quality Spores, You Know Exactly What You’re Getting
When you order your mycology and microscopy supplies from us (or as we stated at the beginning of this post, any other trusted vendor with similarly strict quality control requirements), you know what you’re getting.
Remember, this isn’t about sullying the good name of our competitors; it’s about making sure that our community gets the best possible psilocybe mushroom spores. We just want to make sure you, the end consumer, is getting a fantastic product!