I watch the online market for any mention of the words refrigerant, R-22, R-12, R-134a, R-410A, etc. It helps me keep a pulse on the industry and also alerts to me any possible stories that could be written. Something that I’ve noticed over the past few months is that there has been a rash of people selling R-22 refrigerant on Craigslist throughout various cities and states across the United States. It could be one cylinder here and there or maybe someone is selling three to four cylinders at a time.
While there may be ample opportunity to sell your product on Craigslist I fear that these sellers are not following Environmental Protection Agency standard when selling CFC and HCFC refrigerants. I checked a few of these postings and there was no mention of providing a 608 license number or a signed letter of intent to sell. If you sell these refrigerants without following the proper steps you can wind up with massive fines or potentially even jail time. Trust me, you do not want to be on the EPA’s bad side.
The EPA’s refrigerant sales restriction can be found by clicking this link. The basic summary is that you, the seller, are responsible for all record keeping and tracking all companies that you sell refrigerant too. This DOES apply to any and all online sales as well. Below is an excerpt from the EPA’s site:
Under the regulations, wholesalers “may sell refrigerant to the purchaser or his authorized representative” if the purchaser provides evidence that he employs at least one certified technician. It is the wholesaler’s responsibility to determine whether persons who claim to represent a refrigerant purchaser are indeed authorized representatives; EPA recommends, but does not require, that wholesalers keep lists of authorized representatives to help with this determination. Thus, if a wholesaler knows that a certain person is an authorized representative of a purchaser, then the wholesaler may sell that person refrigerant as the representative, even if the person does not appear on the list of representatives.
I would recommend keeping a spreadsheet of all customers that you have sold to. It would be best to include their name, phone number, address, license number rather it is 608 or 609, their company name, types of refrigerants sold, and lastly how many of each type of refrigerant sold. By keeping this log you will be in compliance with the EPA standard and you will be protected if the EPA comes calling.
In summary, it’s fine to sell refrigerant on Craigslist or other online avenues just ensure that you are keeping compliant with EPA regulation and that you are keeping a log of everything that has been sold.