This was posted 4 years 8 months 6 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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[VIC] Hand Sanitiser 74% Alcohol $300 ($30/ltr, Minimum Order 10 Litres), BYO Containers, Pickup Only @ Silfresh (Southbank)

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Hey everyone, a Melbourne startup team have set up a hand sanitiser station outside their office in Southbank. They're currently selling the gel kind of sanitiser with >70% alcohol. It can only be purchased in 10L's and above. Due to the shortage of bottles, you have to bring your own to refill. Slightly expensive, but able to buy enough to ride out Rona. Will probably need to split with family or friends. Ingredients: Ethyl Alcohol ~74%, Water, Limonene, Linalool, Pinene, Carbomer, Essential Oils.

Team offers 10% off if you just chat with them.

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silfresh.com
silfresh.com

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  • +5

    $30 a litre in 10L lots is abit pricey I'm happy waiting for my preorders at this stage

  • +8

    Mods, can we not have a dedicated category for hand sanitiser? It’s getting rediculous how many of these posts are going up.

    • Hand Sanitiser and facemasks are all under the "health and beauty" category. You can use the new custom front page settings and configure your FP to show less of health and beauty deals, if you prefer.

    • +8

      It's ridiculous how many people can't spell ridiculous recently

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/rediculous

      • +5

        It's people like YOU! That go… Above and beyond by posting hilarious factual evidence to back up his statement.

      • Redikyaless!

      • My sincere apolagies

  • Hey, did they buy from Amino Z?

    • haha, Amino Z is liquid, while this is gel!

      $30/L is expensive though, another deal got like 30 downvotes and 14 upvotes for the same price, shipped to your door - so wonder what happens here.

      • +1

        Id be more worried about, BYO containers

    • Amino Z is in Caringbah NSW I think, this is Victoria.

  • +2

    massive rip

  • +3

    Feel like you're gonna get robbed

  • +3

    $300 min spend

  • +5

    $300 minimum spend and you’ve gotta BYO containers? No thanks.

  • +2

    Gel sanitizer is less effective than liquid sanitizer everyone:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2206535/

    • +1

      Gel sanitizer is less effective than liquid sanitizer

      I think you've oversimplified in your summary.

  • +5

    I think they want commercial customers, not ozbargainers at 10L minimums

    • Nope, it’s targeted towards everyday people.

      This is what it says in their FAQ

      Can I get less than 10L?

      The reason we can offer this price is because it is wholesale. If you request less, the minimum charge will still be 10L. We recommend pooling with your family or sharing the cost with your friends or neighbours

      • Sooo, an individual needs to pool together, but this is for the individual?

    • +1

      I think they want commercial customers, not ozbargainers at 10L minimums

      They sound like a pretty casual operation to me:

      What sort of containers
      do you recommend?

      • Ice-cream containers (5L min)
      • Protein tubs
      • Tupperware (5L min)
      • Tubs with lids
      • Tin cans (5L min)

      They don't even advertise whether they're charging GST or not.

  • +6

    $30/l is not a bargain, add in the extra costs and complexities of this deal and it's far from an attractive option.

  • +1

    LOL what are you gonna do with 10L of hand sanitiser? Bath in it?

  • +1

    Jimmy does a better deal if not mistaken
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/531391

    Edit. Ignore OOS. Jimmy fails

  • +6

    Ethanol (Ethyl alcohol) costs ~ $1.50 (AUD) per litre on commodity markets.
    https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/ethanol

    It is mass-produced for cheap (e.g. from grain, cellulose, etc.). Stuff usually so abundant that we use it to dilute petrol, and make E10 fuel which contains ~ 10% of ethyl alcohol. So basically with 7 litres of E10 fuel (total cost $7) you get ~ 1 litre of Ethanol, and ~ 6 litres of "free" petrol. Once hysteria ends, Ethanol will be even cheaper (due to more waste crop that will be converted in Peak Ethanol market, and left with large surplus).

    But now, we have so many flipping alcohol "for the greater good" (yeah, right) with ridiculously inflated prices.

    And selling moonshine of a truck is now a "startup". Lol.

    And this:

    Slightly expensive, but able to buy enough to ride out Rona

    is not just dodgy advertising, but is illegal.

  • +4

    The ridiculous pricing plus the dodgy sounding setup with the website even showing a picture of an open bucket as a filling option. How about the risk of vapors being flammable in an open bucket. Neg

    • +3

      Would surely not pass safe transport of hazardous goods considering it is relatively flammable if the alcohol content is actually 74%.

  • +5

    OP is associated with the clowns trying this on and joined less than a month ago. This would have to be the worst example of carpetbagging I’ve ever seen on ozbargain. I’ve upvoted most of the supply posts. This is just totally outrageous. I’m sure that this would violate some regulation. I’m quite offended by the predatory nature of this endeavour. There is lots of supply of sanitiser now.

    This is an ad. An ad for overpriced and inconvenient supply of suspect product.

    • Well, we should totally write to their 'board of advisors & mentors'.

      https://www.silfresh.com/team/

      "Due to shortages, we do not sell containers", translation:

      Forgot this step during business plan.

      Too overpriced for 'bulk' quantity.

  • +4

    No container provided and $30/L. Not even close to a deal. Can’t believe an open bucket and a watering can is considered an acceptable container. What sort of half baked business is this?

    • +2

      Don’t forget ice cream containers.

  • +2

    OP, I assume you’re Tony Tan, the CEO, going by your username.

    I understand the idea behind using your own bottles. You’re a company that specialises in reducing plastic and replacing it with sustainable and environmentally friendly materials. Makes sense.

    However, not a lot of people would have bottles that meet your bottling requirements and can be sealed so the hand sanitiser won’t evaporate. They would have to go out and buy new ones, defeating the purpose.

    Couldn’t you have designed silicone bottles to use instead? Or a tubing system to fill smaller bottles like used hand sanitiser bottles? Or designed a system to manage smaller quantities? Your website says you design custom silicone packaging.

    I also have issue with the price, $30 a litre is expensive, you must’ve had a lot of capital to be able to afford a lot of materials to have 10L as the minimum, so I assume you made a lot of hand sanitiser which reduced the production cost.

    You must’ve seen the Amino Z hand sanitiser deal which was $20 a litre including the bottle. Surely you can see your product is priced too high and may be seen as profiteering in a time of crisis. I’m 100% sure you could’ve lowered the price to something more reasonable.

    Your advisory board contains people from large corporations like Google, Deloitte, EY, Ali Baba and Tesco so you obviously have a lot of business and industry connections. They should’ve advised a bit better, I’m no businessman but optics and image are very important.

    $10 - $15/L + BYO <5L hand sanitiser bottle would’ve brought a lot of good will and PR.

    https://silfresh.com/

    • +3

      Those advisors. Are those the YouTube channels and twitter accounts that he follows?

      • +2

        Everyones got lots of LinkedIn friends these days…

      • +1

        Possible, who knows. The Google advisor reference is definitely hyped up, they listed the manager for Google startups, which is a tutorial, seminar, resource site for new business. I’m pretty sure anyone can use it.

        The Tesco advisor is interesting, it’s a British supermarket chain that has no presence in Australia. A little strange for a small/new Melbourne startup.

        https://silfresh.com/team/

  • +3

    Someone in that council area should make a complaint to council. It sounds hazardous as hell. 82 Dodds street Southbank.

    • +2

      Good call. Sounds like DFES might have a field day. DFES fines are fairly hefty for businesses.

  • +1

    Rip off. Even just the other day there was a deal for 4L posted for $80….

  • +3

    Well I guess this hasn't gone down exactly the way OP imagined!

    A $300 minimum spend on sanitiser? Utterly redikyaless!

    It's a big 👎 from me.

    • +1

      Yup, downvoted to oblivion, can’t even see this deal on the new deals page anymore.

      Besides the obvious profiteering and high price. They listed as acceptable containers; an open bucket with no lid, an open watering can, an impractical 15L storage box. The only one I’d consider acceptable is the jerry can. A lot of their suggestions would result in evaporation or even contamination.

      Hygiene and practicality issues aside, they gave a flimsy excuse for not allowing smaller quantities and for not providing bottles themselves; I doubt there’s a “bottle shortage” like they said.

      A lot of red flags and not as well thought out as they think.

  • +1

    Market getting flooded. Literally.
    No hydrogen peroxide, glycerin, or distilled water?

    Good luck avoiding jail time.

  • Looks like OP has done a runner 😂😂😂

  • Still here don't worry. Just passing along all the viewpoints and making sure it meets expectations. Just a response from the Silfresh team, the aim of this is to support local businesses. All the manufacturing is done by Australian distilleries in Melbourne who are aiming to keep their businesses trading during this tough time. In terms of the BYO only, it's to reduce the amount of waste being produced rather than having to make new bottles. In saying that, definitely could be cheaper. Keep up your comments though

    • +1

      Thanks for changing the images of the open buckets. That was a small nitpick. Nothing wrong with the “idea” of BYO. It was just the price and people may need to buy new bottles to meet the bottling criteria, defeating the purpose of not creating new plastic bottles.

      Can I ask what’s the rationale for not allowing smaller containers like pump bottles or used hand sanitiser bottles? Why does the opening need to be 8cm wide?

      Why not produce reusable silicone bottles?

      Why not allow amounts less than 10L?

      I assumed you produced your own hand sanitiser, If you are not purposely profiteering and it is a non-profit initiative, why are the distilleries charging you an exorbitant price for their hand sanitiser?

      Someone’s making a lot of money, if not you then it’s them, there must be a reason why the price per litre is so high, especially when it’s a pickup service with no included bottle.

      If you are acting in good faith, I hope the local businesses/distilleries aren’t taking advantage of a new startup.

      Which distilleries are you working with?

    • +1

      OP, as someone else speculated, are you one of the four team members listed on the Silfresh website?

  • Hey, this account is managed by multiple people, primarily friends and family of Silfresh.

    Silfresh doesn't make the hand sanitiser. It deals with the moving and packaging of the sanitiser. The distillery Silfresh works with is Alchemy Distillers. They are a local brewery in Healsville who have had to shutdown their main business because of Covid-19. They've now moved to sanitiser to help support their distillers to keep working for the duration of however long this pandemic will go for.

    In terms of the opening, it needs to be wide because the product is packaged in a 1000L drum. The spout has a 6cm diameter. If the bottles being filled were 600ml water bottles for example, then the sanitiser would pour all over the bottle. The Silfresh team have experimented with funnels, but the average time to pour a 600ml Mount Franklin bottle was about 5mins. This is because the sanitiser sticks to the funnel and requires the team to bang on the bottom until the sanitiser goes in - not particularly the smoothest process when you're trying to fill 2000 of them.

    For the minimums, the Silfresh team has chosen this amount because hand sanitiser is not their core business. Silfresh's purpose is to work with businesses to reduce their plastic packaging and prevent environmental harm. If they weren't doing these minimums, they would be spending the whole day just filling bottles. Again, the purpose of this is really to keep local businesses going and support each other through this tough time.

    In terms of silicone packaging, given that all businesses have been impacted by this, it is very hard for the Silfresh team to supply them quickly. Just to give everyone on Ozbargin an idea regarding the design process/manufacturing of products straight from the CEO. It takes 3 weeks to create a mould for a new bottle, than another 1 week for the manufacturing. 1 week for the packing and quality inspection and then add on delivery if it needs to be shipped. This is all assuming that the designs are ready to go and businesses are all running as per normal.

    Given the current situation, the Silfresh team thought that through people bringing their own containers, it would be able to deliver communities the sanitiser they need as quickly as possible, provide income to keep the businesses involved running and still maintain the company's core values. Rest assured, they are already designing reusable silicone bottles and they look really cool.

    Thanks for the comments, and again, keep them coming.

    • Hey, this account is managed by multiple people, primarily friends and family of Silfresh.

      And secondarily? The people managing this account who are not friends and family are….who? Strangers?

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