Buying kefir or kombucha at a website is expensive but the product is usually better, there is less misinformation on websites. You can get a better deal on eBay but you can also get an inferior product, you can also get terrible instruction and you won't know it until it is too late. One seller suggest you ferment your kombucha in Rooibos tea, Rooibos tea is a very healthful tea but it is not real tea, it is not from a tea plant and there is a reason why kombucha should only be brewed in tea from a real tea plant. Only Black, green and oolong tea (Which come from the same real tea Plant) only they should be used to make kombucha tea, they have special chemicals that kombucha need to remain healthy... Rooibos tea does not have these chemicals, Rooibos tea is not really tea at all as nice a tea as it is, you can use Rooibos tea or any other herbal tea to make kombucha if you also use real tea like green, black or oolong with the herbal tea... be careful whose directions you follow when you buy on ebay a lot of these ebay people are sincere but not very bright

Here is what I would do if I was going to buy kefir or kombucha on eBay

First I'd like to know exactly what I am getting... if I was getting kefir I would want to know exactly how much? If the seller said he was offering a portion of kefir grains that would ferment such and such an amount I would look else where as the smallest grain will ferment a millions gallons... eventually. I wanna know what I am getting. An ounce, a half cup...I wanna know.. one guy sells a heaping teaspoon... What is that?

If I was getting kefir I would want to see a picture of what I was getting or if I was buying kombucha I would want to see a picture so if I got a tiny thin kombucha I could say that that is not what the picture looked like.

Know the return policy. One seller wants you to mail back your dead grains or scoby; well, that would cost most of the price. Read the return policy

Watch the shipping price. Some sellers play games with the cost of the culture to avoid eBay fees, they make the culture price low and the shipping price high to avoid 20 cents of eBay fees. I feel if they will play games with eBay maybe they will play games with me... You'll see them selling the culture for .99 cents but the shipping is 9.99 or something like that, that also works out to their advantage should you want your money back, they can say ok and give you back .99 cents. Watch out for those guys...

Know that milk kefir even packed with some milk or a kombucha scoby with even 8 ounces of starter won't weigh more than a pound and the USPS Priority Mail rate for all fifty states will ship for 4.60. The seller may charge some extra for handling like for the computer generated label and maybe for the vacuume sealer machine but don't pay more than 5.50 for a package that is less than a pound.

Some sellers have priortiy mail prices but if you look closely they are sending the package "The Standard Shipping Method" which might mean you are paying priority price but the package may come first class mail or parcel post

Watch out for the goat milk or the raw milk sellers... if they are not selling any other goat products like goat milk soap or cheese they are probably not really using goat milk. And watch the raw milk sellers because if they are not a farm raw milk is so expensive and difficult to get that I don't trust that either. Raw milk is illegal to sell in most states but cetain farms can get away selling it because you can buy raw milk for animals; but, everybody knows the real deal and the prices are just so high. I know people who have farms and goats and they even make kefir for their family but I know of none who sell their grains on ebay... they are too tired from milking the goats and cows 7 days a week.

Try to get a feel if the seller knows what he is talking about or did they just cut and paste a lot of talk about the benefits of the cultures in order to razzle dazzle you to look over there while they don't know what they are talking about over here. Watch out for sellers who tell you to wash or store your grains in water... why would anyone do that? Once again the big thing that bothers me is a seller who doesn't tell you how much he is sending but he says it will ferment a quart of milk...watch out for them.

I don't like what they sell as pouches... I wouldn't use a nylon pouch, I think there would be a chemical reaction between the nylon and the milk and or water kefir plus I think the nylon threads would hurt the grains just as the threads in cheese cloth would hurt the grains. Cheese cloth also is dyed white, I doin't want any dyed or synthetic material in my fermentation. watch out for sellers who would sell you a white chemically dyed coffee filter to use with your fermentation. Some will sellers even sell pouches that are recycled cotton chemically reconstituted as industrial parts bags, those cotton bags you get when you buy an appliance like a refigerator, it would be the cotton bag with some screws, nuts and bolts and such in it... These baga sre not FDA approved, they are not packaged in a bag with a label and they are not food grade and yet they are sold as kefir pouches for you and your famially to use to ferment kefir. Be aware of this, I don't think it is a good idea to put your grains in pouches any way. When you do water kefir you put your vegetables or fruit in a pouch so they do not mix with your water kefir grains but otherwise I would use an all plastic strainer instead of a pouch as a rule

Look for good feedback but remember that there are sellers who have been selling poor quality kefir grains and giving out poor directions in terms of ratio's of milk to grains or like I said about advising to wash or store your grains in water... some don't mention your options in brewing til the lactose is all digested or when the reation is over, how to ripen your kefir once the grains are out... etc. read the listing carefully... The picture up top is an ounce of grains. the picture on the side is a big flat grain

So, it costs about 25 bucks at a website and they are not perfect either and it cost 12 to 17 bucks at ebay... just read the listing and read a few of them