What is this McMaster-Carr Nonsense ?

[eystein]

On Aug 26th I placed an online order with McMaster-Carr for some very simple stuff. Some special screws for the ws wiper, some rubber plugs to use while flushing the gas tank some metal plugs and some shop hardware and supplies.

So far, so good. After 15 minutes or so, I received their written confirmation by Email, (See picture annexed) and I proceeded to inform My forwarder in New Jersey to which McMaster-Carr had been asked to ship.

One and a half week passed and no shipment had arrived in New Jersey, so I called them up, and shortly after I received the following Email :

"Hi Eystein,

Due to the complexity of U.S. export regulations, McMaster-Carr accepts international orders only from our established customers. This decision also applies to orders shipping within the United States, because it is based on the final destination of the items. We cannot accept this order or future orders."


I called them again and tried to tell them that although they may be at liberty to decide to sell or not sell according to their liking, they had actually confirmed in writing that they were selling to me. An hour later I received this :

Hi Eystein,

We have made the decision not to accept your order from August 26th or future orders due to the possibility of export. This decision also applies to orders shipping within the United States.

So pardon, me but I thought that an order confirmation was a legal comittment to sell. Furthermore, I am absolutely certain that it is NOT forbidden to export screws and rubber plugs from the US !!!

Can anybody give me an idea of what this BS is about ?

Also, can anybody point me to another online shop that would sell me the items. Especially the 3-48 x 1/4 Machine screws for the ws wiper cover and the 1/2" metal plug for the Cabriolet floor cross sill ?