by Doug Coulter » Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:31 pm
I've bought from them too - some neon, and it was very expensive for a good sized cylinder. Most of the issues here are our government regulations or the fear of them for domestic sales. A lot of things like that are not done as easily as going to the hardware store and buying a hammer at retail, and are only done company to company here - with accounts, credit, a lot of setup. And many people who haven't run a business find the paperwork and setup pretty daunting - and don't know how to do the "social engineering" to appear "right" on the other end of that kind of transaction so it just goes smoothly and normally. Kind of funny that way because most of the regulations don't apply to things being exported - the government wants exports and doesn't really care if something bad happens in another country - but is afraid of blame for something that happens here. I wouldn't mind having a few liters of krypton myself (or xenon) but...Not so bad I pay that much for it right now. As it turns out, I have some high pressure bulbs of either - just have to rig a way to break them in a vacuum system and extract what comes out of the pumps.
Posting as just me, not as the forum owner. Everything I say is "in my opinion" and YMMV -- which should go for everyone without saying.