Sciencemadness Discussion Board - What happened to GalliumSource?

What happened to GalliumSource?

AvBaeyer - 3-1-2017 at 16:47

I went to the site to place an order and the company is gone. Anyone know what happened?

AvB

gdflp - 3-1-2017 at 17:41

I noticed this a few days ago as well. Their store redirects to a page that says "The site is under maintenance", but their homepage says the company closed down, and their eBay and Amazon stores appear to have stopped selling items mid-November. Quite a shame to see another supplier close down.

Dr.Bob - 3-1-2017 at 18:22

I think Ebay and Amazon both have many rules on chemical sales/shipments, so they may have cancelled their accounts. I have known a few people banned from Amazon for trivial things, they have millions of sellers, so they don't care if they lose a few. Sometimes, they can get back, but many times, the rules on selling in some areas, like chemicals, can be onerous. I used to sell quite a bit of science stuff on Amazon, but in order to list new items in those areas, I have to pass many tests and processes. So now I still sell things in non-science areas, but only a few science items are still left in my inventory.

careysub - 3-1-2017 at 18:55

GalliumSource was the only supplier in the U.S. for mercury metal that I know of (among some other hard-to-get elements in pure form).

It will be very hard to find replacement sources.

WGTR - 3-1-2017 at 21:21

I always had professional dealings with Kurt. He was my main source of indium foil, with a price point that was about half of Indium Corp, with a better product.

The main question is, what is he going to do with all that gallium? You can't eat the stuff. Was there some sort of going-out-of-business sale, or was this an abrupt closure? It seems that if that was publicised, this information would've found its way here before now. Hopefully this is just temporary. I didn't see a news article saying, "Santa Cruz man tragically run over by his own pushmower", or something like that.

violet sin - 3-1-2017 at 23:59

WTGR- regards to Indium stockpile: you CAN eat it, albeit slowly...
https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=indiumease&&ad...
yes I have tried it, no it wasn't from wallmart.

good lord I would think some one would spread the news if they do such a sale. really hoping it's yet to be done or they will be back. rarely have I stumbled across clearance sales on things I actually like. and some clearance sales have prices you won't see again unless some one dies and relatives sell off the house in 5$ boxes.

kinda wonder how profitable a business built on nerd money actually is?(I say that in a nice way) the work load of importing, parting and repackaging could be tedious, though regulations would be the top suspect for final straw.

as a side thought: could you imagine the chaos of a chemistry black friday sale!!!! all ten people in that city fighting to get past each other, lol.

alive&kickin - 4-1-2017 at 16:51

careysub, United Nuclear has mercury metal and several others (but very expensive). If you need a little mercury, let me know and I may be able to help you out.

elementcollector1 - 4-1-2017 at 17:35

Quote: Originally posted by alive&kickin

careysub, United Nuclear has mercury metal and several others (but very expensive). If you need a little mercury, let me know and I may be able to help you out.

Bleh. Don't go for UN's stuff unless absolutely necessary, they're really expensive. Stick to Elemental Scientific for mercury, they've got it cheaper.

Tempus_Edax_Rerum - 15-2-2017 at 11:22

https://www.sciencecompany.com/Mercury-Metal-quicksilver-3X-...

The science company is where I bought my Mercury but its expensive, cheaper than United Nuclear though.

JJay - 16-3-2017 at 03:51

While they don't have much for sale and their website is still down, I noticed today that GalliumSource is back on Amazon again.

gdflp - 16-3-2017 at 09:02

Interesting, since you mentioned that, I went to check their eBay store. Looks like they changed their name to "Solution Materials LLC", both on Amazon and eBay. Perhaps that's why their site is still down, they're probably updating the URL to their new name.

JJay - 16-3-2017 at 09:13

It looked to me as though Solution Materials LLC was selling some GalliumSource materials on Amazon but as a different vendor and that GalliumSource was selling some materials as well... I thought perhaps Solution Materials had purchased GalliumSource but I didn't want to speculate.

gdflp - 17-3-2017 at 14:58

Looking at the eBay store, they're definitely related in some way. It's possible that they purchased Gallium Source, but I can't find any other record of them on the internet short of the recently renamed Amazon and eBay stores. My guess is still that it was a name change; not terribly surprising if you think about it as they certainly sell a hell of a lot more than gallium nowadays(or at least they did). It might have been a change to reduce confusion about the products they sell.

JJay - 17-3-2017 at 16:55

Anyway, I'm glad they're back... I haven't bought anything from them, but I'm quite sure they are a good source.

MurfyTheDog - 22-3-2017 at 10:49

I made an account just to let you guys know - GalliumSource is now Solution Materials (http://solutionmaterials.com/). I found their products on amazon and asked if they were affiliated with Gallium Source since that was where I used to buy from and it looked identical. Kurt Feinberg replied and said yes and gave me the above link.

WGTR - 22-3-2017 at 17:10

I'm relieved to hear this.

j_sum1 - 22-3-2017 at 17:51

I notice that they have a nice arrangement for international shipping of Ga, Hg and a few other difficult metals.
I have not done a price compare but it seems that above a certain quantity it might actually be a viable and economic source for anyone who is not in the US.

I did read the bit where they explained that they were shipping properly and following regulations and they explained the importance of this. They also explained how they managed to drop the international shipping price by about two thirds. And they warned against dodgy dealers who cut corners in this matter. So, I have confidence that they will be good suppliers if I choose to use them.

One bonus I note is that delivery times are short -- 3-5 business days quoted for international orders. Aust Post can't even seem to get a letter across town in that time at the moment. (This week i received two ebay packages that arrived in the country in early January and took 2½ months to travel the final 150km to my place.)

gdflp - 22-3-2017 at 19:24

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1

I notice that they have a nice arrangement for international shipping of Ga, Hg and a few other difficult metals.

I don't believe that they can have provisions for shipping Hg internationally. As far as I am aware, it has been illegal to both import and export Hg from the USA for several years.

j_sum1 - 22-3-2017 at 21:03

Not shipping from the US.

Quote:

Note: The following items can now be shipped internationally from our overseas factory location for a small shipping charge rather than very high dangerous goods charges from the USA: Mercury, GaInSn, Gallium, Strontium. Please read below for explanations and/or contact us at info@galliumsource.com and we will set up a link for you to check out and we will put your country on the "ship to" list.

Shipping Gallium Internationally (outside of the domestic USA):

Gallium is UN2803, Class 8, Corrosive, Packing Group III. It is "dangerous goods" because it corrodes aluminum (airplanes, aluminum etc.). Shipping Gallium from the USA is very expensive, even small quantities. The charge is usually around $190-$240 for shipping alone. Please read on. . . .. ..

However, we have another solution. We can ship this to you directly from our international factory location. This makes it possible for us to ship the material to you for $50 ($47 for Canada/Hawaii/Alaska). Just go to the GalliumSource Online Store and use the regular Gallium Metal category. You will see an option to select international shipping.

Emphasis added.

http://solutionmaterials.com/international-shipping.html

diddi - 22-3-2017 at 21:52

I received an email announcing the name change in the last few days. definitely up and going concern again

WGTR - 23-8-2018 at 19:34

Booooo!