Method Buying inert gas online in the USA

[WearyOfStruggling]

Hi,
This is my first post, and I am trying to follow the rules of the site, but if I advertently break any rules, please notify me, or the moderators can please edit or remove this post.

Today I ordered a 20 cu ft cylinder of industrial helium from a supplier abbreviated WS that I found easily with Google search. Their website says they ship throughout the US, and I called them to confirm. The man that answered my call said they had an empty tank in stock and just needed 24 hrs to get it filled. He said payment for filled helium tanks must be made by wire transfer only. When I asked why, he said it was a "high fraud" item. I placed my order on the website this afternoon and am waiting for an email with the wire transfer instructions he promised. If anyone has experience or further information about this subject, I would be interested in replies or PMs.

 

[WearyOfStruggling]

Update: The company emailed the wire transfer information the following morning, and I called them to ask a few more questions. The man who answered explained that the reason they require full helium tanks to be paid by wire transfer is that in the past when they had accepted credit card payment, a large portion of customers would report to their credit card company that the cylinder they received was empty, so the credit card would issue a refund and their company would take the loss. They also sell full Argon cylinders, but that didn't happen for those.

The man confirmed that there was no hazmat surcharge, just the small ground shipping fee, and it would be delivered by the company in brown trucks to my house with no signature required. He didn't ask me any questions about what I needed it for. I chose helium so I could have a cover story about using it to inflate balloons since I don't know about welding, but I think it would have been fine if I had ordered Argon. They don't sell nitrogen in shippable cylinders.

It arrived this morning. It feels surreal to have it in my house. I have started researching the other items needed and I think I can buy them all locally, but I believe it will be a struggle to actually do so. I have been procrastinating in so many areas of life that it seems very natural to do so again. I am tentatively planning to end one night next week. It seems so strange and alien to think about it so I just want to distract myself by thinking of anything else.