der8auer says two China raw material orders turned into a loss
Roman Hartung, better known as der8auer, has published a new video detailing a costly sourcing failure tied to Thermal Grizzly’s raw material purchases. According to Hartung, the company tried to secure copper and aluminium plates from two suppliers in China after shortages and pricing pressure made sourcing in Europe difficult. He says the two orders together represented roughly €40,000 in material value.
Der8auer explains that the company split the order across two suppliers to reduce risk. Both suppliers were found through Alibaba, had years of platform history, and showed verified trade activity, according to his account. Payment terms were set at 30% upfront and 70% after shipment confirmation, with the material sent by sea freight to Germany.
Source: Der8auer
Once the shipments arrived, Hartung says the first checks looked normal. Plate dimensions matched the order, and surface inspection did not immediately show a problem. He then moved to material verification, including EDX analysis, conductivity testing, and later machining checks. That is where the order started to fall apart.
In the video, Hartung says one batch sold as copper turned out to be magnetic copper-coated steel. A second shipment tied to aluminium plates reportedly included steel filler under the top layer of real material, while another copper shipment showed much lower conductivity than expected and again included magnetic material underneath. Hartung says the company may recover only a small part of the loss through scrap value.
Source: Der8auer
The case matters beyond one failed order. Hartung had already warned in an earlier video that copper had become harder to source in Europe and that prices had risen sharply for the thick plates used to machine GPU water blocks. This new update shows what happened when Thermal Grizzly tried to work around that problem by buying overseas.
Interestingly, Roman says he is still in contact with one supplier, but does not expect an easy legal path from Germany. For Thermal Grizzly, the result is a direct hit to both production and cash flow.
Source:
der8auer EN: I Got Scammed 429,976 views