I am currently developing a price comparison software for chemicals that are shipped to private individuals.
I was curious if y'all had any ideas for neat features I could add to my software?
I will most likely make it freely available for everyone, once I am done coding it.
I am sorry if this is not the place to ask.Maui3 - 16-11-2024 at 10:13
Oh and I probably need some help with names for the software too. I am bad at naming things :/Sir_Gawain - 17-11-2024 at 09:58
What exactly are you making? A database of sources for common chemicals? If so, are you only considering chemical suppliers? I’d be happy to
contribute sources if you need any.
As far as names; Chemlist, Chemsource, etc. Texium - 17-11-2024 at 10:21
I hope you intend to have it auto update prices and availability? Otherwise it would not be very useful...
I'm imagining something similar to SciFinder's supplier search, except with inclusion of more amateur-friendly sources and the option to exclude
suppliers that don't sell to individuals. If you can make something like that, it would be quite excellent! Here's an example screenshot for those who
haven't had access to SciFinder:
bnull - 17-11-2024 at 10:52
What about ChemPare? Because you want to compare prices of chemicals.
An interesting feature would be filtering by form (solid, liquid, solution, prills, powder), grade, purity, packaging size, shipping options, price
range.
Get in touch with those companies that sell to individuals. They may have some ideas you can try.Sir_Gawain - 17-11-2024 at 11:16
You could open a spreadsheet and allow anyone to add to it. Besides filtering by the options bnull mentioned, a filter by country would be extremely
useful. For example, while concentrated sulfuric acid is banned in most of Europe, in the US you can walk into a Walmart and buy a liter of 93% for
six bucks.Dr.Bob - 17-11-2024 at 18:33
Many years ago the MDL chemical source database had both the normallized amount of each chemicalm, and the cost per gram/ml in it, assuming everything
was a density of 1. It was great for finding the lowest prices of a set chemical from many vendors, and the releative error was small as each
chemical is typically sold in either ml or grams.
I miss that system, it might still be there, but I have no access now. Sulaiman - 17-11-2024 at 22:38
I suggest that links to suppliers should only be published
AFTER consent is received directly from the supplier
(and ask if there is a simple method of updating your database)
- some suppliers want more sales, some appreciate discretion.
Please do not jeopordise supply chains.
PS clearly indicate the date of any costings
otherwise false conclusions are likely.
[Edited on 18-11-2024 by Sulaiman]Maui3 - 18-11-2024 at 04:20
Yes - exactly! It's going to be automatically updated and only contain suppliers who send to private individuals.
I also thought about a filter by country, so I'll definietly add that too!
ChemPare or ChemSource sounds good!Maui3 - 18-11-2024 at 04:21
Yes, exactly like Scifinders, just for suppliers who sell to private individuals!bnull - 18-11-2024 at 05:18
Don't forget to consult the members of the forum that also sell stuff. You have probably seen their threads here in Reagents and Apparatus Acquisition. There's @mario840, @chemship1978, and @Texium (you're still selling, right?), for example. @Dr.Bob and
@tomholm may have some stuff, but they deal more with glassware and the occasional equipment.Texium - 18-11-2024 at 10:11
Thank you Texium - I see that I actually added a bit of them already. I have S3-Chemicals, Lerochem and Onyxmet now. I will add more the upcoming
days, and when I have a good amount of suppliers (not just from Europe) I will publish it! The reason the others are taking a bit of time is that
their websites search function is.. quite bad.. so with some I have to find a sneaky way to make the search work.. Like if it was a website from The
Netherlands I will make the english search query get translated to Dutch. Else there just won't pop any results up.
I will (most likely) need more feedback in the future - so I am happy to know that I can return here if I have more questions.j_sum1 - 19-11-2024 at 23:36
A couple of thoughts.
I think you are going to have to work hard to get it automatically updating. Especially as a lot of suppliers do not even post prices but
instead request you apply for a quote.
A lot of the time, especially for amateurs who are doing things on the cheap, the shipping cost is a significant component. And this cannot
generally be calculated from standard shipping rates since it depends on the company being employed and what the hazard shipping requirements are.
This makes comparisons between companies problematic. Outside of your scope of course but something to be aware of.
It would be worthwhile if possible to have flags come up on the legal status and restrictions in various locations. There are some chemicals
that require an end used declaration if I buy them locally in Australia, but I am free to have delivered over the border. What is readily available
in one location is tightly restricted in another, and there are all manner of weird anomalies. Flagging restrictions on purchase, owning and shipping
based on location and location of supplier would be extremely helpful.
As for a name, Chemfinder would work.
Or if you were ok going with something that reduces to an acronym, the Hobby Chem Procurement Database. I am sure you could create a suitable logo.
Finally,
I wish I had a good list of Australian suppliers to recommend. My problem now is that I have an extremely well stocked lab and I really have little
need to buy stuff. Which means that I am very out of touch with who is good, who is not, or who is even in business. But if you did have Australian
suppliers on your list, I would certainly be scanning them regularly.
(Right now I have lost my best source of OTC ethanol. I was about to buy some methanol and discovered the local supply had gone out of business. And
I have a few possible projects that could use some potassium ferrocyanide. The ferri is much easier to source.)Maui3 - 20-11-2024 at 00:59
Those are all great points!
Most of the suppliers that send to private individuals I use (and have seen) do actually post their prices. But I can imagine this would be quite
different depending on where you live.
I will see if I can add shipping costs to my software too.
Yes, that's a great idea. I I'll definitely add those flags.
I'll definitely add Australian suppliers too!Texium - 20-11-2024 at 11:03
If you can figure out a way to include or at least estimate shipping costs, you'll be better than SciFinder's search! And regarding companies that
make you ask for quotes rather than listing prices, I think it would be fine to just show that they supply the chemical. That is what SciFinder does.
Having a compiled list of suppliers in one place is already awesome, even if users still have to inquire with individual companies. It wouldn't be
practical to automatically get quotes for every chemical they sell and would be impossible to keep updated.
As a side note, I know your intention is to focus on suppliers that sell to individuals, but in the future I think it would be great if you would
include other more conventional chemical suppliers as well. It should be easy enough to have a filter that excludes them. Not every business
(especially among small businesses) has access to SciFinder, as it's a very expensive service. I think it would actually be helpful and desirable to
have an alternative service. You could even make it a premium feature that commercial clients would have to pay to access, while keeping the
individual-friendly supplier search free for everyone.4-Stroke - 20-11-2024 at 16:26
I would really recommend you include Alibaba because there are a few advantages: -They usually sell to anyone (including individuals)
-The prices are really cheap
-They often offer free samples
-Almost everything is available on there
The main problem is that the shipping can be really expensive (and I mean >$100 for a kg sample, but usually less).AvBaeyer - 20-11-2024 at 19:33
It is not clear to me exactly what the proposed database will provide. Will it be only a compilation of friendly suppliers that sell to individuals
with links to their websites and catalogs? Will it be a chemically searchable database linking a compound search to "friendly" suppliers who offer the
chemical so that one can compare prices? Now it gets complicated. How would a chemical search be carried out - formula, structure, CAS number, name
(keep in mind that names can vary for a compound between catalogs)? How sophisticated should this proposed database be?
As an example, Chemical Book has a very useful chemical search program that is quite useful in that in that it can be searched using several types of
inputs. Importantly, for organic compounds, one can do substructure and similarity searches.
I am not a coder or programmer in the slightest. I only use chemical databases with no real understanding of how they work behind the screen.
AvBMaui3 - 21-11-2024 at 00:59
Thank you Texium, will do!
Good Idea 4-Stroke. I think I can add Alibaba too!
AvBaeyer, it works like this: You enter the IUPAC Name or CAS number, and it'll find suppliers that sell that compound, and display them. When you
click on the display you'll get redirected to their page for that compound. I think I'll use the Pubchem API to see other names of same chemical so
it'll automatically search for them all.. But I am still thinking about the smartest way to do that
Maui3 - 21-11-2024 at 07:37
Right now I also added a feature where it'll tell you if they need end-user-statement for that chemical
