Sciencemadness Discussion Board - European shop for scientific equipment

European shop for scientific equipment

NeonCortex - 3-4-2008 at 06:18

I'm in the process of starting a company that will deal in scientific equipment. Focus is primarily on equipment and not chemicals, but I will be examining if I can offer any reagents at a decent price if they can be mailed safely. Since I remember the time when I wanted to find nice equipment and found out it was hard, I thought I'd open a web shop for european amateur scientists.

The reason for this thread is to see if there is actually any need/want for this kind of shop, and if there is interest - what stuff are you in need of?

I have already received sample scales of good quality (not pocket scales) that I will try to offer for a good price. Magnetic stirrers and water aspirators are probably next.

Well, what do you think?

woelen - 3-4-2008 at 06:34

1) Glassware of all general kinds (beakers, test tubes, flasks,....)
2) Distillation setups with glass ground joints, nice would be complete setups. Especially for starters, getting a complete setup from all kinds of sources is confusing and sometimes frustrating.
3) Heat-resistant stuff (quartz tubes, supremax test tubes)
4) Heating mantles
5) Vacuum pumps
6) Thermometers
7) Tubing of all kinds (glass, thin tubes, fritte filter heads)
8) Burners, which allow one to blow his own glass and make own glass equipment

The things I mentioned above are basic things. More advanced home chemists with a deeper pocket also could be interested in all kinds of analysis equipment, but I think that selling those will not be a frequent thing.

Offering second hand material may also be very interesting. New equipment is very expensive.

When things are taken a little broader, then it may also be interesting to add physics and hard to obain electronics stuff (e.g. high voltage components such as capacitors, inductors, power supplies, strong magnets). I do not mean the mainstream electronics stuff which can be ordered at Conrad, or even at local stores, but special stuff, such as 5 kV discharge capacitors, 20 kV capacitors for Tesla coils, high voltage 30 kV transformers and that kind of things.

YT2095 - 3-4-2008 at 06:46

LPG Bunsen burners and tubing (maybe even the regulators).
Tripods and gause.
clamp stands and clamps with bossheads and also ring stand/clamps for RBFs.
ceramic and Ni Crucibles with the claypipe triangles.
asbestos mats or trivets.
gas and water taps for Tube fitting.
a wide selection of Rubber bungs.

there really is Loads of stuff, but many of those above are used frequently (by me anyway).

ScienceGeek - 3-4-2008 at 06:48

I think this sounds really interesting, and I have to agree with woelen on one thing: getting a distillation setup from many different sources is very frustrating.

I really like what you're doing here Neon Cortex

It has great potential!

DrP - 3-4-2008 at 06:53

have a look at www.rich-mond.com and click on 'products'. They sell second hand lab gear ranging from small test tubes up to NMR machines and fume cupboards etc.. Their products list may give you some ideas? There are a number of other science equipment brokers which may be worth looking at for you to get an idea of what your competition is doing. Hope this helps. P.

NeonCortex - 3-4-2008 at 07:03

"1) Glassware of all general kinds (beakers, test tubes, flasks,....)
2) Distillation setups with glass ground joints, nice would be complete setups. Especially for starters, getting a complete setup from all kinds of sources is confusing and sometimes frustrating."

These things are planned. I will put together packages, i.e. small, medium, large package of organic chem glassware that fits well together. Distillation set ups is good, and also extraktion equipment (funnels, soxhlet). Single pieces will - of course - be offered for the customers own selection. I'm a bit wary of buying glass from China at the moment, so I will see if I can get Lenz or Duran, whichever offers most bang for the buck.

"3) Heat-resistant stuff (quartz tubes, supremax test tubes)
4) Heating mantles
5) Vacuum pumps
6) Thermometers
7) Tubing of all kinds (glass, thin tubes, fritte filter heads)
8) Burners, which allow one to blow his own glass and make own glass equipment"

Well, seems like what I've been thinking of. My task at the moment is to find a distributor of the whole range. I've found one in Germany that I will contact when the company is fully registered.

One obstacle is shipping costs. What is acceptable cost for shipping of for example a set of glass, in your opinion? I would like to include all shipping in the prices, but then I will have to set a minimum order for items larger than they can fit in a padded envelope. I'm also considering a flat rate of €10-20, but I don't want to scare off small orders, so that's something I have to work out.

NeonCortex - 3-4-2008 at 07:07

Quote:

Originally posted by ScienceGeek
I think this sounds really interesting, and I have to agree with woelen on one thing: getting a distillation setup from many different sources is very frustrating.

I really like what you're doing here Neon Cortex

It has great potential!

Thanks. I'll do my best to make this come true.

Take care.

[Edited on 08-4-3 by NeonCortex]

NeonCortex - 3-4-2008 at 07:17

Quote:

Originally posted by DrP
have a look at www.rich-mond.com and click on 'products'. They sell second hand lab gear ranging from small test tubes up to NMR machines and fume cupboards etc.. Their products list may give you some ideas? There are a number of other science equipment brokers which may be worth looking at for you to get an idea of what your competition is doing. Hope this helps. P.

I know there are lots of competition in the area of scientific equipment. I will offer my products both to professionals and amateurs. Right here right now we're discussing a web shop where customers can actually see the prices and place an order without having to e-mail or phone a sales rep (who will barely want to handle orders below €1000). That said, I do realize there is pretty tough competition. But there really isn't any shop like this, suitable for individual purchases, in the EU at the moment, or is there?

The fact that many companies primarily involved in B2B don't give easy access to pricing is something I don't really understand the basis off. It has irritated me on many occasions. In my opinion, it's just bad for business to make it hard for the customers to make the decision to buy or not buy something. So it baffles me why they do it.

[Edited on 08-4-3 by NeonCortex]

[Edited on 08-4-3 by NeonCortex]

[Edited on 08-4-3 by NeonCortex]

NeonCortex - 3-4-2008 at 07:22

By the way, what payment methods would you like?

Is wire transfer and credit card (a real processor, not pay pal or something like that) good?

Phosphor-ing - 3-4-2008 at 07:22

Probably has something to do with high pressure sales. The company knows it has a better chance of you buying it if the sales weasles get a hack at you.

woelen - 3-4-2008 at 22:49

Quote:

Originally posted by ScienceGeek
I think this sounds really interesting, and I have to agree with woelen on one thing: getting a distillation setup from many different sources is very frustrating.

I was lucky to have a nice complete setup being offered by a fellow sciencemadness guy for a decent price

. Before that, I already did some attempts to buy stuff, but I never could manage to get things complete, and then there is the risk of having spent quite some money, and still not being able to do something with it.

Quote:

One obstacle is shipping costs. What is acceptable cost for shipping of for example a set of glass, in your opinion?

Within the EU, a shipping cost of EUR 12 (flat rate) is fairly standard (DPD is a good shipping agent, who ships all kinds of stuff, including many chemicals). This shipping cost is acceptable to me, I think that if one wants to order online, then he/she should accept that one should make a reasonable order (e.g. EUR 50 or more), otherwise the shipping cost becomes too high, relative to the value of the material.

Nicodem - 3-4-2008 at 23:36

Quote:

Originally posted by NeonCortex
The fact that many companies primarily involved in B2B don't give easy access to pricing is something I don't really understand the basis off. It has irritated me on many occasions. In my opinion, it's just bad for business to make it hard for the customers to make the decision to buy or not buy something. So it baffles me why they do it.

They don't show prices for a very simple reason - profit. They aim at specific institutional buyers who do not pay from their pocket yet are the one who compile the shopping list. Not really related, but for example, I know of no biochemist that checks the prices and compare various suppliers for the optimal price for the simple reason because our biochemists do not have a limited budget (they get as much money as they ask for – I guess this depends on institution). On the other hand, in the organic lab we always check prices of at least two or three different suppliers before ordering (which tells a lot about our limited budget!). However, all chemicals suppliers always show their prices in the online and paper catalogues.
The above problem of increasing profits is only with the equipment suppliers, who in reality expect you to contact their local representative for bargaining. They are able to sell the same piece of equipment for a double price to a biochemistry group or have quite variable starting prices for different countries. So go figure how much is the real value of what they sell!

NeonCortex - 9-4-2008 at 08:29

Ok, update. I got some names refused by the business registration office. Will be sending in new suggestions today. Hopefully I'll be fully registered in a few weeks.

About shipping. I'll probably go for flat rate on all orders, and DPD seems like a good shipping agent (the national postal service is the DPD agent in my country too).

As soon as the name and registration is finished I can start contacting suppliers to build a catalog.

[Edited on 08-4-9 by NeonCortex]

[Edited on 08-4-9 by NeonCortex]

Saerynide - 9-4-2008 at 23:56

One thing you should offer is filter papers and glass wool. I used to have to use wadded up paper towels and coffee filters (now I have have acess to the the university stock room

)

Edit: Weighing papers and parafilm are awesome too!

I don't live in the EU, so shipping would be too much for me, but still, I wish you the best of luck with this project!

[Edited on 4/10/2008 by Saerynide]

MagicJigPipe - 10-4-2008 at 00:02

That reminds me. I just got a HUGE box of Pyrex brand fiberglass (glass wool) for really cheap on Ebay. I don't need it all so if anybody wants to buy some for cheap let me know. Or if you want to trade for filter papers or something...

Sorry guys, I didn't want to start a new thread. Should I?

[Edited on 4-10-2008 by MagicJigPipe]

NeonCortex - 11-4-2008 at 04:12

Quote:

Originally posted by Saerynide
One thing you should offer is filter papers and glass wool. I used to have to use wadded up paper towels and coffee filters (now I have have acess to the the university stock room

)

Edit: Weighing papers and parafilm are awesome too!

The goal is to have a wide range of laboratory supplies, and hopefully chemicals. When I'm starting out as a new vendor, it's hard for me to buy everything from the manufacturers/major distributors, so likely I'll try to get a contract with a full spectrum supplier. That way I'll be able to offer the whole selection, with most things available even though some items will be ordered from my supplier on as-needed basis.

I'm trying to get glass and some other stuff from the manufacturers though...

NeonCortex - 17-4-2008 at 01:47

Update: Got the name approved and domains secured. Webshop solution selected. Starting to deal with suppliers. My estimate is that I will open up in a few months, perhaps august or september. Perhaps I'll open up with a small selection of goods before that.

Cloner - 19-4-2008 at 14:19

pipettes, pots with caps, stirring bars, those large packs of filtration paper in A2 format that you cut circles out of, water pump and waterjet vacuum pump. silica sheets for chromatography, perhaps micro silica powder for column (don't know if this is any good in amateur science but it's used a lot by the pros). Molsieves and boiling chips.

I think starting out with something common is good: perfumery amateurs or beer-brewing/winemaking amateurs are plenty and the webshops that cater them will have clients that are fully legit and fully OK which is something that can help if there is a bunch of officials bugging you about selling chemicals later on. Cheap phosphoric acid, lactic acid, sulfur and a lot of similar stuff is in the catalog of suppliers and nothing will stop you from selling some less common stuff as well.

If you need some information about the brewing supplies you can contact me.

[Edited on by Cloner]

[Edited on by Cloner]