News

Update on Shipping to Canada

By Carlton Hoyt, 25 June 2024

We love Canada and love our Canadian customers. For a long time, we've quietly given our Canadian customers a special discount: deeply discounted flat-rate shipping on all orders to Canada. As you might have heard, shipping costs have increased wildly over the past few years, greatly outpacing inflation in most other areas. Due to this, we unfortunately can no longer offer flat-rate shipping to Canada.

But this isn't the end of our Canada love! Our past, present, and future Canadian customers can still order from us. All you need to do is contact us for a quick & easy shipping quote. We'll also work to ensure you get the best value on shipping (i.e. get to you inexpensively while getting there on time and in one piece) from one of our many reputable shipping partners. Unfortunately there will be a period of time where we cannot offer online checkout as our digital storefronts we aren't yet set up to calculate shipping rates, but we estimate we'll have that capability within the next 6 to 12 months, after we've transitioned from our current ten laboratory equipment marketplaces to one big lab equipment superstore!

We Now Charge California Sales Tax. Here's Why.

By Carlton Hoyt, 03 July 2019

We don't like taxes any more than anyone else. Unfortunately for many, last year's South Dakota v. Wayfair decision by the United States Supreme Court meant that more companies are going to have to charge state and local sales taxes in more jurisdictions. A number of factors have made us come to what we consider an unfortunate but necessary decision to begin collecting CA sales tax. Here's why we're doing it:

  1. We already had a number of suppliers that charged us sales tax to ship to various jurisdictions, and we simply ate the cost. The number doing so in California are increasing rapidly.
  2. Many institutional customers' require that they can show they are paying sales tax in order to avoid having to pay it themselves. If we don't collect it, and therefore don't bill it, tax is being double-paid. The customer is still liable to pay it, and additionally we're being charged it by our suppliers.
  3. We're right on the cusp of being legally liable to do so anyway, just based on our own sales volume. While here in New Hampshire we do have a bit of that "live free" mentality, for business purposes it's best to remain above board.

Here in New Hampshire we have no sales tax, so we're still figuring all this stuff out ourselves. We apologize to any of our customers in California who will be disappointed by the new laws. We liked it better when "tax nexus" was determined based on physical presence but hey - we don't make the rules.

As always, if you have any questions about past, present, or future business with us, just drop us a line.

Why We No Longer Carry Buchi Rotary Evaporators

By Carlton Hoyt, 15 January 2018

If you've been to Rotovaps.net a few times, you may have noticed that Buchi products used to be listed but no longer are. We wanted to explain this change and let you know exactly why it happened.

Laboratory Supply Network's goal is to allow our customers to easily and rapidly make the purchasing decisions that best meet their needs. Part of fulfilling that goal necessitates offering a wide array of choices. Being the largest manufacturer of rotary evaporators, it seemed a natural choice that we would offer Buchi's systems, which we did for a while.

A few months ago, Buchi notified us that they were terminating our relationship. When we inquired why, we were told that it was because we offered other brands of rotary evaporators as well and were given an ultimatum - either we could carry only Buchi systems or we could no longer sell Buchi. It seemed clear to us what the best decision was for our customers - to continue to offer a broad range of rotary evaporators that meets the needs of many different customers in many different situations.

We always try to do what is best for our customers, and enabling you to have a wide selection of products to choose from is part of that. We tried to show Buchi why this decision was not in the best interest of the customers, but they didn't seem to care (we actually called the person in charge of this decision until she stopped taking our calls). Buchi still allows the very large distributors to offer Buchi and other manufacturers side-by-side, but they will no longer allow smaller companies to do so. That's not a decision that's made for the customers. That's a decision that's made strictly for profit. We disagree with it.

If it was up to us, we would still be selling Buchi products, but it's not solely our decision to make. We'll always try to offer you the best selection of rotary evaporators and other laboratory equipment that we can. We're a customer-first company. It's disappointing when we learn that not all companies are, but we'll always fight to offer you the best selection, great prices, and the tools and information you need to get the best laboratory equipment for your unique needs and situation - no matter what brand manufactures it.

Small Changes to Shipping Rates

By Carlton Hoyt, 19 June 2017

We've updated our shipping rates. Rates for all US customers have been rounded down, and shipping rates for Canadian customers were increased slightly on orders under $1000 to reflect the higher costs of shipping and order processing for orders to Canada.

For the US, the rates are now:

$0 - $999 $19
$1000 - $1999 $12
$2000 or more Free

For Canada, the rates are now:

$0 - $999 $30
$1000 - $1999 $18
$2000 or more Free

We No Longer Charge Canadian Sales Tax

By Carlton Hoyt, 18 May 2017

A few years back, we registered as a non-resident importer (NRI) in Canada. What that meant is that we designated ourselves as the importer of record and were liable for collecting and paying sales tax (GST & PST) whenever we shipped to Canada. Ultimately, we found that this was confusing to many of our Canadian customers, who were not used to paying sales tax to US-based businesses. In light of this, we have canceled our NRI brokerage and will no longer be designating ourselves as the importer of record for Canadian shipments.

What does this mean for our Canadian customers?

There are two main implications:

  1. We will no longer be charging sales tax for orders being shipped to Canada.
  2. You, the customer, will be responsible for paying all import duties and taxes.

In many cases, the shipper (UPS, FedEx, etc.) will require payment of import duties and / or taxes prior to delivery. It is your responsibility to ensure that prompt payment is made such that delivery can occur. If it is not, and the order is returned, you will be liable for all shipping fees to you and back to us. If the item carries a restocking fee for returns, you will be charged that fee. If the item is not a returnable item, you will not be eligible for any refund. In other words, be sure to pay all required import duties and taxes!

As always, if you ever have any questions about shipments to Canada or anything else, just give us a ring or drop us an email and we'll be happy to help.

Our marketplaces are now more secure!

By Carlton Hoyt, 29 April 2016

While we've always encrypted our checkout process, we've added SSL encryption to the entirety of our marketplaces! Now when you're shopping on any Laboratory Supply Network site, you can be comforted knowing that your data and privacy are protected by secure SSL encryption.

When you're browsing Rotovaps.net or any of our marketplaces, you can see the green https in the navigation bar of your browser to show that you're protected.

Our Shipments are Carbon Neutral!

By Carlton Hoyt, 03 December 2015

We're happy to announce that all shipments originating from Laboratory Supply Network are now carbon neutral! That means we're paying our express shipping providers extra in order to purchase certified CO2 offsets and negate the emissions produced by the transportation of your laboratory products.

Disclaimer: please note that not all shipments originate from a Laboratory Supply Network facility. To expedite order processing, orders will sometimes be fulfilled directly from the manufacturer and while we request that they also offset the carbon emissions from shipments, we have no way of guaranteeing that they do so. However, carbon neutrality will apply to many US shipments and all Canadian shipments.

Rotovaps.net Is Here!

By Carlton Hoyt, 02 September 2015

Looking for a rotary evaporator? You've come to the right place! Rotovaps.net has the best selection of rotary evaporators and the tools to help you find the precise instrument that best fits your needs and your budget.

We at Laboratory Supply Network have built this marketplace specifically to focus on Rotary Evaporators so we can offer a better, faster, and easier experience when selecting and purchasing a rotovap.

Looking for a quote? That's easy, too! You can simply add products to your cart and click the "create a quote" link under the checkout button.

If there's anything that we can help with, don't hesitate to contact our support team.