A supplier who answers these fifteen questions promptly and specifically can be qualified with confidence. One who cannot has told you what you need to know. Send them as an email before the first order; keep the replies with the supplier qualification record.
Product
1. What is the full specification? Expect: sterile water, 0.9% (9 mg/mL) benzyl alcohol as sole preservative, bacterial endotoxins below 0.5 EU/mL, pH 4.5 to 7.0, particulate matter within pharmacopeial limits. Anything vaguer than that is a warning.
2. What is the container? Expect: Type I borosilicate glass or a qualified polyolefin vial, butyl rubber stopper, aluminum crimp, flip-off cap, 3, 10 or 30 mL. See vials.
3. Is every vial labeled with lot number and expiration date? Expect: yes. If only the carton is labeled, decline.
Documentation
4. Do you provide a lot-specific certificate of analysis with every shipment, and can I see a recent one now? Expect: yes, and a sample COA with sterility, endotoxin, pH, assay and particulates reported as results. See how to read a COA.
5. Who performs the testing, and by what methods? Expect: a named laboratory (in-house or third-party) and named methods (LAL for endotoxin, USP <71> membrane filtration for sterility, GC or HPLC for assay).
6. Is a safety data sheet available? Expect: yes, on request.
7. Will you notify me of changes to container, preservative source or manufacturing site? Expect: yes for standing customers.
Logistics
8. Where is stock held, and where does it ship from? Expect a specific answer. Domestic stock means short, controlled transit; see domestic vs. imported supply.
9. What is the processing time and typical transit time to my address? Expect: one to two business days processing, two to five days ground transit domestically.
10. How is the product packed and at what temperature is it shipped? Expect: partitioned trays in a cushioned outer box, ambient shipping, no cold pack. See how it is shipped.
11. What remaining shelf life will be on the stock you ship? Expect: a minimum, ideally 12 months or more.
12. Can you supply [quantity] from a single lot, and confirm the lot before shipping? Expect: yes for reasonable quantities.
Policies and identity
13. What is the return policy on sealed, unopened product, and how are shipping-damaged or frozen shipments handled? Expect: a stated window for sealed returns and replacement of damaged shipments on report with lot number and photographs.
14. What is your physical business address and phone number? Expect both, matching the website's contact page.
15. Who can order, and how do you describe the product's intended use? Expect: laboratory research use only, sold to laboratories, institutions and qualified purchasers, with consistent language across the site. See what research-use-only means.
Scoring the replies
Specific, prompt, consistent with the website: qualify. Generic, slow, or contradicting the product page: do not. A supplier who refuses to send a COA before an order has no COA worth sending. The wider vetting checklist, including packaging and label signs, is in real vs. substandard bacteriostatic water.
BAC Water Supply's answers
Specification as in question 1; sealed crimped vials in 3, 10 and 30 mL; lot and expiration on every vial; batch documentation on request; stock held and shipped within the United States with one-business-day processing; ambient shipping in partitioned packaging; sealed-product returns within the window stated in the return policy; business address and phone on the contact page; laboratory research use only, with ordering eligibility described in the FAQs. Recurring and single-lot volume is handled through the bulk and wholesale program.
All BAC Water Supply products are supplied for laboratory research use only and are not for human or veterinary use.