Finding a sequencing vendor

The vendor catalog

Vendors in the sidebar opens a list of sequencing and omics providers, one tab per kind of analysis: bulk RNA-seq, single-cell, CITE-seq, Smart-seq2, proteomics, TCR and BCR repertoires, Tn-seq, CUT&Tag, ATAC-seq, dual RNA-seq and bacterial genomes. Each vendor is one row: what it offers for that kind of analysis, its price, its turnaround and where it is based. Details on a row shows the rest: the full offer, where it takes samples from, whether analysis can be part of the order, notes such as accreditation, and when the entry was last checked.

Request quotes

1. Pick vendors

   Open the tab for your kind of analysis and tick the vendors that fit, up to 25. A vendor whose box cannot be ticked takes requests only through its own form; Details links to it. Press Request quotes.

2. Write the request once

   The message starts filled in with what vendors need to price the work: number of samples, organism, sample type, library and sequencing depth. Replace the parts in [brackets]. {vendor} becomes each vendor's name, so every email greets its reader. To add a vendor that is not in the catalog, such as your own core facility, press + Add a vendor and give its name and address.

3. Send

   Each vendor gets its own email, so none of them sees the others. The request opens on its own page, where the replies will arrive.

Your address for vendors

Requests go out from an address baSeq gives you, such as anna.berg@ on baSeq's outreach domain, under your name and lab. Your own email address is never shown to vendors. When a vendor replies, the reply comes back into baSeq, and you get an email saying who replied. That email does not include the reply itself: read it in baSeq.

A reply finds its request even when it comes from a colleague at the vendor or from another address there. Mail to your address that answers none of your requests is kept under Other mail on the Quote requests page.

Compare the replies

Quote requests on the Vendors page lists every request, with how many vendors replied. A request's page has its vendors on the left and the open vendor's conversation on the right. A blue dot marks a vendor with a reply you have not read.

• Their quote. Note the price and turnaround from each vendor's reply on the line under its name. They are saved as soon as you change them and appear in the list on the left, so the vendors can be compared at a glance.
• Where each vendor stands: waiting for reply, replied, quoted, declined or chosen. Choosing one vendor marks it green; only one vendor per request can be chosen.
• Reply under the conversation. Your reply goes to the vendor from the same address, in the same conversation.
• Attachments, such as a formal quote or a sample submission form, are listed under the message and download when you click them. A file over 20 MB is not kept; the message says so, and you can ask the vendor to send a link instead.

Limits

• One request goes to at most 25 vendors.
• Each account sends at most 60 vendor emails in 24 hours, replies included.
• Vendor mail is shown as plain text. Links in it are not followed by baSeq, and nothing in a vendor's email runs in your browser.

How long requests are kept

A quote request, with every conversation in it and the files vendors attached, is deleted 60 days after its last message. A new message from a vendor, or a reply of yours, starts the 60 days again. The request's page shows the date, and a week before it baSeq emails you.

Your requests and your data

Your requests, the conversations and the files vendors sent are part of your account. They are included when you export your data, and deleted with your account.