Biomedical Research Store FAQs

The Biomedical Research Store only accepts payment in the form of shortcodes. A shortcode is a six-digit number that summarizes the chartfield information for your account as designated by the University. Please have your shortcode with you when you wish to make a purchase. If you are unsure of which shortcode to use, please contact your appropriate department personnel. We are not authorized to look up shortcodes.

Currently, we are offering pick-up service only.  You’ll need to submit an order form, and then wait to be contacted by our staff.  Please see the pick-up information on our front page for more information.

Over 20,000 products are included in our contracts but are not stocked in our store. To special order, these products, fill out all information on our order form and attach it to an email addressed to bmrs1@umich.edu (please see the special order requests page for more details).  At this time, we do not accept orders over the phone. Please verify all information before submitting the Order Form. Special orders must be picked up at the location selected on the form.

Our vendor contracts qualify for overnight shipping, but transit disruptions or product availability issues do sometimes happn, so we can’t say with certainty when orders will arrive until we receive more information from the vendor.  Typically, we would expect an order to arrive within 1 -2 business days. We will notify you by e-mail once the order has arrived.  

Due to space constraints, we are unable to reserve or hold stock items without a submitted order form.  If you would like any items reserved in your name please submit an order form to us and we will be happy to process the order.

We currently stock and special order products from the following companies: Agilent, Bio-Rad, Corning, some Thermo Fisher subsidiaries (Life Technologies, Corning, and Pierce), New England Biolabs, Promega, Qiagen, Sigma Aldrich, and Takara. Although many items are available to order through the Biomedical Research Stores, generally not every item a company produces is included on our list of products.  Feel free to check our complete product list to find what you’re looking for.

Due to the nature of these products, we do not accept returns or exchanges at any time unless a product is defective. Please check catalog numbers and quantities carefully before signing your receipt. Your order form submission acknowledges that you have verified and accepted these products in their stated quantities. This no-return policy is outlined on all store order forms.

If you purchased an item that is defective, have your receipt handy and contact the site from which you purchased the product, and we will assist with a resolution.

Some form of ethanol is available for purchase at all of our locations.  Please check our complete product list to see if the specific kind you need is stocked at your location of choice.  The Biomedical Research Stores are prohibited from special ordering it because we must adhere to Federal Regulations regarding its storage, transport, and sale, and not all locations can meet these requirements.  Due to these regulations, YOU MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING WITH YOU WHEN PURCHASING:

1. Your M-card (Umich ID)
2. A DOT-approved secondary container (for the transport of your Research Grade Ethanol purchase).  Generally, this is a container that can be sealed and will fit the unopened bottle(s) of ethanol.  A screw-top pail is one example.

The person picking up the order must be the one who filled out and submitted the order form.  These regulations also prohibit us from selling more than two gallons to a customer.  Please see our products and services page for more information.