Chromatography Forum

That is indeed a short answer to the question, however since the question concerned the pricing of entry level LCMS, not GCMS, it isn't very relevent. It is a good example of how responding to a question without using all available information leads to incorrect answers.

I will note one other thing that gets into the pricing game. You can look up the GSA price for instruments. Under a GSA contract, the government is given a price that is the lowest price offered for the particular item. Because of this stipulation, items under GSA contract may be purchased with out putting the purchase out for bids.

My observation is that this is sometimes a special package - and you can get the same functinality at lower price by going through the bid process for the "other" special package. (This is my observation and I must qualify that I may be missing something here.) And, sometimes the package on the GSA list is the only package the vendor sells - with only the government getting the GSA price.

Having said that, if you want numbers that were accrate under circumstances that were not yours, the GSA list is as good as any other.

GSA is a good guide to the lowest price you can expect to pay. With the provision that GSA has to be lower than typical bid quotes, adding 3 to 5% to the quote gives a good idea as to what to expect from a quote if you have money in had ready to buy. One thing to remember is that only specific items on the GSA schedule are elgible for the GSA discount. If you have a mix of GSA and non-GSA listed items only the GSA part of the order will get the GSA pricing, the other components will get the standard priciing and discount, if any. This system can be a nightmare for all concerned, vendor as well as end user.

GSA is actually quite complex, and there are exceptions to GSA being the lowest price an instrument is offered at. Special promotional prices like Don mentioned are one way to sell below GSA. The GSA pricing does not apply to sales of multiple instruments above a threshold number, and does not apply to used or demo instruments.

Even with all the exceptions to GSA, and the above is by no means an exhausive list, if you get GSA pricing or close to it you hve gotten a good deal.

There is a company that sells refurbished GC for very reasonable prices with excelent waranties. Their sales guys are very hassel free and laid back it is called Analytical Instrument Recycle Inc. They offer a comprehensive warranty and the instruments are fully refurbished.

If you tell them dana from peak sent you they might be able to give youa little more of a discount.

www.AIRecycle.com

Just to put some % in this GSA pricing, in my previous employment we were getting around 18-19% off list price through GSA pricing...

I can't be of too much help in regard to pricing, I guess you'd be looking at around $100K new and installed but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

However, you mentioned that sensitivity was of no interest. Is this because you're adding the MS as an additional detector to a prep system? Sure, the MS doesn't need to be sensitive to be used in prep but don't assume that any low end MS would be suitable.

The best MS for prep is one that has features/ability to survive prep conditions/concentrations without too much regular attention. You want something that's robust, with a decent splitter and preferably the option to decrease sensitivity by adjustments to the probe/source.

Of course maybe you're not doing prep, in which case ignore my ramblings ;o)