How to pack and post a peptide sample for testing

Most problems with testing happen before the vial reaches the laboratory: a missing reference, a broken vial, an opened sample. This guide covers the five minutes of packing that prevent all three.

Before you pack

Order first. Pick the compound and panel on the order page and pay. Within a minute you receive an email with your order reference and the posting address. The address is the laboratory itself, so the vial is handled once.

What to send

1. One vial per order reference. Send it as supplied: sealed, with its original cap.
2. Freeze-dried powder as it is. Do not mix it with water first. Powder is the stable form for posting. Liquid is not.
3. Unopened, if your panel includes microbiology. An opened vial picks up microbes from the air and the needle, so the result would describe your bench, not the product. The same applies to bacteriostatic water.
4. Nothing else in the packet. Extra items slow it down and cannot be returned.

Label it three times

Write your order reference in three places:

1. On the vial, on its label or on a strip of tape around it.
2. On a slip of paper inside the packet. If the outside is damaged in transit, this still identifies the sample.
3. On the outside of the packet.

Labels come off and outer packaging gets thrown away before a sample reaches the bench. Three copies means two can fail.

Pack it

Wrap the vial so it cannot move or break, for example in bubble wrap. A padded envelope is enough for one vial. Never send loose powder folded in paper.

Post it

Use a tracked service and keep the tracking number. An untracked packet that does not arrive cannot be traced by anyone. Postage is yours to arrange and is not included in the test price.

Declare the contents as a laboratory sample of no commercial value. If you post from outside the EU, attach a customs declaration (CN22 or CN23) with the same wording. Any duty or handling charge on the packet is yours to pay, and a packet held at customs waits there until you clear it.

Freeze-dried powder tolerates ordinary post for the days a European delivery takes. Avoid leaving the packet somewhere hot before you post it.

What happens next

You get an email when the laboratory receives the sample, and the status page linked in your order email updates too. Identity, content and purity takes seven working days from arrival. Panels with microbiology take about two weeks longer, because the cultures need that time to grow. Then the report arrives by email with its report number. See what it looks like on the sample certificate.