Terms and Conditions of Laboratory Supply

Who supplies this catalogue

Sterling Peptides UK is operated by Sterling Research Group Ltd, registered in the United Kingdom under company number 17078385. The registered office is 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom. The editable support route published on the technical support desk is the contact point for order, cancellation and complaint enquiries.

References to “Sterling”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean the legal supplier identified in the completed version. “Customer” and “you” mean the person or organisation placing an order. “Products” mean the laboratory materials and related supplies identified in the accepted order.

These terms should be read with the research-use-only policy, privacy policy, shipping policy and the product record shown at checkout. If there is a conflict, mandatory law prevails and the order-specific terms agreed in writing take priority over general website text.

Intended customers and authority

Sterling intends to supply adults purchasing for legitimate laboratory, academic or qualified commercial research. A person ordering for an organisation confirms that they have authority to submit the order and provide the organisation’s details.

The site must not assume that every customer is legally a business merely because a product has a research-use label. If an individual qualifies as a consumer under applicable law, mandatory consumer rights still apply and cannot be removed by a contractual label. Sterling may limit the catalogue to verified professional purchasers, but the onboarding and evidence must support that position.

You must provide accurate account, billing, delivery and end-use information. You must not use another person, intermediary or misleading organisation details to bypass screening or a previous refusal.

Research-use restriction

Products described as research-use-only are supplied for controlled laboratory investigation. They are not offered as medicines, foods, supplements, cosmetics, diagnostics or veterinary products. They must not be administered to a human or animal, used for personal experimentation, or resold into a consumer or clinical channel.

You are responsible for determining whether acquisition, storage, use, transfer, import, export and disposal are lawful for the project and location. You must obtain relevant institutional, ethics, safety, animal-research or regulatory approval and use competent personnel and suitable facilities.

Sterling may ask for information about the organisation, responsible investigator, project, delivery facility or procurement authority. It may refuse, hold or cancel a request that suggests a prohibited purpose, fraud, sanctions risk, unlawful transfer or inadequate controls.

Product information and scientific content

The website aims to state catalogue identity, sequence, form, declared quantity, storage information and available batch documentation accurately. Images can illustrate packaging but do not replace the written specification. Minor packaging changes that do not alter identity, quantity or agreed quality may occur.

HPLC purity is a method-dependent analytical result. It does not by itself prove identity, exact content, sterility, absence of every impurity, biological effect or clinical safety. A Certificate of Analysis applies only to the identified batch. Customers should review the quality guide and confirm the certificate matches the vial label.

Research articles summarise scientific literature and include limitations. They do not provide medical advice, recommend a dose or promise an experimental outcome. Nothing on the site authorises human or veterinary use.

Orders and contract formation

An online order is an offer to buy the listed products. Automated acknowledgement confirms receipt, not acceptance. A contract forms only when Sterling issues an express acceptance or dispatch confirmation, depending on the final checkout wording chosen by the operator.

Before acceptance, Sterling may verify stock, price, delivery eligibility, organisation details, payment authorisation and proposed use. If it cannot accept an order, it should explain where reasonably possible and release or refund collected payment promptly.

Customers must review the basket, product variation, quantity, address and charges before submission. Contact support promptly if an acknowledgement contains an error. Sterling is not obliged to supply an obvious pricing or catalogue error where it gives notice and returns any payment.

Prices, VAT and quotations

The checkout must state the currency, product price, delivery charge, VAT treatment and total before the customer commits. Whether displayed prices include or exclude VAT must be configured consistently for the intended customer group.

A wholesale quotation is valid only for the period stated and can depend on quantity, specification, raw-material availability, analytical work and delivery assumptions. Unless the quotation expressly says otherwise, it is not a reservation of stock or acceptance of an order.

Institutional purchase-order numbers can be added where supported, but a purchase order does not override these terms unless Sterling accepts a specific variation in writing.

Payment and fraud controls

Available payment methods are those displayed at checkout. Payment may be authorised or collected by a contracted provider. An authorisation does not guarantee acceptance, allocation or dispatch.

Sterling may conduct proportionate fraud and compliance checks and request confirmation through an independent contact route. Never send full card credentials, card security codes or passwords by email. The secure checkout policy explains the intended process.

If payment fails, is reversed or reasonably appears unauthorised, Sterling may suspend performance while investigating. This does not limit rights relating to incorrectly taken payments or mandatory chargeback processes.

Delivery

Available regions, services, charges and estimated dispatch windows are shown at checkout or in an accepted quotation. An estimate is not a guaranteed arrival time unless Sterling expressly agrees a guaranteed service.

The customer must provide a complete address at which an authorised person can receive the package and must tell Sterling about access restrictions. Risk in the goods transfers on delivery to the address supplied by the customer. Title transfers when Sterling has received payment in full, subject to any mandatory rule that applies to the transaction.

Tracking records movement through a courier network but does not prove continuous temperature compliance. Where a qualified temperature-controlled service is expressly purchased, its packaging standard, monitoring method, acceptance range and excursion process should be stated in the order.

Delays caused by a courier do not automatically make material unsuitable. Equally, a delivered scan does not resolve a missing or damaged package. Customers should preserve packaging and follow the delivery inspection process.

Inspection and quality concerns

On receipt, the customer should check the outer package, seal, vial count, labels, batch, physical condition and any required temperature indicator. A suspected problem should be documented with the order number, product, batch, photographs and receipt time. Keep the material segregated under the stated storage conditions while Sterling reviews it.

Do not use material that appears damaged, mislabelled, contaminated or materially inconsistent with the accepted specification. Sterling may request reasonable evidence and, where appropriate, arrange return or independent examination. The customer must not destroy relevant packaging or material unless safety rules require it.

A result obtained under a different method is not automatically proof of non-conformity. A quality investigation should compare identity, sampling, instrument, method, calculations, reference standards, handling and chain of custody. Valid remedies may include replacement, repeat analysis, price reduction or refund, depending on the finding and law.

Cancellation, returns and refunds

The final site must explain how a customer can cancel, the applicable timeframe, exclusions and return address. Because research materials may have storage, contamination or tamper concerns, some opened or unsealed items may not be suitable for resale. That operational fact does not remove statutory rights for faulty, misdescribed or incorrectly supplied goods.

For distance contracts, the operator must configure the checkout and policy to comply with the customer’s actual legal status and the goods supplied. The UK Government’s distance-selling guidance summarises information and cancellation duties for sales made online or at a distance.

No return should be sent without the supplied authorisation and safe-handling instructions. Sterling should confirm whether the customer must retain, return or dispose of temperature-sensitive or potentially compromised goods. Approved refunds are made through the original payment route unless law or an agreed institutional process requires another method.

Customer handling obligations

Customers must follow the product-specific label, certificate, safety information and validated laboratory procedures. They must protect material from unauthorised access, preserve batch traceability, record preparations and dispose of waste under applicable rules.

General website storage guidance cannot account for every formulation or experiment. Customers should control receipt, temperature, humidity, light exposure, aliquoting and freeze-thaw events as relevant. Transferring or repackaging material must not obscure its identity or research-only status.

The customer is responsible for its experimental design and interpretation. Sterling is not responsible for failure caused by an unsuitable assay, unvalidated method, incompatible solvent, improper storage, contamination after delivery or use outside the agreed specification, subject always to mandatory law.

Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability where exclusion is unlawful, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, or rights that mandatory consumer law protects.

Subject to those protections, the final business-to-business limitation must be tailored to the actual risk, insurance and transaction model. It may address indirect loss, loss of profit, loss of data, experimental failure and an aggregate cap, but those provisions require solicitor review and must satisfy applicable reasonableness rules.

Sterling does not warrant that research information is suitable for a particular project or that an experiment will produce a desired result. Any product warranty should be limited to the specification expressly accepted, while preserving legal remedies that cannot be excluded.

The customer should take reasonable steps to limit avoidable loss and notify Sterling promptly of a claim. Nothing requires disclosure of legally privileged or unrelated confidential material.

Events outside reasonable control

Neither party is responsible for delay caused by an event genuinely outside its reasonable control to the extent the law permits. Examples may include transport disruption, utility failure, natural event, government restriction, cyber incident despite reasonable controls or interruption at an essential supplier.

The affected party should notify the other, reduce the impact and resume performance when reasonably possible. If delay becomes substantial, the cancellation and refund consequences should follow the accepted order and applicable law. This clause does not excuse failures that reasonable continuity planning should have prevented.

Suspension and termination

Sterling may suspend an account or cancel an unfulfilled order where information is materially false, payment is unauthorised, use appears prohibited, legal supply becomes impossible or the customer seriously breaches these terms. A proportionate review should distinguish a correctable administrative error from deliberate evasion.

Termination does not erase accrued payment, confidentiality, intellectual-property, record-retention or dispute rights. Material already delivered remains subject to research-use and safe-handling restrictions.

Complaints and disputes

Customers should contact the technical support desk with the order, product, batch and requested resolution. Sterling should acknowledge the complaint, preserve records and provide a reasoned response after appropriate commercial or quality review.

The completed terms must state the contracting law and courts. If England and Wales is selected, the clause must preserve any mandatory forum rights available to consumers elsewhere. Business customers may agree an escalation or mediation step, but it should not prevent urgent remedies or statutory rights.

General provisions

If a court finds one provision unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue so far as legally possible. Delay in enforcing a right is not automatically a waiver. No third party obtains a right under these terms unless the completed version expressly states otherwise.

Sterling may update website terms for future orders. The version accepted with an order governs that contract unless a lawful written change is agreed. Each published version should show its effective date and remain retrievable for audit.

These terms take effect when published on the site and should be reviewed whenever checkout, VAT treatment, delivery regions, cancellation rules, return routing or governing law changes. The support desk will provide the current return instructions for an authorised return. Nothing in these terms limits a right that cannot lawfully be limited.