[westerman]

Thanks for your reply. So is assuming a sequencing machine to last two years more reasonable? Then $959 is in the equipment cost. The total becomes $3,874. Then it does look like Duke is not making much. Probably their pricing is just an academic deal?

Probably. Academic pricing is strange because of how grants are handled and how central administration allocates funds. Actually academic pricing is not much different than how a company might *internally* charge itself for sequencing. Internal pricing certainly has little bearing on external-to-the-organization pricing.

[AllSeq]

Thanks for your reply. So is assuming a sequencing machine to last two years more reasonable? Then $959 is in the equipment cost. The total becomes $3,874. Then it does look like Duke is not making much. Probably their pricing is just an academic deal?

Maybe around $7,000 is more reasonable for non-academic? I found some deals on genohub that is around $3,300 for one rapid mode PE 100 lane. That's pretty close to the $7,000 I estimated.

As you can see, pricing runs can be tricky, and it is especially difficult to compare academic and commercial pricing. But the other thing to keep in mind is that the numbers you’re seeing are estimates. Most providers (especially commercial ones) will charge different prices at different times (based on instrument capacity) and for different projects (based on things like difficulty and long-term value of the customer).

The only way to know the actual price for your exact project on the exact terms you want is to contact the individual providers and give them all of the relevant information. They can then tell you if they have the capacity, how long it will take, and exactly what they will charge. The time consuming nature of doing this for more than one or two providers is the reason AllSeq created the Sequencing Marketplace. You describe your project once (using our online tools) and then have multiple providers (academic and commercial) bid on your project. Only those providers who have the interest and the capacity will be bidding, so you won’t waste time chasing down estimated prices that may or may not ever materialize.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing.

Shawn
AllSeq

[gringer]

You describe your project once (using our online tools) and then have multiple providers (academic and commercial) bid on your project.

Or use Genohub, which provides you with fixed prices first for a range of general use conditions, and then you can contact the provider directly with their pre-generated quote -- no time lost in waiting for bids. I guess the disadvantage of genohub is that it doesn't allow you to be completely specific about your needs (although the consultation option would probably work for that).

[AllSeq]

Or use Genohub, which provides you with fixed prices first for a range of general use conditions, and then you can contact the provider directly with their pre-generated quote -- no time lost in waiting for bids. I guess the disadvantage of genohub is that it doesn't allow you to be completely specific about your needs (although the consultation option would probably work for that).

Using one of the various listing services out there is certainly an option. However, it’s very hard for a provider to list an accurate price when they don’t know all of the details (how many lanes, what sample type, sample shipment date, data delivery date, etc). For example, a provider can list a price for a single lane of 1X50bp reads, but if you only buy one lane, they’ll be hard pressed to fill the other seven lanes. The buyer either has to pay for the full flow cell, wait (maybe months) for the other lanes to fill up, or run a different configuration (like the popular 2X100bp). Therefore, you still need to communicate individually with each provider to make sure they’ll really be able to run your samples at that price, configuration and timeframe. If you’re only dealing with a couple that’s not so bad, but I wouldn’t want to do that with 40+ providers. That would take a lot longer than a streamlined bidding process.

And AllSeq (as well as most providers) will happily offer a free consultation to help researchers design the most efficient NGS experiment. Our team has helped hundreds of people do this.

Shawn

[Genohub]

100% accurate pricing is indeed not very straightforward but it's a problem we've put in a lot of effort addressing. As a result the prices on Genohub are actually quite accurate. As a client when you submit a project the provider has the chance to review the details specific to your project and submit adjustments if needed. It's quite an easy and streamlined process. There's no commitment on the part of the client until the samples are actually shipped. So far, the majority of submitted projects on Genohub haven't required any price adjustments.

The way we achieve this is by offering providers an easy and powerful interface to manage their listings, and by working with them to maintain accuracy. Providers can list per-lane pricing, per-flow cell pricing, one-time offers, etc. and our software takes all of these into account to instantly calculate the best price based on client's requirements. Providers are also able to activate and deactivate individual services based on their capacity situation at the time.

Ultimately price is only one factor. We try to present as much information as possible to clients up-front, including things like available bioinformatics services, turnaround time, etc. In most cases that's sufficient but as a client you're free to submit your project to more than one provider and get more custom quotes, e.g. if you have very custom bioinformatics needs or have a multi-phase project with a mix of sample types.

We'd always love to hear your feedback and ideas on how to improve our service.

-Genohub