Since it dealt exclusively with laboratory equipment, the LabX site competed effectively with eBay, which focused on consumer products
In the mid-1990s, when he worked as a sales rep for a scientific equipment company, Bob Kafato had an epiphany.
A customer who had planned to buy an HPLC autosampler didn't go through with the order.
Kafato soon learned why.
The customer had bought three used autosamplers for the same price as a single new one of the same brand, and was genuinely excited about the savings.
"I became interested in used equipment at that point," he recalls.
A few months later, Kafato made another discovery: the emerging internet had a large gap.
So he set up a free website for buying and selling used laboratory products through classified advertising.
That site quickly evolved into LabX, a business-to-business marketplace that has become a global powerhouse in facilitating the exchange of new and used scientific instruments and related products.
LabX grew through advances in technology.
First, it entered the online auction business.
That success convinced LabX to develop its own lab crawler, called LabVista.
This scoured the web to collect inventories of scientific equipment from all types of companies for promotion on LabX.
Presented as classified advertisements, these appealed to individuals who wanted to obtain scientific equipment immediately instead of waiting for an auction to close.
More recently the product offerings have expanded to include medical, process, semiconductor, and test and measurement items.
Still to come is yet another new concept which will allow the large number of buyers on LabX to share product specific knowledge in a new web portal to be launched later this year.
Numbers give an indication of LabX's success.
More than 13,000 auction adverts closed successfully on the site in 2007.
Over 25,000 users check the site for bargains each business day.
And items available on the site draw in excess of 5000 e-mail enquiries each month.
The company serves two types of client.
Manufacturers, distributors, dealers, service companies, and other vendors use the service to sell their good via advertising listings and ad space.
Their targets - and LabX's - are individual scientists, engineers, and technicians who seek new or used equipment and supplies.
They range from staffers in major corporations to inventors working out of their garages.
Potential buyers must register with the site.
But having done so, they are free to contact advertisers independently.
James Szeto, a chemist at Petro Laboratories, a small testing laboratory in Mississauga, Ontario, found the site five years ago, when he needed a secondhand instrument.
Since then, he has returned consistently.
"Like any other customer, I look for bargains in instruments for the general laboratory," he says.
"Every day I can go to the site and spend a couple of hours there.
"It's very easy to work with it.
"I don't always find what I want, but I don't want to miss the chance".
Harriet Mills, marketing manager for Jasco, USA, a producer of chromatography and spectroscopy technology based in Easton, Maryland, explains the site's value for a supplier.
"We decided to advertise on LabX because we have quite a bit of demo equipment," she explains.
"It has worked beyond what we expected.
"LabX is truly my favourite website to work with".
Mills points to a variety of services beyond the ordinary that LabX provides.
"Whenever we send a press release, it goes up within minutes," she says.
"Even though they deal mainly in used equipment, they promote our new equipment.
"What they do really well is listen to what the vendor and the customer are saying and put it together so that it works well for both".
For Mills, the key to LabX's success is personal interaction.
"Our sales person has an incredible wealth of knowledge," she says.
"He has helped us with our own website.
"He comes up with so many suggestions".
Kafato echoes that theme.
"As a business, LabX has always prided itself on exceptional customer service," he says.
"We communicate directly with anyone who needs support or guidance, and we offer a toll-free number so that any member may contact us and speak with a real live person.
"This, coupled with friendly and personalised customer service, makes working with LabX a pleasurable experience that separates us from many larger online services".
