We offer four account types to meet different needs. Consult your purchasing agent to determine which account types are compatible with your organization's rules and procedures so that you can request an account type that is appropriate for your organization. After your account has been established you can contact us at any time to change your account type.

When you request an account you need to provide the name and email address of the Account Holder. To help us document use of the collection by the research community we request that your Account Holder be a Principle Investigator whenever possible. You have the option to designate an account Delegate to receive quotes, statements and any other financial correspondence associated with orders placed on your account (stock information will continue to be sent to the orderer).

Additional users can be added after your account has been established. If your group includes multiple PIs we encourage you to include all of them as named account users (this helps us match use to NIH grantees).

Charges for use of the collection, with the exception of courier charges, are listed on the Fees page. Fees are fixed for the calendar year and apply to all stocks ordered for shipment in the calendar year. Import costs such as duties, taxes and veterinary inspection fees vary by country and must be paid by your organization directly to the courier or relevant authorities.

To change your shipping address, please use our Update Accounts page

Shipping Address. Stocks are shipped to qualified organizational addresses by mail or courier (no residential addresses, please). Provide a shipping address that is appropriate for your preferred shipping method, or provide multiple shipping addresses to choose among when placing an order.

Organizational Address. If you have stocks shipped to an organization other than your own we ask you to provide your organizational address as well.

Billing/Invoicing Address. If you use an organizational Purchase Order to buy stocks we send the invoice to the billing address indicated on the Purchase Order.

Available shipping methods vary by country. If more than one method is available for your country you can select the options you want available for orders on your account. Import costs such as duties, taxes and veterinary inspection fees vary by country and must be paid by your organization directly to the courier or relevant authorities. To change your default shipping method, please see our Update Account page.

Due to increases in shipping issues using the postal system, we strongly recommend the use of a courier service for both domestic and international shipments.

Courier Services. FedEx and UPS shipments, charging either your FedEx/UPS account or the BDSC’s account, are available for all domestic shipments. Some international countries can receive shipments via UPS. See the table of courier options by country to view your options.

United States Postal Service.  All domestic USPS shipments travel by priority mail but there is no tracking information available.

USPS shipments outside the USA with up to 90 stocks can be sent First-Class Package International Mail (no tracking available) or Priority Mail International (with tracking). USPS shipments outside the USA with over 90 stocks are sent only Priority Mail International (with tracking). Priority Mail International customers will be sent tracking numbers approximately 4-6 days after the stocks have been packed.

Shipments of over 450 stocks will be sent in multiple boxes (if uninsulated). Insulated shipments of over 128 stocks will be send in multiple boxes.

Email addresses. If a researcher contacts us with a question about a stock you donated that we cannot answer, we may provide your email address to that individual. Otherwise we do not share email addresses with third parties.

Stock request history. We report collection use statistics to our Scientific Advisory Board and the National Institutes of Health in aggregate or anonymized formats. Otherwise we do not share information about your stock requests with third parties.

Other account information. We do not share other information about your BDSC User Account with third parties.

You agree to the following conditions when you request a BDSC account.

Redistribution. Stocks obtained from the BDSC may not be redistributed outside of the recipient's organization without our written consent. When you request a BDSC account and/or order stocks, you agree to this policy on behalf of yourself, all users of your account, and anyone in your organization allowed access to stocks received from BDSC. If anyone covered by this agreement fails to honor it, we may deny you, your group, or your organization access to the stocks and services of the BDSC.

Patents and Licenses. Many Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center stocks contain patented and/or exclusively licensed components. Patents & license information lists stock components covered by patents and/or licenses. Patent owners and licensees permit unrestricted use of their materials for nonprofit research purposes only. It is the recipient's responsibility to obtain any necessary licenses and/or permissions from the patent holder for any work with these stocks falling outside the scope of this authorization.

Disclaimers. We cannot guarantee that the genotype of any given stock is as represented in the stock list. We will make every attempt to correct misshipments but listed genotypes rely on information provided by donors. By ordering a BDSC stock, the recipient understands and agrees that it takes the item "as is", and further agrees to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the donor(s) of the stock(s), the Trustees of Indiana University and its officers, agents, and employees, including the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center directors and employees, with respect to any claims or causes of action of whatever sort, relating to the Center's provision of the stock(s) or the recipient's receipt, use, and activity with respect to such stock(s).

Collections Use Reporting. We report anonymized aggregate collection use statistics to our funding agency, NIH, to our Scientific Advisory Board, and to other interested parties (usually for resource development purposes). We do not share information about your specific stock requests with third parties except when legally required to do so in the contexts of regulatory compliance or governmental investigation.