Ask a question
Most of what is on this site started as somebody’s question. If the answer you need is not here, send the question. We would rather be asked than guess what buyers are stuck on.
What makes a question we can answer well
Not a rule, just what tends to work:
- The claim you are being asked to accept, quoted as it was given to you — the wording matters more than the summary.
- The document you were given, or the fact that you were given none.
- What the material is for: the article, the component, the market it is sold into.
- The deadline you are working against, if there is one.
You do not need to identify your company, and you do not need to say who the supplier is. If it helps you to leave both out, leave both out.
What we will answer
- What a standard, certificate or regulation actually requires, and which clause says so.
- What a certificate does not cover.
- Which question to put to a supplier, and what an evasive answer to it looks like.
- Whether a figure you have been quoted means what you were told it means.
What we will not answer
- Which supplier to use. We do not rank suppliers, in public or in private.
- Whether a specific product is “sustainable”. The word carries no threshold. Ask us about a property instead and we can be useful.
- Anything requiring a test. We have no laboratory and run no tests. If your question needs a measurement, the honest answer is that you need a testing house, and we will say so.
- Legal advice. We can point to the instrument and the clause. Whether you comply is between you and your counsel.
What happens to your question
We answer by email. If the question turns out to be one many buyers have, we may write it up as a glossary term or an entry — paraphrased, never quoted, and with nothing in it that identifies you, your company or your supplier. If you would rather we did not use it at all, say so in the message and that is the end of it.
Asking a question does not put you on a list. There is no newsletter here to be added to, and we do not pass enquiries to suppliers unless you have explicitly asked us to make an introduction. If you do ask for an introduction, read the interest disclosure first — we may be paid a fee by the supplier for making it.
How long it takes
Usually a few days. Sometimes longer, because the answer often means reading a standard we have not read yet, and we would rather be slow than confident. We do not promise a response time, and a question that needs a test or a lawyer will get a short answer saying exactly that.
Send it
[email protected] — email, plain and simple.
No form, no account, no attachment limit worth mentioning. Attach the spec sheet if you have one.
Last reviewed: 24 August 2026.