# Shelf life for Illumina reagent products

Illumina guarantees that all Research Use Only (RUO) reagent products will ship with a minimum viable shelf-life of **three months from the date of shipment**. Actual shelf-life may be longer depending on date of manufacturing relative to shipment date. Always use reagents within the expiration date listed on the reagent packaging for optimal performance.

The following reagents are exceptions to this guideline and each have a minimum of **six months of shelf-life from the date of shipment**:

* NovaSeq X Series 1.5B, 10B, and 25B reagents
* NovaSeq 6000 v1.5 reagents
* NextSeq 1000/2000 Standard SBS and XLEAP-SBS Reagents
* Illumina DNA PCR-Free 96 sample Kit (Catalog # 20041795)

See below for additional information.

* [FAQs Product Terms and Conditions](https://www.illumina.com/content/dam/illumina-marketing/documents/terms-conditions/faqs-product-terms-conditions.pdf)
* NovaSeq X Series Reagents [Product Page](https://www.illumina.com/products/by-type/sequencing-kits/cluster-gen-sequencing-reagents/novaseq-x-series-reagent-kits.html)
* NovaSeq 6000 v1.5 reagents [Product Page](https://www.illumina.com/products/by-type/sequencing-kits/cluster-gen-sequencing-reagents/novaseq-reagent-kits.html)
* NextSeq 1000/2000 reagents [Product Page](https://www.illumina.com/products/by-type/sequencing-kits/cluster-gen-sequencing-reagents/nextseq-1000-2000-reagents.html)

Illumina offers Illumina Advantage (IA, formerly referred to as TG) products that include extended shelf-life (from three to six months); see [Illumina Advantage Reagents](https://www.illumina.com/clinical/large-scale-sequencing-products.html) for additional information.

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| *For any feedback or questions regarding this article (Illumina Knowledge Article #3270), contact Illumina Technical Support* [*techsupport@illumina.com*](mailto:techsupport@illumina.com?subject=Question%2FFeedback%20Regarding%20Illumina%20Knowledge%20Article%20#000003270%20-%20Instrumentation%20\&body=Dear%20Illumina%20Technical%20Support,%0D%0A%0D%0A)*.* |


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