What is the difference between 东西 and 用品? What is the difference between 东西 and 用品? They both seem to have the meaning "stuff" in certain circumstances, but then 用品 is used in more formal situations, such as 医药用品 which I am assuming is not in the same register as if I were to say "Pharmaceutical Stuff"! I lean towards translating 医药用品 as "Pharmaceutical Products", but I am not convinced that 用品 is really the same as English "product".
用品 is used for articles that can be used, articles for use (Definitions is 2 dictionaries: 应用的物品 / 供使用的物品).

Some examples:


办公用品: Office supplies, office goods
日用品: articles for daily use
常用品: everyday implement; object of everyday use
床上用品: bedclothes; bedding
体育用品: sporting goods
教学用品: educational supplies, study material


东西 is just a thing.

You should contrast 用品 with 产品.
产品 is something that is produced/manufactured, hence a product (Definitions in 2 dictionaries: 生产出来的物品 / 劳动所创造的物质资料，包括生产资料和消费资料). The last dictionary says it's also used for consumer goods.

So for 用品 the emphasis is more on the usage, and for 产品 it is more on the production.