pcbshopper.com - a PCB price comparison site

[rea5245]

It's back up again. Must've been tetrion particles in the plasma conduits.

Bridge to Scotty: install that tetrion particle filter a.s.a.p. 

OK, this is definitely off-topic but: please don't malign the original series with accusations of techno-babble. It's The Next Generation that went overboard on that stuff. In the original series, Scotty would announce that the ship was going to blow up or something, and not bother Kirk's pretty little head with the technical details.

It wasn't until TNG and Voyager that crappy writers started throwing around multiphasic anomalies in the containment field or chroniton particles in the plasma conduits or whatever. (DS9, IIRC, did not suffer from much techno-babble.)

- Bob

[xDR1TeK]

First impression, I LOVE this site........

[Artlav]

Neat.
Shipping costs seems weird, however.
I.e. PCBCart lists only UPS Express: $199.50 for Russia, while i paid $50 or so, and Eurocircuits lists an absurd Express: $200.17, while they offer something like €15.44.
Something is not right there.

Hm. Checked the prices for USA and Australia.
How does that work out cheaper than making your own again?

[rea5245]

Hi Artlav,

I urge anyone who finds errors on PCBShopper.com to let me know via the Contact form there. However, since you posted here instead ... can you tell me what the size and quantity of your boards were, and which manufacturer(s) showed the high shipping costs?

Shipping costs are the hardest part for me to get right on PCBShopper. Every manufacturer uses different formulas for calculating the weight of the boards, and then the shipping costs. I try to calculate weight precisely by taking the weight per square inch of FR4 and adding in the weight of copper layers. Then I query online services in the US and China for the shipping costs. My results are rarely the same as the manufacturers', but I hope they're close. If you've found a case where they were not close, please let me know the details.

- Bob Alexander
  PCBShopper.com

[xDR1TeK]

Man, I need to learn to develop sites like that.
Any heads-up on how to start? Anything would really help.
I know xampp and CMS MADE SIMPLE.
However, my sites are never interesting.
I lack in the DB department. Any clues on what to use there?

[rea5245]

Man, I need to learn to develop sites like that.
Any heads-up on how to start? Anything would really help.

I bought a book that included sections on Javascript, PHP, and MySQL. I'm also a software engineer by profession, and that background helped a lot.

- Bob

[zapta]

I bought a book that included sections on Javascript, PHP, and MySQL. I'm also a software engineer by profession, and that background helped a lot.

- Bob

It's probably an on going tedious work to keep the prices correct,  unless if the vendors are motivated somehow to give you their formulas.

Thanks for doing it. It's very helpful.

[rea5245]

It's probably an on going tedious work to keep the prices correct,  unless if the vendors are motivated somehow to give you their formulas.

Thanks for doing it. It's very helpful.

It's not that hard. Instead of calculating prices, I query the manufacturers' web sites for the prices. So I don't need to change my code when they change their prices, only when they change their web sites. And that happens rarely.

And you're welcome. :-)

- Bob

[xDR1TeK]

I bought a book that included sections on Javascript, PHP, and MySQL. I'm also a software engineer by profession, and that background helped a lot.

- Bob

Having a programming background is not the problem, I can't set my mind on which platform and/or which IDE/Language/ProgrammingEnv to stick to.
I used to be extremely proficient in Flash for the web, but that was in the day when Macromedia was around.
Now I settle on microcontroller and assembly programming (since engineering is my main).

[rea5245]

Having a programming background is not the problem, I can't set my mind on which platform and/or which IDE/Language/ProgrammingEnv to stick to.

I had the same problem. But since I found a single book that included Javascript, PHP, and MySQL, I decided to go with that. I figured (1) they're widely used, so I won't go wrong using them for a relatively simple website and (2) they'll teach me the basics of web site programming first, and if I need to do something more complex later, I'll have a better understanding of what I need.

For the IDE, I chose NuSphere's phpEd. It's not free, but it's not expensive either. I based the web site on WordPress and used plug-ins that let me embed both php and JavaScript in the pages.

I'm not saying I made the optimal choices, but I'm confident I made reasonable choices.

- Bob

[Starlord]

Please add an option for different types of finishing.  I would like to look for the best prices on a 4-layer ENIG PCB for example, but I assume your site just defaults to whatever the lowest price option is.

[rea5245]

Please add an option for different types of finishing.

Done! PCBShopper.com now lets you specify whether you want HASL, lead-free HASL, or ENIG for your printed circuit boards. If you don't care, you can just leave the selection at the default ("Cheapest") and PCBShopper will choose the least expensive finish for each PCB manufacturer (usually HASL or lead-free HASL).

- Bob

[DerekG]

Done! PCBShopper.com now lets you specify whether you want HASL, lead-free HASL, or ENIG for your printed circuit boards.
- Bob

Fantastic job Bob. You have worked very hard on this.

[T3sl4co1l]

Would it be possible to get copper thickness as well (0.5, 1, 2, others?)?  I believe almost all these services default to 1oz...

It seems to work great, thanks for the resource

Tim

[Hansh]

It did is a good web for PCB fabricator choice, I just find my satisfied PCB manufacturer from there. Thanks !

[hak8orr]

Since I am always in search for a cheap 6 layer PCB service, first thing I did was check out the prices for a 1.2 inch by 1.2 inch 6 layer board. I never heard of PCB zone before, and their PCB pricing itself is pretty awesome (3 such boards for $18.87 each or $56.62 total), but damn their shipping. More than $20 to ship it? Are you kidding me? This is like 4pcb all over again with their garbage handling fees.

Regardless, this site is awesome, thanks a ton!

[DerekG]

I never heard of PCB Zone before ...

We have used them quite a bit over the past 2 years. I've never written a review on them as I did not know they were on PCBshopper.com

We have been very happy with their product.

I guess you are used the the low postage/freight prices from China to the USA.

PCB Zone is a division of Circuit Labs in New Zealand.

If we order on a Monday/Tuesday, delivery to our office in Australia is normally the next Monday/Tuesday.

This is for 2 layer boards, but often also includes a stainless steel solder paste stencil. Just ask for a larger stencil (if you require one) so that you can clamp it into your frame. Also confirm the thickness you require (or you might end up with a pretty thin one).

[rea5245]

I never heard of PCB zone before, and their PCB pricing itself is pretty awesome (3 such boards for $18.87 each or $56.62 total), but damn their shipping. More than $20 to ship it?

As the owner of PCBShopper.com, I hesitate to comment on PCB manufacturers - I want to be publicly neutral. However, PCB Zone's shipping is not "more than $20"; it is US$18. That's for DHL shipping, overnight to New Zealand and most of Australia or 5 days to the rest of the world. That's comparable to DHL, UPS, or Fed Ex shipping from other manufacturers. Of course, some manufacturers offer slower, cheaper options, but it's not fair to compare 15 day shipping prices to 5 day shipping prices.

- Bob

[miguelvp]

As the owner of PCBWay,On the evaluation, we evaluate the site to currently have more than 700 real customer feedback can be directed to pcbshopper comments below and PCB containing PCB customers real picture?

That might be the case, but we have found many of your sales people posing as customers in this forum/website. So it's hard to believe what is true or not anymore.

[Kjelt]

Hi Bob,
Used your pcbshopper last weekend but the shipping prizes column are only the shipping prizes. So not the total incl. Shipping, you might want to change that , was not obvious.
For the rest thanks for this great service.

[rea5245]

Hi Bob,
Used your pcbshopper last weekend but the shipping prizes column are only the shipping prizes. So not the total incl. Shipping, you might want to change that , was not obvious.
For the rest thanks for this great service.

Hi Kjelt,

PCBShopper's results have a "Price" column, which is the price for manufacturing the boards, and a column labeled "Total with shipping", which should be the manufacturing price plus the shipping price. That's my intent, that's the way it's programmed, and I'm not aware of any cases where it's not working.

If you've found a case where it's not working (I'm only human - my code might have bugs) can you give me details of what you saw? What board specs did you enter, and what company appears to have the wrong price appearing in the "Total with shipping" column?

Also, for future reference, there's a link on the PCBShopper page to "Contact Us". When people find a bug or have a suggestion, I really, really, really hope they'll contact me and tell me. When people tell me there's a bug, I generally fix it in less than 24 hours. I'm not a big corporation where comments get dropped down the memory hole.

I'm subscribed to this eevblog thread, so I see things posted here, but in general, posting in a third party forum that "PCBShopper has a bug" or "I wish PCBShopper would add a feature" is not a way to get my attention and get action.

Thanks,
   Bob

[Kjelt]

Ok will use your site and post details. 

[Wilksey]

It is unfortunate that you got off to a bad start with "fake customers".

We don't know that it wasn't in fact you, and as for pictures etc, we don't know if the boards you send pictures of are actually boards you have produced?  I am not saying this IS the case, but how would we know?

On the face of it, it is a shame as your pricing seems to be quite reasonable, approx £7 - £8 for 50mmx50mm x 10 pcs, if the quote system is correct.

Delivered by DHL to the UK for under £25 for 10 boards, that's not bad, and £14 - £15 for HK Post delivered.

Perhaps, as a way to "redeem" yourself, you could send Dave some left over PCB's that you have made for him to review that way everyone would feel more comfortable about using your service?

[void_error]

Why does the http://www.3pcb.com/ site look almost identical to http://www.pcbway.com/?

[rea5245]

Why does the http://www.3pcb.com/ site look almost identical to http://www.pcbway.com/?

Because they're the same company.

What puzzles me more is why the price calculators at pcb4u.com (Accutrace) and rushpcb.com are copies of each other. I talked to a couple of people at rushpcb and they said they didn't know anything about it.

- Bob