pcbshopper.com - a PCB price comparison site

[zapta]

This is a new site

http://pcbshopper.com/

Nicely done IMO. It allows to compare PCB prices.  I entered my numbers an OSHPark was the least expensive.

What do you think?

(I am not affiliated in any way).

Merged with thread from website creator.

[tszaboo]

Well, this is probably sufficient for hobbyist. I've checked some numbers and I'm usually ordering pcms which are 9.8 times more expensive than the Chinese ones. But they prepare gerbers overnight, 2 days+shipping is not a problem, and we have a big red phone, which rings there if there is any problem. Also, capabilities are not mentioned anywhere.
Although I have some personal projects in the pipeline, so it might be useful.

[ion]

Probably best to double check the results though.
I entered some numbers and was surprised to see ExpressPCB was an order of magnitude more than the rest.  The formulas on their site gave a price more in line with the other American and European services though.

[macboy]

Hmm. It's interesting that OSHPark was cheapest for you; it was 15 times more expensive than the lowest price given to me for my example, which was Elecrow ($300 vs. $20).

[zapta]

Hmm. It's interesting that OSHPark was cheapest for you; it was 15 times more expensive than the lowest price given to me for my example, which was Elecrow ($300 vs. $20).

Try this 1" x 1.5", color does not matter, 2 layers, three boards.

What was your configuration?

[rea5245]

Hi,

I've just finished building a website, PCBShopper.com, that lets you compare prices for manufacturing prototype PCBs from different companies. Just enter the board size, layers, preferred color, and quantity, and you'll get a list of manufacturers with prices (in US dollars, including shipping to the US).

The site also has a page with a list of free CAD software. For both PCB manufacturers and CAD programs, there's a place for users to write their own reviews, Amazon-style.

Finally, it has a phpBB board with forums for discussing manufacturers and CAD programs.

I am not affiliated with any manufacturers or CAD developers. I hope this site will be helpful to electronics hobbyists.

- Bob

[pa2ees]

It looks quite nice, thanks for the tip.

 - Erik

[AndreaEl]

Very good, i really like it.

Maybe can be added a current release version for each CAD software and note which version is the written comment. (example: a software with an important update is much better, the review become old and not updated).

[rea5245]

That's a good idea Andrea. Thank you.

[M4trix]

Hey, not so fast guys!

Currently, only prices and shipping for the U.S. is supported.

[rea5245]

I'm the creator of the PCBShopper.com site.

NANDBlog: I'm a hobbyist and I was motivated to help myself and people like me to shop for the cheapest manufacturer. So yes, it's geared towards hobbyists.

ion: I want to make sure my prices are accurate. Can you tell me what specs you entered that showed incorrect prices for ExpressPCB?

- Bob

[zapta]

Probably he used high quantities or very large boards. OSHPark does well with small quantities of small boards (e.g. 1"x1" x 3 boards) but since its pricing is not progressive it does not compete well for large orders.

BTW, when I entered a very large quantity I got a non relevant error "Currently, only prices and shipping for the U.S. is supported."

Nicely done site.

[rea5245]

Hi Zapta,

Is the "Currently, only prices and shipping for the U.S. is supported" right above the "Get prices" button? If so, it's always there - it's not an error message. If you asked for something for which there were no results, you'd get "There were no results. There are many companies that offer services that PCB Shopper does not currently include in its comparison. Perhaps you have asked for an especially large board, or a board with many layers, or a very large quantity. Unfortunately, you will have to contact PCB manufacturers directly for pricing."

So I'm not sure what you're seeing. Can you tell me what dimensions, layers, and quantity you entered? If there's a bug, I'd like to try to reproduce it.

Thanks,
   Bob

[tonyarkles]

rea5245: one thing that'd be cool to add would be the ability to see per-board cost for different order sizes. E.g. If I've got a 2"x3" pcb, it'd be cool to see per-board cost for 10, 20, 50, 100 boards.

Edit: and expected turn-around time. Makes it easier to make comparisons like "for $100 I can get them next month, or for $150 I can get them next week"

[zapta]

@rea5245

1. I saw hat message near a field that became red so I assumed it was related. Apparently it is no.

2. You may want to check http://smart-prototyping.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_60&product_id=142  low quantity prices seem to be competitive (I have no experience with them).

3. FYI, I tried to add a review but it asked me for email address so I gave up.  You may want to relax the requirements to get it going.

[rea5245]

Zapta, I've added smart-prototyping to my list of things to do.

And I've made e-mail addresses optional on reviews.

Thanks,
   Bob

[ion]

ion: I want to make sure my prices are accurate. Can you tell me what specs you entered that showed incorrect prices for ExpressPCB?

- Bob

5x5cm, 2 layers, least expensive solder mask colour.
Quantity: 100

ExpressPCB comes to around $2500, about $2000 more than their formula for a production board (I think that's the most expensive option).
Yes, it defaults to a larger board area, but it's still way off.

Hope this helps.

[rea5245]

5x5cm, 2 layers, least expensive solder mask colour.
Quantity: 100

ExpressPCB comes to around $2500, about $2000 more than their formula for a production board (I think that's the most expensive option).
Yes, it defaults to a larger board area, but it's still way off.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, ion. I've fixed it.

PCB Shopper was initially programmed for prototype boards, but some people are trying to use it for larger quantities, as you did. I'll gradually be adding better support for that.

- Bob

[dillon]

I hope our free web based EDA with PCB order can be included to VS.
http://easyeda.com/
Dillon

[rea5245]

Hi Dillon,

I've added EasyEDA to my list of CAD programs. I'd be happy to add your PCB manufacturing service too, if there were a way for me to calculate prices. If you're interested, contact me via PCBShopper.com's contact form.

- Bob

[scientist]

Thanks for making this, Bob.

[Wilksey]

Very useful tool, thanks Bob for creating this!

[codeboy2k]

Very useful tool, thanks Bob for creating this!

Wow! Great site! good work @ Bob !
People are definitely going to want to use this for larger quantities. If you can support that, it will be way more useful to a larger number of people beyond the hobbyist, and you can monetize the web site better for your own reward.

I just tried to put in a 1000 board order and it has a 100 board limit.

Support for international shipping is a good thing too (it can be really hard to get the shipping right, I understand this)
Also other options like HASL, ENIG , immersion silver/tin, etc.

(ok, I want the world )

Good tool.. it will only get better! Thanks!

[rea5245]

Thanks, codeboy. PCBShopper currently calculates prices for prototype quantities, so that's why I limited it to 100 pieces. (Even 100 pieces may be too much for my current calculator.) But I know a lot of people want more, so I'll start working on Small Batch quantities soon.

- Bob

[miguelvp]

Not that they are very cheap, but eurocircuits.com (bindi pool, standard pool, PCB proto) do pretty good quality boards but they are all absent from pcbshopper.

For what I've heard in this forum, people that used them are happy with the quality.

[rea5245]

Hi Miguel,

I would love to add Eurocircuits, but I haven't been able to figure out their pricing. The first part is simple: making a change on their form sends a query to their server and an XML response comes back. But it's not obvious how prices in the XML correspond to the prices displayed on the page. There must be some JavaScript that massages the numbers. It's going to take some reverse-engineering to figure it out, and for now there are better ways for me to improve PCBShopper with less effort.

But Eurocircuits is on my list of things to do. Someday.

- Bob

[Kjelt]

Eurocircuits is very good, used them multiple times but not nearly in the same ballpark moneywise as the other sites unless you want a lot of boards (>30).
For a few boards the difference in price is huge, eurocircuits start at around €90.- no matter what you choose.

Thanks by the way for this very nice pricecomparison site, looks very good.
If I might be so bold, it would be great to have an indication of shippingcost to Europe included in the comparison, doesn't have to be spot on just an aproximation 

[rea5245]

Adding more countries is on my list of things to do. In the meantime, I'd like to point out that PCBShopper can still be useful to people outside the US. The cheapest board manufacturer in dollars is likely the cheapest in your currency. And all the Chinese manufacturers will charge roughly the same to ship to your country, so the cheapest manufacturer will probably be the cheapest source even after factoring in shipping.

Of course, it's impossible to compare shipping costs from US companies with shipping costs from Chinese companies. And it's nice to know what your absolute costs will end up being. So I know that none of this is a substitute for having PCBShopper support other countries. So as I said, it is on my list of things to do.

- Bob

[miguelvp]

Eurocircuits is very good, used them multiple times but not nearly in the same ballpark moneywise as the other sites unless you want a lot of boards (>30).
For a few boards the difference in price is huge, eurocircuits start at around €90.- no matter what you choose.

Yes big difference but depending what of their services you choose. It's expensive with their standard pool and their PCB proto. But with their Bindi Pool is very competitive.

Bindi pool 2" x 2" 2 layer quantity 5 would be $9.58 per board total of $66.81 shipped.
For quantity 50 then $2.25 per board $133.01 shipped (big difference as you say).

OSH Park $5 per square inch for 3 copies so $20 for 3 boards shipped. But on medium production is $1 per square inch so 50 boards would be $4 per board so $200 shipped.

[Kjelt]

Adding more countries is on my list of things to do.

  looking forward to it 

[Kjelt]

Yes big difference but depending what of their services you choose. It's expensive with their standard pool and their PCB proto. But with their Bindi Pool is very competitive.
Bindi pool 2" x 2" 2 layer quantity 5 would be $9.58 per board total of $66.81 shipped.
For quantity 50 then $2.25 per board $133.01 shipped (big difference as you say).

I have no idea how you get those prices, if I look at the Bindi pool there are a lot of demands, one of them is medium volume which means more then 50 pieces and the second is the size of the board. So if I go to eurocircuits pricecalculator and go below 50 pieces it switches to the standard pool (expensive)
and if I say 100 pieces of 2"x2" it also switches back to standard pool. Maybe you have a different site, I look at eurocircuits.com in Belgium (europe).
And again for very good quality medium amounts of boards I do use them but for prototyping small amounts of test pcb's I switch to the asian manufacturers and hope it arrives. for me it is hobby so there are no deadlines and $ is the main factor.

[miguelvp]

I use the same site: http://be.eurocircuits.com/shop/orders/configurator.aspx
Maybe because I'm located in the US?

Yup, if I change to France it changes me to the Standard Pool 

Ooops sorry didn't pay attention and you are on the Netherlands, but same thing from the Netherlands.

[Kjelt]

I have no idea but you,re example costs you €49 and in my case it costs €82 exact same order.
And they are located less then 200km away from me.
Oh well their loss, if they don,t fix it i keep ordering prototypes in asia 

[rea5245]

PCB Shopper now estimates shipping costs to almost all countries around the world. You can see some details at http://pcbshopper.com/announcements/ or try the improved calculator at http://pcbshopper.com.

- Bob

[jimjam]

I vote for making this "Sticky", or a topic that gives us a list of pcb making services out there.

[motocoder]

This is great. Thanks very much for creating this, BOb.

[nitro2k01]

Someone mentioned these sites to me in passing-by. No idea if they're legit, or the same as any other of the listed sites, but after investigating these, you might want to add them to the comparison.

http://www.pentalogix.com/
http://www.custompcb.com/
http://www.sunstone.com/

[rea5245]

Someone mentioned these sites to me in passing-by. No idea if they're legit, or the same as any other of the listed sites, but after investigating these, you might want to add them to the comparison.

Thanks, nitro. I'll add them to my list of things to do. I actually added Sunstone a while ago, but my queries of their web site broke and I haven't found a solution yet.

I'm not a regular on this forum. The best way to give me suggestions like this is to go to PCBShopper.com and click on Contact Us.

- Bob

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Hi thanks for making it quick to do comparisons.

One thing sorting by price ascending should IMO  have "Contact manufacturer for
shipping costs." at the end of the list not at the start.
There are a few ways you could do this, but it would be useful.

[rea5245]

Someone mentioned these sites to me in passing-by. No idea if they're legit, or the same as any other of the listed sites, but after investigating these, you might want to add them to the comparison.

http://www.pentalogix.com/
http://www.custompcb.com/
http://www.sunstone.com/

Sunstone is now included in the PCB price comparisons on PCBShopper.com. Thanks to the staff at Sunstone for helping me troubleshoot the problems I was having.

- Bob

[PedroDaGr8]

Someone mentioned these sites to me in passing-by. No idea if they're legit, or the same as any other of the listed sites, but after investigating these, you might want to add them to the comparison.

http://www.pentalogix.com/
http://www.custompcb.com/
http://www.sunstone.com/

Sunstone is now included in the PCB price comparisons on PCBShopper.com. Thanks to the staff at Sunstone for helping me troubleshoot the problems I was having.

- Bob

I messaged them on Twitter a week ago, asking when they would return to PCBShopper. They responded thta they would look into it. Guess they already were.

[zapta]

Just got this search result. Free PCB manufacturing and shipping. Too good to be true?

[rea5245]

Just got this search result. Free PCB manufacturing and shipping. Too good to be true?

It's not "too good to be true". They require you to post your project on their web site, documented to their satisfaction, and then they'll buy some boards for you. There's a size limit and a quantity limit. Basically, they're spending 10 or 20 bucks to get you to put some quality content on their site.

It's good, but not "too good to be true".

- Bob Alexander

[miguelvp]

That's just perfect for me, just ordered 20 PSoC 4200 in 28 pins SSOP for $20 free shipping and I need to make a breadboard adapter and maybe even add a 40 pin connector (not all used) and I don't mind they having such a simple board public.

[miguelvp]

That's just perfect for me, just ordered 20 PSoC 4200 in 28 pins SSOP for $20 free shipping and I need to make a breadboard adapter and maybe even add a 40 pin connector (not all used) and I don't mind they having such a simple board public.

Don't know how I could screw up an order but I ended up with 20 40 pin QFN packages

When you click to add the item to the cart, the description and the part number go away and the chip is referred by an internal inventory item number of some sort that has nothing to do with the chip for visual confirmation that it's the right chip.

I opened a case with cypress and will reorder maybe just 5 SSOP ones (this time making sure it's the right part) at least if it was the 44 pin QFP I could drag solder it.

Maybe I should just use this opportunity to learn how to deal with reflow oven only parts and use an old skillet or something like that.

[zapta]

Maybe I should just use this opportunity to learn how to deal with reflow oven only parts and use an old skillet or something like that.

+1  ;-)

You can also use hot air station or even hand soldering (have longer pads and use good Tacky paste).

[rea5245]

I've added a major new feature to PCBShopper.com. You can now specify how quickly you want your boards to arrive.

Up until now, PCBShopper quoted prices based on the manufacturer's default lead time (the time between when you submit your order and when the boards are manufactured), and it showed you multiple shipping options. But if you were in a rush to get your boards, there was no way for you to indicate that you were willing to pay more for shorter lead times. Now there is.

In the Printed Circuit Board Specs form, there is now a field labeled "Boards arrive in". If you leave this set to "Default time", PCBShopper behaves as it did before: it quotes prices for the manufacturer's default lead time. But if you set it to a specific number of days (business days, actually), PCBShopper will quote shorter lead times and/or faster shipping. PCBShopper even figures out the cheapest way to get the boards to you on time, either by paying for faster shipping or paying for shorter lead times or a combination of the two.

Notice that you do not specify the lead time - it's PCBShopper's job to figure that out. Instead, you specify when you want the boards to arrive at your door.

As always, remember that PCBShopper's shipping times and prices are estimates. If you're on a firm schedule, double-check PCBShopper's numbers with the manufacturer. (The shipping prices are estimates, but the board prices are accurate: they come directly from the manufacturers' web sites.)

- Bob

[Wilksey]

Getting 502 Bad Gateway

[rea5245]

Getting 502 Bad Gateway

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

[Kjelt]

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. 

[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

[rea5245]

I've added a "Quality Certifications" field to PCBShopper.com. You can now specify if you want the PCB manufacturer to have ISO 9001, IPC 600, either, or both certifications. If you're content with uncertified manufacturers (and just want the cheapest) you can leave the "Quality Certifications" field at its default, "Not required".

I'd appreciate some feedback from the quality-conscious hobbyists and pros out there: does it make sense to have the "Either ISO 9001 or IPC 600" option? Are there cases where you want some certification, but you don't really care which one?

Thanks,
   Bob

[free_electron]

it would be good to have a capability comparison. especially trace and gap width ...

i need a cheap source for 4 mil track and gap boards .... half of the fabs in the list can't even do that .. some 'dinosaurs' don't even go below 8 mil ...

[rea5245]

I thought people here might want to know, I just added a new calculator to PCBShopper.com which shows prices for PCB Assembly services.

PCB assembly is a lot more complicated than PCB fabrication, and even once you get a price from PCBShopper, you still need to consider the board fabrication costs, purchasing the components, handling packaging and distribution, and more. Also, your relationship with an assembly company is going to be much more involved than with a PCB fab. Still, I've had multiple people request a PCB assembly calculator, and so I have made one.

There are currently five companies included on PCBShopper's price comparison list. The low number is partly because it's a new feature and partly because relatively few companies offer on-line quote forms for assembly (which, I suspect, is due to the complexity of the assembly process).

I hope people find the new calculator helpful.

- Bob Alexander
  PCBShopper.com

[AlxDroidDev]

Nice find! It's like Tripadvisor or Booking.com, but for boards! Favorited!

[free_electron]

need a technology filter (minimum track and gap )

[zapta]

It now has a stencil option. Very nice.

[mrpackethead]

Since PCBshopper takes advertising revenue from PCB fabricators what level of independance is there?

[rea5245]

Since PCBshopper takes advertising revenue from PCB fabricators what level of independance is there?

I don't accept money to include a manufacturer in my price comparison calculator. I decide which companies to include based on factors such as how well a company is known and whether it offers something different from all the other companies in the calculator (e.g. a different price structure, manufacturing in a different part of the world, etc.)

There are companies in the price comparison calculator that have never advertised on PCBShopper, and there are companies that advertise on PCBShopper even though they are not in the calculator (and I have not added them despite the fact that they pay for ads). Companies have offered me money to include them in the calculator, and I have turned them down.

The prices I show in the calculator are objective, and not affected by advertising. PCBShopper uses HTML scraping to get prices from the manufacturers' web sites.

I think I'm pretty fair in moderating reviews, too. I get plenty of glowing reviews for companies, including some that advertise, that I believe are paid reviews. I do not post them. I also get scathing reviews for some companies, including some that advertise, and I post them after doing a few checks to verify their authenticity.

I hope this reassures you.

- Bob Alexander
  PCBShopper.com

[Buffalo118]

I also found a site that allows you to have your board populated.
It is REMOVED BY MODERATOR
I saw them on an exhibition in the Netherlands, and I to admit I was impressed!
Problem is they only work in Europe.

When my next design is ready, I will test them and keep you posted.

[EEVblog]

I also found a site that allows you to have your board populated.
It is REMOVED BY MODERATOR
I saw them on an exhibition in the Netherlands, and I to admit I was impressed!
Problem is they only work in Europe.
When my next design is ready, I will test them and keep you posted.

Another pathetic attempt by a PCB supplier to astro-turf  on the forum. Banned.

[mrpackethead]

why are some suppliers ' not acceptng reviews '??   

[rea5245]

why are some suppliers ' not acceptng reviews '??   

Are you referring to PCBShopper not allowing reviews of PCBWay and ALLPCB? In general, if you have a question about PCBShopper, it's best to go to PCBShopper.com and click the "Contact Us" link. Yeah, I'm subscribed to this thread on eevblog's forum, but in general you can't count on my seeing a post in a forum. You can always count on me to respond to questions submitted directly to my site.

To answer your question: PCBWay and ALLPCB offer material rewards to people who write positive reviews of them. That can inspire suspicion of anyone who says something good about them. I don't want that suspicion to taint the reputation of PCBShopper's reviews. And since it wouldn't be fair to allow negative reviews while banning positive ones, I just block them all for those two companies. (There are some old reviews of PCBWay on PCBShopper.com. Those were posted before I was aware of PCBWay's policy. I went back and checked with all the people who wrote them, and was satisfied with their objectivity.)

- Bob Alexander
  PCBShopper.com

[mrpackethead]

Can you process manufactures who dont' have an english front end?

[rea5245]

Can you process manufactures who dont' have an english front end?

It's more difficult, but it would be possible. However, PCBShopper is used by people all around the world. A site with no English front end is probably trying to serve only its own country. It wouldn't be of interest to most of PCBShopper's users.

- Bob Alexander
  PCBShopper.com

[mrpackethead]

It might be when the costs are 40% lower for a similar product.

[rea5245]

It might be when the costs are 40% lower for a similar product.

Is there a company you're thinking about in particular?

- Bob

[1276-2449-1-ND]

It would be cool if reviewers could upload pictures of the PCBs they had made for quality comparisons.