General > General Technical Chat
Any advice on selling self-made hardware
Bud:
This is simply depressing :wtf:
wilhe_jo:
Well, I haven't talked about the requirements (ie. the standards) changing at least once a year (not all of them, but usually at least one of the applied standards will).
So you need to check regularly and see if something relevant has changed and if you need to (re-)test something.
This also costs quite some money if you sell "just" 100pcs a year.
What's really depressing is, that people give a shit and buy dubious stuff from e.g. AliExpress while you try to make safe and good products.
On the other hand, lots of people just put CE on their products, because nobody could really afford the "correct way".
Since I'm also involved in standardization, I try to explain this crazy situation to authorities.
They do understand, but in the end, people request even more strict rules because there's dangerous and interfering stuff on the market, and it's getting worse.
Now things get more expensive which makes it even more unfeasible to make products according to the "rules", and we get more strict standards because of more violations,....
73
jonpaul:
Forgot...
compliance
EU..RoHs WEEE
usa Conflict minerals
tax EU VAT
UK Brexit paperwork
usa customs tariffs
safety...UL, TUV, VDE, ETL
jon
Infraviolet:
I'm sure the commonly sold dev boards, especially those made in China and sold on amazon and such, aren't compliant with anything*. They simply sell them as parts rather than finished devices.
What I would suggest though, is while there's not much point in meeting specific regulations, do ensure you provide a very good datasheet with whatever you sell, this ought to give it a positive point to distinguish it from all the cheaply made and imported products you'd be competing with.
*not necessarily that they wouldn't pass various tests, but definitely nobody did such tests or documented them, and certainly nobody mucked around with legalistic paperwork about those tests
wilhe_jo:
--- Quote from: Infraviolet on January 14, 2023, 09:43:51 pm ---They simply sell them as parts rather than finished devices.
--- End quote ---
Well, you can go this route... then you just need RoHS... IEC 63000 would be a good reference and the contents are IMHO common sence.
For a simple product, this can be easily done in an afternoon.
However, just leaving out an enclosure isn't really making a "component" out of a product.
If an end-user would use it, it's still a product.
Places like Tindie or these "crap-resellers" on Amazon have destroyed the possibility of selling lowish-cost small quantity products.
If everyone around you just ignores all rules, you're not gonna get competitive... at least if you sell to end-customers.
B2B is way more relaxed.
73
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