Avoid PCBway

[ebclr]

They make a Hugh profit on freight,

I changed to http://www.elecrow.com/ and is more fair , with real freight price,  good quality and better price than pcbway.

[Siwastaja]

It's not a scam to make "profit" on freight, if the price is what is shown. And it's not called "profit" until the costs of handling and shipping are deducted. Many non-Chinese companies make 10x more on arbitrary shipping costs.

I have used PCBWay several times because I always compare the total price, with shipping (pcbshopper.com does this for you) and don't consider myself "scammed".

But I'm getting too tired of these Chinese PCB manufacturers playing their guerilla marketing games on these forums. This time an Elecrow bot posting (reported). Thanks but no thanks.

[ebclr]

I'm not a boot,  I'm a user of the forum tired to be scammed by pcbway. I Can share my nice experience with anyone i want,  It's a good idea to have a place to report idiots on the forum

[Rbastler]

I think the shipping costs for express delivery are ok. Sure they cost more then double the 10$ per 10 10*10cm PCB, but because of the fact the they are produced in China, I see no problem. Especially because the PCB were delivered in about four days or so. From the order to reeving the PCBs it took with express delivery about a week. For that pay high shipping costs with no problem. If you have a problem with customs because of that, i'ts your fault. Ask them next time to write a lower value on the parcel. But you should know this practice, when you order something from China.
Plus i'ts no scam on making profit on shipping... Afaik you can choose free shipping, It'll only take you a lot more time.

[firewalker]

You "ought" to choose the correct words if you don;t want people "jumping" on you. What you describe is far from a scam. 

Alexander.

[Siwastaja]

Wow. And I'm not a shoe. Good for Hugh they make him profit.

Their express delivery, which took some 2-3 days last time when I ordered, around the freaking World, did cost less than one fifth of what it normally costs from the US, or less than one third what it costs from Estonia, literally a few hundred kilometers away, using the same freaking courier.

It pisses me off that it's sometimes almost impossible to get goods from the US without paying something like 100USD in postage fees (for some minimalistic 100 gram package). Even that is not a scam. Just bad customer service. But it hasn't happened with PCBWay.

[janoc]

I'm not a boot,  I'm a user of the forum tired to be scammed by pcbway. I Can share my nice experience with anyone i want,  It's a good idea to have a place to report idiots on the forum

Well, with that attitude I am not sure who is that idiot here. If you don't understand that shipping from the other side of globe actually costs money, then I am really sorry for you, mate.

I don't know since when being expensive (and they even aren't that expensive to start with) qualifies as scam. New meaning of the word, it seems.

[ebclr]

Both are on the same part of the globe, one is twice the price of the other, Who is the one ?

[Kilrah]

List the exact numbers and service levels if you want insight on that.

And yes courier fees can vary a lot depending on location.

[matseng]

Courier fees also vary a lot on the deal the sender got with the courier company (or as the case often in Shenzhen, the deal with the agent/forwarder for the courier company).

[matseng]

But it kinda feels sucky when the the company calculates the weight of the package in advance and charges you for that particular weight, but when you receive the package the actual weight is less than half - and they don't refund the difference unless you make a fuss about it in public.  Happened to me twice #truestory

[Buriedcode]

I recently used PCBway for the first time.  Had issues with the paypal screen timing out, but was told I could just send the payment direct.  There was an extra £16 to pay from DHL, which apparently is a DHL thing (seen the '£16' value mentioned a lot for different items) its not PCBway that charge this or make money form it. The shipping was indeed by far the biggest cost but.. - it took 4 days between uploading my gerbers, and having the boards in my hands.   £40 for 10 boards (I needed 5 immediately, another few for future orders) in 4 days.

I cannot say I have used many chinese PCB companies, or ordered very large quantities, but frankly with a 5-day lead time, the same boards would have cost upwards of £150 from a UK company that does fast prototype service.  The PCB quality is excellent, the best I've seen.  I don' see how it can be a 'scam' because as far as I could tell, PCBway only use either standard international shipping, or DHL, and DHL *always* costs a lot.  They may add a fee on top of this but the boards have to be packed, boxed, and labelled - thats not the couriers job.

So, four days to be manufactured, tested, packed, and shipped form the other side of the world for £40.  Also, as the bulk of the cost was in US dollars, the sterling is pretty weak at the moment, so before the silly 'brexit' it would have been about £32.  Thats £3.20 a board, for 4 days.

So aside from a hiccup with the paypal process - wheres the scam?  What were you charged, and for what, and how long did it take?  I'll admit I didn't like the sudden 'oh btw, you also need to pay £16' I got from DHL via SMS, but that isn't PCBways fault.  And it was more just 'unexpected' than 'scam!!', it's still very cheap for the time and quality - I can actually afford to make the ~230 odd projects I've designed over the years that didn't warrant the cost of a custom board. 

Ok, this is starting to sound like a review but you can't just say '<company> scammers!' without any details and expect a rallying cry to your cause.

[janoc]

That's actually pretty good price! 10 boards around 10x10cm from someone like Seeed or iTead are around $25-30 already - and that is with regular, 2-3 weeks turnaround time!

So 40 pounds with a DHL express shipping to Europe is a bargain. BTW, the 16 extra is likely what DHL charges for handling customs. They have a flat fee for it somewhere in that range.

Ok, this is starting to sound like a review but you can't just say '<company> scammers!' without any details and expect a rallying cry to your cause.

Well, he can - and also can expect getting sued for libel in civilized countries.

[ebclr]

Try to add or remove 1 cm on your board , the low price illusion will appear imediately

[free_electron]

i've used PCBway a number of times. elecrow does not have the same capabilities of PCBway.

PCBway can etch down to 4/4 and does 6 layers as well.

Quality of PCB way is excellent.

[wraper]

Quality of PCB way is excellent.

It's far from excellent IMO, but from one order I made it was better that what Elecrow supplied to me ever (complete hit and miss).

[Monkeh]

Try to add or remove 1 cm on your board , the low price illusion will appear imediately

What?

[SL4P]

I'm not a boot,  I'm a user of the forum tired to be scammed by pcbway. I Can share my nice experience with anyone i want,  It's a good idea to have a place to report idiots on the forum

I've used PCBWAY too, and their communications, pricing /product & delivery was excellent.
I've used PCBCART as well - very similar results.
Plan your work well, and you get what you pay for.

[mrpackethead]

Im going to defend them. I've spent over $25k with them in the last 12 months,  several orders a week. I buy stencils and boards, and I'm absolutely wrapped with them..  They do a great job.

[janoc]

Try to add or remove 1 cm on your board , the low price illusion will appear imediately

Either put up or shut up. Anyone can check the actual prices on pcbshopper.com and they don't match what you are saying.

[ebclr]

Pcbshopper does not match reality

[Monkeh]

So you're not pleased that they charge more for shipping than another company via a different service. Boo bloody hoo. Doesn't make them scammers.

[ebclr]

Ok let's remove the word scammer, and say It's not for me to finalize the batle with people fighting to receive USD 25 bonus for indication

[Iron Downey]

Oh, come one. It's Registered Air Parcel and it would take 7-25 days. You have no idea when will the package delivered and the service is really not as good as DHL. You are really mixing something. I have done PCB, PCBA and components sourcing services in China for many years (I'm now running http://en.zfpcba.com/) and I really don't think that 25usd for 0.5kg package by DHL is expensive. The package material, the labor of the package & dispatch department, etc. What you should do is to check if the quality, the total price and the lead time fit your requirements. If not, fine, find another one instead of yelling others as scammers. It's impolite.

[janoc]

If not, fine, find another one instead of yelling others as scammers. It's impolite. It's libel.

Here, fixed that for you.