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