JLCPCB - quotes for production quantities - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2025, 02:28:14 pm
content: Is there a way to get quotes from JLCPCB for "production" quantities?JLCPCB is great for prototyping (quick turnaround, low cost), but for production, it looks pretty inadequate. When trying to order for larger quantities (say > 100), most of the time, there are parts for which they don't have enough stock. Fair enough. But when that's the case, you can't proceed to get a quote: either you change the parts manually for parts they have in large enough stock (if it's at all possible), or you'll get a quote without those parts placed (so it's not just the cost of the missing parts themselves that isn't included, but also the cost of their assembly).The only way that appears to make this work is to manually preorder all parts (at least those they don't have large stocks of) and only then you can get a full quote using your own stock.Asking for a specific quote via their commercial service doesn't seem to work (unless maybe it was a very large number of boards? in my case, it's 250). They told me they can't do that and that you have to go through their online quote thing.Any tip appreciated. How do you manage to get quotes at JLCPCB for larger quantities and without having to preorder parts first? For now, it's a mystery to me.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2025, 03:12:00 pm
content: you need a bit of manual work: you can create the project for the required quantity, minus the parts you have to order. Then request a quote for the part you need to order from other distributors and to get the markup. Then, add the cost per pad and reel change for the parts from your inventory (which i can't find at the moment but i'm 100% sure you can find it in the support section of the website)

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2025, 03:32:04 pm
content: That's pretty annoying. The cost for assembly, same as you, I can't find it. You can more or less guess it from the quote you get with the missing parts.Similarly, when you order PCBAs, if some parts are not in stock, it gives you no opportunity to order them. You have to go to your parts inventory to preorder them before ordering the PCBAs.How hard could it be to make it a one-step thing? (While still allowing to handle your own stock manually if you want to.)I understand that this is an almost fully-automated business and that's how they can offer such low prices, but certainly a number of things could be improved while not requiring more human work on their side.Just reordering with a different quantity is a major annoyance while it should pretty much be a two-click thing.End of rant.

author: JLCPCB Official
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2025, 02:33:39 am
content: Hi there,Currently, the pricing shown through our online quoting system is an estimated price.If some components are out of stock, we recommend these options:You can purchase and send the components to us directly.Use our Pre-order option.Or choose Overseas Sourcing to restock parts.Please note that our component inventory is shared among all users, and both pricing and stock levels fluctuate frequently in the market.Since your order requires a relatively large quantity, we’re unable to provide a fixed quote when certain components are unavailable.To ensure stable supply and faster production for your future PCBA orders, we recommend pre-stocking your commonly used components with JLCPCB.This helps secure inventory, lock in costs, and speed up assembly when you’re ready to order.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2025, 09:46:32 am
content: Quote from: JLCPCB Official on October 15, 2025, 02:33:39 amIf stocking in advance, how can one know if the account will not be unilaterally terminated after stocking, like it is happening with these JLCPCB clients:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/manufacture/jlcpcb-scam/msg6069991/#msg6069991?

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2025, 09:55:39 am
content: Yes it's really annoying - in the past I've substituted non-stock parts with minimal-cost placeholders like resistors to get to the final quote page.What's really needed is an option for "quote/estimate only based on current prices" - it would not be difficult for them to implement.Another option I'd like is to defer invoicing for shipping until the final package is packed and weighed, as shipping estimates for PCBAs can sometimes be vastly over, especially on larger boards. I have on one occasion emailed them to ask them to re-weigh and refund the difference on shipping, which they did.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2025, 01:16:25 pm
content: Yes, I think these annoyances are due to the fact that there is no dedicated quoting feature. You get quotes with the same process as ordering, and so JLCPCB won't include parts that are not in stock in their quote, as you can't immediately order. I think that's the main issue here.If we could get quotes with current prices including parts that are not in stock, that would be a nice plus. These quotes would be non-binding, but useful nonetheless.In particular, while manually adding the cost of missing parts to get an idea of the final quote is not a big problem, the way the website operates, these parts are automatically removed from assembly too, so we don't get the cost of assembly for these parts, while it doesn't depend on the cost of the parts themselves. I don't think this/these features would be difficult to implement, and they would certainly help many. This would be a quote mode with a clear mention that final prices may change when placing an order.