PCBCART Reviews

I have been using PCB Cart for a while now, and quality and service have always been great. Recently we have been running into the seemingly ever present problems with parts shortages. The guys at PCB Cart have been supper helpful and flexible working with me to ensure parts supply and get the boards built.

After reading good reviews I decided to give PCB Cart a try (have been using two other suppliers, but PCB Cart's quote had a better turnaround time for roughly the same cost). I ordered 200 units (PCBs and TurnKey assembly), and had issues from the start.
1. Two days after the order they contacted me and requested a change to the component footprint (0805). The pads were too wide and they would not be able to place them straight. I've had this PCB (using the same Gerber files) built twice before and never had any problems. Nevertheless, I complied and sent them updated files
2. Three weeks into my "4-5 week order" I contacted them asking what the status was (the site still showed "processing"). Four days later got a reply telling me that there is a part shortage and they don't have an ETA. (No info on which part, but somehow my old supplier was able to get almost the same parts during that period that build 500 units, so go figure).
3. 5 days later they emailed me to confirm a substitute for a part, which I approved
4. Two weeks later I get a first article photo. The boards are V-Scored on two sides for manufacturing reasons (I specified and paid for individual routing since V-Score leaves jagged edges and I sell these to end customers as kits. PCB Cart assured me that this was only the first article, the rest will be individually routed.
5. I get an email informing me that the order total didn't include shipping and it will be $170 (curiously, I paid $40 for the same shipping method for 500 units, not sure why 200 units in a much smaller box would cost 4x more)
8 weeks after the order I finally get my shipment. The boards are mostly OK, except two edges are V-Scored (and apparently sanded), so there is a jagged edge with added bonus of sanding dust.

The bottom line is that their quality seems to be decent, but their after-sales support and service is somewhere between "amateurish" and "malicious". I won't be going back to them.

I've been a customer since 2007, I've used PCB Cart on hundreds of orders. I had one issue with them, which they quickly worked to resolve. They're my go to PCB fab house for any in-house assembled circuit boards.

Project scope: 10pcs - Turnkey - 8" x 5" - 6 layer board, 300+ components mounted on both sides - (1 fine pitch TQFP-144, several SOP, many SOIC, various SMD passives mainly 3512, 0805 & 0603 packages,) The design was proven functional on the last run.



Our previous supplier for our board went out of business (PCBs were manufactured in China and then assembled in US), had to find a new supplier. So after receiving quotes from several suppliers, PCBCART quoted the best price. To be honest I was little concerned about using them because of some reviews I read including the one on this site.

But they have a lot more positive reviews than negative, so we decided to give them a try.



After initial screening of incoming files they found a couple minor errors (incorrect package size and a couple trace stubs which went nowhere - remnants of layout software that our previous supplier missed). I was able to correct these issues before production. Also had some minor issues with obsolescence on BOM they caught and I was able to correct. Boards were done in a timely manor after final approval of the design (4 weeks). I have recently received my order and have tried a couple of the boards and they worked out of the box within the specifications of our previous lot. They did a great job.





I would use them again.

We ordered 2000 pcb's by PCBCart.

We sent them documentation for quoting the price and estimating the delivery time.

When ordering, we sent them the final updated BOM.

They mixed up the two BOM's and delivered faulty components.



Like many other Chinese suppliers, they do not take responsibility for the mistakes they make. Endless arguing and a small compensation if you place a new order.



Conclusion: When everything goes fine, it is fine - If things go wrong, don't expect them to do anything about it.

This is Annabel from PCBCart. For this order, at first your colleague sent us a BOM for inquiry but with insufficient specification, later you offered another BOM without LED for reference, but your colleague told us the BOM you sent (without LED) is ok. Before production, we sent quotation and the BOM without LED for your team's further confirmation, and your team confirmed everything is good for production.You claimed missing LED only after receiving the assembled boards which were produced based on your team's final confirmed BOM.

My first time using PCBCART and sent them files that had been converted from a proprietary file format to Gerber standard. There were several errors during the conversion and PCBCART caught them and brought them to my attention, permitting me to correct the drawing, before they produced the boards. Great service, great price.

I did a turnkey with PCBCART, I had some concerns because it was the first time doing business with them. This was Rev. 2 of a 13x6" two layer board. Rev 1 I had done here in San Jose.



PCBCART did a great job, all the boards came up, the quality of manufacture was as good as what I did here locally and much cheaper. This was perhaps 50 QFN type packages, 6mil traces and isolations. Peel strength of the PCB traces was good, that seems to be the differentiator between some of the low cost board houses I have used.

I have ordered everything from 2 layer designs to HDI from PCBCart and always find their quality and delivery excellent.