Your parts list, quoted in Shenzhen
You built five by hand. Now you need a thousand, and every part has a minimum order, a lead time and a supplier who answers in Chinese. Send us the list. Every line goes to two to four suppliers within a day, and every answer comes back into one table.
Send your parts list
Why the jump from 5 to 1,000 stalls
Retail prices lie. The price on a parts site is for one. At a thousand the price, the minimum order and the lead time are all different, and only the factory says what they are.
Suppliers answer slowly. A message in English to a factory sales inbox can sit for a week. The same question on WeChat, in Chinese, from someone in Shenzhen, gets an answer the same day.
Answers come back in pieces. One supplier quotes per unit, another per reel, a third wants your files first. Without one table you cannot compare them.
What it looked like for Huey
Our own robot: 16 lines on the parts list, 37 supplier requests sent the same day. Some of the answers so far, at the volumes we asked about:
| Part | Per robot | Suppliers asked | Best answer so far |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bus servo with leads | 15 | 1 (the maker) | $10.90 each at 15,000; $10.22 at 150,000; ready about 20 Nov |
| Time-of-flight sensor chip | 1 | 2 | $7.44 at 1,000; $6.15 at 10,000; in stock |
| Printed body, 37 pieces, 288 g | 1 | 5 print farms | AUD 62.93 a set at 50; AUD 55.94 at 500 |
| PLA filament | 0.29 kg | 1 | 30 RMB a kilo at 100 to 500 kg |
| Bearings, 14 a robot | 1 set | 3 | $6.53 a set (small lot, paid) |
| Screws, about 125 a robot | 1 set | 3 | $0.55 a set (small lot, paid) |
| Camera, cables, boards, mic, speaker, box | 1 each | 2 to 5 each | Asked; answers arriving |
The requests all went out on 15 October. Quotes come back over the next days, and we chase every supplier that goes quiet. Nothing on this list has been ordered yet.
What you get
- Every line asked, within a day
- Two to four suppliers for each part, chosen for your volume: the maker itself where it sells direct, otherwise distributors and factories we already talk to.
- One table, kept current
- Price at your volumes, minimum order, lead time and stock for every answer, side by side, updated as answers arrive.
- Asked in Chinese, by people in Shenzhen
- We sit in Huaqiangbei, next to the parts market. Samples can be picked up and checked here before you commit.
- Your files stay yours
- Drawings and gerbers go to a supplier only when you say so.
Send your parts list
Paste it as it is, one part per line. The card on the right is what we read.