home etching boards layouts

[pietro_moog]

nobody knows what you're talking about. madbean taking the VAT off? the vat is applied at the customs, in italy, and Brian doesn't work there. ps. in the end we are talking about maybe 20-30 dollars+ 3 for shipping. can you try it one time and see what happens, instead of bitch and moan?? if you don't like it, you are free to do whatever you want.

[Clayford]

Thanks for all the replies
[...]
I think Madbean could take the VAT off international orders without losing any money.
[...]

Seriously dude?

Edit removed snarkiness on my part. Sorry.

[pikervs]

Pietro, before going on insulting people, I think you should gather some information first. However, I admit I misscalled the VAT: in the USA it's known as the sales tax.
Let's suppose you make a 200 dollars order from a seller in America, and you live in Italy (taking shipping into account). Once it arrives in Italy you've got to pay the importing taxes (+5%) reaching 210 dollars, then the Italian VAT (+22%) reaching 256.2 dollars, then the customs fixed tax (+7.63 dollars), making a total of 263.83 dollars. If the seller is gentle enough to remove the american sales tax (why would I pay that? I don't live there. also, the seller is unaffected by this, profit-wise) this total drops to 238.21 dollars. It's not much, but it's something (especially now that money's tight). Also, in a lot of situation the importing taxes rates skyrocket for no good reason, so having a low total could end up saving MUCH more.
I hate to look like the penny-pinching guy, but I also hate to be insulted when I did no harm.
As per Clayford, I'm curious to know what you edited out ahah

[jkokura]

I think this could be solved by making a smaller order. An order of 30-40 dollars is really only 20-30 euros. At that point, the order being small, I'm not sure that VAT comes into effect, and you might not worry about the cost as much.

Jacob

[pickdropper]

I think this could be solved by making a smaller order. An order of 30-40 dollars is really only 20-30 euros. At that point, the order being small, I'm not sure that VAT comes into effect, and you might not worry about the cost as much.

Jacob

This seems like really good advice to me.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I agree with Jacob.

If your intent is to build these for personal use, it is not like you need to order $200 worth of boards at one time. I mean, Can you assemble 30-40 boards at once? Order 2-3 and work on those. The order amount will most certainly keep you beneath the VAT threshold and you will not be charged.

If you are planning to order $200 worth of boards because you intend to resell them you have two option...

1) Make the order, deal with the extra costs, and incorporate them into your "business" expenses
2) Learn a PCB layout program (Eagle, Sprint, etc.) and do your own R&D. Its not Brian's job to help with YOUR profits.

My 2 

[pikervs]

No, I don't want to enter the commercial side of the thing (and if I did I wouldn't use someone else's work, for sure!). Maybe I could build a pedal for some friends that do not have the skill and/or time to do it themselves, but that's it.
Jacob's advice is actually great. I could home etch some boards and order the more complicated ones off the website! Welp, gotta start saving...


P.S.
I didn't even get started on the parts side of the thing! Lots of stuff is only available from smallbear, so that's an awful lot of other taxes to get those... the more one can save maintaining quality, the better. It's a hobby, after all.

[jkokura]

Some of the European guys might be able to help you out as well. Some companies, like Mouser for example, also have some special shipping rates that might really help you too. For example, if I make a $200 order here in Canada, the shipping is free, and the Customs and Duties are paid for by Mouser. So in the end, the order only costs me the price I pay, and the shipping and customs aren't added.

Again, the Euro guys here on the forum might have better advice. In particular, you could try Thomas_H. He's a really great guy, lives in Germany, and he'd totally be willing to help you with some advice about ordering parts.

Jacob

[pikervs]

I'm not concerned about the stuff I can find on Mouser (the people there have an Italian branch). I'm more worried about stuff is only available from sites like Smallbear (some specific ICs for instance). It's not too big of a problem, but thanks for hel anyway.

[madbean]

Let me interject a little here since things got a bit heated for a moment.

MBP is a business but is also more than that: it is a DIY resource. I don't feel entitled to anyone's money if they don't won't want to spend it on my products. pikervs has his own reasons for wanting to completely DIY his build and that's totally fine. He is free to use the etchable projects here for such purpose...that's why they are there

1 - I don't share my actual schematic or layout files for the products I sell. These are considered proprietary to my business. People do ask occasionally and FYI the answer is sorry, but no.
2- Many of the products I sell have an etchable layout alternative, but not all. Sometimes this is because it is a very complicated circuit and sometimes it is because I want to make money due to the work and actual $$ investment I put into an MBP product. I may still do an etchable layout for such a product at a later time, though. And remember: there are some 150 new etching layouts coming in a matter of weeks!
3 - While I have no control over what happens once a package leaves my hands I do offer to replace a lost order one time no questions asked. This is because things do indeed get lost through no ones fault but the carriers and replacing a shipment is a acceptable loss when running a business. And, I have never found an instance where any customer has abused this practice, thankfully (hey, this is a great group of people here)! Sure, it sucks on both ends because the customer has to wait and I have to eat the cost of replacement, but that is what good customer service entails.

Please, let's do our best to make pikervs welcome here...he is a new member! Thanks to everyone who has made helpful suggestions to him.

[Clayford]

[...]
As per Clayford, I'm curious to know what you edited out ahah

As for my edit: I was... unkind. After posting, I read my post and said to myself, "Self, there is no way this guy is actually being the ingrate you're assuming he's being. In the process you're being quite the ass yourself. Tidy it up, give him a chance to clarify, and don't run him off". I removed my asshattery hopefully before anyone saw, and apologized for it in case they did. I was in the wrong.

[pikervs]

Ah, so you received the PM! Ahah, no problem, I gave a look and then figured your answer out myself! In the process I stumbled upon your open projects (and one of those is incidentally a univibe) and they're quite interesting for someone who is learning Eagle like I am. I TOTALLY get the fact you want to make money off your work: you put time, effort and money on those projects.
Like I said before, maybe I'll place an order when the new projects are released, since the modulation and echo effects are the ones I'm particularly interested in and it sounds like the Zero Point Super Deluxe 2 will be a great effect. Then again, maybe not ahah. It depends on how much I have at my disposal (I have to order a speaker from Weber for a cabinet I have to build).

@Clayford
No worries. It happens to everyone. It's the classic situation where you would want to count up to ten before speaking... well, actually, typing ahah

[twin1965]

There's plenty on places to order parts in Europe. I haven't had any difficulty finding components for any of the builds I've done. These are some of the places I've used:

http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk

http://www.doctortweek.co.uk/shop/page/1?shop_param=

http://www.uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/index.php/

http://www.banzaimusic.com/home.php

http://www.musikding.de/index.php

http://www.bitsbox.co.uk

There's also the big players like Farnell, CPC and Conrad.

You should be able to find everything through these guys and the appropriate tax is included.

Hope this list helps.


Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Clayford]

[...]
@Clayford
No worries. It happens to everyone. It's the classic situation where you would want to count up to ten before speaking... well, actually, typing ahah

Yes. I should have.
I linked to the Warhead OSP in a previous post, sounds like you found it.
Brian's Etcher's Paradise is comming soon, which should be a gold mine for you.

I feel the need to say this, because you mention money so frequently.
You will not save money making your own pedals.
You will however learn, have fun, and have the opportunity to become a part of a rather great(IMO) community.
Minus my occasionally asshattery. Thanks for understanding it for exactly what it was, my filter was off and I didn't think before I posted.

[pikervs]

Oh, it's not that I want to save money by building pedals instead of buying them, but I certainly don't want to overspend funding a hobby (even if it helps with my guitar playing) by making a big muff clone for 150 dollars
Also, the ability to build effects that are no longer available or even original projects is something I deem really satisfying. That's why I do this.

Kudos to twin65. I knew some of those sites (doctortweek and musikding) but I never heard of the others; gotta go check'em out.