Hello,
my board https://aisler.net/m-u-it-design/team-sandbox/tmp5cjmlxi0/bom needs three components which are marked as “not available” when I order one board, but there appears to be no problem if I order ten of them.
Now this is a prototype. I don’t want, or need, ten of them to test whether the design works or requires changes. If it’s not possible to get one blue LED then could you please pack up the nine that are “surplus” and send them to me along with the board, or whatever?
Hi @MatthiasU,
the issue you point out is indeed a very tricky one. It is caused by minimum order quantities (MOQ) of the chosen components. If you, e.g., chose a component with a MOQ of 15 and only require one Amazing Assembly, we still have to source at least 15. We then display lower quantities as not available.
Since it can be a bit annoying, we already allow you to order fewer assemblies than the MOQ of the components. We do that automatically in the background (you don’t find that information in the interface). However, we were quite conservative so far when it comes to over-sourcing to stay as transparent as possible in our pricing.
When would you consider the ordering of 1-2 assemblies a viable option although you actually need to pay for 10 or 15 components?
Hello Tim,
thanks for clarifying that the minmum isn’t. However:
Then why do I get this message
Selected quantity is not available. For alternative solution please contact our support."
when I try to order ?
Two situations.
(a) Those components are cheap enough that it doesn’t matter much.
(b) I need two assemblies now for building a prototype; I will need the other 8 or 98 or … as soon as I have verified that the design works.
That’s the actual issue for us to define at the moment. When is the point where you say it’s not cheap anymore: a fixed value? a relative one? Any input on this question is highly welcome.
Maybe a few examples. Assume you want one assembly and parts:
So far, we avoided the issue by allowing relative to the MOQ an over-sourcing. I totally agree that this is not ideal. Unfortunately, our initial idea of ignoring them completely resulted in a lot of support questions about too high prices. Therefore the display the support contact hint.
I can only guess since your project link does not work anymore. Probably, the MOQ is too high for our current (relative) over-sourcing.
The project’s location is now BMS Cell ; the price of the “superfluous” components is ~€3 which is a lot less than making eight additional boards would cost (€58) – boards that I might have to toss into the recycling bin if the design has a problem for some reason.
My ideal solution would be a button “override min order quantities (€ XX,YY)” with XX.YY being the cost of the additional components. The more-than-ideal solution would be for you to either send the superfluous parts along with the board, or to keep them around for my follow-up order. (I don’t have a strong preference.)
NB;: You might want to teach your system to do auto redirects from the old location(s) to a project’s new home if it is moved and/or renamed.
Thank you for the input, I added the improvement of MOQ handling our development pipeline!
You’re welcome. In the meantime, how do I order assembly of (two or three of) these boards?
You can contact us via our support form at any time for this!
@MatthiasU, I am happy to tell you that we support now assembly self-service independent of the minimum order quantity. We provide you with a hint in that case so you can decide on your own whether it makes in your case.
It would be great to hear your feedback on this!