Quotes

[rebel54]

Has anyone other than me made quotes using the internet? I have been doing so about 2 years. Although I have received a few, most of the time I get under bid at a price that I could not even do it for free and break even.
I was wondering if some people are doing the work at cost or even less in hope of landing that steady work. I tried that once and worked for 8 months and made less thatn 2000.00 profit. I know in the last year I seen a flood of quotes from China, but most are from the U.S. Most of the machine shops around my area have went out of business, so someone is still doing the work.
If I am in the wrong forum, please excuse my ignorance.

[PHiers]

This forum would likely have more answers to your question. It is mostly professional machinists there.


http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/index.php

[kendall]

Many places that provide a very low quote will include something to the order of 'plus expenses'

if you include a $500 set up/tooling fee in the cost per part on a 100 part run, your cost per part is going to look much higher than the guy who puts that cost in the 'plus expenses' he doesn't do it cheaper, just makes it look cheaper on paper. And since most people will look at the per part cost ONLY, they are the ones who get the job.

a company I worked for had a habit I considered questionable of placing the bid with labor and primary materials only, including everything else in 'plus expenses'. If the 'part' was composed of three peices held together with screws, the 3 peices were in the bid, but the screws holding them and the labor to assemble went to the 'plus expenses' making for a HUGE jump in the per part price, and profit.

Ken.

[DR]

Has anyone other than me made quotes using the internet?

Are you're talking about subscribing to one of the quoting services.......the places that promise you tons of jobs to quote on?

From the stories I've heard the only ones making any money are the people that run the service. Generally, these outfits are considered rip offs.

A good may companies use these services to price their products with no intention of ever awarding any bids to the shops doing the quotes.

[rebel54]

I once thought about getting on one of the quoting web sites where you pay a fee and then jobs are emailed to you and you give a quote. But I did not join once I saw people or companys under bidding each other to get the work. I bided on two jobs on the internet both jobs were given to companys that had the lowest bid. Their bid was below what the material would cost me. This were their total bid, no cost adjustment added later. But I did notice atleast on of these companys was located in China. I think I will let them have all the work they can get, I do not want to pay someone just to get some work. But that is there business not mine, this is a free country to chose or pass on work. I was just wondering if there were others that in the past had done the same thing as I did. Happy Holidays to everyone and all have a safe one.