Directly from PCBA to market?

[harvie]

Hello,
when i design simple generic circuit (eg. universal battery management module) i know i can send it to PCBA factory in china to get completed modules. But what if i want them to directly sell it? It's inpractical to ship lots of modules to my place and then ship individual modules to people around the world, when i can sell them and let them be stored and shipped directly from manufacturer.

So business model would go like this:

1.) i design board
2.) chinese manufacturer will make it and offer it on their alliexpress/ebay account
3.) i will get 10% from their sales

i know somebody could steal my design and sell it without giving me the margin, and there's nothing i can do about it. but that will happen only when the circuit would became popular. in such case i would be flattered that my circuit is so popular that somebody thought it's worth stealing.

so basicaly it would result in my circuit producing little income (hopefuly paying at least research, prototyping and manufacture of few boards i wanted). and if somebody would like it i would be happy that my board became industry pseudo-standard.

Bit like this step down converter:

[found at: riorand . com/media/catalog/product/ cache/1/image/ 9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/2/_/2_3_1.jpg]

Nobody knows who designed it (well it's basically just datasheet schematic), it's manufactured by nobody and everybody. Everyone uses it. = it's cheap and available everywhere.

So it would be cool if my circuit would become unspoken legend that is available for 1USD, so i can buy it (as well as everybody else)

any ideas how to achieve this? given that module will be generic and simple enough to use by everyone (like the universal blue step down on picture).

 

[Ahou]

Circuit design is totally depends on your schedule, and you can negotiate with the manufacturer about the commission sharing. But when comes to the Step two, there're many details to be discussed.

As most of China's PCBA Factories cover only the PCB manufacturing and assembly process, they do not have alliexpress/ebay account. It won't be easy for them to sell your projects, especially when neither you nor the Factory do any promotion work. Considering of this, the Factory will probably suggest you pay the manufacturing price, they help sell & ship your boards. In return, they can get a certain amount of commission.

In case you decide to manufacture the boards and invest by yourself, note that the bigger quantity of PCBs you require, the less cost for each unit. You should consider about the Quantity very carefully.