Mfg.com

[John Esberg]

FYI to the all of us, I spoke with Matt Hodge this morning and found out the following information.

1. The fees for subscription for bidding are on a monthly basis.

2. There are MANY contracts available for CNC operators. If you fall into this category, I would certainly take a look.

3. If you are a laser engraver/cutter, the contracts are limited but do come around.

4. Call Matt and introduce yourself. He is there to help you find work. He works with big and small companies. Remember, they want to grow too.

Till later,

DAK

[Ed Maloney]

Has anyone researched or dealt with governmentbids.com?

[Jim A. Walters]

We had subscribed to MFGQuote.com (now mfg.com) for a year or two when we had an injection molding shop. They required a yearly contract (at that time) and would bill you monthly. It was a huge waste of time and money in that industry (tooling cost is very high).

We also had a CNC router at the time, and couldn't get any work for it either. Most of the winning bids were for less than I could get material for.

I called and talked to them when I first bought the laser. They actually told me they only had 3 RFQ's for laser engraving over the previous two years.

It does seem to work very well for sheet metal fab, and CNC machine shops. Could be different now, that was 2 years ago.

My advice...watch the site for a while. Request real numbers of how many RFQ's posted vs. jobs awarded.

[John Esberg]

Well, its interesting that you had such an experience with them a couple of years ago. Hopefully things have changed.

Has anyone else got a story to share?

DAK

[todd houston]

I've heard nothing but bad things. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27124&highlight=MFGQuote.com
So decided not to invest. http://rfqwork.com offers the same service for free. I got one job from it, but it not as active as I'd expect.
Maybe you'll have better luck on MFG.com than most.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

[quote=John Esberg]FYI to the all of us, I spoke with Matt Hodge this morning and found out the following information.

1. The fees for subscription for bidding are on a monthly basis.

John it is billed monthly but you must sign a yearly contract. That is my objection and they will not budge.

2. There are MANY contracts available for CNC operators. If you fall into this category, I would certainly take a look.

CNC is 99.9 % metal

3. If you are a laser engraver/cutter, the contracts are limited but do come around.

Laser is 99.9% metal cutting. i have only seen a few plastics and a few marking.

4. Call Matt and introduce yourself. He is there to help you find work. He works with big and small companies. Remember, they want to grow too.

I talked with Matt and he knows that this is a small part of their whole picture but I still think that $2,200.00+- a year, even though it is only around $185.00 +- a month makes it hard to commit to it when there are slim pickings for our industry(s) It is definitely a metal orientated industry site but the woodworking side is growing at a slow trickle in my humble opinion.

I have been watching it for a year or so and I probably would have had to win every bid I saw to break even. The unknown part is that if you hook up with a buyer you may gain an ongoing no bid contract.

[John Esberg]

Michael,

On point 1, your wording is more accurate. Thank you.

As for the amount of laser work for 35 watt machines, Matt suggested that we make special arrangements since he knows the monthly/yearly dues wouldn't make it worth our efforts. Have you given this a try?

V/R,

DAK

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Michael,

On point 1, your wording is more accurate. Thank you.

As for the amount of laser work for 35 watt machines, Matt suggested that we make special arrangements since he knows the monthly/yearly dues wouldn't make it worth our efforts. Have you given this a try?

V/R,

DAK Hey John, What do you mean by special arrangements? You know by posting this here if many sign up for it we will have to bid against each other and from what I heard from a friend who is on it for metal work, when you see some one else's bid you can undercut it to try and win the bid but at that point the only ones that win are MFG and maybe the buyer if the quality of work doesn't drop with the price drop. It is like a fishing contest that you have to pay for a whole years use but there might only be 3-4 fish in the ocean and 1000's+ of others after the same couple of fish. Don't think this will pay the bills. If you have extra time on your machine and your regular work pays the bills then it might be OK. I am looking at it for the challenge and profit but I do not want to jump in feet first over my head with out a life jacket, if you know what I mean. Thanks,

[Dave Chase]

I've used it as a buyer before, but I can't imagine using it to win jobs. Think of it this way. On a conventional bid, one you would get through word of mouth or through established clientele, your competing against 3 or four other shops. On MFG.com, your up against the world. If 50 shops bid on it than you have a 2% chance of winning the job.

When I quoted my parts on there, I had a target price, or what I would consider a fair price to make the part. The winning bidder came in over 50% less than that. There was no way I could've competed with that. Oh, and don't forget the Asia factor. They're on their too....:D