If you are from India, you may have heard about Robu.in, which is online platform for purchasing electronics for both hobby and professional needs. In recent time they have started several services including Laser Cutting, 3D printing, Custom battery packs and PCB manufacturing. In this article we’ll dive in detail into the PCB capabilities of Robu and discuss about the experience of placing order for printed circuit boards on there website.

About the Manufacturer:

What started as a chapati (Indian bread) making machine company in 2010 by four engineers turned into a full-fledged e-commerce platform by 2014 under the umbrella name Robu.in offering all kinds of Electronic hardware, components, Robotic, mechanical and DIY products. Currently they have expanded into various engineering services along with component sourcing as major feature. EasyMech, SmartElex and Orange are the three flagship brands of Robu.in that offer products and services in electronic and mechanical products. Today they are a registered trademark of MACFOS Private Limited. It is headquartered at Pune, Maharashtra. 

Key Highlights (PCB Manufacturing):

• Instant Quote: As an online manufacturing platform, Robu offers instant quote and price calculation options. However, Gerber file is needed to do so. 
• Low Cost and Lead Time: A minimum of 5 units of PCB is allowed to order via Robu, their prices are optimal and lead time ranges between 15 to 20 days.
• IP Protection: To safeguard your PCB design and ensure privacy they provide IP protection.
• Affiliate: Offers affiliate program just like Amazon, where users can recommend and earn commission on each successful order by referral link.
• E-Waste Collection: To channelize and safe disposal of e-waste to ensure environment protection and corporate responsibility, they have partnered with Global Waste Solution who collect e-waste from different centres in every state.

• B2B: This platform is not only for individuals and institutions but also for firms looking for suppliers and wanting to get involved into B2B partnership. 

Capabilities Compass:

PCB Manufacturing Service:

They offer one base material FR-4 which can scale up from 1 layered to 6 layered PCB along with various customization on PCB thickness, PCB colour, Surface Finish and penalization. Also, while placing orders you can opt for PCB manufacturing along with stencil which can be used during assembly. 

Complete PCB specifications Provided by Robu:

How to Place an Order?

While for price calculation you don’t need to register to their platform. However, you need to upload a Gerber file because without it prices will not be calculated. 

For placing order you first have to register and then login to their platform. Once logged in, you will have to select PCB manufacture from the services section shown on the top menu bar on screen. Upload the Gerber file and select the required specifications. If you want stencil along with manufacturing select that too and click on price calculation.

Once the selection and quote is done and you are satisfied by their cost mechanism and lead time, you can continue with adding it to cart just like regular ecommerce website. You can checkout the order by making payment and filling in other shipping details. Once the order is placed, you can track the progress using track my order (Which is also used to track your components). 

Lead Time and Cost : 

There aren’t much information show on screen after analysing the Gerber. The price and the lead time are just approximate and they aren’t very accurately shown.

Instant Quote Price

Data shown on cart

Other Important Details:

Payment and Refund:

Using order ID the customer can place the order. The various mode of payments available are:

• Direct Wire Transfer- Using their account details mentioned on their platform you can directly make payment to their account.
• Cheque or Demand Draft: You can send them cheque or DD via post to their Pune address along with customer ID.
• Debit Card/ Credit Card and Net banking: Visa/ Mastercard/ Diners/ Amex credit cards and various debit cards options are available to make payment.
• PayPal: The customer can make payment using PayPal as well, especially the once ordering from outside India.

Their refund guidelines are as follows:

• Within 2 days of delivery of the order the customer can raise issue and ask for refund. Such refund will be initiated only after visual inspection of the product by the team.
• In case of any modification, misuse or accident refund will not be initiated. 
• In case of cancellation of order after placement of order it can be done until the progress on order status is at ‘pending’ or ‘payment verification’ stage. After this no cancellation will be possible. 

Delivery Services:

The delivery partners of Robu are Fedex and Aramex. Further they also use EMS Speed post on special request to deliver orders to remote locations. They offer 15 days minimum guarantee period after shipping within which the customer can raise any issue concerning the order. 

Affiliate :

They offer a affiliate platform for user to refer and earn reward based on the sales. Commission will calculate on a successful sales :

Successful sales = Total sales - Returns (Generally Cash On Delivery OR I don’t need this item anymore)

A month will be calendar month for all calculations. And commission will be paid by 15th of next month
Ex. Commission of January month will be paid by 15th of FEB.

[Currently this is unavailable and under maintenance we’ll update this section as soon as this feature is up and running!]

Conclusion: 

Why you should choose Robu:

• Instant quote option is available. 
• Minimum quantity is as low as just 5 units so it is very convenient for individual buyers. 
• Very low cost compare to any other services currently available.
• Trusted brand with range of services and products available.
• No addition charges on delivery (it’s applicable only if express shipping is selected).
• Being Indian based manufacturer, no need to worry about customs, duty or taxation policy.

Why you shouldn’t choose Robu:

• Still on budding stage when it comes to providing high range of specification and customization in PCB manufacturing.
• Lead time offered by some other Indian PCB manufacturers are far better than robu. 
• Authenticity, compliance and certification details are not listed on their platform.
• Not recommend for any professionals.
• The website is not PCB Centric, so support might not be as good as other manufacturers.

Robu is not PCB centric manufacturer rather electronic merchandise and manufacturer in general. PCB fabrication is just one of their services(Probably outsourced to other manufacturer which has to be confirmed yet). However, due to their skilled in delivering the product, instant quote along with lucrative offers (low quantity and cost), it might be suitable for hobbyist or people who just want to experiment with Printed Circuit Board and don’t care about the lead time.

This article was solely written on the online experience and we haven’t placed order like we did for other manufacturer, Once we test the PCB we’ll update this article with more information. You can see other manufacturers here.

Note : This article is not sponsored by Robu, the article is written based on personal experience and information that’s given by few reviewer and Robu.

The images courtesy is Robu.in platform.