new cnc/machining "marketplace" (like the others out there?)

Just ran across this, thought I would share and see if anyone else has heard of them.

https://www.orderfox.com/home/en-US.html?lang=us&ofup_lo=n

These things pop up every so often. I suspect they're all the same. Worthless. If you want work for your shop, grab some business cards, a bag lunch, a few bottles of water and some breath mints. Drive to every industrial park you can find. You'll get work.

I spent a fair amount of money through Protolabs and Xometry at my last job (mid-five figures a year), but only because they refused to bring any real machining in house. Drove me nuts. I could not get the price and delivery they could promise, and my quality requirements weren't onerous. The biggest problem I had there was actually with one of our vendors for production parts. He lied about checking some parts and they still placed another order with him. It's one thing to screw up and say you're sorry, but that was the last straw for me and I never asked him to quote another part.

To return to the topic at hand, I do wonder what's in it for job shop owners. The service takes its cut for a price and delivery that are both less than most shops would normally charge. Maybe there's a way to tool up to make that a profitable venture, but I'll be honest that I don't see how.

I actually like Orderfox its one of the few truly free RFQ sites out as they seem to just make their money with advertising. I rented a small office down on the navy base and have five or six girls that strictly go to the RFQ sites then shotgun them out to suppliers in S.E. Asia. Orderfox is probably my favorite since they simplify the type of manufacturing by categories. When I first started out the girls would send laser work to milling shops, CNC work to die casting shops, things like that.

I signed up for Orderfox and checked every couple of days for a while, haven't been back in months now. Most all the RFQ postings are from European countries, rarely were there any in the USA.