1. Overview and Acceptance of Terms

Welcome to PCBPath.com, an electronic manufacturing digital platform operated by PCBPath. Throughout this document, the terms "our company," "we," "us," and "our" refer to PCBPath, including its parent entities, subsidiaries, and authorized manufacturing affiliates. PCBPath offers this website, including all online quoting tools, Design for Manufacturability (DFM) utilities, component sourcing databases, and fabrication services, conditioned upon your acceptance of all terms, conditions, policies, and notices stated herein.

Before accessing our platform, uploading engineering files, or placing a production order, please read these Terms of Service and General Manufacturing Agreement carefully. By visiting our site, creating an account, or purchasing custom-manufactured products from us, you engage in our services and agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions, including any additional policies referenced herein or available by hyperlink.

PCBPath reserves the right to update, amend, or replace any part of these Terms of Service at our sole discretion to reflect changes in global trade regulations, industry standards, or operational procedures. You can review the most current version of the Terms of Service at any time on this page. It is your responsibility to check this page periodically for updates. Your continued use of or access to our website and manufacturing services following the posting of any changes constitutes formal acceptance of those revisions.

2. Account Security and Data Privacy

At PCBPath, safeguarding your personal data and proprietary engineering files is a top operational priority. Please review our Privacy Policy to understand the technical and organizational security measures we implement to protect your information during transmission and storage.

When you register an account on PCBPath.com, you are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and restricting unauthorized access to your computers and corporate network. You agree to accept full responsibility for all activities, file uploads, and financial transactions that occur under your account. If you suspect any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security, you must notify us immediately. PCBPath shall not be liable for any direct or indirect loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with these account security obligations.

3. Export Control and Prohibited Products Policy

As a responsible global electronics manufacturer, PCBPath strictly adheres to international trade laws, non-proliferation treaties, and export control frameworks. By submitting design files or placing an order, you represent and warrant that your project complies with the following restrictions:

• Defense and Military Restrictions: We do not manufacture, assemble, or accept orders for products designed or intended for weapons, lethal military hardware, missile systems, nuclear proliferation, or unauthorized defense-related devices.
• Controlled Export Goods: Uploading technical data or requesting the fabrication of components subject to strict military or dual-use export control regulations—including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) beyond EAR99, or European Union Dual-Use Regulation lists—is strictly prohibited and constitutes a material breach of our Terms of Service.
• Acceptable Trade Compliance: It is your sole responsibility to ensure that your order complies with all applicable import and export controls in both the country of origin and the destination jurisdiction. You must ensure that our handling, manufacturing, transportation, and sale of parts or tooling in response to your order do not violate any international trade laws or economic sanctions.
• Restriction on Unauthorized Re-Export: You are not permitted to sell, export, re-export, transfer, or dispose of any products, technical data, or documentation obtained from PCBPath to restricted entities, sanctioned countries, or prohibited end-users without obtaining prior regulatory authorization.

If you have any questions regarding our Acceptable Use and Export Compliance Policy, please refrain from uploading your engineering data until you have consulted our compliance team. If you violate these provisions, we reserve the right to immediately cancel your order, terminate your account, delete restricted data, and report the violation to relevant regulatory authorities.

4. Quotations, Pricing, and Order Expiration

4.1 Online Quoting and Engineering Inquiries

You can visit our platform at any time to generate an instant online quotation for bare printed circuit boards, solder paste stencils, and turnkey PCB assembly (PCBA). Alternatively, for complex high-density interconnect (HDI), rigid-flex, or high-volume production requirements, you may submit your technical specifications via email to our 24-hour customer support mailbox at [email protected]. Our applications engineering team will review your files and respond promptly.

4.2 Pricing Adjustments and Component Market Fluctuations

• Price Determination: While we strive to maintain real-time pricing accuracy across our online quoting engine and electronic component database, raw material costs (such as copper-clad laminates and precious metals for surface finishes) and active/passive electronic component prices are subject to global supply chain fluctuations. Consequently, we reserve the right to adjust pricing and currency exchange rates prior to order confirmation. The binding price applicable to your order is determined at the moment payment is completed.
• Quotation Validity and Inventory Priority: For orders that have been generated and audited by our engineers but remain unpaid, the quoted price will be reserved only within the specified validity window indicated in your order details. However, factory capacity and electronic component stock availability are strictly prioritized for customers who have completed payment. If payment becomes overdue, the quotation will automatically expire, and you will need to submit a new order at current market prices.
• Exclusion of Duties and Taxes: Prior to checkout completion, our system displays the manufacturing and shipping subtotal. Unless explicitly arranged under Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) terms, quoted prices exclude local value-added tax (VAT), import tariffs, customs duties, freight forwarder brokerage fees, bank wire charges, and destination regulatory clearance fees.

5. Engineering Files, CAM Review, and Manufacturing Standards

Custom PCB fabrication and assembly rely directly on the accuracy of the customer-supplied engineering package (including Gerber RS-274X, ODB++, IPC-2581, Centroid/Pick-and-Place, and Bill of Materials files). Before releasing an order to the production floor, PCBPath performs an automated and manual Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) check.

• Customer Data Accuracy: We are not responsible for manufacturing defects resulting from inaccurate, incomplete, or contradictory design files provided by the customer (such as mismatched footprints, inverted polarity markings on the silkscreen, or unflagged blind/buried via stacks).
• Default Fabrication Standards: Unless higher specifications (such as IPC-6012 Class 3) are explicitly selected and paid for in the order notes, all rigid PCBs are fabricated and inspected in accordance with IPC-A-600 and IPC-6012 Class 2 standards, and all PCB assemblies are inspected in accordance with IPC-A-610 Class 2 workmanship standards.
• Visual Representation: While our online Gerber viewer and product galleries endeavor to display accurate solder mask colors and surface finishes, the actual appearance of manufactured boards may vary slightly due to monitor calibration differences and standard chemical batch tolerances.

6. Order Cancellation, Modifications, and Refunds

Because custom PCBs and assembled circuit boards are bespoke engineered products manufactured strictly to your proprietary specifications, our cancellation and refund policies depend on the exact production stage of your order:

Order Stage	Cancellation Eligibility	Customer Financial Responsibility	Refund Processing Method
Unpaid / Pending Audit	Full cancellation permitted at any time	None (100% free cancellation)	Order voided without charge
Paid / In CAM Engineering	Permitted prior to material lamination or drilling	Administrative and payment gateway processing fees	Balance refunded to account or original payment method
In Production / Component Procurement	Restricted; subject to work-in-progress assessment	All incurred raw material, stencil, and non-cancelable BOM component costs	Remaining unspent balance refunded after cost deduction
Shipped / In Transit	Cancellation not permitted	100% of order value plus return logistics, customs detention, and VAT fees	No manufacturing refund applicable

• Unpaid Orders: If your order is in unpaid status, you have the right to cancel or modify it directly within your user dashboard without penalty.
• Paid Orders Prior to Shipment: If you have already paid for your order and request cancellation after engineering preparation, raw material cutting, or electronic component procurement has begun, you will be responsible for all corresponding material losses, restocking fees, and payment gateway handling charges. Deductions will be calculated based on actual factory expenditure.
• Refusal of Delivery in Transit: If your order has already been dispatched or has arrived in your destination region and you choose to cancel or refuse customs clearance due to personal or commercial reasons unrelated to product quality, resulting in the detention, abandonment, or return of the shipment, you will be held fully responsible for all incurred expenses. These include two-way international logistics fees, customs warehouse detention charges, import value-added tax, and brokerage fees.

7. Payment Terms and Billing Accuracy

All financial transactions with PCBPath are denominated and settled in United States Dollars (USD) unless otherwise specified on the official commercial invoice. The customer agrees to pay the full invoice amount without unauthorized deductions, withholding taxes, or offsets. PCBPath accepts international bank wire transfers (T/T), Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT), major credit cards, PayPal, and pre-funded PCBPath account balances. We reserve the right to update accepted payment instruments and transaction fee structures at any time.

We also reserve the right to refuse or cancel any order placed with us if fraud or unauthorized credit activity is suspected. We may, at our sole discretion, limit or cancel quantities purchased per person, per corporate entity, or per billing/shipping address. In the event that we make a change to or cancel an order, we will attempt to notify you immediately via the email address or telephone number provided at the time the order was placed. You agree to provide current, complete, and accurate billing and shipping information for all purchases and to promptly update your account details as needed.

8. Intellectual Property, Permissions, and Confidentiality

8.1 Customer Engineering Data and Manufacturing License

You retain full ownership of all intellectual property rights embedded in the circuit designs, schematics, and firmware you submit to PCBPath. By uploading user content to our platform, you grant PCBPath a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, reproduce, process, and display your 3D CAD models, 2D technical drawings, Gerber files, assembly files, and specifications solely for the purpose of evaluating manufacturability, generating quotations, fabricating your products, and optimizing our internal automated DFM and pricing algorithms. All proprietary customer design files are strictly protected under our corporate non-disclosure protocols and will never be shared with unauthorized third parties.

8.2 Website Copyright and Trademarks

All software architecture, automated quoting tools, visual interfaces, technical articles, and graphics on PCBPath.com are the exclusive property of PCBPath and are protected by international copyright and intellectual property laws. You may not copy, scrape, reverse-engineer, or redistribute any portion of this website without our prior express written permission.

8.3 Corporate Publicity

Unless a separate Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) explicitly prohibiting publicity is signed by both parties, creating a corporate account on our website authorizes us to reference your company name and publicly available logo in our customer portfolio and marketing materials. We will never disclose your confidential engineering designs, product specifics, or proprietary circuit data in any promotional material.

8.4 User Feedback and Submissions

If you submit general platform suggestions, feature requests, or public reviews ("feedback"), you agree that we may edit, publish, distribute, and implement such feedback across our services without restriction or financial compensation. You agree that any public comments you post will not violate third-party intellectual property rights or contain defamatory, unlawful, or malicious software content.

9. Delivery, Risk of Loss, and Quality Claims

9.1 Production Lead Times and Delivery Estimates

The manufacturing lead time and estimated delivery date displayed on your PCBPath order confirmation are calculated based on standard operational workflows. While we make every effort to ensure punctual dispatch, PCBPath shall not be held liable for delivery delays resulting from necessary engineering query (EQ) clarifications, customer file corrections, payment clearance delays, customs inspections, or force majeure events outside our reasonable control.

PCBPath does not offer long-term warehousing for completed packages. If a shipment cannot be delivered on time due to inaccurate shipping addresses, unavailability of the recipient, or failure by the customer to assist with customs clearance, the customer shall bear all associated storage fees, return freight charges, and risk of loss.

9.2 Inspection of Damaged or Non-Conforming Goods

• Transit Damage: If your shipment arrives with visible external packaging damage, shortage, or loss caused during courier transit, please retain all original packaging materials, photograph the condition immediately, and notify PCBPath within 48 hours of receipt so we can assist you with carrier remedial claims.
• Manufacturing Quality Claims: Upon receiving your boards, you must perform incoming quality inspection prior to mounting additional components or integrating the boards into higher-level assemblies. If you discover manufacturing defects that deviate from our agreed IPC fabrication specifications, please email [email protected] within 15 calendar days of delivery with high-resolution photographs, microsection data, or electrical test logs demonstrating the defect.
• Resolution and Refunds: Our quality assurance engineering team will promptly evaluate your claim. If the defect is confirmed to be caused by PCBPath's manufacturing process, both parties may agree upon expedited rework, free replacement fabrication, account credit, or a direct refund. In the event of a technical dispute regarding root cause, a mutually recognized independent third-party laboratory test report may be required.
• Refund Execution: When a credit refund is deposited into your PCBPath account balance for future orders, all administrative handling fees are waived. If you request a cash refund back to your original bank account or payment gateway, PCBPath will refund the agreed product amount, while any cross-border intermediary bank wire fees shall be borne according to standard banking practices.

10. Platform Tools, Third-Party Links, and Prohibited Uses

We may provide you with access to optional third-party software tools (such as external component search engines, footprint libraries, or logistics tracking portals) over which we neither monitor nor exercise operational control. You acknowledge and agree that we provide access to such tools on an "as is" and "as available" basis without any warranties, representations, or conditions of any kind. Your use of optional third-party tools and external links is entirely at your own risk and discretion.

Occasionally, there may be information on our site that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies, or omissions that may relate to product descriptions, component datasheets, pricing, shipping charges, or transit times. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies, or omissions, and to change or update information or cancel orders if any information in the Service is inaccurate at any time without prior notice.

In addition to other prohibitions set forth in the Terms of Service, you are strictly prohibited from using the website or its content: (a) for any unlawful purpose; (b) to solicit others to perform or participate in any unlawful acts; (c) to violate any international, federal, provincial, or state regulations, rules, laws, or local ordinances; (d) to infringe upon or violate our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of others; (e) to harass, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or discriminate; (f) to submit false or misleading trade compliance information; (g) to upload or transmit viruses, trojans, or any other type of malicious code that will or may be used in any way that will affect the functionality or operation of the Service; (h) to collect or track the personal information of others; (i) to engage in spamming, phishing, spidering, crawling, or automated data scraping; or (j) to interfere with or circumvent the cybersecurity features of the Service.

11. Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability

While PCBPath manufactures products to rigorous IPC industry standards, we do not warrant that your use of our online digital platform will be completely uninterrupted, timely, or error-free. Except as expressly stated in our manufacturing quality guarantee, the online service and all products delivered to you are provided "as is" and "as available" without any implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular application (such as uncertified life-support or aerospace systems), durability, or non-infringement.

Under no circumstances shall PCBPath, our directors, officers, employees, affiliates, agents, contractors, or component suppliers be liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive, special, or consequential damages of any kind—including, without limitation, lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, factory line downtime, recall costs, or replacement costs of downstream assemblies—arising from your use of any service or any custom product procured using the service. Because our custom manufacturing charges reflect only the fabrication value of the circuit boards and not the financial scale of your end-product deployment, our maximum aggregate liability for any defective order shall strictly not exceed the total purchase price actually paid by the customer for the specific non-conforming order.

The contractual relationship established by these Terms of Service is non-exclusive. Both parties remain free to enter into commercial agreements with other third parties. You acknowledge that our review of your engineering documents and quotations does not restrict PCBPath from manufacturing circuit boards or providing assembly services for other customers across the electronics industry, provided your confidential data remains strictly protected.

12. Contact Information

If you have any questions, compliance inquiries, or comments regarding these Terms of Service and our General Manufacturing Agreement, please contact our corporate support team via email at [email protected].