Which costs stay outside the unit price?
Tooling, first-article inspection, extra plating, freight, duties, and any programming of a keyed variant. If the reply is silent, the cost is unknown, not zero.
Supplier matching lane
Board-to-board connector supplier replies on one sheet
LinkScope Sourcing 39 asks each factory to price the same line. The service is coordination of that sheet. A named supplier may decline the brief, and this desk does not state that any plant has been audited.
- Must match
- Pitch, contact count, plating thickness, stack height, quantity, currency.
- Must split
- Body, caps, screws, freight, duties, and any tooling line.
- Must stay open
- Host fit, insertion loss, and connector mating cycle until a drawing cites them.
Evidence each board-to-board connector supplier should attach
The public TIA-568 page, reviewed as a cabling overview on 2026-10-27, tells a buyer which interface questions exist. It does not replace the datasheet of the exact mezzanine part. IEEE 802 overview material is the same kind of question source for the host link, not a mating approval.
| Line | What the reply must name | Buyer check |
|---|---|---|
| Geometry | Pitch in mm, contacts, rows, stack height | Reject a family-only description |
| Metal | Plating metal and thickness, for example 0.38 um or 0.76 um gold | Do not treat flash and thick gold as one offer |
| Electrical | Current, voltage, impedance, frequency range | Record the ambient used for current |
| Durability | Connector mating cycle count and the test method | Ask whether the number is a minimum |
| Commercial | Quantity, currency, per piece or whole order, Incoterm | Hold the line if freight is silent |
Original drawing or second source
One purchasing view stays with the host vendor drawing so later support conversations use that geometry. The opposing view opens a second-source footprint when the buyer has checked pitch, keying, plating, and the electrical table on the exact board. LinkScope Sourcing 39 records which view you chose. It does not declare a winner.
New date code or surplus
A new lot can make plating and cycle life easier to read because the datasheet still matches the date code. A surplus lot can keep a legacy 1.00 mm or 1.27 mm pitch available, yet the buyer still needs condition, storage history, and whether contacts were reworked. Those are opposite commercial postures, and both can be valid on different hosts.
Worked comparison, not a completed job
Picture a radio-board buyer who needs 80 contacts at 0.80 mm pitch, 100 ohm differential, and a 8 mm stack. The desk asks two factories to quote 2,000 pieces to Ohio with the same gold callout. One reply cites 0.76 um gold and 500 mating cycles. The other cites gold without a thickness and prices the pick-and-place cap as included. The result of the comparison is a hold: the second reply is not placed beside the first until thickness and the cap line match. No savings figure is calculated here, because the scopes were not equal.
Three limits sit on this service. There is no warehouse behind the form. A supplier preference for high-end, mid-range, budget, or undecided is not a scorecard. Signal integrity above the stated frequency range, or current above the stated derating, is outside the sheet until the factory rewrites it.
Related reading sits on the label grid and the brief.
Questions before a supplier quote is accepted
What evidence is tied to the exact item?
Datasheet revision, plating specification, and the measurement accuracy note on insertion loss or return loss when the pair is high speed. A family brochure is a weaker file than a revision-locked drawing.
How should alternatives be marked?
Compliant, deviation, or optional. A shorter stack or a tin-plated contact is an alternative, even if the contact count matches. The buyer decides whether the alternative is allowed before prices are ranked.
What does the desk not decide?
Final host approval, safety listing when the assembly is mains powered, and whether an NRTL file applies. Those stay with the buyer and the proposed supplier documents.
Send the comparison sheet
Paste the lines you already normalized. There is no file upload on this form. Quantity, US destination, and the requested delivery window belong in the requirement text, together with any budget currency and per-piece or whole-order basis.
You can also move the same request to the RFQ lane.