Re: Foundation Devices 'Passport Batch 2' hardware wallet review
The tool itself is already quite handy, but I wonder if UPS has also a policy similar to Amazon regarding foreign shipping. In Amazon they'll estimate how much you'll pay in customs and bill you right at the checkout - if it ends up being less they return the money to you but if it ends being more than they initially estimated they'll cover the difference. Is this how UPS model works as well?
Currently we just display the estimated import tax, but we don't charge the customer. The customer then needs to pay it directly from UPS (or whatever carrier they select) upon package delivery.
I think there is a way where we could pay the import tax on behalf of the customer, and therefore charge them for the estimated tax during checkout. I'll explore if this is possible, because I like your idea. The only downside would be if the estimate is consistently lower than the actual tax; that would eat into our margins and we aren't quite as big as Amazon
Also, regarding production costs, could you shed a light on what was a big challenge while building Batch 2 as a product? Did you encountered some problems in a specific part/supplier? How are the suppliers picked? Do you have some kind of evaluation methodologies that you apply in your selection process?
The biggest challenges by far were (1) getting the copper plating to look good consistently and (2) keypad feel and performance.
We will never again do a copper plating process on zinc alloy. We are exploring PVD coatings for future generations of Passport. The supplier had a really had time getting the color within our specification, and it was one of the main reasons we were delayed last year. We also had to throw away lots of parts due to surface finish issues.
For the keypad, we had challenges with both the number keys and the metal navigation keys. We do a pretty rigorous inspection process now, including grinding down posts of the metal keys if they don't feel good enough. In a few months we will be introducing a new keypad with more consistent performance, where the metal keys and plastic keys are backed by the same rubber membrane.
Regarding suppliers in general, we stick with the ones that do good work for us, and we look for new ones in areas where we are not satisfied. I think the only real way to evaluate a supplier is to run a batch of parts through them and see the output and of course see how they respond to feedback and iterate.