Does anyone know how I can buy USB-A cards in the UK please?
I am stunned that when I tried to check out, first it says I could not order items shipped from more than one warehouse, then after I removed everything by trial and error and left with just the USB-As, it says it was only available with a laptop order.
i also had this issue when i was ordering some extra expansion cards, i checked and (excluding the cards that hadnt released yet), every single card is able to be successfully added to cart EXCEPT the usb-a. ended up ordering a type c instead and ill find a type c to a adapter
shocking and lost for words
contacted support
i went and checked, there were some other parts like mainboards that were like that
thats understandable, most people are buying mainboards in the laptops so thats not much of an issue (though people upgrading mainboards will have an issue)
expansion cards are something that some people will just want to buy standalone. maybe they want to top up, maybe they want to use them for other devices (since they are usb c, i can use the audio card in a phone for example), and usb a is a very common one to ask for, and ask for multiple at that. I think they may be trying to recover from prioritising the laptop 16 launch, and ramping production back up from that
or maybe theres some updated version thats coming out since mainboards were one of them and they could be trying to manufacture enough to meet demand? but i dont know what an updated usb a card would be like, unless it was a combo card (like dual usb-a, or i think usb a plus audio jack wouldve been a cool one to save a port)
do update the thread with the support response if you can
Hi @name_of_user,
I think that might be a configuration issue with the website. Maybe @Destroya can shed some light as to why it is currently setup like that. It does seem strange that just the USB-A cards are only available with a laptop purchase.
I remember when I ordered a factory second Framework Laptop a few months ago they had some refurbished SSD’s that I wanted to include in my order and got the “can’t ship items from more than one warehouse” then when trying to purchase it separately, got the “only available with laptop purchase” issue too.
Out of curiosity, I did a general search and came across the Australian marketplace which surprisingly not only has the USB-A available standalone, but USB-C and HDMI cards all available to ship together, something not possible on the UK site. Pity that I can’t order from there.
Update with response from support:
"Thank you for … your inquiry.
You may purchase the USB-A expansion card as an item in the Marketplace.
Hope this helps. Should there be …"
Also, when asked if a laptop order could be modified to add a few other cards (not the USB-A), support suggested it would be best to initiate a return of the laptop upon delivery and place a new order with cards subsequently!
The order for the laptop with cards originally could not complete because items came from multiple warehouses but the flag did not identify which items, and I ended up eventually removing all of the cards in haste after trialling removing a couple randomly.
I believe it basically means “we don’t have any in our EU warehouse”.
The full message is “ Sorry, we only have stock of that item at one warehouse. You can only purchase it when combined with a laptop order.”
Strongly suggesting they only have them in Taiwan, and will only ship them with laptops, where as marketplace items, for the UK, come from the warehouse in The Netherlands.
Yup. This is just due to empty stock in your local warehouse; it seems they don’t want to expose higher shipping charges, nor cover them, for the less expensive items.
Hah that is some ridiculous adverse incentive (and for a still-kinda-small company)! It’s obviously much less costly for them to just let you order a cheap item and cover the shipping from Taiwan, than it is to go through a return! But support doesn’t have a way to enable the former, only the latter, so …
Yup. This is just due to empty stock in your local warehouse; it seems they don’t want to expose higher shipping charges, nor cover them, for the less expensive items.
It affected some mainboards too, which are about half the cost of a laptop, i think the shipping wouldnt be nearly as much in comparison to that?
never mind, good that FW is happy with users doing their own things
Looks like you were able to find the cause before I found this thread 
if you are getting an error message mentioning warehouses, it probably means that this specific item is currently out of stock on the warehouse servicing your region (EU or NA) please let me know when this happens (share the link and your region/country) and I can inform the marketplace teams, they can “deactivate” the “add to bag” button to avoid further confusion for your region, you can also join the email list afterwards (you will receive an email when this part comes back in stock)
Hope this helps!
Thank you for following up @Destroya. If I could make a further suggestion, it would be good to identify/flag the items in the shopping basket that could not be shipped together at check out; this would be better than having the customer guess by trial elimations. Thanks again.
I guess the sales store front could work a bit better.
The easiest is probably to accept the full list of what the customer wishes to order, and then on the checkout page separate out the items into different deliveries with associated postage costs and let the customer then choose to go ahead or not.
For example, the USB-A would appear with a delivery date sometime away in the future with an associated extra postage. The user can then choose to order anyway and wait for delivery, or cancel that part of the delivery.
The supplier then, at least, has a level of backlog that people are asking for and act appropriately.
The alternative is something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pack-USB-SuperSpeed-Converter-Compatible-Device-3Color-Blue-Black-Dark-Silver/dp/B0C4KDYWTY/
These are great ideas. Unfortunately, from an engineering perspective, these changes take a lot of time and resources, and we haven’t had the chance to make these (and other) changes since our Marketplace engineers are quite busy.
Most of the laptops are shipped from Taiwan, and I believe (almost) all individual parts from the marketplace (expansion cards, bezels, etc.) are shipped from our regional 3PL warehouses. In an ideal world where all parts are in stock, a customer shouldn’t have to know which parts can or cannot be shipped together; this is something we should know and adjust on our end to provide a seamless experience for you all. We are working on it and appreciate the feedback.
Can’t you guys just utilise another marketplace such as Aliexpress or Amazon and let them deal with the shipping etc?
Feels like FW is doing a bit too much “reinventing the wheel” in general
Can confirm that USB-As are now available in the UK
yes, it’s back in stock!