Ron wrote:

Farnell also will hapily sell to the public via their website - The
Farnell organisation own CPC btw, I`ve also had good dealings with Rapid
Online.

Happily, that's a laugh.. :-(

The word is grudgingly. Both CPC and Farnell technical support is free
for account holders, and there is no minimum order for trade customers.
Other companies even have free post for trade customers on any order
size. Because on things like internet sales they have to agree to
"distance selling regulations" and similar, they end up losing money
dealing with consumers. Maplin is the only UK national choice for
hobbyists and small time repairers like me.

Never mind, if it works for you. Good :-)

eBay and purchasing outside the UK works for me and yes; I know what a
scam fest eBay can sometimes be, but not in this case.

For example I recently had to replace a shot schottky SMD diode in a HP
printer SMPS. Per part, 20p each from Farnell. Minimun order charge £20.
Post and packing £4.25.

From an eBay seller in the states, £8 including postage for 500 diodes.
They were delivered within the week.

If it's urgent I jump in the car and find something in a shop closer. Or
risk a dodgy substitute for the part, which I really shouldn't do if
it's critical ....

--
Adrian C