DIYbanter - View Single Post - Best place for a hobbiest to buy small amounts of parts?

rickman

On 2/21/2017 3:46 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 21 Feb 2017 10:09:14 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...

What is the best place for a hobbiest to buy small amounts of electronic
parts?

I am looking for an online source where I can place orders for a handful
of parts at a time, which does not require $50 or more orders, or charge
huge shipping fees. I am also looking mostly for parts for antique tube
equipment. My typical order would likely be $20 or less of caps,
resistors, and maybe some solder or a tool, and so on....

From what I've seen, Mouser, Digi-Key and Allied seem to be the
biggies... But I have to admit that they have so much in their websites
that I almost feel overwhelmed. And I hear they have large minimums and
shipping, but I never got that far on their websites.... (I have to go
to a public WIFI to use those sites, since I only have dialup at home).

I know ebay is an option too, but ordering each item separately can be a
pain too.

I have placed small (around $ 25) orders from Mouser and Digikey with no
problem. I believe it is Digikey that only charges about $ 4 shipping
for very small orders such as up to 8 oz shipped by the USPS.

If you do go to ebay for the parts, watch out for the China places.
Some are good and some send junk parts.

I dont buy anything from China. (or any place outside of North America).
It takes too long to get the items, if the stuff is defective, I'm stuck
with it, and I do not trust giving out my credit card info. I only buy
from the US and Canada. When I am on ebay, the first thing I do is set
their filter to US Only. Otherwise my page is flooded with China items.
Sure, I could often save a dollar or two buying from China, but it's not
worth the hassle.

The only times I've had trouble with eBay orders is when I didn't follow
up on keeping track of them. I find ebay sellers to be very responsive
because they live and die by their rating. If all else fails (which it
has sometimes) I dispute the charge on my credit card and have never
failed to get the refund.

The one and only time I bought an ebay item from outside the US, I
bought something from the UK. The order got all screwed up, and it
turned into a huge hassle. I lost money, got an item I did not really
want, and the seller lost too. I made a point to never buy from outside
North America again.

It's just not that big a deal normally. Having to wait over a month
before filing for an "item not received" refund is a bit of a pain, but
I only use this for things I don't need any time soon.

--

Rick C