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

Clifford Heath

On 22/02/17 07:46, 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 agree with you regarding EBay sellers, but...

You're wrong to discount Aliexpress. You get access to thousands of
vendors (same as EBay) but none of them see your credit card, and
until you approve of the product *as delivered*, they don't get your
money either. If you receive nothing, or they ship the wrong thing,
or even if it's demonstrably faulty, Ali mediates a resolution.
The most common resolution is that you bin the item and get your
money back.

For China Post shipping of small items (3 cigarette packet size)
you get free shipping... my orders are often under $20... no Western
supplier will do this for you.

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.

This does not happen with Aliexpress.