Farnell are now trying to compete with Digikey and Mouser. Have already lowered their prices on tons of stuff, and have just given us special web based "contract" pricing which appears on the website in a different column, tied to my login name. Their intention is to match Digikey in pricing for about 80,000 items. Haven't checked out the comparisons yet, but it's good to know they want our business. Presumably they will give the same deal to most people if you ask, I think it just came online last week.
RS usually don't rate much on my radar unless Farnell don't have it and I need it local. Mostly mechanical stuff form RS lately.
Dave.
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I haven't heard from them - but maybe I've changed my email address since I last bought anything from them. I rarely do, because their minimum shipping cost makes single items very expensive.
Farnell charge a paltry fixed $10 for same/next day courier.
Maybe a tad expensive for a single $2 part you can get from Jaycar, but for most other things it's really quite good value. Electus charge more than that.
Dave.
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**The freight cost is minimal, when dealing with mission-critical jobs. Usually the few Dollars can be absorbed into the cost of the job. The nice thing about Farnell and RS is that their component quality is guaranteed. The costs of buying dodgy components from DSE, Jaycar and WES can often far outweigh any savings.
[Anecdote] One of my mates runs a TV repair business. He purchased some MOSFETs from WES to service a TV set. After the third MOSFET failed, his tech almost decided to give up the business. On my suggestion he ordered the same part from Farnell. It worked perfectly. The MOSFETs he was being supplied with from WES were sub-prime spec (probably fake) devices. Although WES refunded the money (about $8.00) for the cost of the parts, that paled into insignificance beside the 6 hours his tech cost him in wages. Naturally, he was unable to charge the customer the full amount.
I've been caught by dodgy parts from WES and Jaycar in the past. Fortunately, I tested them before I installed them.
I've heard some extra info in that only some components have been "price matched" and linked to the new web based price file like this so far, the rest are just a generic 10% discount until such time as they are updated. There is a team of people in Singapore beavering away updating the prices to match Digikey on all the components. A big job I suspect, so will take some time.
Dave.
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Indeed they do. I recently told Electus where to stick their account - it was cheaper to buy $150 retail of stuff at the local Jaycar than through the wholesale end, by the time I added GST and freight to the cattledog price.
**I don't see that happening in real life. Most Electus prices are significantly discounted over the Jaycar ones. Particularly the stuff imported by Jaycar. However, feel free to provide your parts list.
I haven't really found that. The Electus wholesale prices are substatially discounted from the Jaycar retail prices, and the Jaycar "trade" price too. Around 50-60% of the retail price for 1-off usually. You just factor in the $15 postage.
Dave.
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Sure, but like I said Electus has always been cheaper than Jaycar for me every time. That's my experinence, I'm surprised yours differs enough to make you want to give them the flick. Even in your example (worst case most likely?) Electus wholesale is the same price or cheaper, and you get free delivery to your door thrown in. Still worth using I recon.
Take for example the LCD used in my uWatch project (QP5519): $23.70 retail for 10+ at Jaycar $16.17+GST wholesale from Electus for 10+
Then of course if you want say a bit of gear, savings can be substantial when you buy from Electus, just for a 1-off.
Sure, but that's a different point. For idential parts available from multiple suppliers you obviously use the supplier that's the cheapest to your door.
Dave.
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