overstock parts

There are surplus electronics companies that may buy them, although for a very small price. Some of them sell parts to companies that need to do trial runs of boards to verify positioning of automated parts positioning equipment, and other test purposes. Only the package matters to them, the actual part does not. It seems like a waste, but not as much of a waste as throwing them away.

One company that comes to mind is Search Electronics,

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Ebay.

Put them on eBay with a low start price and enough shipping cost to actually cover your shipping cost. If someone just goes for the bargain, they are out of the trash, and if someone else gets interested, you might clear a few bucks for the coffee fund.

If "the company" doesn't want to do it, see if the company will at lest bless handing the parts to an employee who would like to (or one that has a kid that would like to), rather than putting them in the trash. Chopping them up into 10/50/100 may make them go better than a full reel, unless you actually find someone that wants a reel. Providing datasheets also helps. Shipping can be first class mail...

If there are any high school or tech college electronics classes left in your area (less and less likely), you might also donate the parts, though that may simply be a short side-trip to the dumpster. Likewise, if you have an in-house training program, they might be of use if any soldering is practiced.

On-line electronics suppliers may be interested in over-stock or excess inventory items if there's no local surplus outlet. For starters, try:

AllElectronics

BG Micro

Circuit Specialists

MPJA

For stuff like reels of less-than run-of-the-mill parts, I'd actually suggest starting at a price at which anyone who uses the part would happily pay, maybe 10-25% of new price. For specialist items, it is not unusual to only have one bidder, so there is no point in only making $0.99 or whatever on something that would be worth significantly more to someone. I'm sure many electronic component brokers trawl ebay for stock, so you're not entirely reliant on random buyers.

Definitely include links to datasheets and accurate description in the title, so someone lookling for a generic part can quickly see if yours may be suitable for them.

We often buy such parts, paying 0.4 to 0.6 cents on the original dollar. Provided they are clean, new, well sorted, well labeled, and in demand.

Our eBay buyers expect a 6:1 difference between our selling price and distributor list. We require a 30:1 SBR for business viability.

As to what we do with our unsellable trash, another eBay seller pays us $200 per month for the privilege of hauling it away. This is called the "Alvin Pile".

donate them to your local community college or tech school? Might even be able to write it off.

Cheaper than disposing of them as toxic/electronic waste I guess.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Most community colleges or tech schools have been the SOURCE for such materials for years now.

Our local electronics department was closed because the football team needed the money. Seems as a subsidy of $700 per hometown viewer was inadequate.

$700? I guess they can afford the local EE department, too, on $61M.

starting at a price at

For specialist items,

$0.99 or whatever on

entirely reliant on

so someone lookling

I even buy parts from Ebay for production runs. No cut strips, reels only. As a matter of fact my business relies on getting at least some parts from Ebay and surplus dealers because it wouldn't pay off if all parts are bought from distributors.

In a production environment it is best not to have old parts kicking around, most especially if they could be confused with parts being used in production (similar labels, similar looks, bins close to each other even if they look quite differnent, etc). Yes, it is a waste to toss them but it can save hundreds of thousands of dollars if mis-used..... Other options are to sell them at one or two cents to the dollar to those "obsolete" part pirates OR give to a non-profit org that could use them.

(...)

Also spare a thought for your local electronics hobbyist store if you are lucky enough to have one.

Last week I donated several tubes of very obsolete micro controllers to my favorite local 'bricks and mortar' establishment.

Well, not 'donated' exactly. They gave me a few bucks and put my order for parts 'on the house'.

I was quite pleased.

--Winston

That should never be a problem. If it is your inventory control system is seriously broken. Solder-proof leads and water saturated packages are, however.

Yes. Oh, the pain... :-(