Component Prices Rip off in Australia

   I usually get my stuff from Rockby Electronics in Melbourne.
http://www.rockby.com.au

Bob

can you get that site to work?  It seems Firefox-hostile.

It works in Firefox if you enable popups, Java, etc. :^|

It works fine in Firefox, I had troubles working out what to click in the
beginning but once you get its easy.
Tom

Have you seen their surplus store next door? Full of all sorts of genuine
surplus stuff.

No, I'm in Sydney and they're in Melbourne. Is that at their place in
Renver Rd which used to be occupied by Rod Irving Electronics (which
deservedly went out of business)?

Cheers
Bob

Hi again Bob,
                    as far as I know, it is. (They used to also be known as
Vorlac, from memory.) I'm very familiar with Renver Road - I started out as
a panel-beater before I got (less?) sensible and got into electronics, and
did my apprenticeship in that street, at Collins Auto Panels, back in the
early 70's.

... Johnny
P.S. I now live in NSW also.

What the!? I've been there (to the counter section) a couple of times
recently and I figured they'd closed the surplus section down to use it
for storage, after merging with the Huntingdale store. There are no
obvious doorways or signs pointing into that area that I can recall. Is
it still open?

It's a LONG drive there so I'm going to be mighty disappointed to find
out I could have wasted even more time and money there :)

I went there yesterday. Next building to the north of Rockby. There is a
green door, you just go in and browse and ring a buzzer if you need
service.

are you paying retail or wholesale?

Soanar used to be great - now they seem hell bent on
becoming a toyshop. If I see on more flyer for coughing ashtrays
or farting men......
M

Sounds just like Jaycar, they're going the same way as DSE these days.

... Johnny

As indeed it should, as they're now joined at the hip.

Moby, Johnny,

There's a good reason for that - Soanar/Jaycar/Electus is all part of
Fermionic which is owned by Gary Johnston.
http://www.soanar.com/showpage.cfm?pageid=1

    How low do you want to go? Are you after numbers, or 1-offs? If you're
after quantities, you need to go overseas. I've found that DigiKey and
Mouser are hard to beat for range and price on most common bits and pieces.
    Otherwise, for small quantities of (very) common parts, I'd look at
Jaycar and Altronics before DSE. Also, Rockby, WES and Oatley Electronics
are always worth a look in case they happen to have what you're looking for.
    I'm sure that others will have more suggestions - I've probably
forgotten a few.

... Johnny

   I agree. Digikey and Mouser are good if you can get together a big
enough order to justify the shipping prices.
  WES Components stock lots of stuff usually pretty cheap. You just
need a customer number to get the trade price.
   Years ago I got some good prices on bulk quantities from DSE
Wholesale, but in view of the direction they've gone in since then,
that's probably no longer true. Jaycar/Electus is probably a better
bet (especially if you want lots of screaming pencil holders).

Bob

you're
pieces.
for.

    Hi Bob,
               who wouldn't want lots of screaming pencil holders, or, my
favourite, coughing lung ashtrays?
    Incidentally, although you've heard it a million times before, thank you
for the ESR meter. It's saved me heaps of hours over the years, when I was
still doing TV repairs. (Read this as, while it was still profitable to do
them.)

... Johnny

    You're entirely welcome!! :-) I didn't think anyone remembered the
ESR meter these days.
    I know exactly what you mean about getting out of the repair
business. I did the same thing quite a few years ago for much the same
reason.
   It's really bad seeing so much electronic repair talent being
wasted because of cheap Chinese throw-away electronics. It's the same
all over the Western world, but not much we can do about it I
suppose...

Bob


  

you
was
do
    Yeah, you're right Bob, it's sort of a shame, but by the same token,
when I went to buy a new 51cm TV last year and only had to pay AU$180, I was
pretty pleased. Still, it did a lot of us out of jobs. I had a pretty good
(little) TV repair business on the North coast of NSW that I couldn't even
give away in the end.
    Now I do what little design work that I can muster up and rely on my
pension the rest of the time.
    Not whinging, such is life...
    My biggest gripe nowadays is that the Australian hobby industry is dead
and there are very few youngsters interested in getting into the profession.
Despite what many say about Gough, he was on the right track regarding free
education. That's how we became the country with brains, (and the
"brain-drain"), a couple of decades ago. Now it appears to be the Chinese,
Poles, Yugoslavs etc. Not putting them down, good on 'em, but we should be
there too. The end of Electronics Australia some years back was a good
indicator. I'm pleased that Silicon Chip has hung in.

... Johnny