Buying components from China

[Nigel Goodwin]

When rapport and trust are built up, then place the multi- thousand dollar order.

And that's when the stitch you up!

 

[moty22]

And that's when the stitch you up!

Exactly! This is the sting I mentioned a few times before. The Chinese culture is older than Europeans, including stitching up.

 

[tunedwolf]

So true

 

[schmitt trigger]

The thing is, they should NEVER KNOW whether you will be placing a big order in the future, or ever.

Most of the times, orders from China will remain small, and one will never muster the courage to place a large order.

 

[MrAl]

No, you don't have to buy from China. Digikey, Mouser, Newark, Jameco and many smaller companies will be happy to sell you parts, or you can often go directly to the manufacturer for ICs and semiconductors. Places like Tayda also offer good quality parts at great prices.

Much as I'd like to see a local store with a good assortment of EVERYTHING, I don't see it happening. Businesses will buy from suppliers like those listed above. Even if makers would buy local, there aren't enough of us and the range of parts is too huge to keep a good assortment locally.

Hi,

Sorry, i meant you have to buy from China if you want a really good price. I dont use this practice too often, but sometimes i just cant resist. I've got several high power LEDs that work fine for 1/3 the normal cost for example.

 

[mirel]

In France it is difficult to buy component and they are very expensive. A diode cost 50 times more than in China. I searched for opinions of French people and many say that the service was bad. Some people think it is because in China they like American people only.
moty22, I think you have to try giving American name when you buy from China.

 

[RODALCO]

Hi, I have bought many items from China, Mosfets, LED's, diodes, led displays etc and have had no problems at all. Even if there was a dud, so what, the price is good and often free postage world wide.

I had a string of Christmas lights in the wrong colour posted, contacted the seller who said, keep them and posted me another within a week free of charge. I do also buy parts of Farnel or RS components, or Jaycars if I need them in a hurry, pay a bit more but good product quality.

The sellers who are not Chinese, and have US addresses may be bulk importers from China and get superdeals for themselves and are selling on again in the local markets.

 

[Willen]

20 years ago I bought a high quality Fluke DMM made in USA. Then my boss bought a much CHEAPER Chinese one from Radio Shack. His failed the next week, they could not fix it and none were available for replacement. Mine still works perfectly today.

Wow! I also heard the Fluke DMM is the best brand still! Feeling like to grab one BUT for any Asian, American rate is very high, most of the time just because American standard price which extremely high for us. How much you had paid for that one? Once I saw a $700 Fluke and unfortunately I have a government teaching job from where I get paid $175 per month. heehee
However American quality made me addicted to parts even with a single resistor! Leads, colors and color bands are so much attractive and looks very strong and stable! Salute you all American!

 

[Gasboss775]

I suggest your problem is with buying off Ebay?

I have bought quite a lot of Chinese components on eBay, they have generally been good. I reiterate my comments from another thread on this subject:

I have bought a lot of cheap components on eBay from China & Hong Kong. I'd say about 15% of the time the parts are fine, another 75% work, but not quite exactly as per the data sheet and / or have been poorly manufactured in some way. The remaining 10% either don't work at all or fail very soon after installation.

So the bulk of the stuff ( 75% ) isn't quite up to par, but in many cases still useful, particularly in undemanding applications ( a lot of hobby circuits could be said to fall into that category ) However given that the majority ( 75% ) of the parts fall short in some way it is definitely NOT a good option whenever close spec or high reliability is called for

You get to learn which sellers sell good versions of certain parts with experience. With eBay there's always the option to return for a refund. With some potentially good, even great bargains to be had it can be a lottery worth playing.



I often wondered why the Soviets chose to make the Lada cars ( one of their chief exports to the west ) to such a poor standard, was it a covert form of warfare! They were capable of building good stuff. I've bought quite a lot of Soviet surplus components on eBay and they've almost all been very well manufactured, so it seems bizarre that they would choose to showcase an inferior product to the outside world!

Another manufacturer of poor electrolytic capacitors is CapXon they are used in low cost consumer products and are frequently the cause of equipment failure.

 

[dr pepper]

I placed many ebay orders to sellers from china, as yet I think I've only had one dead part, many have blown up however I suspect that was probably me or breadboard messups.
I'm aware that some components are marked up as higher performance ones when they are not, such as high voltage regs.