Buying from China

Status
Not open for further replies.

ebeowulf17

Joined Aug 12, 2014
3,307
Additionally, referring to my post #24 above, I ordered some PCB's from ALLPCB and selected DHL shipping. Total of this cost US$21
When the boards arrived in my country, DHL wanted to charge me for a 'transit declaration' (whatever that is) which cost US$14, also charge me US$7 per day for storage until I collected it from their offices. With the time I spent getting this shipment it would have costed me more than the price of the package (petrol for driving 30 miles / parking expenses / time etc.). I told DHL to keep the package and I would not 'be forced' into spending extortionate amounts to DHL and customs. DHL said they would send the package back to ALLPCB in China...I'm not sure if they did or didn't.
I now use JLCPCB in China (very good quality boards) for my PCB's and select 'ePacket' as Shipping Method and pay via PayPal. Total cost for 10 boards is normally less than US$10.
Shipments come in about 21 days direct to my home without any other charges. I am very pleased with them. :)
Because of my continuing business, the guys at JLCPCB have invited me to visit their offices and factory :) but sadly they have not offered to pay for my flight and hotel expenses! :(:D
Where are you located, and why does DHL hate you?!

I've gotten 4 or 5 orders with a wide range of values from ALLPCB, all shipped DHL, and they all arrived on time, with no weird charges, right to my door.

Maybe they serve some countries or regions better than others?
 

BR-549

Joined Sep 22, 2013
4,928
I think mouser and digikey have lost a lot of business to ebay and amazon. Not from their traditional professional clients..................but from a huge amount of small, private, infrequent sales from the unwashed....sort to speak. The internet uninformed. Regular people.

Whenever these small clients need real orders............they will go to amazon and ebay first.

Menu driven/sorted, illustrated list pages. For regular people.

Regular internet people will leave mouser and digikey quickly because of the hoops to jump thru.

Image shopping + fast shipping is in. A hit. Out preforms many local businesses.

Just a perspective of an infrequent hobby buyer.
 

Ford Prefect

Joined Jun 14, 2010
245
Where are you located, and why does DHL hate you?!
Maybe they serve some countries or regions better than others?
I am English from London but I now live about 30 miles from Burgas in the south of Bulgaria. When I ordered from ALLPCB and paid the DHL shipping charge. I think the package arrived in the capital of Sofia and had to be transported down to Burgas and this I think was the 'transit declaration' (cost about US$14), but they said they were not responsible for delivery to my home so I would have to drive into Burgas (which is about once every week) and collect the package..and charge me about US$7 per day for storage until I collected it....It just seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.
I never had any issues with DHL while I was in the UK but DHL here seem to 'enjoy' taking advantage of people and the shipments from other countries. But this seems to be a very typical Bulgarian characteristic...trying to get free money!
 

ebeowulf17

Joined Aug 12, 2014
3,307
I am English from London but I now live about 30 miles from Burgas in the south of Bulgaria. When I ordered from ALLPCB and paid the DHL shipping charge. I think the package arrived in the capital of Sofia and had to be transported down to Burgas and this I think was the 'transit declaration' (cost about US$14), but they said they were not responsible for delivery to my home so I would have to drive into Burgas (which is about once every week) and collect the package..and charge me about US$7 per day for storage until I collected it....It just seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.
I never had any issues with DHL while I was in the UK but DHL here seem to 'enjoy' taking advantage of people and the shipments from other countries. But this seems to be a very typical Bulgarian characteristic...trying to get free money!
Wow, that sounds awful!
 

Ford Prefect

Joined Jun 14, 2010
245
Do they give you change back for a goat?
LOL, :D I should be so lucky!!
Wow, that sounds awful!
You have to have a fairly strong character when it comes to dealing with people here. You have to tell people (and sometimes shout at them) what you want and what you expect otherwise you end up paying for rubbish.
Anyway sorry, enough of this, this is getting off the subject of 'Buying from China' :)

Additional: I ordered 10pcs of 65mm*40mm double sided PCB's from JLCPCB in China on the 4th April and selected ePacket as the shipping method which in total cost about US$9.29. Anyway, they arrived today (24th April) . They use tracked packaging (which requires signing for the package) and arrived safely and perfect.
Very happy! :)
 

MrSoftware

Joined Oct 29, 2013
2,188
I think mouser and digikey have lost a lot of business to ebay and amazon. Not from their traditional professional clients..................but from a huge amount of small, private, infrequent sales from the unwashed....sort to speak. The internet uninformed. Regular people.

Whenever these small clients need real orders............they will go to amazon and ebay first.

Menu driven/sorted, illustrated list pages. For regular people.

Regular internet people will leave mouser and digikey quickly because of the hoops to jump thru.

Image shopping + fast shipping is in. A hit. Out preforms many local businesses.

Just a perspective of an infrequent hobby buyer.
I think part of the challenge is the parametric search engines on digikey, mouser, etc.. are intimidating to the average joe who isn't actually sure what they want. They know they need "a diode" or "a transistor", but are clueless about the specs, so when confronted with a bazillian parts to choose from and such a complicated search tool it becomes sensory overload and they run back to google, ebay, amazon, etc.. The challenge for these businesses is how do they provide the detailed search necessary for those who need it, while also making it simple enough for those who don't understand it. They need a "average joe" search engine option that offers up a limited number of popular general purpose parts for that group to choose from.
 

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
Looking at my bench...

Power supply - bought from China
Bench DMM - bought from China
Signal Generator - bought from China
Oscilloscope - China, but bought from US Distributor (cheaper than Amazon and ones sold there reputedly defective)
DMM - China - bought from Amazon
DMM - US - bought from US Distributor
Ham Gear - mixture of China, Japan and US, bought from US distributors
Computer - not made in US, but from major US Company
Printer - Japan, bought from Amazon
 

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
t’s true @MrSoftware but it’s also the lack of reasonable freight. Sometimes I just need 1 mosfet for something and it costs $1.50 but they tack on $7 for tax and shipping.
Which is why I use Arrow, FREE overnight shipping (except weekends and holidays). I do feel guilty about them giving me free shipping on what to them is a TINY order, but when I need a specific part and they have it w/ free overnight shipping they get my business even if it is for pennies. I can also use PayPal to speed up the checkout. PayPal charges extra for China orders so not an option there.

EDIT: Not all items are overnight, some do have a few days waiting period. For example, some parts I ordered had to be shipped from their Denmark facility, still free but 3-day delivery which is still impressive. I did have to order 1 part in the last year from Digikey as it was not sold by Arrow. If it is a larger multipart order I price it out to several vendors to compare total delivered cost.
 
Last edited:

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,152
I have bought several thing from China via eBay and dx.com. Of the two itmes I bought from dx.com, one was dead on arrival (a big "X" drawn on the main chip, and clearly not working. From eBay I have bouth quite a few AVR controllers and have not been disappointed yet (just wait), but have thrown many analog parts into the trash. For critical performance I stick with authorized distributors.

There some gray areas. I can by fresh new parts from authorized distributors for $40 or from the unknown company in China for $3. If it wasn't a hobby I would not take the gambol.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top