UK parts brokers - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 01:15:30 pm
content: Anyone had any experience with selling to UK used parts brokers, good/bad ?I have a stack of reels & parts -reels of various ICs to shift that may do better with a specialist than ebay

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2017, 02:46:17 pm
content: I contacted a well know UK component Broker who specialises in obsolete components. He offered me 5% of the components value as set by current eBay selling prices. He also only wanted the rarest and most expensive chips. He did not even want more common parts, or those that, though obsolete, had low demand due to technology advances (XR2206 and XR2211 being examples) He stated that they had no value at all.Brokers hold a lot of stock that moves slowly. Expect very low offers on your components.There is a huge difference between a parts broker and an eBay buyer. The former is just adding to inventory in case someone ever wants a part. The latter wants the part and is willing to pay the 'going rate' or hopefully a discounted price on current parts.I buy from parts brokers as some chips in my thermal cameras are obsolete. I have had good experiences but I expect to pay a large mark-up on the parts. A chip that originally cost £3 can easily cost £20 from the broker. They are in the business of making money on hard to source components and, as you know, have to fund their business overheads. Their business model is the common "buy very low, sell very high".I have been offered whole reels of transistors, diodes, passive etc for a tiny fraction of their original cost as brokers find they just cannot shift them. Specialist chips are even harder to sell and they try to recover their investment in the first few that they do manage to move. I can understand that need as modern chips can become outdated and undesirable quite quickly.I buy from a family run component supplier and have helped them modify equipment to release more value in the past. They are decent people but they buy literally any electronics if the price is low enough and try to turn a profit on it. They sell on eBay and make a good living doing so. It is a modern version of the old 'rag and bone' trade but with electronics and components.Much depends upon how specialist your components are. You might have more success selling on a forum like this, or one that focuses on embedded computers or the specific uses of those specialist chips.As you know, professional buyers tend to avoid time expired chips and many brokers buy the reels of expired chips from such users as scrap so they cost virtually nothing. Companies that have to support their products in spite of a chip becoming obsolete will pay massively over the original RRP for an essential chip, even if old stock. I kept a production run of a specialist receiver going for some time when I sold a bulk load of specialist SL series RF chips from Plessey to the receiver manufacturer. He had the choice of scrapping the whole receiver production, redesigning the PCB using other chips, or buying old stock. He wanted to continue production, there were no alternative chips that fitted the design, and I had bags of the required chips he needed as NOS. He had to clean each DIP chips leads before use, but it was still worth the effort for that company as the receiver sold for a very good profit margin. That was a rare opportunity for both me and the OEM. We both both did well out of it. It also gave the OEM time to design a new receiver whilst still making the original in small batches. It was an example of how a chip manufacturer can almost wreck a business by discontinuing a series of specialist chips with little or no warning, and no alternatives available.Fraser

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 25, 2017, 06:13:55 pm
content: IMO you will get more by just throwing everithing in a box and selling on ebay as is.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2017, 06:25:23 pm
content: IMO post them here and sell low to medium quantities to the users, too much work probably

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2017, 06:49:37 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on November 25, 2017, 06:13:55 pmThis. Sell everything in ~2-5Kg lots. Don't even inventory it, it'll reduce the end price.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2018, 11:18:49 am
content: Just to update now that money is in the bank :Most of these were parts I rescued from the dumpster when I was visiting a subcontract assembler, plus a couple of reels of parts I bought a while ago where I had no option but to buy full reels, so pretty much a "nothing to lose" scenario.Most had >15 year old date codes and none were moisture sealed. I made this clear and was slightly surprised neither seemed at all bothered about this - all they wanted to conform is that they were in original manufacturers packaging (i.e. not fake).I sent lists to two UK brokers, Mushroom and AshleaMushroom offered £440 ( would come and collect & pay cash)Ashlea £1700 ( invoiced & paid within 30 days , plus VAT as I'm VAT registered)Of course The difference could be one particular item that was on their "want" list, & i didn't haggle.I highly doubt they'd have fetched that much on EbayCurrent cost of the parts I could find prices on is about £23K, so achieved about 6%

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 11, 2018, 02:09:36 pm
content: £1700 in a single transaction .....I'd hate to think how much work would have been required to double that. Just not worth it.