Component group buy - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 03:12:31 am
content: I was thinking that we all need basic common components over and over in small to medium quantities and therefore pay outrageous prices for them and if we order them from China we have to wait forever.Why not put together a forum wide bulk buy of common components where you can pick and choose what you want and the quantities and once every 6 months (or 3 months) we make a big order. That way we can save money and for some of us save time on ordering parts as we need them.We would need a couple trustworthy volunteers in different countries that are willing to repackage and ship the components to reduce shipping fees. Maybe if we order enough the suppliers will even ship directly.If people are interested I would setup a group buy page where everyone can add what they would want and the quantities and once we reach a certain amount everyone sends in their money (I nominate Dave as the collector of funds) and we place the order.Some suggestions- Set a minimum purchase amount ($20-50) Since we need to reach a bulk quantity and the volunteers will have way to much work if they package 1000s of small orders.- Pick a few suppliers and people can pick which group buy they want to participate in. (Digikey, LCSC, AliExpress (A couple good suppliers not site wide))- Add a tiny fee for the volunteers doing the shipping as a thank you for their wor.k (If you are saving 50% plus on many parts a 5% gift isn´t too bad)If there is enough interest I can code a ordering platform to keep things organized. (list the items being ordered, let users add, view, edit their order, vote/suggest on items to order)Let me know what you think. I hope people want to participate because I need about $300-400 worth of stuff right now and a lot more very soon so if we can get 100 people or more together we might be getting a whole container full.

author: OwO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 03:59:53 am
content: Well the big killer is that local shipping within Europe is usually more ex🅱ensive than shipping something from halfway around the world (not just China; from US to EU is usually cheaper than international within the EU). I find it not hard to reach the $50 free shipping threshold when ordering from mouser usually. Maybe it could work if the seller is in the same country as the buyer, but then you are really just running an e-commerce platform and things like taxes become a problem.

author: Leiothrix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 04:32:24 am
content: That's not saving money as you're paying over retail plus paying for shipping twice.It's not saving time as you have to wait for the bulk buy to happen, plus the "volunteers" to repack, plus an extra lot of shipping.Then you come in to trouble as you're operating a for-profit business. You are responsible for warranty returns, fraud, reshipping missing packages, customer support, etc.Plus you need to set up and maintain a website, payment gateway, relevant bank accounts, tax accounting and everything else.And at the end of the day it will still be quicker, cheaper and easier to just order straight from digikey.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 04:36:11 am
content: This would maybe make sense if there was a deal on some specific and relatively expensive component that a lot of people need, but otherwise I don't see how it would be of any benefit. Don't underestimate the cost and labor involved in packing and reshipping individual orders of parts. There's a reason that small quantities cost more, it's a lot of effort to deal with small orders.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 05:11:25 am
content: Quote from: excitedbox on August 30, 2019, 03:12:31 amI think it is Utopia. I gather you do not have experience with managing small orders. And volunteers thing is not sustainable business model, volunteers have no obligations.

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 05:13:56 am
content: At Digikey buying 1 chip costs a lot more than when you buy 100 or 1000. In some cases you may not even reach minimum order quantity by yourself. Caps, transistors, resistors etc. If you have 100 people ordering it makes sense to buy multiple reels of each and everyone can take a couple hundred of each value. If you buy 1 resistor at digikey you pay 10c but if you buy 10,000 you pay 0.1c-0.2C that is 98% discount. That is only 100 people buying 100 and I know I need a ton of resistors. I just spent 36 Euros on 4200 those would have cost me under 5 Euros in a group buy.How would you be paying more than retail? Bulk prices are a lot lower than retail on single quantities. Like I said before the goal is to get bulk pricing shipping is usually not much at all. An envelope costs 49c to mail inside Germany and even a A4 padded only costs 2.50 I think. It all depends on the size of the discount we get if it is worth it or not. digikey for instance has free shipping so if you save $100 through a bulk discount but spend 10 on reshipping you still save 90.Group buys are legal and are not a for profit business. My ex gf used to order nail polish and stuff in a group buy thing through FB. They used to pay for their volunteers order in return for the work they put in shipping the items.Also don´t need to have business bank accounts or anything like that. You use paypal. There are many websites like NearYou where people go in a store and buy something for you and send it to you. In the US you only pay taxes if you earn over 600 a year from something and gifts are not taxed under a huge amount. I don´t know what the laws are in Europe and Australia though.You are right about warranty and return I didn´t think of that but in most cases a company shouldn´t care where they send a replacement if you can prove you bought the item from them. And on refunds you can usually give them a credit card number or paypal that you want them to send the money to.There will be some issues to work out but I think many suppliers would be willing to work with us if our order is big enough just to get our business.I used to do shipping for an online clothing store and I managed 17 orders an hour while having to pull an average of 3-5 items from the racks. So reshipping 100 orders would take about a day and a half. That is why I suggested a gift for the volunteers. 100x50 is 5000 and 5% of that is $250 which comes out to more than minimum wage.

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 05:19:21 am
content: It is not a business, so not a business model. On a $5000 order the volunteers would get $250 as a gift which is a decent pay and from my experience more than a warehouse employee makes. If you read my post above I used to work for a online store packaging orders so I do know what it takes. Also this is supposed to be a 2-4 times a year thing with more than 1 person so if 4 people split the work of sending out 100 orders that is only like 4 hours of work each.

author: Leiothrix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 06:02:04 am
content: What would your various government agencies say?You are buying and selling at a profit. I'd bet your tax agency says that makes you a business with a tax liability.You are selling to a consumer. I'd bet that your consumer affairs agency says that makes you a retailer and liable for all customer complaints.You are paying people to do work. I'd bet that your employee agency says that makes you an employer and liable for all sorts of things.If you are doing this at your home I'd bet that your home insurance would view this as a business activity and not cover you for any damage, theft or public liability if someone got hurt.And after all that it's a crappy business model. It would only take one "customer" doing a charge-back to wipe out any savings you made.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 07:03:16 am
content: Don't know about elsewhere but, regarding employees, in the UK this is basically how Uber et al. do it - their drivers are self-employed so not employees.

author: Leiothrix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 07:40:48 am
content: The are contractors, which needs a contract. Just calling someone a contractor doesn't make them so. Uber also has a lot of money to defend their position, the average small business would not be able to.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 07:52:03 am
content: https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/gig-economyI mentioned Uber since everyone will know of it. In the UK the situation viz a viz their drivers not being employees is going through the courts, and some similar cases have determined that similar workers are employees. However, those are a bit different in important ways to what's being suggested here.

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 08:40:27 am
content: I think aisler offers something like this. I have not investigated details yet.

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 01:36:14 pm
content: People who host Tupper parties in their home are not considered employees or a business yet they get a small compensation from Tupperware for letting them come into their home and advertise to all their neighbors. With Tupper parties the person hosting the party also used to distribute the ordered items (I think now they ship directly).You keep assuming that there are huge profits being made. There are not and there are limits set IN LAW at which it counts as a business. Giving a volunteer a couple bucks or paying for their order as a thank you does not make them employees. As I mentioned in the US that limit is 600. If you earn more than 600 from an activity it counts as a business and has to be taxed.Yes charge backs would be a problem but would also be a dick move but using Paypal protects against that to an extent because you have to have a reason for the charge back that the other person can dispute.Group buys have been done for centuries and have never been considered a business. When I was younger (90s) my mother worked at a volunteer organization and they made group buys from a stuffed animal company in the US to save on shipping to Germany. They received 10ftx10ft boxes of stuffed animals that had to be moved by forklift.Here an entire forum dedicated to group buying tech gear: (looks like mostly keyboard caps)https://geekhack.org/index.php?board=70.0The uber example doesn´t apply here because that is a job you are doing for a clearly defined pay. A group buy is you volunteering your time and getting a little gift in return. For many people the gift would be worth much less than their regular hourly pay. It is not a reoccurring thing done to earn an income. It is not done to make a profit.All comes back to Group buys do not count as businesses when done on a small scale like this. There are countless examples for pretty much every country which reaffirm this.

author: ramon
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 03:05:45 pm
content: Excitedbox,I like your idea!I think that some rules must be meet to be cost effective, to avoid overcharges, customs issues, labor issues, exchange rates problems, packaging issues, misunderstandings, etc ...Rule 1 - All 'buyers' for a group buy should be located in the same country.Rule 2 - Order MUST be in multiples of reels, trays, tubes, etc...Rule 3 - The 'person that receives the whole' order is responsible to pay taxes and ship to other buyers.Rule 4 - Each 'buyer' from a group buy will need to pay in ADVANCE to 'the person that receives the whole order' in the LOCAL CURRENCY all these costs:- product cost (This quantity is KNOWN)- full local shipment within the country.(This quantity should be KNOWN or Precalculated ammount)- proportional part of international shipment (proportional to the qty ordered).(This quantity should be KNOWN based on ordering website - digikey, LCSC, etc...)- proportional part of customs expenses (proportional to the qty ordered).(This quantity is NOT known in ADVANCE, so maybe a 5% or 10% or 15% must be added)All these costs must be clearly accepted by all before ordering.Rule 5 - ALL the money must be received in a defined time frame (3 days?).If not ALL money is received it that time frame, then the order is CANCELLED,and all money received is returned back to the 'buyers' that already paid.Rule 6 - The 'person that receives the whole order' doesn't receive money for this job.The 'person that receives the whole order' will get a percentage of components for free.(e.g: If the percentage is set to 10% then this means that :9 'buyers' that wants 1 reel each, will need to pay for 10 reels.The extra reel goes to the 'person that receives the whole order').(e.g: If the percentage is set to 5% then this means that :19 'buyers' that wants 1 reel each, will need to pay for 20 reels.The extra reel goes to 'the person that receives the whole order').[reel/tray/tube] ... it must follow the manufacturer/distributor package delivery... maybe many other rules to add, but the above ones will probably solve 90% of problems.In Taiwan, I have started to see real physical stores that plays the role of 'the person that receives the whole order'. I have one of this stores just crossing the street of my building.Here is very common that many completely unknown persons meet on some facebook group to do a group buy. Those stores are based in those facebook group buys, but they are physical stores !!!

author: nigelwright7557
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 08:47:26 pm
content: RS Components do free shipping anyway so having to pay p+p would make it not viable.Depending on how many components you use buying hundreds of resistors instead of 10 can save a bit.Some things are cheaper from China but I would not advise buying fake semiconductors.I buy empty pcb's from China and decoupling caps and connectors and that's about it. The rest is best bought from reputable local dealers.

author: ramon
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 02:38:18 pm
content: The overprice on RS components (or any other distributor) for buying components in low volume (<50 pcs) can be anything between five to twenty times than buying in high volume.I don't think that the OP was thinking in low quantities.MMBT3906LT1G (*) is delivered in reels of 3000 pcs:Code:MMBT3906LT1G 100 pcs US $12.50 (RS-Components)MMBT3906LT1G 500 pcs US $52.50 (RS-Components, Stock : 4000 )MMBT3906LT1G 500 pcs US $21.20 (Digikey)MMBT3906LT1G 1000 pcs US $28.91 (Digikey)MMBT3906LT1G 3000 pcs US $71.53 (Digikey, Stock : 752,926)MMBT3906LT1G 3000 pcs US $33.90 (Futureelectronics, Stock : 5,256,000)MMBT3906LT1G 3000 pcs US $22.38 (Avnet, Stock : 2,115,000)(*) SMD general purpose PNP, still active, RoHS non-obsolete itemAll those distributors above are authorized distributors. (you can check octopart.com or any other website)Why would you pay US $12,50 in RS-components for 100 pcs when you can have a full reel (3000 pcs) for US $22.38 in Avnet?Or why would you pay US $52.50 in RS-components for 500 pcs when you can have a full reel (3000 pcs) for less than half price?Some companies have employees whose sole work is just electronic component sourcing.Also, I think there should be some trusted distributors in Asia. Think that maybe 90% of all your home electronics products, including the computer that sits in front of you could have been made there. Why this idea get such much negative feedback?There is no chance to find 10 eevblog members from UK that could be thinking (now, or in the following 3 months) on buying a general purpose PNP?

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 07:36:21 pm
content: I wrote this reply last night but forgot to hit post.nigelwright7557 did you read what I posted above? if we buy 10k resistors we save 98% (at least for the ones I checked). That means you can buy 100 resistors of every value in a size for around $10 I just paid almost 40 from china with free shipping for 50 of each value. Even if shipping was $5 you would still save $55 and get them from digikey instead of china.Why is it I am repeating the above fact for the 3rd time now. Are people so bad at math. YOUR SAVINGS WOULD BE 5X WHAT IT COSTS TO SHIP THE COMPONENTS. Lets go pay 100x as much for resistors because we don´t want to pay a few bucks in shipping.Ramon:I like most of your rules but for the components to the volunteers I think it is better if they get to choose what components they buy so if you buy $50 worth of components you pay $55 and they can use that extra 5 for what they want.The same country thing is good and I think with a big order a supplier will need to ship 2 boxes anyway so they may be willing to ship one to one country and one to another so we still get the bulk discount.At least one person gets what I am talking about. Look at those price differences and it is the same with many chips not just resistors. I went to a store today and paid 5 Euros for a mix of 20 mosfets. I could get over 300 for that price from china and even more buying in bulk.I ordered a ton of nema 17 stepper motors and linear guides from china for very cheap (600mm linear guide with all the support rails and mounts with motor and anti backlash spring for under 30 Euro shipped). The store I was at today wanted 33 for just the motor.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 08:47:25 pm
content: QuoteI don't see how that works. The prices quoted earlier for bulk buys are all single-value quantities. Are you expecting them to break up 24 reels so you can have every E24 value in a 3K-item buy? If so, I think you'll be disappointed at the price quoted.

author: USMC_Spike
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 05:40:28 am
content: Instead of debating, why not start listing the parts?We all use resistors, 1%, TempCo 25ppm or less, .6W, 2W values?10,000 count100 ohm1000 ohm10,000 ohm4K7 ohm

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 07:05:18 am
content: Seems like a great idea!!!Why hasn't someone thought of this before???!!!Well.... ithasbeen suggested before - and on more than one occasion.It will only be practical if you have afair number of peoplewho want afair numberof thesame itemsat thesame time.Even then:* The labour involved in consolidating orders and distribution of items will not be trivial.* The financial management will be a nightmare and people will want some sort of security.* Therewillbeproblems of various sorts and you will need to address them.* Businesses that ship lots of stuff will have deals with their shipping providers that an individual will not.* Additional shipping costs will factor significantly.* Goods will take significantly longer to reach the purchaser.You have to keep in mindwhyprices are the way they are.The materials cost for making 10,000 of an item will be pretty much 10,000 times the materials cost for making 1. What adds to the cost is the amount of effort that has to be made in the sales overhead, packing and shipping. It doesn't take much more effort to ship 10,000 SMDs as it does to ship 10. Getting 'volunteers" to do this grunge work isn't an attractive proposition - and you'd be tearing your hair out if you tried doing it yourself.To be honest, you could save yourself a lot of heartache if you just work out how much you plan to "save" everyone who would buy through this idea and just send them the cash.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 07:12:22 am
content: Quote from: USMC_Spike on September 01, 2019, 05:40:28 amGo for it.So what type of resistors?What style? TH / SMDWhat size? 1206, 0805, 0603, 0402 or any of several othersetc...Plus there is one important question....How long will I have to wait before there are enough participants to make the purchase worthwhile? This is followed by wanting to know how long I will have to wait before I actually receive the goods.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 07:19:18 am
content: Oh ... For the record...I already have a stock of jellybean components that I am likely to use. TH and SMD resistors and capacitors, 1N4148, 1N4008 and some other semis - and most of those are likely to hang around for another 10 years or more.For the price, you might get me interested in a few hundred of the 3 cent micro Dave found - but I'd probably lose interest after burning through 20 or 30 of them.Anything else, I will be wanting for a specific project where even a waiting a week would be way too long.

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 07:43:59 pm
content: Packaging a lot of items all at the same time is a lot easier than packaging an item at different times.dunkemhigh - If we buy 10k of every resistor once the volunteers get them they take a board or paper mark a line that is 100 resistors long and cut strips. throw 1 strip in each persons box and do that for each value of resistor. Shouldn´t take more than 5 seconds per strip so lets say 100 values x 5 is 500 seconds so about 8 minutes of work. Would probably go even quicker. I have actually always wanted to build an automated reel counter that can cut reels down in certain length strips.Buying components is not a one time purchase it is something you do quite often so even if it takes a while to get the components you just need to plan ahead. What components do I normally need the most in a year. What may I need in the next year and what would be nice to have on hand if I want to build some project. For some people it will be resistors for others it may be prototyping boards, others will need LEDs and some will need connectors.There are tons of chips that are very common that we all use. Obviously not everything will fit into a group buy but Resistors, Voltage regulators, Capacitors, certain MCUs etc. Parts you need every once in a while that are good to have extras of. A lot of parts you don´t need right away so it doesn´t matter if it takes a while to get because you just want to have them on hand.The different sizes shouldn´t be a problem for resistors/caps if we limit it to 2-3 sizes and have a list where you can sign up that you want this size/part and an alternative if the minimum quantity isn´t reached.That was a good thing to bring up. I made this thread to get a list of these kinds of concerns so we can come up with ways to solve them and therefore create a better experience.Another option would be a lootbox style group buy. We create a few kits (lighting kit, mosfet kit, resistor kit, capacitor kit etc.) and then you choose which kits you want in your shipment. This way it would be easier to hit the numbers for bulk orderWhen I was at Conrad yesterday they also sold everything in little mix bags of resistors in several sizes etc but the selection was terrible. You are still buying components you don´t have a need for right now but may use at some later time.I could also do loot boxes in smaller quantities as a monthly thing but that would be a real business. Not a problem since I am already Incorporated in the US and in a few weeks/months as a mini gmbh in Germany. I would prefer not to do that though since I have enough other things to do and don´t want to become a parts supplier. It would solve many issue though such as shipping times and concerns about warranties etc.Also please save yourself stupid comments like send people money because it doesn´t contribute to the discussion. People are volunteering their time and put a lot of work into helping other people and spitting on them because YOU don´t need it is uncalled for. You can keep paying high prices for components as you need them. I would rather buy components I know I will need at some point now, so that later I can just reach into my supply and pull out what I need and be happy that I saved even a week and 50-90% of the cost by thinking ahead.Keep in mind you may be working on a project and order everything you think you need and after a design change you need something else so then you have to wait for that part to arrive. Then something else changes and again you have to wait a week for it to arrive. Even in Germany where shipping is very fast it still takes at least 48 hours to receive an order. I am working on a project for 3 months and I am still waiting on parts.So far most of the concerns I have heard can either easily be solved or don´t apply in the first place.Valid concerns I see are:- Warranty claims( Warranty should still be honored by suppliers though with a valid receipt and mailing replacements to a different address as the original shipment should not be a problem) I will see if whatever supplier we use will work with us on that.- Compensating Volunteers for their time and effort(In most cases giving a small gift under a certain amount should be ok and we can calculate a percentage of the order to split between volunteers)- Additional shipping fees for reshipping( Each person will have to decide for themselves if it is worth it. - we can post a geographic location and approx. weight of their shipment and then they can calculate their reshipping costs) (In the US there are flat rate envelopes that cost around $6 for <4lbs and the shipping envelopes are free at least they used to be. In Germany is ~3.60€ up to 2kg with 500€ insurance and EU is ~8.) Will depend on where the volunteers are obviously.- Splitting our order across countries( I will talk with suppliers if they will split our order and ship to at least 2-3 countries since we will need multiple packages anyway it shouldn´t be that much work to split it in multiple destinations.)- Shipping time frame(As above each person will have to decide if they are willing to wait. If we post a date when the order will be placed you can calculate roughly how long it will take for your order to arrive)(The above mentioned flat rate boxes ship US wide in 3-7 days).- People not following through with their orders(This is actually my biggest concern that people will order parts and throw our numbers off when we are ready to order which will then throw our prices off. I think a $2 deposit could be a deterrent to stop people from adding bogus orders to the list.- Volunteers not doing their job(Even a gift counts as something of value so they are actually entering into a contract and are legally responsible for doing what they are volunteering for. Obviously it is a lot of work and there will have to be a reasonable time-frame set in which they can package and mail out the packages.)- Packaging supplies(The USPS supplies free shipping supplies for the priority flat rate shipments I mentioned above. Shipments in EU we will need to order some supplies but I would be willing to do those shipments and I have quite a few empty boxes and would be able to ship about 30 with the supplies I have here. padded envelopes and small boxes cost under 1€ each bringing the shipping cost up to about 4-4.5€ depending on quantity)- Not reaching the bulk quantities we need to get the price drop(Let people place their order with options - order anyway / order alternative / cancel that part of the order)

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 07:48:49 pm
content: QuoteOK, thanks for the clarification. That kind of number seemed a bit high to me, but a 3K reel only needs 15 people taking 200. That's not inconceivable for something like a 0603 1K resistor.

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 07:57:24 pm
content: exactly especially because those 200 resistors only cost 20 centslcsc already has very low prices so getting 50% on their prices doesnt require that high a number. For instance a cap that costs $0.015 at 20+ costs as much as 10k cost from digikey at 2k ($0.0094). So ordering Op amps etc we can get into bulk territory much quicker. We might only need to each buy 10-20 to hit MOQ. Which lets us order chips we wouldn´t be able to buy at all from digikey.Maybe some Tindie sellers etc. would like to combine their orders with us and get their supplies cheaper too.I was just looking at some DACs and a chip that costs 5.60 each cost only 3.34 for 250 and closer to 2.50 for 500. For someone trying to bring a product to market it can be the difference between profitability or not going to market.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 08:13:02 pm
content: The saving needs to be worthwhile to the buyer, and now we are trained to expect next (or even same) day delivery via Amazon, saving 50p but having to wait 3 months wouldn't do it for me

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 08:43:07 pm
content: Yea but saving 98% on resistors and around 50% on chips is more than 50cents on a $50 order. It means you can get $100 worth of stuff for $50. In reality you wouldn´t be waiting much longer either. If we set deadline for 2 weeks before placing the order and the volunteers send all orders within 1 week of receiving the parts you would wait a maximum of 3 weeks plus the normal shipping time plus the time a domestic package takes (3-5 days for US and about 3 days in the EU.)For a Digikey order that means a maximum wait of 3 weeks and minimum of 2 over the normal wait from the time you make payment.Since we have proposed a $50 order minimum that means a savings of $45+ in return for waiting 2-3 weeks.If there is a huge demand maybe we can do more than 2 group buys a year but at some point we would need to actually pay the volunteers but if it came to that we can negotiate better prices with suppliers to keep us from buying from their competition. I am pretty sure if we were to place a 5-10k order a month digikey or mouser would not want to loose that kind of business. If we buy enough maybe they will even ship directly like with groupon buys.Imagine if we get some maker spaces, schools, clubs, tindie sellers to buy with us. We would have a huge selection of parts we could buy at bulk prices.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 05:38:22 am
content: You seem pretty determined to give it a shot. It's that sort of energy which will be needed to get things off the ground and while I still believe it a Herculean task, I wish you well. If you do make a success of it, I will offer my congratulations.I'll look in every now and then to see what's on the menu and if there is something that takes my fancy, I might be persuaded to join in.

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 12:07:12 pm
content: I hope we will have something you can use. You could also suggest something you need and maybe other people need it too.We should definitely get get all the common resistors and capsop ampsat least one or 2 all purpose DACs and ADCsVoltage regulatorsLEDs in all colors - maybe make that a kitfull bridge rectifiersfusesdiodeswhat else?

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 12:44:35 pm
content: QuoteConnectors? Molex SIL jobbies, perhaps. DC power, micro-USB B.

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2019, 04:05:29 pm
content: Is micro USB still worth it? Seems pretty soon everyone will be using USB-c and they are quite expensive. Might benefit more from buying them in bulk. Connectors is good though.What micros would people be interested in? I would like some of the 3 cent Padouks but I doubt I would ever get arround to doing something with them. Might be worth it to do a reel of those though.Some Pic, STM32, Atmel, AtTiny? I guess 1 or 2 of each should do.I wish we had more people giving input on what they need because some of these things I have no use for so I don´t know what others might want.I need transformers and they tend to be expensive but isn´t there someone working on an os power supply? We should add the components that they use to the list and maybe we can help people building them save some money.We could make at a list of popular projects an see what parts make sense to add.

author: teksturi
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2019, 05:24:31 am
content: Quote from: excitedbox on September 02, 2019, 04:05:29 pmHow many do you really need. One cost $0.2045 and if you buy ten $0.1500. If you group buy you can have it like $0.1242. But who really cares? It is just 0,03$. I do not get this. Only thing I think might be a good think is that someone make jellybean parts boxes ready and people select what they wants.https://lcsc.com/product-detail/Others_Korean-Hroparts-Elec-TYPE-C-31-M-17_C283540.html

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2019, 03:12:28 pm
content: Right but at 5k they go from 20c down to 11c. That is only 100 people buying 50 of them and saves almost 50%. I need at least 100 for my next project. Also You are going off the Chinese suppliers price and not digikey or mauser where many people buy their parts. But even buying them there would save 4.90 on 100 of them.Also Molex brand goes from 90cents down to <60cents and I think going for the 5A connectors is better than the 3A because more people can use them even if many don´t need it. For things such as a hub or quick charger it is a must though which is where USB C becomes the most useful.On a $50 order that is $49 - the 5% commission and 3.5-8 shipping you would still save $40 which is not a small amount.You gotta keep in mind that some people here sell the stuff they make and need bigger quantities of these parts.USB C cables are also much more expensive than micro USB so doing a group buy of those could save someone selling their projects a lot of money even if it is only a couple cents on each part.I am just making suggestions. If a lot of people say they don´t need them and would rather have micro USB then obviously that is what we would order.I will setup a script to make this whole process more organized. It may take me a week or 2 but keep an eye on this thread. In the mean time people can add their suggestions for parts.

author: excitedbox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2019, 04:43:12 pm
content: I was just thinking. Would it make sense to have each part as a separate group buy? That way as soon as we hit some bulk limit we can order that part. We wouldn´t be locked into needing every part hitting their bulk goal until we place the order.Pros:- You get parts quicker- More people might participate- Can offer more parts- Less work at once.Cons:- Multiple shipping costs (unless we figure out some kind of hold system until all your parts arrive)- If we did some kind of order hold and combine volunteers would have parts sitting around for weeks.- More work overall for volunteers (Some work/costs such as printing shipping labels doesn´t scale linearly.)What do you think?