Digikey providing sales info to their suppliers - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Gavin Melville
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 06:26:39 am
content: Hi,Has anyone else had trouble with Digikey providing sales data to suppliers. In this case ISSI, and they provided part numbers, quantities, addresses, names etc. This is a first for us, and as consultants, very upsetting. I've read their privacy policy and it doesn't cover this.Is this new, and how do others feel?

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 07:42:37 am
content: Quote from: Gavin Melville on April 20, 2016, 06:26:39 amTo comply with export regulations a lot of sales information is required to be fed back to the suppliers. In general it is the supplier who has to sort out the Wassenar classification of parts (which means EAR classification if the device is from a US source), and deal with approval for the export of anything restricted.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 07:46:46 am
content: Seems a bit odd that you want to buy a suppliers part through a 3rd party and don't want the supplier to know about it.

author: Gavin Melville
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 08:12:50 am
content: As with any consultant engineering company what we do can be sensitive. From our component lists you could deduce who our customers might be, and what we are doing for them. In this case there are no export controls or anything like that.We often buy from DK because we only want prototype quantities, and upstream suppliers ask nosy questions. They always get the production quantities anyway.

author: Spikee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 08:20:00 am
content: Create a shell company who does the orders and has some postbox addr.Let that company also do the assembly for your "main" company (otherwise you don't comply with the digikey rules / export rules).And send a invoice from shell -> main.Digikey knows you shell company but not who the real designer/client is.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 08:13:18 pm
content: Mouser, Newark, Arrow, Avenet, etc all do this and always have. All you've run into was a particularly aggressive rep from ISSI who is thinking he can use this magic sales data to make more sales appear.

author: stmdude
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 08:19:35 pm
content: Easy solution to get rid of the ISSI sales-guy permanently:Contact DigiKey. Tell them that you don't appreciate getting those kind of calls, and if they don't stop, you'll terminate your business with them. Be sure to give them all the info you have on the ISSI guy.Hopefully, your business is worth more to them than the $0.02 they got from ISSI for you particular contact information.But, yea. Being anonymous when ordering parts? There's no such thing. You can hide behind a shell-company (as suggested), or have the items delivered to a PO Box under the name of a person, not a company.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 08:41:19 pm
content: I can understand completely your desire not to have that information shared.I had a similar situation with a very persistent advertiser who would simply not put me on its "unsubscribe list." I didn't know exactly from where it got my information, but I contacted a well known distributor that advertised with that agency and with whom I regularly dealt. The effect was almost instant. Within days, no more advertising from that advertiser, and it has stayed that way.I second stmdude's suggestion. Politely contact DK (if you are sure it is the source or even suspect it might be) and ask that your ordering history and personal/company information not be shared. I am quite optimistic that will work.Regards, John

author: rfeecs
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 09:29:30 pm
content: Some of you guys seem to have it backwards. ISSI is Digikey's customer. Digikey makes their money on the markup they get from their suppliers (around 30%). Additionally, they charge their suppliers a fee for providing advertising and other services. Of course they share the information with the company that is paying them.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 09:56:17 pm
content: Quote from: rfeecs on April 20, 2016, 09:29:30 pmI don't know what you mean by having it backwards. If you ask DigiKey or any other distributor not to share your information, they need to comply or loose you as a customer. Moreover, although extremely unlikely that any individual would take the matter to court, I am certain no distributor would like to defend a complaint about violation of its privacy policies. True, in some states you would have to prove damages, but that is not the case in all states. Losing a tort case can be very expensive to say nothing about the costs and exposure of discovery.In a word, it's just not going to happen that way. A US distributor will comply with your request in the US.John

author: rfeecs
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 10:25:01 pm
content: My point is that the suppliers are Digikey's real customers.Digikey clearly states that they share information with suppliers in their privacy statement:http://www.digikey.com/en/help/privacyQuote

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 11:00:36 pm
content: Let's don't get into a 1980's debate on customers and suppliers. DigiKey survives because its customers buy its products.Regardless of any policy statement about sharing information with "business associates," I suspect DigiKey, like the other major US distributor I mentioned, will respect a person's request who buys its products not to share detailed personal information and purchase history. If not, there are other distributors. I prefer DigiKey's parametric search engine over that other distributor's, but there is no rule you can't find your part on DigiKey and buy elsewhere. Most important, DigiKey knows that.John

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 21, 2016, 04:06:22 am
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on April 20, 2016, 11:00:36 pmMy simple view: In any commercial enterprise, the customer is the one who brings the money to the table.

author: rfeecs
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2016, 05:30:30 am
content: OK. Admittedly, I'm looking at this from the supplier's perspective. The supplier wants to sell his parts. He enters into a contract with Digi-Key to facilitate that. He sees himself as Digi-Key's customer, and the person buying the parts as the supplier's customer. Digi-Key is the middle man that takes a fat percentage of the sale in addition to a fat fee. Digi-Key provides great service to all and everyone is happy.But part of the distribution contract is Digi-Key supplies information to the supplier on who is buying the parts. This is standard. It is not opt-out. It is part of the contract between the supplier and Digi-Key, and by clicking the buy button it is part of the contract with the person that buys the parts.That's just the way it is.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2016, 05:34:02 am
content: Since I bought once from Digikey I get digital and physical spam from various sources in the USA. (suppliers, investment bureaus, banks)There don't seem to be any rules regarding selling your customer base, because Freedom!.It's illegal in the netherlands.

author: Spikee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2016, 07:29:02 am
content: I have never had any issues regarding that with my own company.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2016, 09:45:30 am
content: It may also be noted that DigiKey is not necessarily the source of spam you receive. Ever use Google to search on a product or datasheet? Once you do that, you will notice new advertising pop-ups.No one should really need to test that in this day and age, but if you are curious, just do a couple of searches for items outside your normal sphere -- cashmere sweaters, tractor parts, Chevy mufflers, whatever. Then sit back and enjoy what is being made available to you.John

author: Spikee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2016, 09:48:55 am
content: I use the ghostery app and block pretty-much everything except whats strictly needed.Maybe that helps. If your country has a open company register you will receive quite a lot of spam anyway.The last one says enough

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 08:51:03 pm
content: Quote from: rfeecs on April 21, 2016, 05:30:30 amThat is indeed the answer. It applies across the entire industry whether it be DK, Mouser, Arrow, etc. Distributors are pretty protective of their customer data. It can easily end up in the hands of a competitor, so there's not really any unnecessary sharing going on.