Digi-Key has changed and it is not very good - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: 460voltclub
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 05:14:55 pm
content: Digi-Key has started selling NTE junk and using suppliers I have never seen before, they are also is using Market Place to sell components. Depending on how you order, the shipping costs from different suppliers could be 30 to 50 dollars. I'm not sure what happened but if Mouser would accept PayPal I would dump Digi-Key in a heart beat.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 05:25:32 pm
content: Mouser acceps Paypal...

author: 460voltclub
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 05:38:24 pm
content: The last time I talked to a Mouser rep she said they were working on adding PayPal but since I did not see the change in their terms and conditions (or whatever it was I looked at ) I assumed it hadn't happened.Thanks for the update.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 06:20:41 pm
content: I absolutely hate the "marketplace" trend where you have to be so careful about who you are actually buying items from. I first noticed this with Newegg which has been my go-to for computer parts, you have to go out of your way to find stuff sold BY NEWEGG. I have not noticed this with Digikey yet but maybe it depends what you're looking for. The thing that does drive me nuts about Digikey is how they changed it a while back so that the parametric search parameters are hidden and I have to click Show More EVERY SINGLE TIME I search for a part, it's infuriating. I don't know what they were thinking, it's clear that whoever they had design their website is not an engineer and has no idea how engineers search for parts. It's not the same as shopping for a tshirt, ALL of the parameters matter, every time.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 06:28:22 pm
content: I have begun to avoid Newegg after almost 20 years of using them exclusively. They've started that crap of listing reviews for "similar" items along with the ones you really want. The last order I placed I could not log in without allowing JavaScript from Google. They've also added some other script site I didn't notice till I finally placed the order and never got to the confirmation part due to some endlessly spinning doodad. I had to re-log in and check my order history to know it it actually went through. Amazon's prices are just as good and their web site is somewhat less obnoxious.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 07:08:55 pm
content: Yes, Digi-Key becomes worse day by day. You can clearly see that "effective mangers" took over the filtering in the search part. Now it is all flashy and JS-based, but totally unusable. Too bad. They had the best parametric search.I had a custom blocking thing to have all the parameters always visible, but recent update broke that too, so I just don't care anymore. I'll probably just start using Mouser more.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 07:39:36 pm
content: DK has a marketplace filter, easy.I have the opposite opinion on the filtering: it's improved, most substantially in speed. It's almost real time now. A serious accomplishment over such a huge database. The one downside is, the list boxes aren't list boxes as such anymore, so you can't navigate them by keyboard. On the upside, you don't destroy your complex selection by accidentally clicking while not holding CTRL.Still waiting on them to actually sort into e.g. Vin min/max so I don't have to do those fucking tedious selections...Tim

author: steenerson
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 08:16:08 pm
content: The Newegg we all know and love got bitten by the corporate zombie in 2016 and is owned by a Chinese tech conglomerate, it's not the same anymore.I prefer Mouser over Digikey these days since most of their prices are a little cheaper, plus mouser's $7.99 2-day shipping always actually shows up 2 days later if the order is in before the cutoff, because they'll upgrade it to overnight as needed. Digikey is $10.99 and usually takes 3 days for me.

author: georges80
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 08:36:28 pm
content: ^ the Mouser shipping is not fixed pricing for 2 day. I was ordering stuff and saw the 2 day was about $16. I went onto chat and the rate is $7.99 until you order reaches something over $100 (can't remember the exact #) and then the shipping rate jumps dramatically. I complained bitterly as a several decade customer and they refunded shipping to bring it to the $7.99. I explained that they would lose customers with that crazy shipping scheme - the chat person said it was because ups/fedex's insurance rates - if that is true, mouser needs to re-negotiate their contracts.And the whole order I was making was maybe 1/2lb in weight, so the ridiculous shipping was not due to weight/size.cheers,george.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 09:36:14 pm
content: As the leading online retailers become larger and more powerful, the smaller players have had to make a difficult choice: associate with them or slowly fade into the sunset.For DK, the marketplace means extra revenue without the hassle of carrying additional inventory. And they got the smaller players held firmly from their nuts, so they won't stray away.My opinion?I hope that I am wrong on this one,but if the strategy proves successful to DK as it has been to Amazon, Mouser soon will have to follow suit.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 09:54:44 pm
content: ...and that's why I will keep giving my money to Mouser. Well, that and their conveniently located warehouse in Fort Worth, which gives me the extreme convenience of having parts next day.I had two or three bad experiences with Digikey, thus I haven't visited their website in quite some time.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 09:54:51 pm
content: I strongly dislike Digikey's direction: now a bimbo website that looks pretty but bloated and slow AF with analytics and buggy Javascript that doesn't work well enough to even use the site many times. How's your mobile experience? Every week they mess around and cripple some aspect. Why waste so much money on web developers that don't even know or understand electronics, pico or micro? The Radix sort, the long columns with "5mm, 5.02mm, 5.05mm, 5.07mm, 5.12mm" are just stupid to click to death on when you simply want a 5mm part.These small "marketplace" vendors I've never heard of are surely a backdoor for counterfeit or repackaged components. The whole reason to pay so much extra for Digikey is that the parts are authentic and traceable. If I want to buy cheaper, shady components I wouldn't bother with Digikey at all.I think Supply Chain or Purchasers will be tempted to procure from Marketplace vendors because of the lower price or inventory (stock) they have, riding on Digikey's reputation or name as being OK. This is going to be another bombshell when Production calls and there are problems with the build. Who authorized the change?Right now, Mouser's website is better for parametric searches most of the time. Although "sort by price" seems disabled?

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 10:06:14 pm
content: Well, at least they now list all the packaging under one part so thats good. It was incredibly annoying that yo searched for a part number, and it listed like 24 different parts, 3 with different package 4 different packaging, two temperature range... At least this is now down to 6 part.

author: rfdes
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 10:48:59 pm
content: Gee - I still like DigiKey very much. I've used DigiKey since the '70s when their catalog was nothing more that a single sheet of paper folded into quarters, stapled and then mailed. The back side of the sheet was the order form.The clincher for me is DigiKey's policy of FREE shipping if you mail them a check instead of charging. They usually ship USPS but sometimes UPS. I can order a single 0.10 resistor and get it shipped free. The downside is that you have to wait for the mail service but that is typically not a big deal for me.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 11:18:17 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on October 10, 2020, 09:54:51 pmI've never had problems sorting by price on either site. In general I still think DigiKey's search engine is a bit better than Mouser's. They certainly haven't improved things with the recent "Whitespace everywhere, moar whitespace, yo guys, crank up the whitespace" facelift, but I wouldn't say it's horribly broken. E.g., sorting by quantity available is among the more useful features of DigiKey's search engine and is still available. Mouser has never allowed that column to be selected for sorting, which is a bummer.If you have input to offer, be sure to provide (polite) feedback via the tab at right:It's safe to say that they don't read EEVBlog for input, but they do pay attention to feedback provided from links on their own site in my experience. If they're moving to an Amazon-style "Marketplace" model, that's a good reason to provide negative feedback, and plenty of it. If they want to act like Amazon, why shouldn't I just use Amazon?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2020, 11:49:15 pm
content: I've given feedback that having to un-hide the parametric search terms every single time is obnoxious and nothing has changed yet. They need to realize that their customers are not consumers, they sell primarily to engineers and the direction they've taken their website over the past couple of years screams that they, or the company they hire to maintain their website are completely clueless.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 12:07:28 am
content: Quote from: james_s on October 10, 2020, 11:49:15 pmYou mean the sliding/stacked selection? That drops every so often (cookies expire), you have to change the setting then activate a query on the same page. You can't just switch it and click back to the front page. Not sure if that still applies to the new format...Hmm, there are a lot of cookies, none with an obvious key like "ViewSelectionSliding = true", I'd have to play around a bit to tell which one remembers that setting.Tim

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 12:11:50 am
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on October 11, 2020, 12:07:28 amNo, the part where you have to click "More Filters" every single time. I just want to see all the available filters. Especially given that the ones that are shown first are almost never the first thing I want to filter.For instance, I always select mount type first to eliminate significant chunk of available parts, since in many cases this is the only thing I'm sure about and have no flexibility on. So literally every single time I need to click "More Filters".Previously I figured out a Stylish script that would remove that button and always keep the things open. But a recent update broke it.And all their fancy filters look horrible for me since I force a fixed fond and a minimum font size. I do care about my eyesight and don't care for fancy new age fonts.

author: Tony_G
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 12:12:34 am
content: Quote from: KE5FX on October 10, 2020, 11:18:17 pmHey John,I believe the rules for modern web dev can be described as follows:1. There can never be too much whitespace2. There is no feature of HTML that can't be re-implemented by including a 73MB JS library3. Under no circumstances should your site work correctly with the back arrow4. Scolling must be implemented using JS that calls the slowest possible web process for data5. Videos should always be autoplay and have their volume turn on6. Your layout must work on the latest iPhone but doesn't need to support increasing font sizes on the desktop7. See rule 1It's probably controversial but I believe that if the answer is JavaScript then the question must have been bloody stupid.TonyG

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 05:51:47 am
content: Excessive white space is one of my biggest UI pet peeves. The trend for years has been a sprinkle of random UI elements floating aimlessly in a vast sea of blinding white. A lot of basic functionality hidden in obscure little hamburger menus or sliding panes. I much prefer the airplane instrument panel design philosophy, all of the information laid out right in front of you, instruments and controls grouped by related functions, often cordoned off with lines, there is no digging needed, it's all right there where you can see anything you need at a glance. Then the latest crazy is "dark mode" which is just a band aid over piss poor UI design. If it wasn't barren and blinding white in the first place there would be no need for dark mode which is the opposite problem, everything dim and subdued floating in a sea of dark gray.

author: ConKbot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 06:36:48 am
content: This marketplace stuff needs to fuck off and die. After seeing newegg marketplace being full of stuff with scam prices, and listings and direct import tat labeled as "equivalent" or "compatible" or other similar ways to weasel into search results, I want nothing to do with 3rd parties selling components. If I wanted trash components labeled falsely, I'd stick with Amazon ebay or aliexpress.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 11:54:31 am
content: Quote from: james_s on October 10, 2020, 06:20:41 pmAt least Digi-Key’s marketplace seems to consist only of carefully curated vendors. DK has supported drop-shipping from manufacturers for a while, and DK itself handles logistics for some manufacturers’ own stores. (I ordered a TI book from the TI website, and while the name “Digi-Key” didn’t appear anywhere, it shipped in the same exact types of packing materials as DK (same slashed paper padding, blue zip bags, and label layouts), and shipped from Thief River Falls...)I have nearly entirely stopped using Amazon because of the marketplace BS. (It’s maddening for Switzerland because FBA vendors cannot ship here, yet there’s no way to eliminate them from search. So other than for books, I’d say that these days, 90% of the search results on Amazon.de (the Amazon for Switzerland) can’t actually be shipped here.) IMHO they’re the poster child of marketplace done wrong. DK seems to choose carefully, and makes it trivially easy to exclude them, but I’ve never needed to yet, since only a vanishingly tiny percentage of DK’s SKUs are marketplace.DK’s parametric search isn’t perfect, but it’s hands-down the best of any electronics distributor, and possibly the best I’ve ever seen anywhere, for any kind of product.P.S. it looks like DK is testing the updated UI on US customers only. DK’s site for Switzerland, for example, is still using the old interface.

author: 460voltclub
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 07:11:54 pm
content: I could navigate the site very well and some patience went a long way. When I saw the Marketplace option and NTE products I knew I had just been thrust into China knock off land. I don't want substandard Chinese shit although you can't hardly get away from it. I want a supplier that cares about the quality of their products and screens out the crap but I think Digi-Key just fell off the cliff.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 07:39:40 pm
content: Quote from: KE5FX on October 10, 2020, 11:18:17 pmSeveral times I've reported website bugs to Digikey.After my time and energy to take screen caps, write up an explanation, trying things on three different computers and different OS, the response is: "have you tried clearing your browser's cache?"At this point, it's just insulting because the support person doesn't know the difference between their search engine results and what a browser does. It's just a colossal time sink.It's clear they've hired Zuckerburg's crew for website development/analytics and are copying Amazon because they are unoriginal. I don't see any forums there to rate/discuss/review the parts they sell.Look ahead - Next are Digikey-brand components. What's a little CapXon with a red wrapper.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 09:56:10 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on October 11, 2020, 07:39:40 pmLike Multicomp, RS-Pro and the others? I lost it completely, when all these adafruit and sparkfun boards statrted showing up in the search results.Quote from: james_s on October 11, 2020, 05:51:47 amOh don even let me get started on web development. So for the last two years, I cannot convince our software team, that dumb "let the computer decide" autoscaling on graphs is not good. We have vertical scales like "16.1 16.6 17.0 17.5" because how the data is, and rounding problems. And then we got this gift that keeps on giving, our new website designer. So this bliss, had the idea, that we will replace all fonts with this beautiful, corporate approved font. We have GPS coordinates, and complete excel sheet sized tables, that people work with. decided to use this unreadable font, that gave me complete dyslexia. It took us 3 months to convince her to only use these for the headlines.Sometimes I thinkk we should just slap these designers back to the earth. We just want a usable, Web 1.0 website, that doesnt have like button and doesnt overwrite the scroll functionality. We dont need your creativity, we need a website. You can create a my little pony fanclub website on your own time, and be creative there.

author: thinkfat
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 10:13:09 pm
content: Mouser is my to-go source since forever it seems, but sometimes their catalog has holes that DigiKey is usually able to fill.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2020, 11:35:27 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on October 10, 2020, 06:28:22 pmI have noticed the same thing about Newegg. I figured it was only a matter of time before their Chinese owner destroyed them.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 12:09:17 am
content: Quote from: David Hess on October 11, 2020, 11:35:27 pmWhere is the place to buy computer parts these days? I suppose the fact that it has all become cheap commodities and volumes have dropped has knocked out all the little hole in the wall no-frills parts vendors. I don't need to buy this stuff often but I do need hard drives and other odds & ends now and then.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 01:33:52 am
content: Quote from: james_s on October 12, 2020, 12:09:17 amNewegg has been continuously reducing the variety of parts that they sell in favor of their marketplace sellers. It was nice to be able to deal with only one company for returns but they are becoming more like Ebay, with scammers included.Right now I check each part for price and availability on Ebay, Amazon, Newegg, and sometimes random sellers. I used to be able to buy everything through Newegg.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 01:56:41 am
content: Quote from: james_s on October 12, 2020, 12:09:17 amMicrocenter has a reasonable selection of parts. I am very fortunate to have a store within driving distance.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 02:20:23 am
content: Oh, I forgot about Microcenter. We even have one local although I have never had parts delivered there for pickup.

author: radar_macgyver
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 05:37:07 am
content: It seems at least on Firefox that scrolling is effed up on DK, it's like the 25 parts listed per page are in an iframe and scroll slightly on their own before the "container" scrolls.

author: duckduck
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 06:09:44 am
content: Quote from: rfdes on October 10, 2020, 10:48:59 pmIs this for real? I've been using Mouser because they offer the US$3.49 "Economy shipping". Delivery takes a while out to the Seattle area, but I'm cheap and electronics is a hobby. I also try to batch my purchases as much as possible.I'm not a fan of writing checks since handing out my routing and account number is really asking for it. I keep a checking account in a separate bank for this sort of stuff.EDIT:It's true! Thanks for the tip, rfdes. Fromhttps://www.digikey.com/en/terms-and-conditions:QuoteHere's the mail-in order form:https://www.digikey.com/-/media/PDF/Help/Order%20Form/order-form_en-US.pdf?la=enIt's ironic that as a result of this thread I'm now going to be ordering from Digi-Key rather than Mouser.EDIT EDIT:Well, I ordered two fancy potentiometers for US$5.13 (the price of the potentiometers + local sales taxes). My order form and check was received by Digi-Key on Oct 20 and they shipped Fed-Ex which I received today (Oct 27). Free shipping. This is life-changing to me as an electronics hobbyist. Thanks, Digi-KeyThis site was helpful for calculating the local sales tax:http://www.sale-tax.comEDIT: updated order form URL

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 07:43:11 am
content: Quote from: radar_macgyver on October 12, 2020, 05:37:07 amSame on Chrome, it doesn't quite fit in its container and scrolls a few pixels. Once set, the scroll event goes through to the lower level.Tim

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 08:07:36 am
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on October 11, 2020, 09:56:10 pmWhat's wrong with Adafruit and Sparkfun? They make a lot of things that are handy for beginners, and especially outside of USA, they can be hard to get sometimes. Having access to them via DK is useful, and having them in DK's catalog doesn't somehow make other components less available!Quote from: NANDBlog on October 11, 2020, 09:56:10 pmI couldn't agree more, and I've worked in web design. I am appalled at the direction web (and software) design has taken the past few years, with all the gains in screen size decimated by "airy" layouts that have microscopic amounts of information. Don't get me wrong, not everything in old-style websites was great, but damn…When I bought my 24" 1920x1200 display in 2008, it gave me massive amounts of screen real estate, so I could easily open two documents side by side, or several web windows, and see plenty of content. Thanks to the dumb "whitespace" layouts of today, on the 27" 2560x1440 display I have now, I can seelesscontent. Absolutely maddening, and IMHO disrespectful of the user. If I want extra space around your content, I'll make the window the size I want and put a blank background behind that window.What I alsohateabout modern web technologies is how 99% of the time, they break the "back" functionality. In ages past, clicking "back" just took you right back, every time. Now, even on pages that aren't obviously dynamic, it usually plunks me back at the top of the page, rather than where I was scrolled to before. On dynamic pages like the Facebook timeline, "back" literally does not take you back to where you were, but to a new point in the timeline. The only modern, dynamic site that I have seen where "back" works 100% as it should is Twitter. I don't know how they did it, but they got it exactly,exactlyright. They've managed to manipulate the browser history just so, and have their backend designed just so, that together, even with a page reload, you're right where you left off, at the same place in a dynamically loaded timeline. My hats off to them. Now if only I found Twitter itself to be useful...

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 12:13:38 pm
content: Ditto in many points above.The back functionality is also something that gets me everytime - I see myself doing a long click on the back arrow just to see the past recent history with all the entries with the same name - all belongong to the same frame.That, tied to some browser changes in the action of the backspace key (which acts as a "Back" shortcut) is infuriating when typing on forms in certain pages.

author: JoeyG
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 01:32:09 pm
content: I wonder how the manufacturers feel if they have to support something already sold to some else, but resold through DK? Warranty is typically for the first purchaser and not after (unless expressly implied).I assume DK have a market place vetting program right?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 05:26:45 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 12, 2020, 08:07:36 amThis is absolutely maddening. I remember working on a 17" 1280x1024 CRT and being able to tile 3 or 4 applications to work with multiple things at once, copy/paste between windows, etc. When I later got a bigger monitor that could do 1600x1200 I could pretty comfortably have two documents side by side and other things like chat program, music player, weather, etc above or below. In recent years there has been this sort of arms race where monitors get higher and higher resolutions so software wastes more and more pixels making everything bigger. It is so infuriating that even interfaces that have several density settings, "compact" is usually 2 or 3 times as bulky and spread out as I want it to be. I'm constantly finding myself setting everything as small as it will go and finding it's still gigantic, I have far more pixels than I had 15 years ago and I can't fit as much information as I could then. UI design has taken huge steps back. What is the point of a super high resolution display if not to fit more stuff on it?!

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 05:31:03 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on October 12, 2020, 12:13:38 pmThis is something that has driven me crazy for as long as web browsers have been a thing. Whoever decided that the Backspace key should be overloaded to also trigger the Back navigation button should be hanged. Never once have I wanted to navigate back when I hit the backspace button, always I intended to backspace typing. SO many times I've tried to correct a typo in a form and had it navigate back and wipe out the entire form. It is bizarre that this infernal functionality is still a thing.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2020, 07:45:01 pm
content: Quote from: ConKbot on October 11, 2020, 06:36:48 amThe last order I placed with Newegg, I didn't realize it was a "marketplace seller", the goods never arrived and I couldn't be bothered to chase it down for a $10 item at the time, too much going on, I just bought from eBay instead.Basically, if Newegg and Digikey want to become the "electronics world Amazon" they have to be better than amazon, starting with the search function - which is truly terrible on Amazon and not great on eBay either.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 12:57:57 am
content: Quote from: james_s on October 12, 2020, 05:31:03 pmGood news! Chrome "fixed" that some years ago. (And I forget about FF...or possibly, it's configurable enough that you can change it to whatever you like? I never checked.)So then you have absolute troglodytes like me who use the Back to Backspace extension to turn it back on.Tim

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 01:10:01 am
content: I'm in the camp of backspace going back in history, so "Backspace to go Back" is the first extension I install on a fresh Chrome.I can't remember when was the last time I went back from filling the form by mistake. And even if you do, forms remember what they had in them.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 01:10:41 am
content: Quote from: james_s on October 12, 2020, 05:31:03 pmI am with you: I don't know what type of idiot thought this was a good idea.Quote from: T3sl4co1l on October 13, 2020, 12:57:57 amTim, usually the "fix" is to change the default behaviour of the backspace key. However, from time to time I have seen regression failures on versions of Chrome and FF that flipped the default, only to my frustration after typing a damn form.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 01:19:50 am
content: Ironically, it used to be a worse problem back in the day, when browsers didn't try very hard to remember the contents of a page.Hell, nowadays I can type a reply, go back, have a power outage, boot back up, CTRL+SHIFT+T and be right back where I left off. The detail of page caching is astounding.Anyway, I'm used to it, and do run afoul of it from time to time, but rarely lose data as a result. I can see perfectly clearly what an anti-pattern it is, and why it's good to migrate away from it.Also the plugin solution isn't quite ideal, as it doesn't work on local pages (plugins in general are disabled on localhost, isn't it?). So when I'm testing my website I have to consciously remember to ALT+LEFT...Tim

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 01:47:56 am
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on October 12, 2020, 07:45:01 pmAgreed. Amazon’s search, for anything that’s not a book, movie, or CD, is abysmal.Anyhow, I sent Digi-Key this feedback earlier today via their web form:QuoteThey responded within an hour or two:Quote

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 01:52:26 am
content: The correct way to introduce a marketplace feature is to have an option in the profile to permanently disable it. It is fine to have it on by default.If you claim that this will reduce your revenue, then your intention IS to scam me, since my intention is to never buy from marketplace, so no revenue from me anyway unless I'm not careful.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 02:33:05 am
content: I have no problem buying from marketplace if it meets the same specs I'm shopping for, and the same sales guarantee (more or less). Hmm, I should check that latter one, I imagine it might be different than direct.Amazon is useless for making any kind of informed decision; I suspect, intentionally so.Tim

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 02:33:53 am
content: I've found for some recent orders that Arrow and Newark had better availability/prices for the parts I wanted than Digikey or Mouser, and it isn't any harder to deal with them. Newark's parametric search is... primitive, and Arrow's is slow and jumpy, but that isn't necessarily a deal breaker for me (since I also use comparison sites with parametric search, like Octopart).

author: Smoky
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 07:48:32 am
content: It's weird that this topic came up. I just placed my third order with Arrow in the past 5 days.$50+ and it's free shipping plus they sent me two 10% off codes in the same amount of time.I'm fairly new to electronics and stick to audio projects mostly.Arrow's prices are almost 50% cheaper than Digi-Key/Mouser for the stuff I buy and collect.I've been buying small bridge rectifiers, diodes of all kinds, resistors like the MRS25's, voltage regulators, and C0G capacitors from 10pf and up along with PP and SMR caps and a broad selection of premium electrolytics. It's been great.It didn't take long to accrue a nice array of products with the help of Arrow's deals.And is it just me, but sometimes I'll use a website's basic search process and not find the part, but if I plug in the exact part number, the part shows up in stock

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 09:53:33 am
content: Their price sorting is busted...try sorting by price, say low to high, its almost random. I want to see only cut tape-parts...the selection is ignored...I want to see pricing listed at 1000, also ignored.Some links show a "wrong price" the link for a diode says unit price of $0.035 but after clicking on the link, the unit price is now $0.14 & $0.035 is nowhere to be seen at all.The columns for voltage regulator looks like 10X .......T O O W I D E (seriously):NUMBER OF REGULATORS VOLTAGE -INPUT (MAX) VOLTAGE -OUTPUT (MIN/FIXED) VOLTAGE - OUTPUT (MAX)1 8V 6V 7Vwhat idiot set up these columns?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 01:25:57 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 09:53:33 amEek, that is bad. Definitely send them feedback on that!Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 09:53:33 amI couldn't reproduce that. However, those selections are forgotten when clicking back to the list after looking at an item, so if you then update the list by applying some additional filter, they'll get forgotten.Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 09:53:33 amOn the item page, did you re-enter the quantity, and then click through the different packaging tabs below that? (There's a tabbed area with the price breaks.) It's a bit different from before.Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 09:53:33 amUmmm, nobody did, obviously: they are clearly being calculated dynamically based on the column name, as evidenced by the sizes being specified to one-millionth of a pixel resolution: style="width: 105.046875px;"No human would do that.The old site clearly does have manually-configured column widths. I can't imagine it'd be too hard to bring that back, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's on a to-do list.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 02:39:56 pm
content: Hey everyone,I don't think it's appropriate for me to outright address each and every issue in here, but I would like to say that people at Digi-Key are reading this thread and there are real people who are working hard to fix many of the display, sorting, and other usability issues. We understand the pain points. The best place to give us feedback or report bugs is the feedback tab on the website because every single comment is read and brought up with the teams that working on relevant areas of our website and business. But if anyone cares to have a conversation with an EE (me) about the website and things you would like to see, shoot me a PM. I'd love to sit down on a screenshare/video call and listen to any frustrations, ideas, or other comments you might want to share.Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming.Ben @ Digi-Key

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 04:35:06 pm
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on October 13, 2020, 02:33:05 amAmazon searching is worse than useless. You might search for a 2TB SSD, for example. But the search results will include every size imaginable, even if 2TB is not mentioned in the title or anywhere else in the product description. Amazon takes "greedy search" to a whole new level!You are probably better off using Google to search on Amazon, for example, by putting this in the search box: 2TB SSD site:www.amazon.comGoogle is also too "greedy" occasionally. But you can always select "Tools / Verbatim" and get back to how a search engine actually should work!

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 05:16:26 pm
content: We understand the pain points. The best place to give us feedback or report bugs is the feedback tabThat's a rather pathetic response...it shows quality control at Digikey is non-existent, or the people who made the site are incompetent & should be sent packing.Doesn't anyone there pay attention AT ALL to what is being rolled out?People will quit using digikey & go to Mouser or elsewhere & the end of Digikey. Now they want to allow others to come to some new marketplace--maybe to to mix in & sell gray/suspect chips there. There are so many problems it is hard to fathom or even to list them all.Apparently nobody at digikey bothered to even try their own website.Search for a part where you want to only see cut tape, since that is what you are going to be ordering....instead the results are 3-4 times as long. Why? Because now it ignores the request to show cut tape parts & also shows 3 or 4 other types. So the listing is 10 miles long because the FILTER DOES NOT WORK.Ask for pricing at 1000...it may give it to you or it may not. Half the time is does not work. Sort by price, the prices will be out of order.A part search will be display a part with a unit price of 0.07 cents....click on the provided link & it inconsistently shows a unit price of 0.25 !!The pricing information sometimes appears under the supplier name!!!You can't see part info on the screen anymore, since the columns are so wide, many of them are not being displayed.One pic shows sorted prices are out of order (I've seen some where they are heavily scrambled), then after some scrolling the prices don't even appear under the correct column!!The list of problems goes on and on and on and on. This has been happening for weeks. There seems to be no accountability at Digikey.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 05:25:31 pm
content: Yes, the most recent update just basically broke everything. And the new columns are just bizarre."DK Part #" is something I never care about when searching, yet it takes up the most space."Supplier" and "Mfr", again take up a whole lot of space, and I guess this is part of the whole marketplace fail?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 06:24:48 pm
content: They need to have an actual engineer spend a few minutes with a proposed change and then actually listen to the feedback. Overall there seems to be near universal agreement on several significant pain points. DK needs to remember that their target market is different than that of Amazon or Walmart, they are not selling to typical consumers, they are selling to engineers and technicians. Whether professionals these are technical people and there are specific criteria we use when searching for components. Having to click that switch to show all parameters may only take a moment but I have to click it EVERY SINGLE TIME for EVERY SINGLE PART and it drives me absolutely crazy. It is clear they did not run that by any actual engineer before deploying it because it hides parameters that are important nearly every time.

author: Zeyneb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 07:01:57 pm
content: Based on the post of Ben from Digi-Key, they are not sharing why those changes have happened! You claim you're willing to listen to customers from the Eevblog forum. Yet we are kept in the dark what marketing and maybe other forces are in play at Digi-Key that influences how the website should behave.Have the guts to be transparent in this!

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 07:18:16 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on October 13, 2020, 06:24:48 pmIn the past I participated in some kind of field test review process for Digi-Key web site activities. I haven't heard anything about it for a while. Maybe I got dropped off the list, or perhaps it got discontinued due to cost, enthusiasm, etc. I imagine that type of field testing is not easily used with whatever Agile / Sprint / New-age-foolishness that is showing up everywhere, and I suspect northern Minnesota is no exception.That said, I have also used the Feedback feature many times to comment about incorrect data, website problems, or website feature requests. I'd say about 1/2 maybe got addressed, which actually isn't too bad.

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 07:20:14 pm
content: Quote from: Zeyneb on October 13, 2020, 07:01:57 pmBy all means please let us know the inner secrets that are at play where you work as well.

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 07:39:23 pm
content: DK needs to remember that their target market is different than that of Amazon or WalmartWell that sounds like a confusing statement---Digkey isn't some brand new company that didn't exist on the internet for the past 20 years, they certainly know who buys their components....or do they?Having price sorts that display in random order, ignoring filter selections, etc, etc, simply has no explanation.who are working hard to fixmanyof the display, sorting, and other usability issues.Why was incompetence allowed to occur?What will happen whensunnydealwants to sell their "chips" on the marketplace?That's the next digikey disaster about to happen. ...goodbye digikey, they had a nice ride all these years.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 07:39:42 pm
content: Their mobile app is also deteriorating. It used to be my go-to tool I used to research parts, but now it can't open about half of datasheets and so it's becoming borderline unusable

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 07:41:32 pm
content: I just took Digikey for a test drive, using "555 timer" as a generic search term to see what happens. Overall I didn't get an impression of it being unusably terrible or anything.I agree that there is never any reason not to show all the filter options at the top of the product page - why would you want to hide a random selection of them? - Waste of time.I actually like the "marketplace" idea - it can be made to work, I think. Makes Digikey similar to using sites likewww.octopart.comto compare suppliers and locate difficult-to-find parts - it makes the Digikey site more of a one-stop-shop. As long as Digikey is the guarantor of transactions in their marketplace... it is in Digikey's interests as much as customers' that "bad actors" are kept out of the marketplace, and customers are made good if they ever do run into problems with a "bad actor" despite efforts made to make that unlikely.Obviously for this whole concept to work, the search functions have to be laser accurate... we can't be dealing with any of the modern "approximately right" search algos that could only have been developed based on input from focus groups consisting of unusually dull computer illiterates...

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 07:51:38 pm
content: Makes Digikey similar to using sites likewww.octopart.comto compare suppliers aOctopart list distributers like Arrow, Mouser, Digikey,Ffarnell...not BanjoMan37 or BugChips82If you want to do that, use Octopart, not Digikey. A few years from now you will be saying,I remember when we could count on the parts ordered through Digkey, now half our boards fail from junk that accidentally gets ordered there."555 timer" as a generic search term to see what happens.---you can see what happened, is they can't even sort a list of a dozen prices properly...imagine when you are looking at a list of 300 different opamps.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:01:41 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 07:51:38 pmIf I made a mistake ordering stuff on a site that is very clear about what is going on, why would I blame the site?The problem is surely just this: How obvious is it who you are buying from.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:10:43 pm
content: I also just noticed, they don't show price breaks anymore. Now you have to type different amounts manually to figure out what the price would be. Now you can't just round up to 250 even if you only need 200 if 250 happens to be a price break. How stupid (or malicious) are people that though this was a good idea?Nevermind. Price breaks just moved around.I thought sorting issues had to do with price breaks, but it does not seem to be the case. They really just can't sort by price.Yeah, I think my Mouser shopping will increase after that update.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:18:49 pm
content: Ok, I figured out the sorting issue. The parts that are sorted out of order because they sort by MOQ price no matter the quantity entered. So in case of 1111 pcs, they take the price of 1000 pcs as it is the closest price break. And what they show you in the list is the price for 1000 pcs. But the final order will also include 111 parts at a higher price.So instead of completely removing the listings for items that don't fit the search criteria, they do this mystery math.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:21:17 pm
content: I can't find the Marketplace mentioned in the terms and conditions. From August marketing: "According to Digi-Key, all Marketplace suppliers are fully vetted, quality partners of Digi-Key."Is the the case? What is the return policy, and why are you bungling saying anything about it?But here you have to suck it up:"Chip Outpost. Chip Outpost Products are excess inventory products. Chip Outpost Products include, without limitation, excess electronic components that are provided directly from the Product supplier or as part of a supplier-authorized channel return from a franchised distributor. Digi-Key believes that Chip Outpost Products are high-quality; however, these products may include certain imperfections, including, but not limited to, aged date codes, or may have been discontinued and/or obsoleted by the manufacturer. Chip Outpost Products quantities are limited and are not available for backorders. MANUFACTURERS' WARRANTIES DO NOT APPLY TO CHIP OUTPOST PRODUCTS. ALL SALES OF CHIP OUTPOST PRODUCTS ARE FINAL. If you purchase a Product designated as a Chip Outpost Product, you understand that the Product is obtained by Digi-Key on a Non-Cancellable/Non-Returnable basis; therefore, your purchase of a Product designated as a Chip Outpost Product is Non-Cancellable/Non-Returnable, except for the Chip Outpost Limited Warranty (see Section 17 below)."

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:24:12 pm
content: If I made a mistake ordering stuff on a site that is very clear about what is going on,So far that is a complete fail...attached is a pic showing return of a transistor ...which ones are digikey parts & which are not??? there are a few of each, but you can't tell here, then look at the listing same thing...yeah they go out of the way to make it crystal clear.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:31:26 pm
content: Lol. Package on that transistor is shown as "Bag". Ok, cool.And no parameters are shown, defeating the point of parametric search.If they insist that this is not malicious, they need to make marketplace products disabled by default or at least ability to disable them in the profile.Now in addition to having un-hide the parameters, you also need to un-click the marketplace garbage.Hopefully there is a big enough scandal with that soon so they are forced to rethink if it is worth it.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:40:29 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 08:24:12 pmI guess the "Supplier" column doesn't do it for you?Obviously, you have to know all those names by heart, but...Yes, I agree, basically. The third party vendors need to be flagged as such right up front (an extra column, with a flag "Third Party Vendor", for example). That would enable viewers to make informed decisions.

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:40:50 pm
content: Ok, I figured out the sorting issue.sorry, you have been had....i doid another search , this time for 1000 you can see the prices are to be sorted inincreasingorder.Well it starts with a $1.59 part (and that IS the 1000 price),then goes DOWN to a $0.231 part, then DOWN $0.128, then UP to $0.129...and upwards

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:43:25 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 13, 2020, 08:18:49 pmDoes the "mystery math" at least end up with the item in the correct position in the list?

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:46:03 pm
content: I'm not seeing the price sorting issue. Does it only appear if you select a "View Prices At:" quantity?[Edit: Yes, I see it now, even with Quantity 1,000 for the 555 timer example]

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:46:09 pm
content: I guess the "Supplier" column doesn't do it for you?NOit does not ...that is the component supplier thedigikey parts dont' say Digikey...they say different suppliers (for example littlefuse, Belden ,wire, texas Inst) They make no indiscation who is a "marketplace"

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:49:16 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on October 13, 2020, 08:46:03 pmAll you need to do is search for "lm555cm" and enter 1000 pcs and sort by decreasing price. You will see the sort order is incorrect.And yes, it does not depend on the price breaks. It is just incorrect.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:52:39 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 08:46:09 pmYes, they say "supplier" but in the past it often meant "manufacturer".This needs to be expanded - maybe another column - to indicate Marketplace or Digikey. How hard can that be? ....

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 08:55:56 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on October 13, 2020, 08:52:39 pmVery hard, actually. You want to do as much as possible to hide the scam when you are scamming. If you make it too obvious, people may not get tricked into getting transistors in a bag.

author: dnwheeler
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 09:01:15 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 07:39:23 pmThey do, but the web designers probably don't. Like many companies, I suspect Digi-Key contracts out their web development to someone who doesn't understand their business or customers. The contractor then treats the project like other similar projects they have done in the past. In this case, the project fit into a generic "e-commerce website" model with (in their mind) overly complicated filtering criteria.Also, in the case of the results grid (which includes sorting, column widths, etc.) they probably used some pre-existing generic grid control rather than writing one the better meets the needs of their customers.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 09:19:34 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 05:16:26 pmOh my god, take a chill pill before you have a stroke and die on us!The list is not showing you parts that aren’t cut tape — they’ve finally concatenated different packaging of the same PART into one line item, so you’re simply seeing that other packaging exists. It’s not a part for which no cut tape exists!As for the price: as I said above, ENTER YOUR QUANTITY on the product page. The price shown at the top is the price for the quantity entered. The price breaks are in a tabbed section farther down.Quote from: ataradov on October 13, 2020, 08:55:56 pmThere’s no evidence that DK is allowing alternative suppliers of the same parts. Accusing them of scamming is a serious allegation, and there is zero evidence of this.“Bag”, aka “bulk” packaging. Nothing to look at here.Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 08:46:09 pmClear the “Marketplace product: include” checkbox and they’re gone.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 09:24:00 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 13, 2020, 09:19:34 pmThe transistors shown above have 2 non-DK items. Can you easily spot them? Not really. You can if you are very familiar with the way DK names their parts. Like all transistors always start with "TRANS". But if you are not familiar with the naming scheme, you are screwed.They are clearly doing the marketing thing where they pretend that the shitty behavior that will generate them some money is actually good. They clearly default to the settings that will show the most products regardless of where that what people actually want.Also, what do you mean by this:Quote from: tooki on October 13, 2020, 09:19:34 pmAgain, look at those transistors, there are 2 different alternative suppliers.And if I wanted to buy from NTE, I would buy from NTE. What is even the point of this whole thing? I can understand vendors selling unique parts that DK will never carry on their own. This would be actually cool. But why add other distributors?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 09:43:48 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 13, 2020, 08:18:49 pmI don’t think so, since that’s not how price breaks work. Something in the algorithm seems to get confused when items are either normally stocked but currently not in stock or third-party (both resulting in the “active @ qty” instead of “price @ qty”), when the part status is obsolete or discontinued. It’s not a “mystery algorithm”, it’s a bug.While I think the tone in this thread has becomefartoo antagonistic and aggressive, especially since we already got a nice reply from a DK employee showing that they want to listen*, I do agree with the sentiment that this interface update was released prematurely. It definitely needed more testing, both fundamental usability testing as well as pure bug testing.My last job before beginning my electronics training was in usability. Trust me, if a company is saying “we’d love to do 1 on 1 usability testing with you”, they’re interested in getting it right. It’s not an empty “we take it seriously (but actually we don’t give a shit)” response.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 09:48:02 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 13, 2020, 09:43:48 pmYes, it is a bug. The issue is the same with 1000 qty.Quote from: tooki on October 13, 2020, 09:43:48 pmWe had so many good replies from Autodesk people before they completely gutted and killed Eagle. This is a very old story. Nothing will change, since engineers are not actually in charge of anything, they will do as told, even if they care (I have no doubt about that at all).A simple thing that will resolve the whole marketplace issue is a setting in the profile to set the default state for the "Include" checkbox. This is trivial to implement if you actually want to be helpful.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 09:55:36 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 13, 2020, 09:24:00 pmFYI, I changed the first section of text you replied to while you were replying, after checking it with that specific example. I agree, it’s impossible to see which are marketplace vendors. But at least it is trivially easy to exclude them from the results altogether. (Now they just need to let me set that as a search default, since for me, there is never a situation where I will want to order from a marketplace vendor, due to obnoxious Swiss customs fees.)What I meant by no suppliers of the same part is that they aren’t allowing additional suppliers of the same SKU (the way Amazon does). Taking the 2N3904 example, if we restrict to “active” parts only, the only exact duplication of manufacturer part number is “2N3904”, once for NTE (which is simply using the generic base part number) and some company selling bare dice as special order.I am in 100% agreement with you about the “what is the point of this?” issue, as evidenced by me saying pretty much exactly the same thing in my feedback email to Digi-Key: I go to a vendor website because I want to order from them, not someone else. If I wanted to do a multi-vendor shopping comparison, I would have gone to a multi-vendor comparison site like octopart!

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 10:00:47 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 13, 2020, 09:48:02 pmWhile your fears are certainly justified, given how many companies have done just that, I think we should be fair and give them a chance to get it right before bringing out the pitchforks. I don’t like how this thread is quickly going in the direction of an angry mob. We certainly won’t get taken seriously if we come across as a horde of irrational, implacable banshees.

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2020, 10:56:31 pm
content: What I meant by no suppliers of the same part is that they aren’t allowing additional suppliers of the same SKUOh is this what you mean??? Keep dreamingOnce approved, you are given access to your own supplier portal.You determine the products you sell, you determine your price, you set up your shipping, and once a customer orders your productfrom digikey.com you ship directly to them.The list is not showing you parts that aren’t cut tape — they’ve finally concatenated different packaging of the same PART into one line item, so you’re simply seeing that other packaging exists.You miss the point entirely...when I select the FILTER cut tape, theONLYparts that should show are cut tape. If you are looking at a potential ist of 300 cut tape choices, having 4 other categories (full reels, digireels (lacking prices), etc) included, makes the list 4 times longer and more importantly each screen can then only only show 1/3 to 1/4 as many parts able to be compared due to all of the wasted lines...NOT good.This has been brought up fpr several weeks and nothing has been done.I want a supplier that cares about the quality of their products and screens out the crap but I think Digi-Key just fell off the cliff.So far it's been a good trip downhill with their webpage.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 12:11:33 am
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 10:56:31 pmYou don’t seem to know what a SKU is... on DK, third party items (even if it’s a part DK sells itself) are assigned their own SKUs.DK even uses separate SKUs for the same exact item for external stock. For example, DK carries practically all Texas Instruments parts and stocks most of them. But for many TI products, they also have the ability to grab from TI’s private stock (TI uses DK for the logistics of their own parts store, it seems). But it’s at different prices and with different availability, so it shows up as a different SKU.In contrast, on Amazon, if a third party seller offers an item whose UPC or ISBN is already know to the system, it gets concatenated into the same item. (In fact, if you use Fulfillment by Amazon, when you shop your stock to them, they commingle it with their own and every other FBA sellers’!)Quote from: eevcandies on October 13, 2020, 10:56:31 pmYou said it “ignores” the selection. It doesn’t, it’s just not designed the way you want. Fact is, if a product only comes packaged in, for example, trays, and you select “cut tape”, it won’t show up. Now that they are (finally) not making whole separate products out of different packaging of the same exact part, the list shows the part, and within the part’s line, it shows the available packaging. I think there is a strong argument for leaving that information out of the list altogether in most situations. But the way it is now is not broken just because it doesn’t work the way you want. I fully appreciate that this design wastes space, and actually agree with you on this aspect. But I take issue with the rabid, imprecise way you express your displeasure.

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 12:30:04 am
content: It doesn’t, it’s just not designed the way you want.Perhaps you are not familiar with filters...have been filtering by voltage range, current limit ohms, cut tape, in stock, active, ect for years with no problem. Now it is failing to properly do so. If we want to see other options, like reels, bags, busloads, whatever, then we will select those & expect to see them.If you select to show only 100 ohm and 488 ohm resistors, you should not see 345 ohm resistors appear.You don’t seem to know what a SKU isYou don't seem to be investigating ...there are only digkey numbers and manufacturer numbers listed & where does it say they are limiting anything regarding sku's? What limits digi from selling a LM947AA-XP3-2N and also littlebug from selling a LM947AA-XP3-2N (from who knows where) ...nothing that is apparent.As another example of the layout mess...where they need to have some width, they don't provide it & force the listing to waste6lines. Yet where they don't need the width they give 2x or more than what is needed, just to waste screen space.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 02:10:49 am
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 14, 2020, 12:30:04 amThat actually got me a while back, although I don't recall if the culprit was DigiKey or Mouser. I flamed them to a crisp for it, albeit politely.Something along the lines of, "Hello? You are not eBay. If I enter explicit part values into a search field,do not return parts withanyother values,ever."Come to think of it, I flamed eBay (politely) whentheystarted pulling that crap, and it didn't help. Maybe I'm just too polite...It goes back to the unfortunate observation made earlier in the thread that (working) engineers have no role to play when these in-house decisions are made. Companies like DigiKey and Mouser are great, but they don't eat their own dog food, and that means that when they screw up, you have to provide what amounts to free consulting to set them back on the right path. Otherwise, they will make your job harder over time and render their own business less competitive without realizing it.Here's another unfortunate move I've seen lately. This time there's no question about the identity of the perpetrator:Yeah, thanks, guys, I'm sure I'll have no difficulty remembering that "821XGLB" means "820 nH." And I can't think ofanyscenarios in which this kind of product label might cause confusion (or worse) at the EMS facility.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 02:24:29 am
content: I think part of the problem with the sick web pages layouts are the "modern" imbecilic web platforms frameworks. Not everything may be in control by web site designers, they may be limited by the the tools/APIs and built-in design elements.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 05:09:11 am
content: I don't see the problem with that label. 0603LS-821XGLB is the manufacturer's (Coilcraft) part number. Mouser just adds a prefix.Quote from: KE5FX on October 14, 2020, 02:10:49 am

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 05:23:28 am
content: Quote from: rdl on October 14, 2020, 05:09:11 amThe component value is nowhere in sight!

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 08:18:56 am
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 14, 2020, 12:30:04 amOf course I know how filters work, as I use them on a daily basis. What surprises me is how confidently condescending you are, despite continuing to demonstrate thatyourunderstanding is rather weak.You keep insisting it's showing items that do not meet the criteria,but it's not. I'll come back to this later.Quote from: eevcandies on October 14, 2020, 12:30:04 amAaaand you just confirmed that you do NOT know what a SKU is! "LM947AA-XP3-2N" is the model number, aka (manufacturer) part number, NOT the SKU. The SKU (short for "stock keeping unit") is what DK calls the "DK part number". It is common for there to exist multiple SKUs for the same part number, due to packaging options and the like.Let's leave aside electronics components for a quick second and pretend we are talking about pencils. Suppose the pencil's model number is "123HB-Y", for pencil style 123 with HB lead, painted yellow. And the manufacturer sells them in blister packs of 6, boxes of 12, and boxes of 100. The manufacturer assigns each a SKU: "123HB-Y-6B", "123HB-Y-12", and "123HB-Y-100", respectively. A retailer can order them from the manufacturer only in those package sizes, by ordering with the manufacturer's SKU. They can sell them however they want, so suppose the retailer also wants to sell individual pencils, so they create four retailer SKUs. Let's call them "PencilCo 123HB-Y-1", "PencilCo 123HB-Y-6", "PencilCo 123HB-Y-12", and "PencilCo 123HB-Y-100". When you order a "PencilCo 123HB-Y-1" (i.e. qty 1), you don't care whether the retailer obtained it from a manufacturer pack of 6, 12, or 100, because once removed from the packaging, a "123HB-Y" pencil is the same. Make sense so far? Do you see how the model number, the manufacturer SKU, and the retailer SKU are different things? Additionally, we could also say that the 123HB-Y is a "yellow HB pencil", because in many situations, the manufacturer doesn't matter, as long as the pencil is yellow and has HB lead.FWIW, the UPC barcode is the retail industry's attempt at unifying manufacturer SKUs and retailer SKUs.Back to component filtering: In the past, DK always treated each package size as its own SKU. But as the buyer, ultimately what you're after is the model number (i.e. manufacturer part number). In the past, this led to DK results listing many SKUs for the same manufacturer part number unless you went and filtered out the packaging you didn't want. Now, they concatenate it down to the manufacturer part number — it's one line item now, not 3, for the typical SMD part available in whole reel, cut tape, and digireel. They just show you the available packagingwithinthe line item. When you filter for parts (manufacturer part numbers) that are available as cut tape, it will eliminate parts that arenotavailable as cut tape, and shows you only the ones that are,even if they have other available packaging as well.But the list of parts does indeed only contain parts that are available as cut tape. You literally can just ignore the fact that they display the availability of your part in other packaging. (As already said, the part of your criticism that I agree with is that displaying it isn't that useful, and consumes space. But it's NOT showing you parts that do not exist as cut tape, as you keep insisting.) If you have filtered by cut tape, and you choose one of the parts in the list, you WILL be able to order it as cut tape. And that's what it's all about.When it comes to third-party, DK does not appear to allow multiple suppliers for the same DK SKU (DK part number) the way Amazon does. So if DK has LM947AA-XP3-2N sourced from the manufacturer, and so does littlebug sourced from wherever, they may share the same manufacturer part number, but they won't have the same DK SKU, so when you go to order, and you filter to not include marketplace vendors, you cannot get the littlebug stock by mistake. DK doesn't group third-party stock into a manufacturer part number the way they do for packaging alternates.Nor could they, since manufacturer part numbers aren't globally unique. For example, a Keystone Electronics "3534" is a PCB connector, while a Pomona Electronics "3534" is a BNC adapter. So you can't just say "oh, the manufacturer part number is 3534 so they are the same thing". They're unique onlywithina manufacturer. DK treats a third-party supplier as a different manufacturer, when it comes to grouping.Quote from: eevcandies on October 14, 2020, 12:30:04 amYou already said this yesterday, and I already responded yesterday: clearly, the column widths are being automatically sized to fit the column name. Clearly NOT set by hand, since the widths are being set to µPx resolution, which no human would do.

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 10:25:25 am
content: But it's NOT showing you parts that do not exist as cut tape, as you keep insisting.)...you need to look again, as I have never mentioned anything along that line. Here it is, in case it was forgotten:Search for a part where you want to only see cut tape, since that is what you are going to be ordering....instead the results are 3-4 times as long. Why? Because now it ignores the request to show cut tape parts & also shows 3 or 4 other types.So not sure where you came up with that statement.It fails to limit toonlythe cut tape selections when requested. If you request to see only smd parts & it also shows through hole parts as well, that would be a similar failure. The various filters are there to reduce the size of the generated listing from 10'000 of thousands of parts, to maybe a few hundred or dozens.When one selects to show only cut tape parts, those are theonlypackage style that should be seen. If you select TO-220 transistors, you should not have TO-92 in its column as well.for example you see an lm324 offered the following ways, with 3 different digikey numbers for 3 different packaging options:LM324MX/NOPBTR-ND ....Tape & Reel (TR)LM324MX/NOPBCT-ND ....Cut Tape (CT)LM324MX/NOPBDKR-ND ...Digi-Reel®When cut tape is selected that is the packaging desired, so which of the above make easy sense to include in the generated listing?This is where it falls apart.LM324MX/NOPBCT-ND ....Cut Tape (CT) should appear in the listing & the others shouldn't, because those are not cut tape. ...however the others are not being filtered out, adding to the clutter & length of the listing, requiring more scrolling.How is it impossible to show only: LM324MX/NOPBCT-ND ....Cut Tape (CT) when the cut tape filter is selected???It is no more impossible than showing only 100 ohm resistors when that 100 ohm filter is selected !!If you wanted to see cut tape OR tape and reel in the list, then you would simply select both of those options.As far as other suppliers having their own numbers, that may be fine, however most purchasers won't even look at the digikey numbers or other supplier numbers. So they may order a 1N914B with an easy chance for mistakes to happen.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 01:23:20 pm
content: Quote from: KE5FX on October 14, 2020, 05:23:28 amThat would be too simple, and against all modern design principles!!!

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 01:59:37 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on October 12, 2020, 12:13:38 pmCreated for compatibility with internet explorer, the amount of people in the history of the internet who find this an useful shortcut can be counted in the single digits ... still the default. You canchange itthough for Firefox.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 03:28:30 pm
content: You can't really expect the distributors to fix all the problems with manufacturer's part numbers and rewrite the descriptions. There are probably tens of thousands of them. These are issues that need to be corrected at the source.Quote from: KE5FX on October 14, 2020, 05:23:28 am

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 04:19:44 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on October 14, 2020, 03:28:30 pmDK puts their own description on the label, which mentions the value even if it is not obvious from the part number. This does not come from the supplier, of course, so errors are possible, but it it still better than nothing.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 05:57:48 pm
content: Quote from: KE5FX on October 14, 2020, 02:10:49 amThat's surely a lame lack of effort from Mouser, but I think I would be able to remember it somehow

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 07:05:05 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 14, 2020, 04:19:44 pmIt's a nice convenience that DigiKey provides this information on the label. It's simple enough to do, I mean the data is all there in the database, the system just has to be programmed to include the description as well. When I order from Mouser I often grab a Sharpie marker and write the component value on the label as I unpack the order. It's a bit of a hassle but it saves me a lot of trouble down the road. If I'm digging through a box of spare components looking for a specific value resistor or something I really don't want to have to look up the part number of each and every one to figure out what it is.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 07:17:50 pm
content: I also re-mark all pertinent info with a Sharpie. Partly because I've had the distributor's labeling fade badly in the past, sometimes to the point of being unreadable (maybe this problem has gotten better?), but also because I keep parts in the original packaging and store them in plastic boxes. My big, hand written descriptions make it easy to find what I'm looking for when digging through the box.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 07:21:14 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on October 14, 2020, 07:05:05 pmI simply order parts which have logical and known to me part numbering system. In particular, I use Yageo 1% resistors pretty much exclusively as they have good part numbering system - RCFR-07]L, for example RC0402FR-0760R4L - size 0402, value 60.4 Ohm, RC0805FR-07750KL - size 0805, value 750K Ohm, RC1206FR-071ML - size 1206, value 1M Ohm.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 07:39:49 pm
content: Quote from: asmi on October 14, 2020, 07:21:14 pmThey have a good part numbering system - and the resistors aren't bad either!

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 08:27:42 pm
content: The problem with the labels is they are too sticky--you can only tear them off. I asked them a few years back to make labels peelable (but not too loose), or have a small portion that is peelable....so you can throw your resistors or caps in a parts bin/drawer and have a label to put on it with the description and maybe reorder number--basically the upper left corner of the label. I also suggested they could have a box you could check at checkout, where they'd print up a set of labels (matching your order) for some modest price (maybe $1-$5). A few times, I cut the bag with scissors & used glue sticks; it was ok, but would have been much faster to peel & stick. I have a few label machines, but don't like fiddling with to spend 3 minutes making a label.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 08:31:59 pm
content: DK used to ship a second label still with the backing paper so you could use that in your own inventory system. I guess they stopped because of overhead that caused.I personally just cut the label from the antistatic bag with scissors and put it inside the smaller standard size bags I use for lose components. This way the label is preserved and I don't have a ton of random size bags.Here is my entire stock of ICs. It is pretty compact and easy to search for things. And it does not take a lot of time to organize.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 09:33:27 pm
content: We all have our preferred ways for labeling and storing parts in our own personal inventory, which is fine, but anyone who has ever worked with a factory knows that Murphy himself punches the clock on all shifts. If they canpossiblyinstall the wrong part, theywill. Quality management in production is all about identifying opportunities for mistakes and confusion and ruthlessly eliminating them. The ability to check vendor (and factory) part numbers against customer-specified component values is a cheap line of defense against expensive mistakes.I don't miss those extra Digi-Key labels, though... they were annoying and not especially useful, at least to me.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 10:07:46 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 14, 2020, 10:25:25 amAlthough I understand the possibility of trouble, I personally don't see the display of all the different packaging types as detrimental to the search results - they are listed as a single hit per manufacturer P/N, as shown inthis filtered search. If they were listed at every hit, I would not be really pleased.Once in theproduct page, the selection for each part number is not as bad - just a click away. Sure, it can lead to errors, but in my experience the procurement folks tend to send pre-canned lists with exact manufacturer P/Ns exactly to avoid these errors.I did not add other filters to see if there are gaps, but the specific packaging example does not seem to be too critical.

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 14, 2020, 11:08:19 pm
content: Today things seem to be behaving much much better. Last week, a huge amount of price squares would contain blanks or something other than price (like "active" !!!?)...you would also see blanks in old listings whenever a digireel came up (no price given in the listing)..you could work aroundthatby selecting cut tape & all of those digireels would be gone from the listing, making seeing the prices much easier. Today every search seems to show a price given in every cell...that's progress. Now you can see from the attached pic, if they would show only cut tape when requested that would not waste so much room showing 20 things. You can see how much room is wasted showing all the others (ideally if you wanted to include those options you'd just select them as well to be included in the view).The columns still need some help, but now the sorting seems to work & so does the quantity pricing....so that's goodness. I noticed now you can't select to show 250 parts, only up to 100.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 12:51:08 am
content: Given the previous generation of Digi-Key's website was outstanding and the sorting worked, no wonder people are frustrated and waving their pitchfork.It's just sloppy testing of their sort algorithms- which were perfected 10 years ago and here we are as customers reinventing them via the "Feedback" tab.Where are the prizes, the free Digi-Key coffee cup when we report a legitimate bug on their website? Revenue $2.3B in 2017, $3.2B in 2018, is there some problem with cheapness here. Where's my free 2N2222 for all this pain.I see they've added a column of dumbness and taken away precious screen real-estate. Supplier and Mfr columns are totally redundant- unless a "Marketplace" vendor, me figures. It (Supplier column) should only appear then - but wait you can't actually do anything just in the Marketplace. Marketplace vendors aren't searchable? i.e. all that NTE offers?The Manufacturer picklist contains stupidity as well: i.e.https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/transistors-bipolar-bjt-single/276Code:...Microsemi CorporationMicrosemi IRE DivisionMicrosemi LAW DivisionON SemiconductorON SemiconductorRenesas Electronics AmericaRenesas Electronics America Inc....So duplicate entries; as if I know these divisions, NTE is not on it but is for the Capacitor mfgr picklist.The Capacitance picklists contains stupidity as well: i.e.https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/aluminum-electrolytic-capacitorsRadix sort crap and full of errors. 166 ohms? Really?ESRCode:...164mOhm @ 10kHz165.786Ohm @ 120Hz165.786mOhm @ 120Hz165.79Ohm @ 120Hz165.79mOhm @ 120Hz1657.86Ohm @ 120Hz166Ohm @ 120Hz167mOhm @ 120Hz169mOhm @ 10kHz16Ohm @ 120Hz...Film Capacitors i.e.An 0.01uF electrolytic? 399-ELG109M025AQ4AA-ND WRONG.1572-1002-ND as 10,000pF and ESR 176.839 Ohms1572-1728-ND 3.763 ohms ESR, and axial leads are not "PC Pins".Film Capacitor Lead SpacingHas some mystery "-" and then new values start. What does the dash mean anyway, it's in many picklists.Code:...0.300" (7.62)mm0.354" (9.00)mm...2.953" (75.00mm)4.000" (101.60mm)-0.315" (8.00mm)0.740" (18.80mm)...Why does Price need five significant digits? Micropennies are a thing now?I could go on, but it literally takes me seconds to find errors in their website/database. Really frustrating and IMHO low quality web development.I appreciate the DK guy sticking his neck out here, but using customers to find the bugs in your website and database is really too late. TEST BETTER.

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 03:37:23 am
content: It's just sloppy testing of their sort algorithmsWell that's the proverbial iceberg...sloppy layout to allow columns to be double or triple width (regardless of the tech reason), when there is a premium on screen space needed to display parametric info.Sloppy that you couldn't get the quantity price box to work (seems to now). Sloppy to show a unit price, then click on the provided link to be shown a drastically different unit price.What I find revealing, is that the 3 or 4 times I called Digikey about these issues the last 2-3 weeks, nobody seemed to haveany clue whatsoeverthat anything was wrong in the slightest--You'd think someone there would say , "yes we've been having xc,xxm issues with such and such on our website. Maybe they've been replaced with a remote bot call center . One guy didn't seem to know that you could even sort by price & kept telling me (trying to be helpful), that if I would give him my part number, he could look up the price.At least now they seem to be taking some steps to bandage up the damage. Why did it have to happen?https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/comments/j83rgm/are_you_ok_navigating_the_new_digikey_search/?sort=new

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 05:27:58 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 15, 2020, 03:37:23 amNot the first IT project that has come a gutsa, right?I agree, though, that this seems to have been released too early without sufficient QA work by someone that understood how the site is actually used.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 06:13:04 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 14, 2020, 10:25:25 amI "came up with" that statement because it's what yousaid, even though it's evident that youmeantsomething altogether different.You keep insisting that it's showing youproducts("parts") that do not meet your criterion, but it's not; it's showing you (additional)packaging optionsyou don't want. But the searchdoesn'tsearch for packaging options, it's aproductsearch. Theproductisavailable as cut tape, ergo, it shows up in the list.If you search for "LM324", one resulting manufacturer part number is, in your example, LM324MX/NOPB. When you select "cut tape", it removes any LM324s that arenot available as cut tape. The three DK part numbers you list show the three packaging options, but cut tape is one of them.You ARE NOT being shown an LM324 that is unavailable as cut tape! Ergo, you are seeing ONLY LM324s that are available as cut tape.I have addressed the issue of wasted space previously(though you never responded). But let me state it again, since you clearly needs things explained slooooooowly:I agreethat also listing the packaging options that you're not interested in wastes space. I understand that what you want is tohidethose packaging options. But that's not how the search works, and in the past, it only looked like it did because of how DK listed each packaging option as a separate line item. Now that they're displaying results as products (not packaging options!) as each line item — the way most electronics distributors do it — it's behaving in a way you don't like.But it's NOT misbehaving in the way your hyperbolic rants suggest, as if it were showing you incorrect products. It is not. It's NOT going to give you the wrong resistor value, or a TO-220 instead of a TO-92.The search looks for parts that contain a particular characteristic. It doesn't care whether italsohas other characteristics. In other words: it behaves like an OR gate. You want it to behave like an XOR gate.Quote from: rsjsouza on October 14, 2020, 10:07:46 pmThank you, at least you seem to understand what I'm talking about.

author: eevcandies
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 06:52:21 pm
content: it's showing you (additional) packaging options you don't want. But the search doesn't search for packaging options,WHY? You are specifying what you want to see for those particular options. What would prevent this from happening?--you seem unable to answer that.In fact, the particular sku is unimportant when showing the resulting list--you click on the particular displayed item.Once you select a particular package or packaging you are in effect saying those are theonlyones that you wish to see. Yes, it is available in cut tape & you are telling it that is what you want to to see, no need to show reel, bulk, bag , etc...you are telling it. Likewise, if you tell it you want to see 3.865K resistors, it will show list those.If you look up an LM7807ACXG3 part number that comes from 5 different companies & you select you want to filter out & see only Motorola, it doesn't insist on showing you Intel & RCA, just because the same parts are available from them. Likewise cut tape can do the same.Your reply seems to revolve aroundthat's not the way it work/is working., which is rather problematic. If it was working as desired, this wouldn't be brought up in the first place. If a customer raises something as an issue it should be treatedisan issue & you seem to prefer debating a shortcoming. Our new car won't start when it's cold---you don't understand, it has to be warmer for it to start. It doesn't work the way you want.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 07:29:10 pm
content: Quote from: eevcandies on October 15, 2020, 06:52:21 pmNo, you're not. You're asking it to find theproductsthat contain that particular option.Think of it like this: Imagine a search for cars. One box lets you choose creature comforts. Let's suppose it lets you select these features:air conditioningcooled seatsheated seatsleather trimsimple stereofancy navigation stereorear-seat child tranquilizer sprayNow, do we agree that while some of these features are mutually exclusive (like the simple stereo vs the fancy navigation stereo), other features can exist in the same car at the same time? (Like you can have a car with heated seats, air conditioning, the fancy stereo, and the child knockout spray.)Suppose that you're after a car with tranquilizer spray, since you run a daycare and have to chauffeur people's rugrats twice a day. Very few cars have this, so you select the rear-seat child tranquilizer spray feature. Then you click "apply" to see just the cars that have it.The list now shrinks to the few cars that have that feature. As it turns out, they all have AC, but some have heated seats, some have the fancy stereo, others have the simple one. But they still show up in the list because the feature filter doesn't mean "show me the cars that ONLY have this feature, and no other features".Similarly, if you want a car with both the rear-seat child tranquilizer spray and a fancy navigation stereo, selecting those features shows only the cars thatdohave both of those features, regardless of whether they have leather trim or not, or heated seats or not, etc.In DK's system, packaging functions like a feature: multiple packaging options exist asattributesof a product. (The packaging options are not separate products!!!! The old website displayed them as if they were, but they're not.) So when you click "cut tape", it's eliminating all thepartsthat don't have a cut tapeoption. The fact that other packaging options exist simply doesn't matter.Ultimately, all you're asking for is foroptionsyou don't care about to be hidden in the list view.Quote from: eevcandies on October 15, 2020, 06:52:21 pmBut it's a fundamentally different type of query, because a (normal) resistor has oneand only oneresistance value. Consequently, selecting a single value necessarily eliminates every resistor whose valueisn'tthe one you selected.Quote from: eevcandies on October 15, 2020, 06:52:21 pmYes, because a particular one part can't be made by both MotorolaandIntel at the same time. Each one has one, and only one, manufacturer.Quote from: eevcandies on October 15, 2020, 06:52:21 pmNo, it's not the same, because eachpartcan have more than one packaging option.Quote from: eevcandies on October 15, 2020, 06:52:21 pmFor thethirdtime: I agree that showing every packaging option in the list wastes space. How many more times do I have to say this?!?What I keep responding to is your very incorrect assumptions about how the system works, what a search even means, and your tone.Let's look back at the car search analogy: what you are essentially asking for is for the search results list to suppress the leather trim, heated seats, etc. listing from the results because you didn't ask for them and they take up space.This is a legitimate request, though some people might prefer it to work differently. But you keep padding this request in outright false claims, basically saying "I hate how the search wastes space on features I don't care about. The search is so broken! I asked for the child tranquilizer spray, yet it's showing me cars that don't have it!", which is plainly and demonstrably NOT the case!

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 07:48:38 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 15, 2020, 07:29:10 pmI think you may be on to a winner with this product concept!

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 07:54:46 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on October 15, 2020, 07:48:38 pmI wish I could take credit for it! All I did was add the automatic dispenser.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2020, 12:32:05 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 10, 2020, 07:08:55 pmI absolutely hate this trend of the over-use of javascript. It seems every site has been doing it. It's like lot of devs decide to learn it and then they want to apply it everywhere even places that it's not needed. All it does is slow down the page. Not everyone had a dual Epyc 64 core machine for browsing the internet. You should see the latest change on Facebook, holy crap is it ever bloated. I actually had my computer hard lock up because I tried to open 3 FB tabs.It sucks to see that this trend has hit DK too, and it also sucks to hear they are now doing the marketplace crap. Yeah, that's what I need, having to second guess if the part I'm ordering is actually real. I always saw the advantage of DK as being that I know I'm getting the real thing. I'm just a very casual hobbyist but even then, given the cost of parts is relatively cheap I rather buy the real thing and buy higher quality parts so that way if my circuit does not work I know it's probably me, and not the part. Don't need to second guess.

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2020, 03:51:37 pm
content: I agree with most of what has already been said and would like to add two specific items, each as a global option tied to the logged in user:- Ability to completely disable the marketplace items.- Option to have 'In Stock' checked by default.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2020, 09:36:25 pm
content: Quote from: dr.diesel on October 17, 2020, 03:51:37 pmCustomers have begged for the latter option for years now, with no acknowledgement or response. I don't think it's going to happen, unfortunately.The marketplace "option" is different. It doesn't seem to jibe with Digi-Key's reputation as a trustworthy source for customers who care more about quality and authenticity than pricing. My guess is that they will have to walk this change back to some extent. It amounts to an unforced error.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2020, 05:20:55 am
content: These stupid marketplace things are everywhere now. Amazon, Newegg, even brick mortar stores, I mean for example want to find out if Walmart has something? Search for it on their website and you'll come up with a bunch of marketplace options, absolutely useless if you're going to be passing by a store and want to know what they carry IN THAT STORE. It seems like retailers just keep jumping on that bandwagon and what is the point? All of these stores acting as storefront for everyone else's products.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2020, 11:12:13 am
content: Quote from: KE5FX on October 17, 2020, 09:36:25 pmIt’s possible that many people have wanted it, but never bothered to tell them. (I keep meaning to, for example.) It’s entirely possible that theydon’tknow it’s something people want.

author: Digitalio
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2020, 05:27:14 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on October 10, 2020, 06:20:41 pmMany websites are doing the same. I heard that it's because Google Analytics considers it as a positive factor when people spend more time on the website and do more clicks, and puts those website higher in Google search.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2020, 05:45:57 pm
content: Quote from: Digitalio on October 18, 2020, 05:27:14 pmJust another one of the many benefits of unbridled surveillance capitalism!

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2020, 06:45:51 pm
content: Quote from: Digitalio on October 18, 2020, 05:27:14 pmI've noticed this trend with so many sites where you need to do so many clicks for things that are simple. Ridiculous really. Wish sites would stop putting so much priority on spying, it's getting so much out of hand.Facebook is actually HORRIBLE now, you need like 10-20 clicks just to see the comments on a post. I actually spend way less time on there since the new layout as it's just so frustrating to use. I guess that's a good thing. If it was not for the fact all my family is on there I would not use it at all. The issue is they spy on everything you do even on sites that they don't control, so hard to get away from their spying.

author: bill_c
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2020, 08:08:21 pm
content: So does anyone have a sample script/plugin/code to automatically check the "In stock" box or n-check the "Marketplace" box or the "More filters" tab that still works?

author: Digitalio
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2020, 10:01:20 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on October 18, 2020, 05:45:57 pmIt's corporatism or state capitalism. A crossbreed of true capitalism and true socialism.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 01:21:59 am
content: Quote from: james_s on October 18, 2020, 05:20:55 amThe key to understand this trend is that the most profitable corporations in the world (Google, Amazon, Apple) operatetwo-sided markets. In Google's case, they stand between advertisers and website operators. Amazon's arrangement with sellers is well-known. Apple stands between app developers and App Store users. They connect producers with purchasers and take a slice of the action (an old school racketeer would call it avig) without taking on any business risk. This is why every company wants to ape this pattern. Controlling a two-sided market is the ultimate asperation of contemporary rentier capitalism.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 03:07:51 am
content: Quote from: helius on October 23, 2020, 01:21:59 amBut the result is I give up in frustration and I go shop elsewhere. I see all the usual Chinese widgets on Amazon being sold at a markup so I go buy them from DX, Aliexpress, or other Chinese sellers directly. I search for something at a store and it comes up with all this marketplace crap so I go search for it somewhere else, hoping to find somewhere with a better signal to noise ratio. Places like Newegg that I formerly went directly to in many cases without even considering other less known sellers have now been degraded to the point that I'm much less likely to go there. It's a big race to the bottom.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 03:16:17 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on October 23, 2020, 03:07:51 amThere are still a lot of naive buyers that just go ahead and overpay. That's why everything is too expensive, from housing to cars to everything else - it is all because naive buyers are willing to pay whatever the bank (or credit card company) will lend them... the limit to their spending is literally only held back by the limits on their credit.

author: jfiresto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 05:09:58 pm
content: So why are Digikey's prices now higher compared to some other stocking distributors in traditionally less competitive markets? They did not used to be. Is it really because of their credit crazed customers? I am merely curious.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 05:48:09 pm
content: Quote from: jfiresto on October 23, 2020, 05:09:58 pmPut it this way: If nobody was buying at the posted prices - would they stay at that level?In our system, it is the seller's job to set the price as high as possible, and it is the buyer's job to find the lowest price! If buyers don't care about finding the lowest price... what happens?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 05:56:47 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on October 23, 2020, 03:16:17 pmIt's not even about the money for me. When I shop at a place like DigiKey, Amazon, Newegg, etc I do so mostly because I can be reasonably confident that I will get quality goods that are accurately described, properly stored and handled, that will arrive in a timely manner and if I experience a problem the seller will stand behind it. None of this applies for the marketplace stuff, the products and service don't necessarily live up to the standards of the vendor I think I'm shopping with, and if I experience a problem I have to jump through more hoops to get it resolved. If I buy something from Amazon for example and it is actually sold by some random seller that screws me, this reflects badly on Amazon and degrades my overall experience with them.Imagine going to a fancy restaurant and having a bunch items on the menu that say in small print "fulfilled by McDonalds", now you have to scrutinize everything on the menu and make sure everything you order is all coming from the place you think it is, otherwise you might have to wait a long time for one of the items to come, the quality might not be what you expect and you probably paid twice as much for that order of fries than if you had just gone to McDonalds directly. The marketplace degrades the overall customer experience.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 06:13:33 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on October 23, 2020, 05:56:47 pmOh boy, wait until you find out about Sysco!

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 06:54:24 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on October 23, 2020, 05:56:47 pmBrilliant!Some buyers are willing to pay a higher price for the benefits of buying from a high quality vendor. And if that vendor then drops the quality level to that of the cheap competition, they will no longer be willing to pay as much and are more likely to look at alternatives.But companies like Digikey are relying on the fact that a majority of customers will probably end up paying top dollar for the McDonald's product, without knowing any better... they will hope that the customer experience isn't too terrible overall... and they will hope that people like you or I just check the appropriate box when doing our searches!

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2020, 02:27:33 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on October 23, 2020, 06:54:24 pmMaybe or maybe not. TBH, fulfilling a product at a markup where the vendor is well known for a good return policy, warranty, trust with online payments, physical presence is something done for eons now. IMO that is what the vendors are trying to leverage with the "marketplace" model.However, this is partially fulfilled by eBay and, more recently, by Aliexpress and Banggood, which changed the game for the western market by reducing the risk to access the McDonald's product. This is particularly true for the transnational transactions.BTW, brands with local presence operate on this game a lot longer: Greenlee, Voltcraft, Reed, B&K Precision, Commercial Electric, just to name a few in our trade.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2020, 02:45:17 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on October 24, 2020, 02:27:33 pmIt helps having a local presence, especially if they keep stock as well - saving a week or two in shipping can be worth money.

author: Ysjoelfir
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2020, 06:56:09 pm
content: I was wondering what all this is about, as it seemed to work the last time I was browsing digikey extensively (=for more than 5 minutes to look up a part I know). Now... well... take a look.There are several misaligned texts, the stupid marketplace thing changed from having to select "exclude" to having to unselect "include" (), and in general the UI feels slow, compared to some days ago.I realy wonder what incompetent person they hired, after searching that:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/jobs/digi-key-search-product-owner/

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2020, 07:02:12 pm
content: Oh yeah, I too set custom fonts and minimum font size and the "design" looks like crap with shit overlapping.This is what you get for not using standard controls. But DK does not care, so there is no real point in complaining.With web we lost the battle for common sense. Now we have to deal with tons of JS blat and slow load times. And people that program all that don't even realize how slow their stuff is, since they grew up looking at slow stuff.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2020, 07:20:20 pm
content: Quote from: Ysjoelfir on October 27, 2020, 06:56:09 pm"This position will lead agile teams"Ok well that explains the constant churn and breaking stuff that was working perfectly for years."We have recently upgraded to Elasticsearch, React, Node, and have quite a bit of .NET C# infrastructure"That explains the sluggish performance and generally bloated feel. If they really wanted to make the site work well, they'd throw all that out and go back to whatever they had 10 years ago because it worked just fine back then.I bet they hired people who call themselves "full stack developers" who were taught how to build social media sites and other bloated consumer junk. Any day now I expect to see a "share what you just bought on Facebook!" link hovering on the page following me around

author: E-Design
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2020, 07:39:05 pm
content: Quote from: jfiresto on October 23, 2020, 05:09:58 pmTo me, Digikey has ALWAYS been higher priced. Border lining on highway robbery if you ask me. However, they fit a really important role - buying low quantities of almost anything with fast shipping (US anyways)So its worth it sometimes - especially in a corporate setting where saving a few dollars (or hundreds) doesnt matter as much as having those few things in your hands TOMORROW.I also agree the website changes are for the worst - and now much more buggy.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2020, 07:44:56 pm
content: Quote from: E-Design on October 27, 2020, 07:39:05 pmGet used to it. One of the mantras you hear floating around in most agile shops is something along the lines of "move fast and break stuff", they advocate frequent changes and pushing everything to the bleeding edge, don't worry about bugs, we'll fix that "later" when customers start to complain about it.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2020, 10:52:32 pm
content: Quote from: E-Design on October 27, 2020, 07:39:05 pmKind of the electronics version of McMaster-Carr.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2020, 10:55:42 pm
content: Quote from: Ysjoelfir on October 27, 2020, 06:56:09 pmThat's a disturbing ad, all right. "Wanted: Electrical engineer, strong background in industrial chemical processes required. Experience in fireworks manufacturing helpful. Applications should be sent to NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas."

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2020, 07:51:54 pm
content: Quote from: Ysjoelfir on October 27, 2020, 06:56:09 pmWell in this, they made a change for the better. Excluding is a “negative” action, and requiring one to select a checkbox to do a negative action requires slightly more cognitive effort than having the selected checkbox mean the “positive” action (“include”). (Remember that in the rest of the search interface, you select the things you want, and unselect the things you don’t want. So having the box be “include” is more consistent.) Of course in a Boolean truth table they’re the exact same thing, but this is something that’s well understood in usability research and design.Quote from: Ysjoelfir on October 27, 2020, 06:56:09 pmYikes. Yeah, somebody’s head rolled, there’s no way this timing is a coincidence!

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2020, 07:55:01 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 28, 2020, 07:51:54 pmHaving the only checkbox enabled by default is also inconsistent. Yet here we are.There is no need to justify marketing driven decisions. They don't care about anything but money. And in a short term it will probably generate more money.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2020, 08:12:48 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 28, 2020, 07:55:01 pmThere is no inconsistency in having some checkboxes selected by default, because that’s not something where we need consistency. There is no added cognitive load to identifying thestateof a checkbox, whereas there is added cognitive load to parsing the meaning of the state and the title. That’s why, for example, a default-selected checkbox titled “Autocorrect” would be superior to a default-cleared checkbox titled “Don’t autocorrect”. (Never mind the “geniuses” who have the wording change along with the checkbox state, ensuring confusion...)I worked in usability for years, in particular with software interface terminology. And indeed, sometimes the best result (easiest to use) was achieved by reversing the logic of a control.None of what I said about this has anything to do with marketing.

author: VooDust
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2020, 08:56:11 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on October 27, 2020, 07:44:56 pmI'm a SW dev and I hate this mantra so much. It's the reason why for over 2 years I can't get a reliable connection between my apps and my TV. Every 2 weeks something else is breaking. Yet the HW stays the same. Go figure...It's just another way of saying "I have never worked on something that was truly critical or of any significance to life or death whatsoever".The worst part is that the rest of the industry tries to mimic these big players even when it doesn't make any f* sense.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2020, 09:18:10 pm
content: Yep. And then there’s Agile (the formal methodology) and “agile” (the “oh cool! We can cast these methodology shackles off and just do whatever and justify it as ‘agile’!” methodology). And I hazard that probably half of places adopting agile are the latter, and the other halfthinkthey’re doing the former, but in practice are doing the latter anyway...

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2020, 11:20:50 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 28, 2020, 09:18:10 pmThat's exactly it. I've worked in multiple orgs that moved to "agile" and in every case it was adopt a bunch of rituals like daily standups, sprint planning and retrospective meetings, throw out all of the specs and documentation, get rid of most or all of the real QA and just start coding. There is this push to break down tasks into smaller and smaller bite sized chunks which creates an illusion of progress as work is steadily going in, and micromanagers love the pretty graphs and charts, following the burndown rate and other stats. Reality is that the process creates a tremendous amount of overhead, larger tasks that are difficult to break down into little bite sized chunks just never actually get done, and it doesn't take long before people are (sometimes unconsciously) massaging things to make the graphs look nice. Invariably in my experience product quality suffers. Frequent updates are touted as something good, that customers always have the latest and greatest. All it really means is that customers are now on the bleeding edge caught in a perpetual beta and are now a substantial part of the QA team.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2020, 03:36:51 am
content: Sounds like Altium pretty much.

author: gnavigator1007
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 01, 2020, 10:22:48 pm
content: Drinking a beer now because digikey just logged me off and lost all the odds and ends in my cart. 3rd time something like this has happened recently on digikeyThe thing is that most of what I'm ordering was already thru other distributors just so I could minimise the hassle of dealing with the digikey site. What I had in the cart were equivalents of out of stock items from the other distributors.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2020, 11:50:05 pm
content: Quote from: gnavigator1007 on November 01, 2020, 10:22:48 pmIs this some "security" feature that kicks you out after a certain time?

author: gnavigator1007
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 01, 2020, 11:58:38 pm
content: Possibly, but they were also having server issues throughout the day. Just a huge pain in the ass when jumping between browser tabs. I did manage to recover most of the cart after getting 404 on the login intermittently

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2020, 02:54:04 pm
content: It might be a timeout. Sometimes when working through an order at work there would be a meeting of some kind, and then after returning it would be lost. A workaround is to collect all the parts in a spreadsheet and upload the spreadsheet.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2020, 04:31:48 pm
content: Interesting that you are losing a BOM this way. Many rep websites keeps the information when items are added to cart AND I am logged in. That happens with sophisticated sites such as Newark, Mouser and even on crude websites like BGMicro.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2020, 05:23:21 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on November 02, 2020, 04:31:48 pmJust as an FYI, on Digi-Key, a BOM is a totally separate thing from a cart. But DK has quite robust BOM and cart management (allowing multiple saved carts, shared company-editable BOMs, etc).DK, like many sites, will allow you to add things to the cart when not logged in, and then merges them with the existing cart saved in your account when you log in.Clearly what gnavigator1007 experienced was a bug, not a design decision.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2020, 06:42:13 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on November 02, 2020, 05:23:21 pmYes, all these sites have a formal BOM manager, although I meant BOM as its more generic definition.

author: gnavigator1007
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 03, 2020, 01:49:55 am
content: Yeah this was just an issue with the cart, though I've had separate problems with the BoM manager. This time it did at least save part of the cart I had going and didn't lose everything. Unfortunate that I had to redo a good bit of stuff, but I really should have been building the order in csv and uploading. Was lazy on my part, but was also hoping to avoid previous issues of uploading and editing BoM. This was comparatively small order compared to when I've encountered BoM manager problems and thought I could get away with it

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2020, 04:01:52 am
content: Were you logged in when you started the cart? I've always been able to resume my DigiKey cart as long as I'm logged in.Those carts that automatically empty if you step away for too long drive me absolutely crazy. If only companies realized how many sales they lose from that. There have been many occasions where I've gone through and put a bunch of stuff in my cart intending to buy it, got distracted and came back to an empty cart and then decided I didn't really need the stuff badly enough to go through all the trouble of adding it again and just abandoned the idea.

author: gnavigator1007
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 03:10:47 am
content: I was indeed logged in when this occurred and fortunately I was able to resume part of the cart I had going. Once I was able to login again, the cart showed 0 items. Found that most of my items had been saved by going to the cart tools menu and selecting "add carts". Not sure why it didn't save everything or why it logged me out or why I came back to a new cart with nothing in it once I could login again. Maybe a browser issue on my endQuote from: james_s on November 03, 2020, 04:01:52 amI've got quite the habit of keeping things in carts that should probably be wishlisted. Been bitten several times checking out in a hurry for a single item only to quickly realise afterwards that I just bought a ton of other stuff I'd been waffling on. You'd think I'd learn after the first time, but so far nope.I wonder if the self emptying carts have something to do with inventory management. Not really the same thing, but I remember when Dave first put the 121gw up for early sale to supporters that more people were able to complete checkout than he actually had stock for. I can see how people like myself could cause further issues depending on how it's set up.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 03:17:27 am
content: Quote from: gnavigator1007 on November 05, 2020, 03:10:47 amIf that is the case, I know that both Mouser and Newark are ahead: they update my cart with items that flipped to backorder status.

author: gnavigator1007
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 03:44:28 am
content: Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that digikey is one of those sites that intentionally empties carts. The problems I've had with them seem more like errors to me.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 04:55:19 pm
content: Well I just had a go at searching Digikey.ca. What an unusable fuxored mess. I search with find chips for a part say STM32H730VBT.Find chips api to digikey finds stock. Click on the link and get 404 type error. So I go to digikey's parts search box and can't find the part. So then try parametric search with STM32H7 series , 550 Mhz, and LQFP100. I can tell it is finding the parts according to the parts found count, but then it craps out when I click "apply selection" with nothing.

author: olkipukki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 07:16:19 pm
content: Why only Digi-Key?For last (say) 5 years, you can apply the template "____ has changed and it is not very good" to any in Top 10 distributors

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 08:02:00 pm
content: Quote from: olkipukki on November 05, 2020, 07:16:19 pmApply it to other e-commerce sites too... e.g. eBay lost the ability to do wildcard searches e.g. "HP54*" many years ago, and I still haven't forgiven them!

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 10:08:09 pm
content: Yeah, ebay dropping wild card support was super annoying. I had to rewrite almost all my saved searches. I think the biggest winner in any stupid search contest would be Amazon. Their reviews system is amazingly bad due to jumbling almost anything remotely similar in the results. Looking for a power supply a few weeks ago, I was finally able to somewhat narrow down reviews to the one I wanted by filtering results according to "style" and "color".

author: olkipukki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 11:15:37 pm
content: If you constantly using Digikey, Mouser, ... or either eBay, worth to invest some time to learn their APIs and automate in-house process. Of course, there're limitations, but you don't see in front a screen and pulling out your hairs...I would suggest to start from Mouser since their Search API is straight forward, literally request/response in Python scripting can be done in minutes. DigiKey/eBay is a whole routine dance should be perform in order to get into the system.

author: fixit
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 06, 2020, 03:59:00 am
content: Quote from: rfdes on October 10, 2020, 10:48:59 pmso with the help of "rfdes", I spoke with Digi-key and to the surprise of the attendant, she verified that they have free shipping but it is all by mail to request and deliver.for some one that has 4x the shipping cost to the merchandice costs, this is a great help.

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2020, 02:37:11 pm
content: Quote from: chickenHeadKnob on November 05, 2020, 04:55:19 pmYeah, I don't see any advantages to the new setup. It is certainly slower and less usable here. Having to select "More Filters" all the time is stupid, the display is so much less dense that it is super annoying to use, many searches seem to end up on the manufacturer landing page instead of the product you're searching for, etc. etc. Absolutely terrible. Dumb, dumb, dumb....My question is, what was wrong with the old interface?What couldn't they change or add to the existing, much more usable interface?Also, if it WAS necessary for some reason (difficult to believe) then why, WHY re-invent the wheel without sufficient testing?!!Just my $.02...Digikey?Are you listening?!!Why you gotta make our lives more difficultto your own detriment??!Why?! WHY would you do this?!!(... let me guess... corporate overlords?)P.S.Fuck Beta!!

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2020, 06:31:31 pm
content: Quote from: drussell on November 06, 2020, 02:37:11 pmProbably nothing, apart from the perception it looked "old" and "outdated". I see this in the corporate world all the time: the cyclic perception that the face of the company needs to "evolve" and "follow trends", which usually detracts from the usability. In my experience, the biggest tug-of-war for the past 10-15 years is about the amount of data presented at once. The technical folks usually sees the practicality of having everything in a single page with an easy Ctrl-F to find things. The publishing/marketing tends to move towards a more hierarchical aproach with the style du jour (tabs, left trees, right rolling TOCs, etc.). Regardless the approach, I have seen a lot of instances where the front end changes while the infrastructure is still picking up.

author: E-Design
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2020, 06:38:36 pm
content: Quote from: chickenHeadKnob on November 05, 2020, 04:55:19 pmI just put "STM32H730VBT" into Digikey search box and it went right to it. Must have been under maintenance when you tried it.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2020, 06:43:40 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on November 06, 2020, 06:31:31 pmThis is exactly my observation. The college courses on web design are all geared toward trendy social media type websites so the current generation of web developers pretty much all learned to design this sort of site so it gets used everywhere, even sites like DigiKey where it is not at all appropriate. There is this trend toward "clean" interfaces, which is infuriating as it means TONS of useless white space, content that should fit comfortably on a 640x480 display feels cramped on a 1080p monitor, with as much functionality as possible hidden in cryptic little menus. If corporate had any sense they would recognize that DigiKey's customers are almost all engineers, and that their site should be utilitarian, tailored to these users who make up the bulk of their customer base. None of us care if it looks "dated", we care that it works, we care that it enables us to quickly find the parts we need. Stop trying to be Facebook or Amazon and focus 100% on making the site functional and meeting the needs of the core customer base. This sort of idiocy that is going on can make or break a company.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2020, 07:08:42 pm
content: The DigiKey web site fiasco is what happens when you let a web design team have at it with zero input from customers - no user acceptance testing at all.In the financial industry, making any change at all to the user interface pretty much guarantees that the customers will not accept the upgrade. I visited a few sites to understand why. I found that traders are so used to the way the screens are, that they don't even look at them - they type information into them blindly, and just trust the application to behave consistently every time.Unlike us poor slob Digikey customers, the financial industry has enough clout to tell their vendors to go back to the old screen and insist that any new features do not interfere with how things already work today.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2020, 10:46:46 pm
content: The only "marketplace" I will ever accept from the likes of DK is drop-shipping. This makes sense and I see the benefit - it expands our access to parts which are not stocked by DK itself for one reason or another - too low volume, too specialist, too expensive, too much PITA to store/handle, whatever.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2020, 02:58:46 am
content: Quote from: E-Design on November 06, 2020, 06:38:36 pmYes it is working for me now. Previously I was getting an internal error landing page

author: Ysjoelfir
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 06:34:22 pm
content: So... did they revert all the changes? Stupid marketplace is gone, search is back to normal and all options get shown completely expanded from the beginning on, and I get the impression its WAY quicker again.Could it realy be that they trusted their users? If so - I am very pleased!

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 06:46:17 pm
content: Quote from: Ysjoelfir on November 13, 2020, 06:34:22 pmWhy would they?At least in the US nothing has changed.

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 06:49:38 pm
content: Nope, not here anyway...It's still the same stupid, new "let's beta test all this, live on our users" interface here...

author: Ysjoelfir
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 07:32:50 pm
content: Yep, it came back to me now as well. Strange. Have been working with DK the whole day and was rather enthusiastic. Meh.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 07:36:23 pm
content: Quote from: Ysjoelfir on November 13, 2020, 06:34:22 pmDid they ever roll out the new interface to Germany? digikey.ch, for example, has not gotten it at all.

author: E-Design
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 07:38:43 pm
content: Its way quicker for me now too. However, I still see the marketplace option.. though, at this point I dont see any bugs that I have been having..

author: Ysjoelfir
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 08:00:57 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on November 13, 2020, 07:36:23 pmYep, have seen it before, then it was gone, now its back :/

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 08:23:42 pm
content: Looks like a variation of the new interface here (east US). But the performance has been improved dramatically - no worse than the old site with what I tried, and maybe better. Also, each row in the results takes up less space than last time I tried it. Progress!The only irritation I have left is - why limit the number of rows displayed to 100? It used to be much higher, if I remember correctly... something like 250 or 500. In any event - if anyone from DK is reading this - is it possible to up the limit? If you have a modern desktop PC, it saves time to just be able to load everything into one page, especially if the performance of the sorting/selection code is now good.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 11:03:35 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on November 13, 2020, 08:23:42 pmThat's planned in the near-ish term.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 11:35:18 pm
content: And get rid of the need to click the show more filters button every time, OMG that is aggravating. Does whoever is working on the website actually not realize that the default set of filters that is shown is never enough to select any part, ever? You literally have to click that EVERY TIME for EVERY PART and it has been that way now for quite a long time.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2020, 11:42:34 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on November 13, 2020, 11:35:18 pm^^^^^^ Many times this. Despite how stupid the whole new version is, this is the most annoying of it all. You have to press this thing every single time.You may as well just hide the whole block and have users press to show everything. It will be identical in usability and functionality.I had a greasemonkey script worked out that would just automatically open it, but that broke with the new update and I have no patience to deal with the JS BS.One of the most common parameters I limit when narrowing down my search is the package type, since I know the number of pins I want and I don't want BGAs. This is a good first filter for me. And it is always hidden.

author: E-Design
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2020, 02:03:36 am
content: Quote from: james_s on November 13, 2020, 11:35:18 pmYes, I dont think I have ever not expanded to see more filter selections...The default should be expanded with the option to hide if if needed. And they also need uncheck that stupid marketplace tick box by default. Really who uses that.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2020, 02:19:51 am
content: I do not think they will do it but anyways I would like to add my voice for default uncheck of the idiotic marketplace option.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2020, 02:33:35 am
content: I challenge anyone to choose a part, any part, without clicking that idiotic un-hide button, with better accuracy than dumb luck. Unless you search for the exact part number you need or manage to nail every one of the search terms there is just no way. The choices it does show you don't even make any sense. For example I just tried searching for "NPN transistor", a fairly common thing I might search for when ordering for a project. It gives me by defaultManufacture,Series,Packaging,Part StatusandTransistor Type. Out of all of those, Transistor Type and if it's a production prototype then also Part Status are the only ones that are even remotely useful as a starting point. Manufacture? Who cares,I don't even see ANY of the electrical specs yet.Series? If I knew what series I wanted I'd have typed that in the search box. Packaging? Seriously?! I still have no idea what part I'm looking for and I'm going to want to filter based on the type of packaging it is shipped in?This is just... I can picture Dave moaning and slapping his forehead the way he does when he's really exasperated by something. It shows just a complete lack of understanding of the way their intended customers select parts and selling electronic components to engineers is their entire core business. It is inexcusable.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2020, 05:21:19 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on November 13, 2020, 11:35:18 pmFixing that is also on the near-ish term plan.

author: jmelson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2020, 12:06:11 am
content: Quote from: drussell on November 13, 2020, 06:49:38 pmI just checked a bunch of the parts I commonly buy. Lots of them seem to have price increases since the last time I looked, which has been a while.Anybody know why there's no volume discount for Xilinx? If you order 10,000 parts, you still pay the single-piece price on them.Jon

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2020, 02:41:12 am
content: Quote from: jmelson on November 15, 2020, 12:06:11 amIME Xilinx prices are usually heavily marked down through NDA price negotiations.

author: jmelson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2020, 03:36:22 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on November 18, 2020, 02:41:12 amOK, I looked a couple other places, and Digi-Key still seems to have the best prices on Xilinx. They used to all be the same.Jon

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2020, 02:44:44 am
content: Still getting the "Let’s try again. The page you requested is unavailable." on most of my Digikey website clicks. If I reload the page twice it works. Click on a few parameters to sort by, nothing happens but the spinning wait icon.Totally unusable now. Look at these errors from two browsersCode:Use of the orientation sensor is deprecated. 4921c28bd65ti201b04569934b84faa43:1:47313Use of the motion sensor is deprecated. 4921c28bd65ti201b04569934b84faa43:1:47358The resource at “https://s.go-mpulse.net/boomerang/YQEZK-AGCLT-A89TW-DLE3C-K72A2” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19The resource at “https://app-ab06.marketo.com//index.php/form/getForm?munchki…ck=jQuery112403995727783051325_1606185493200&_=1606185493201” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19The script from “https://analytics.analytics-egain.com/onetag/EG86992109” was loaded even though its MIME type (“application/json”) is not a valid JavaScript MIME type. 19Loading failed for the <script> with source “https://analytics.analytics-egain.com/onetag/EG86992109”. 19:1:1Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at https://cdnssl.clicktale.net/www/ptc/f2d6d095-ea80-42e0-a686-8b47d9d214da.js. (Reason: CORS request did not succeed).The resource at “https://resources.xg4ken.com/js/v2/ktag.js?tid=KT-N3601-3EB” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19The resource at “https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19The resource at “https://cdnssl.clicktale.net/www/ptc/f2d6d095-ea80-42e0-a686-8b47d9d214da.js” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19<script> source URI is not allowed in this document: “https://cdnssl.clicktale.net/www/ptc/f2d6d095-ea80-42e0-a686-8b47d9d214da.js”. 19:1:1The resource at “https://snap.licdn.com/li.lms-analytics/insight.min.js” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19The resource at “https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/viewthroughconver…Distributor DigiKey&hn=www.google.com&async=1&rfmt=3&fmt=4” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19The resource at “https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/viewthroughconver…Components Distributor DigiKey&hn=www.google.com&async=1” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19The resource at “https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/viewthroughconver…Components Distributor DigiKey&hn=www.google.com&async=1” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19The resource at “https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/viewthroughconver…Components Distributor DigiKey&hn=www.google.com&async=1” was blocked because content blocking is enabled. 19Blocked https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/category/discrete-semiconductor-products/19?s=N4IgTCBcDaIMoBUAKBGADAOQNIHY0C0QBdAXyA from extracting canvas data because no user input was detected. 4921c28bd65ti201b04569934b84faa43:1:67972Blocked https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/category/discrete-semiconductor-products/19?s=N4IgTCBcDaIMoBUAKBGADAOQNIHY0C0QBdAXyA from extracting canvas data because no user input was detected. 4921c28bd65ti201b04569934b84faa43:1:68280Blocked https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/category/discrete-semiconductor-products/19?s=N4IgTCBcDaIMoBUAKBGADAOQNIHY0C0QBdAXyA from extracting canvas data because no user input was detected. 4921c28bd65ti201b04569934b84faa43:1:67972Blocked https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/category/discrete-semiconductor-products/19?s=N4IgTCBcDaIMoBUAKBGADAOQNIHY0C0QBdAXyA from extracting canvas data because no user input was detected. 4921c28bd65ti201b04569934b84faa43:1:68280Source map error: SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected character at line 1 column 1 of the JSON dataResource URL: https://www.digikey.com/-/media/Designer/Misc/SuggestionSear…rsuggest.js?la=en-CA&ts=a6626b6c-6132-42dc-ba51-ae554438bb12Source Map URL: searchbarsuggest.js.mapSource map error: SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected character at line 1 column 1 of the JSON dataResource URL: https://www.digikey.ca/-/media/Designer/Header/ENav Update…selector.js?la=en-CA&ts=c9ca953f-d371-43db-953e-94bea096af30Source Map URL: countryselectorraw.js.mapSource map error: SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected character at line 1 column 1 of the JSON dataResource URL: https://www.digikey.ca/-/media/Designer/Header/ENav Update…combined.js?la=en-CA&ts=f0310754-793e-4045-91a8-7482f5576ee4Source Map URL: standard.js.mapSource map error: SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected character at line 1 column 1 of the JSON dataResource URL: https://www.digikey.ca/-/media/Designer/Footer/Footer Rede…cobrowse.js?la=en-CA&ts=5fcc3c08-20c2-4003-b73f-e4c3395595a1Source Map URL: cobrowse.js.map

author: sean0118
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2020, 05:00:39 am
content: I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but the Australian Digikey seems completely broken at the moment. There's a bunch of component search parameters missing.For example, if you look at SMD chip resistors, there is no "thin film" listed under composition:https://www.digikey.com.au/products/en/resistors/chip-resistor-surface-mount/52

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2020, 05:03:53 am
content: At least your UI is not a total trash, and marketplace is not yet added. Soon it will be worse.Also, US version is also missing that option.

author: sean0118
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2020, 05:14:17 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on November 24, 2020, 05:03:53 amOh no, the problem must be spreading.Yesterday I was using the US site to search for parts, then ordered using the AUS site. Looks like the US site is broken now too.I don't like the new UI of the US site either...

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2020, 06:28:54 pm
content: I would guess this sort of thing will become the norm. If they're using an "agile" team to develop the website then they will be continuously tinkering and changing things, and if they break something "no problem, we'll fix it later".

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 24, 2020, 07:50:19 pm
content: DK sent me a survey yesterday about their website. I told them everything I thought about their "redesign" in no uncertain termsI suggest you guys do the same if you receive that invitation too. Let's see if that will make any difference.

author: jmelson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2020, 04:24:17 pm
content: Quote from: asmi on November 24, 2020, 07:50:19 pmYup, same here, I hope I gave them a good-enough tongue lashing.Also, we ordered some stuff at work via purchase order, I didn't notice it was a marketplace item. They won't allow you to buy marketplace items on open account/PO. That's another big red flag on this marketplace thing. That's just a big annoyance, you now have to check that EACH item in not marketplace.Jon

author: Mark19960
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2020, 11:52:21 pm
content: I would like to see the marketplace stuff NOT INCLUDED by default.Or some way to turn it off.This whole marketplace thing does not give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.There is certainly a level of trust with Digi-Key that you won't get dodgy counterfeit parts.But opening things up to third parties... I just don't feel comfortable with it. It's the narrow end of the wedge.The way I see it... I go to Digi-Key to buy from Digi-Key.Just not a fan of this "Amazonification" of things.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 12:08:08 am
content: That would prevent them from making money without doing any work at all. The capitalist dream all in one checkbox.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 12:22:07 am
content: Quote from: Mark19960 on November 25, 2020, 11:52:21 pmThe first time I accidentally order something from some random marketplace vendor when I was trying to order from Digikey is the last time I try ordering anything from Digikey. Either turn it off by default, or provide a way for me to turn it off so that it stays off.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 12:54:18 am
content: Do they have rules/policies to vet marketplace vendors? Did they explain this anywhere?

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 01:07:53 am
content: Quote from: Mark19960 on November 25, 2020, 11:52:21 pmThere is a blue iOS-style slide "switch" there to turn it off, but...QuoteIndeed!!!

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 01:10:59 am
content: Quote from: drussell on November 26, 2020, 01:07:53 amWhere? I don't have a switch.

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 01:21:55 am
content: Quote from: james_s on November 26, 2020, 12:22:07 amYeah, this doesn't cut it for me, it's even worse than having to hit "more filters"....I've normally liked Digikey, they used to even send me giant print catalogs a few times per year (which I still refer to once in a while, actually...) For decades they've been my go-to supplier, especially since I can order something at 8pm and it's at my door at home or the reception desk at the office the next morning, but all this recent fuckery leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and I will now spend my own precious time to actively seek out other alternativesfirst.Are youlisteningDigikey?!This bullshit must stop!

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 01:34:01 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on November 26, 2020, 01:10:59 amI should not have to have to flick this switchEVERY GOD DAMN TIME!... and new, or less aware customers should not have to deal with thiscrapto begin with!Don't dare just try to save it as a cookie, and it should certainly not be on by default!Digikey≠Amazon, and for good reason!!FAIL!FAIL!!!

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 01:38:51 am
content: Quote from: drussell on November 26, 2020, 01:34:01 amWell, yes, we know about that. That's what we were discussing in this thread. Without this option DK would be the same as AliExpress.That's the problem here - it is not persistent and never will be unless they see less profit. Which from my side already happens, my last order went to Mouser and another one will be coming up after the holidays. But I'm a small fish, DK would not care.

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 01:42:02 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on November 26, 2020, 01:38:51 amI'm small as well, $20kish/year, but I have also switched to Mouser.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 04:09:53 am
content: I'd bought from Digi-Key in the mid 1970's when they first started business, catering to the small orders and hobbyists. They were the most expensive distributor around and still are, but their service is what you pay for.Engineers doing small stuff and prototyping paved the way for the larger orders and production. Back in the day when customers meant something.ThisMarketplacecrap is all about profit: "Digi-Key takes a 25% commission from the sale price of each order."They even offer price-fixing:"Digi-Key does reserve the right to modify prices for two purposes:-Adherence to price fixing laws, and-If a supplier were to enter the market and attempt to undercut all competition by lowering their sale price below standard market pricing, we would adjust the price upward to put all suppliers on an equal footing. We don’t want a supplier trying to “buy” the market and force out the competition. At the same time, at no point would we adjust downward the resale cost, as that would impact the market as a whole and reduce the revenue of the supplier – obviously unfair to all involved."Can I search and select Marketplace only? No. Then what's special about it?I would want oddball, boutique parts sold in it (marketplace), how about some variety and fun parts... but we all know it will soon get polluted with vendors just reselling cheap parts from the bowels of Shenzen, some at silly high prices just like Amazon, Best Buy etc. retailers. There is mention of the Marketplace for services, perhaps PCB's orTindie-kind-of offerings- but 25% markup is kinda high? Tindie is 5%.Quote from: Bud on November 26, 2020, 12:54:18 amI don't see any criteria in their FAQ. It doesn't really matter, because they are just pimping out the vendor to make money and who would be against that?It's too bad they are just copycatting other e-commerce sites instead of innovating or providing something customers actually want.

author: wizard69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 04:16:29 am
content: Quote from: Tony_G on October 11, 2020, 12:12:34 amI actually like white space. Some web sites are just so congested I find them unusable, Newark for example.QuoteOf all the web sins listed above the use of auto playing video is perhaps the most infuriating. Frankly I'd love to see a browser that runs off this abomination. Which brings up a question for everyone, is this a possibility on any web browser?QuoteI see this constantly on all sorts of updated web sites. tons of bloody Javascript that slows everything down and makes for a site that really doesn't work any better than the old and often a lot worse.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 05:10:20 am
content: Quote from: wizard69 on November 26, 2020, 04:16:29 amI just looked at Newark and I think the issue is not a lack of white space, but the fact that the background is all white everywhere. Adding acres of white space is not the solution, adding a bit of gray to the background with different shades to separate groups of related items from each other is. For about the last 5 years the trend has been to have everything just floating in a vast sea of stark white background, web and applications too. Then instead of bringing back sensible design they come up with "dark mode" that just flips the situation to have everything floating loose in a sea of black. Then they add more and more empty space between everything. Pixels are expensive and always in short supply, it pisses me off when software and websites consume massive amounts gratuitously.I should be able to fit as much or more information on my screen than I could 10-15 years ago when resolutions were lower but I can't.Don't even get me started on autoplay video, I'd like to lynch whoever decided that was a good idea. It makes sense on sites like youtube where you go there *to watch video* but I loathe having video start playing with blaring audio, especially news sites where you close the video window and it pops up again whenever you navigate. There is a plugin I have in Brave (Chrome based) called Disable HTML5 Autoplay, that fixes it for me.

author: obuone
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 05:48:51 am
content: True. Check this glitch. Every time you click anywhere on the parametric bar it creates new "Voltage Offset" window.... What happened to you Digi

author: Mark19960
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 07:11:49 am
content: Quote from: dr.diesel on November 26, 2020, 01:42:02 amI have started to move in this direction myself. It didn't help them when their website decided to remove all of the items from my basket.My prediction is that Mouser will follow them and do the same thing themselves.Everyone wants to be Amazon and I want to be certain I am buying from Digi-Key and ONLY Digi-Key.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2020, 04:22:54 pm
content: Regarding it losing your whole cart: any chance you accidentally made a new cart? DK lets you save and change between carts, and if you use some features (like adding a BOM to your cart) it offers to put it into anewcart by default. (The old one is saved and can be accessed from the cart manager.) But at first glance one will think the old cart was obliterated.

author: Mark19960
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2020, 07:44:25 am
content: Quote from: tooki on November 26, 2020, 04:22:54 pmGood thought mate but I checked that.I have had Digi-Key munch the basket before. It's been a very long time since it has happened last.It may be a coincidence that they have been working on these other bits and bobs and my basket was emptied.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2020, 07:29:08 am
content: OMG I was able to search aluminium electrolytic capacitors and the website did not make me scream in frustration.Hurrah, there is hope - the site is improving.But 2,611 incorrectly have polarization specified as a "-", instead of "Polar" or Bi-polar". WTF is a "-" anyhow.Then I found Kemet motor start caps "general purpose" and "polar". Sigh. And the usual Kemet website "You don't have permission to access /component-edge/download/datasheet/040MS22AAMK1STD.pdf on this server". Mouser has the datasheet, 3D models and stock...Film capacitors are still awkward - you still can't specify a voltage range. Click click click click click click click click click click. Unlike electrolytics where you can say ">100V".

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2020, 02:09:38 pm
content: When metadata is wrong, report it. I’ve found that about 80% of the time they’ll fix it right away. (Sometimes, they defer to the manufacturer description, even if the manufacturer uses nonstandard terminology, which is infuriating. But still, 80% is better than nothing.) They always, always respond, which puts them ahead of most companies...

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2020, 07:05:37 am
content: Quote from: floobydust on November 29, 2020, 07:29:08 amCan't you click, scroll then shift-click to select a range?Even so it's still cumbersome, and that's the case with a lot of parts. I'd like to be able to select max and/or min thresholds on virtually any metric. It's especially annoying when the sort order is screwy.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2020, 06:57:15 pm
content: This is the dumbness - no voltage range or simple top limit for film capacitors, and other parts. But they have it for electrolytics.Quote from: tooki on November 29, 2020, 02:09:38 pmYes I report the few parts that are wrong in the database whenever I run into it, and only a few arguments so far.But, over dud parameters like asking why thousands of parts have a polarity spec of "-" or " " is like asking support and hearing "have you tried another browser?".They could add a mouseover or explanation for these odd parameters.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2020, 07:36:16 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on November 30, 2020, 06:57:15 pmFor what it's worth, the dash means one of two things.The specific parameter wasn't available when the part was laded (maybe it wasn't in the datasheet at all, isn't applicable, or the datasheet wasn't available) or the part's just haven't made it all the way through the queue of getting their information added.Quote from: floobydust on November 30, 2020, 06:57:15 pmnoted

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2020, 10:00:58 pm
content: I've seen a dash, star and blank in the parameter lists. It's silly because why would I search for parts with incomplete or late data coming in? Who is going to click on that, really.What's the star mean?

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2020, 10:47:51 pm
content: The dash does have a poweruser use case. If you are unsure of whether a parameter in a specific column is filled in or not, you can include the dash along with any other parameters of your choice to keep from improperly eliminating parts that may not have that single parameter filled in. Since filling out data isn't a perfect science it gives people an option to be overinclusive rather than having no way to include those thousands of dashed products in the results. It sounds silly, but it really does get used this way.The series should be the only place you should see asterisk today. It's a holdover from when there were separate placeholders for "data not filled in yet" (*) and "parameter doesn't exist" (-). I believe it's still there in Series due to some legacy system limitations.Having those placeholders at the top with no explanation is definitely a less than ideal experience, it's been hanging around on a list of cleanup tasks for a while.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2020, 09:37:24 am
content: Why do prices have so many trailing zeros? You don't have that many significant digits anyhow.If the price is below a dollar, or below $0.10 THEN add the sig digits (just like Mouser) as necessary.Customers looking at micropennies? Seriously? This kind of stuff makes the website look like it was put together carelessly.

author: cortex_m0
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 05:09:18 am
content: One thing I noticed at work today: the part number search is now fuzzy. If I type in a part number that has a TI prefix (SN74), I explicitly do not want you to try and show me related/similar parts. I want parts that contain that string of charactersonly.For example, if you type in SN74LVC1G07 for a SINGLE buffer, I get results including SN74LVC2G07 for a DUAL buffer and also SN74LVC3G07 TRIPLE buffers.Or you type ATSAM4S into search, and the results include ATSAM3S MCUs in the results!I can't find a rhyme or reason. Spent a while putting in partial resistor part numbers, and can't reproduce such problems in that category. I was a bit surprised to read through this thread without seeing other complaints about this...

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 05:53:02 am
content: It's pretty clear that whoever is calling the shots is trying to be more like Amazon, and that person does not understand DK's core business or the customers they cater to.Something looks different every time I look, but you STILL have to click the Show More button and you STILL have to un-check the show marketplace items button EVERY SINGLE TIME. DK has been my go-to supplier for decades but they are quickly sliding down on that list.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 02:52:29 pm
content: Quote from: cortex_m0 on December 02, 2020, 05:09:18 amGoogle was eventually forced to include a "Verbatim" mode, they got so many complaints about unwanted fuzzy results...In truth, fuzzy results can sometimes be useful even for non-n00b users. But it needs to be turn-on-and-offable!

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 02:55:37 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on December 02, 2020, 05:53:02 amIf Digikey kept stock for the marketplace participants - so we had something like "Fulfilment by Digikey" with fast shipping, fast handling of returns etc. - the marketplace idea might actually add value?

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 06:00:32 pm
content: I always assumed that was how it worked in the first place. If I ran DigiKey or Mouser or Newark, I'd look for ways to keep all that inventory off of my own books. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to act as a central warehouse and fulfillment center, where component makers store whatever fraction of their production runs that they want to make available at retail?Perhaps they could delegate their inventory management the way grocery stores do nowadays, where the person stocking the shelves is more likely to be a rack jobber than an employee of the store itself. At that point, a company like DigiKey would have only one job besides shipping the parts out, which is to run a proper search engine. Apparently that's difficult enough to serve as a basis for competition all by itself.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 06:06:30 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on December 02, 2020, 02:55:37 pmIt may have value, but don't make me turn it off every single time I search for a part. That's absolutely horrible user experience. Fact is I don't want to use it, it doesn't have value *to me*, it's something that gets in my way and degrades my customer experience.

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 06:11:14 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on December 02, 2020, 02:55:37 pmThat's not even what they're doing, though....They're just taking a cut of the order that is placed direct from the marketplace seller or manufacturer and shipped from there:Quote

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 06:11:59 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on December 02, 2020, 02:55:37 pmBut that's what DK does for the main suppliers. How is that different from their actual business?The whole point of marketplace is for DK to not handler storage and shiping.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 07:17:11 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on December 02, 2020, 06:11:59 pmI presume the traditional model would be that DK buys inventory from the main suppliers, as opposed to having the suppliers place the inventory with them on consignment?If they could get suppliers to work on that basis, they would free up capital otherwise locked up in inventory.Quote from: ataradov on December 02, 2020, 06:11:59 pmThe storage and shipping (and the web site, and their inventory management system!) is exactly what most commenters here seem to value about DigiKey. So, by getting the marketplace customers to provide inventory "for free", DK can grow without the capital cost of buying all that inventory themselves... just like Amazon, who they appear to be inspired by. No?

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 08:30:34 pm
content: For 25% commission, Digi-Key whores out their brand name, best in the business.Are the Marketplace vendors or products vetted, stocked, warrantied by Digi-Key? Or just drop-shipping.Looks like they have an exec who doesn't know the business at all, let alone e-commerce, doing a copycat project. Yup, let's go to the next level copying retailers Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Newegg etc. they have a marketplace uh so we should have one.A stellar moment of originality, brilliance followed by clown-level rollout.We all know partners/affiliates are full of counterfeits, fakes, ripoff pricing and are high risk purchases followed by endless hassle doing a return or warranty claim. With electronics builds, a dud part can do far more damage than a consumer item.Like a teaser, marketplace products show up as new releases, videos even back a year ago, but I can't buy the marketplace item:"Parts not available in this currency""Products from this Supplier are not available outside the United States"What a joke, the pumpkin head behind all this needs a spanking.Same with the one behind prices displayed in five or more significant digits wasting screen real-estate and overall looking silly.How do you not know e-commerce, this badly- yet are in charge of website design

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 09:26:39 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on December 02, 2020, 08:30:34 pmThat is the deciding factor, right? - if it is just drop shipping, they are "whoring out their brand" as you so succinctly put it. On the other hand, if they do more than drop shipping, they would be adding value.Note that Amazon adds value with their Fulfillment by Amazon model, which is valuable enough that I often choose Amazon over eBay for that reason alone (fast and reliable shipping).

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2020, 10:34:44 pm
content: Digikey used to have one of the best if not the best search engine. Amazon is the one that has absolutely horrible search.

author: radar_macgyver
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 05:38:34 am
content: Another quirk of the 'marketplace' is that DK will not quote you prices for a marketplace item. If you upload a .csv file with a bunch of part numbers, any 'marketplace' item gets silently dropped. The project I'm working on now requires that I get quotes for all items, this cost me a bunch of time trying to sort out; eventually had to get a separate order just for the 'marketplace' stuff.Also, all the JS based filtering is apparently too much for Firefox to handle, so clicking the back button is equivalent to removing all filters.

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 01:10:47 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on December 02, 2020, 07:17:11 pmWhat makes you think Digikey is currently the one financing all their inventory?I highly doubt they're ever directly the ones paying for most of their "in stock" merchandise before it is sold.QuoteNo, no no... You don't seem to understand. The whole point of these people moving to a "marketplace" model is so that they don't have to warehouse things. It's not mostly about which entity has the cost of those parts on their books, it is about the cost ofstoringthose parts.If a manufacturer could just send on all their excess inventory for the likes of Digikey to "hold onto" for them until it's sold, what would stop them from just sloughing off all their stuff that doesn't move quickly, any unnecessary inventory that their major clients don't need today, off onto the likes of Digikey's free warehouse-my-shit program under your scenario.... That'sNOTwhat they're doing with "marketplace." If I want one of the items they're hocking in their "marketplace" I will just go directly to that supplier and save the 25% cut that Digikey is trying to take.Digikey won't ever be warehousing any of this "marketplace" stuff!!! It will not be "fullfilled by Digikey" !!!If it were, I would be able to order it directly from their stock!Whoever is now in charge at Digikey apparently has some kind of long-term wet-dream goal of just taking a 25% cut of everything that gets ordered though their portal, without actually having to warehouse anything or do the logistics of shipping it out. It is a fundamental shift in the mentality for a supplier like Digikey.RIP, Digikey... It's been a slice...You will be missed...What's Mouser's shipping system to Canada usually like? I suppose I'll try them for my next order.

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 01:16:25 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on December 02, 2020, 09:26:39 pmThey're just whoring out their brand with "marketplace", they're doing nothing more than taking your order, processing your payment and sending it on to the other entity to send to you on that third party's terms, taking a 25% commission in the process.This isNOTfulfillment by Digikey. This is the worst of the Amazon "Marketplace" where you buy something from China "through" Amazon that you could have got directly on Ali for 1/3 the price.RIP, Digikey...

author: olkipukki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 01:33:15 pm
content: DK is almost ready to became full-time "FBA"Quotehttp://www.digikey.com/en/resources/about-digikey#tabs-2

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 04:09:14 pm
content: Quote from: drussell on December 03, 2020, 01:10:47 pm100 CAD minimum for free shipping (and $20 if below that, so pad your orders!), DDP via Fedex, UPS or DHL, or DAP (though I don't know why would you even do that in presence of DDP). In my experience (Waterloo region, Ontario) Fedex is the best option, in 99% of cases I have order in my hands on the next business day after placing it. Since they ship from US, you've got to be wary about ordering export-controlled items as it may incur additional delays/require additional documentation. They have a sales office in Kitchener, ON if you need any assistance, and they were very helpful in those few cases when I needed support.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 04:11:56 pm
content: Quote from: cortex_m0 on December 02, 2020, 05:09:18 amFixes for the underlying issue were put into production today. It should behave better now for partial PN strings. Thanks for the feedback.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 07:43:08 pm
content: Quote from: drussell on December 03, 2020, 01:10:47 pmAgain, consider the grocery-store model. Grocery store shelf space is carefully segmented by value based on presentation (prominent endcaps up front versus the back corner by the pharmacy) and access (products stocked at eye level versus on top of the freezers where you have to ask an employee for help). This space is rented to wholesalers at corresponding rates. On a square-foot basis, shelf space at your local grocery store is probably the most expensive real estate in town, except for maybe the ICU at the hospital.DigiKey's endgame -- as well as Amazon's for that matter -- will be to collect similar rent from manufacturers as well as third-party "Marketplace" sellers. There is no question of them acting as a free warehouse or dumping ground for obsolete parts, that was never going to happen.QuoteI'm not so sure. 'Fulfillment by DigiKey' is an important economic element in the overall business model. When's the last time you ordered only one or two line items from DigiKey?That'sthe value of owning a 2-million square foot warehouse -- one-stop shopping. When I'm building a prototype, I'm not going to place 300 orders with random vendors from Shenzhen to Syracuse, and I don't expect my EMS facility to do the same. Likewise, I'm not willing to pay for direct shipping from dozens of different sellers just because DigiKey happens to make it easy to order from them.At the end of the day they have to hold the parts in stock. They just don't have to pay for them. In principle I have no beef with this. DigiKey will continue to run a large-scale warehousing operation, and that's fine. The problem is that they will eventually start commingling dubious products from marketplace sellers with prime merchandise, just as Amazon does. That seems to be necessary to make the whole scheme profitable.QuoteI think it's a mistake to assume Mouser isn't working hard to implement similar plans. These companies need to understand three things:They are not AmazonThey are never going tobeAmazonForce-feeding a "Marketplace" model to their customers carries much more risk to them than it does to AmazonThat's why it's so important to make your feedback heard, loudly.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 08:56:54 pm
content: Quote from: KE5FX on December 03, 2020, 07:43:08 pmThe other side of that coin is that GOOD products can also be available on a "Fulfillment by Digikey" basis. For example, you might one day be able to buy Keysight, Rigol, Keithley, and other known brands from the Digikey web site, get it delivered next day, with a sound return policy.Bottom line, don't buy brands or products you don't like...With Fulfilment by Amazon, sellers have to pay for the storage space they use... as a disincentive to letting stock pile up in Amazon warehouses. Digikey would obviously have to do the same.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 09:01:59 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on December 03, 2020, 08:56:54 pmI can already do with TEquipment and other reputable equipment suppliers. I would never buy equipment from DigiKey. I want to deal with people, whose entire business is based on selling equipment. If TEquipment fails to do a good job, they are out of business. If DK fails, they will just close that division and move on.Quote from: SilverSolder on December 03, 2020, 08:56:54 pmBecause reputable brands are not being faked at all. And now you have to guess which FTDI chips you will get from the random marketplace supplier, which is effectively no different than a random dude on AliExpress.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2020, 09:46:01 pm
content: Quote from: KE5FX on December 03, 2020, 07:43:08 pmAnd just like Amazon, Digikey also should sell dildos. Because why not.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2020, 03:50:07 am
content: Digi-Key needs to implement a review/rating system for components or suppliers/manufacturers, by account holders. This can help with marketplace quality control, albeit after the sale and a few guinea pigs have squeaked. You forgot to copy the usual 5-star system in your copying other e-commerce sites.This whole corporate expansion seems so disjointed or too much too fast - the website is getting better but suffers gee it was so slow the other day 5 seconds to respond to clicks. A half-assed Marketplace rollout that just shows poor planning to the point of comedy. Approaching 10M items in the Product IndexDigi-Key does haveTech Forumsyou know. They are kind of soulless as well, is it to be like the forums here for generic advice or specific component issues or what?It's like the leadership is clueless about the soul of the company- was it service, selection, integrity, the small guy, the big inventory etc. it's all forgotten.P.S. Please continue the pumpkin head tradition of 9 sig. digits on price, it keeps showing us how a multi-billion dollar company has clowns at the steering wheel.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2020, 03:41:00 pm
content: "Classic View is Now Available.We've heard your feedback and have created a Classic View of our search and filtering pages. You can control your view using the settings toggle at the upper right hand corner of the page."

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2020, 05:18:51 pm
content: I don't see it, even on Canadian version of the site. But also, is it going to be one more thing you have to flip every single time?

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2020, 05:29:20 pm
content: You won't see it on the home page, but when you do a search it will pop in its own frame over the search results.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2020, 06:02:14 pm
content: Still don't see it. I see that Canadian version has toggles for Condensed/Expanded/Detailed View, and they seem to be persistent.But really, I don't care. I switched to Mouser for the past couple orders and had a great experience. I don't think I will do any business with DK until it is possible to permanently disable the marketplace. For sketchy components I have LCSC, which is working fine at a fraction of a price.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2020, 07:17:14 pm
content: Having a "Classic" version of the web site is the sane thing to do for most companies, given that the new web dev teams so often end up annoying existing users.Here's another big company that learned the hard way:https://www.nasdaqtrader.comwas revamped with a new look.They were soon forced to launchhttp://classic.nasdaqtrader.com....Finally, they gave up on the new site, which reverted back to to the classic one after failing to implement the features that people expected from the old site!There's a lesson in here somewhere...

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2020, 08:10:59 pm
content: Same happened to Paypal web site, they run two interfaces for some time but gave up after a while.

author: Pete66
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2020, 10:09:36 pm
content: Digikey screwed up. If I want marketplace I go to ebay or Ali express and take my chances.

author: Elasia
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 01:26:19 pm
content: They arent that bad if you dont have to use their website at all.. i usually get stock info off of octopart.com.. aka altium.. my bom manager does the entire bit for me.. non of this marketplace rubbish, if i need to browse parametric i use mouser if just fishing around.. digi pulled a newegg sometime ago so havent really used their website in awhile and wont really be back.. digi only gets PO orders from me as such

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2020, 07:02:37 am
content: LOL. They listened to feedback. Now the checkbox is called "Exclude" and is unchecked by default. So now you still need to click on it every single time if you don't want garbage parts, but it no longer sticks out as a sore thumb.LOL, again.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 29, 2020, 02:17:08 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 28, 2020, 07:55:01 pmFormer UX designer here. That's not inconsistent at all.Checkbox logic is about function, not aesthetics. And it's been long established that "select tonotdo X" semantics are generally much harder to use. Obviously it depends on the situation, so there will be exceptions, but as a rule, you word checkboxes in the affirmative and then have any defaults selected by default.Quote from: ataradov on December 29, 2020, 07:02:37 amOh yay, they changed it for the worse…

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2020, 01:17:19 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on December 29, 2020, 07:02:37 am

author: rfclown
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2020, 02:42:45 am
content: I just went to Digikey and I see that "scrolling" is now the default. I didn't like it when they added the "stacked" and made it the default. Good to see a positive change. I wonder if they'll log how many people choose "stacked", and if it's nobody, take it away.The Marketplace stuff has bugged me also, but on the other side, obsolescence has become a HUGE issue in recent years. At work we replaced an obsolete TCXO in the last year, and we just got a notice from the manufacturer that the new part is going obsolete. To fix the issue before, we redesigned the circuit to work at a different voltage since the manufacturer was obsoleting the 3.3v part (we went to 1.8v). We were able to do that with only BOM changes. Now they say no 1.8v, and no one else makes the same thing in the same footprint. No fun doing a re-spin on a complicated 20 layer board. Sometimes the obsolete stuff can be found at a place like Rochester Electronics, so at least having this stuff there makes it easier to find.I also bought a Sparkfun breakout board on Digikey recently because Sparkfun was out of stock. So having these things (Adafruit, etc.) at Digikey is ok by me.I almost always select "cut tape", and then do a double take when I still see the packaging column, thinking "didn't I already select that one?"I hope they listen to feedback and improve (just make it like it was). I still find Digikey search better than Mouser. I usually choose USPS first class and get stuff in 3 days for low shipping cost. I don't think Mouser has that option.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2020, 06:41:56 am
content: I tried their LED Indication - Discrete... it's mostly useless.Why can't you just click buttons on the (root) colours you want - blue, green, red, ice blue etc. instead of this insane picklist from hell.The picklists are just populated by whatever a manufacturer specifies, rows and rows of irrelevant numbers.Nobody picks a forward voltage like this, pic related.I noticed thedimmest LEDin the world? and it's a weird Lumex LED with built-in comparator for low battery indication. Totally orphaned because it's not just an LED, you'd never find that in this in the Product Index.It's never going to (it didn't) sell, you could never find it. NSL4944 forever.Digi-Key should blow out these oddball parts in a surplus section.Why don't they have a surplus section anyhow, there's lots of oddball parts that will never sell. I wonder where they go.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2021, 09:21:57 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on December 30, 2020, 06:41:56 amThe one, less than ideal, thing I can say is the easiest way to get around this is to type the colors you want into the "search within" box at the top of the filter area. We are looking at ways to improve this situation, here and several other areas like MCUs.Quote from: floobydust on December 30, 2020, 06:41:56 amYou actually ran across one of the "lucky" unique parts that seemed just oddball enough for you to investigate. A lot of really cool parts don't really have a great way to "market" themselves on their own manufacturer's websites, let alone distributors. Out of curiosity I just checked that Lumex part, it has enough sales to justify shelf space. That said, lots of products end up at a metal recovery recycler or going back to the manufacturer.Part Data, Data Normalization, and Taxonomy is an extremely challenging task that involves 100's of people. Oddball parts are one of the hardest things to deal with and regularly get the short end of the stick. One key thing to remember though is that parts are not always discovered on a distributor website. They are also found via other methods like FAEs, word of mouth, manufacturer's websites, reference designs, etc., but having the part numbers and being in stock is advantageous for the procurement folks at companies regardless of on-site findability. If it's not it stock somewhere, most people won't design it in.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 05:35:11 am
content: A problem is the picklists are being blindly populated by specific values from each manufacturer- instead of a class or grouping, or range to input. The result are huge picklists that are a click fest and totally unusable. The one LED out of 20,320 gets a spot in the main picklist at intensity 0.01mcd and it's silly clutter.I can't specify a range for ANY parameter such as brightness, forward voltage.The focus is on getting all that analytics crap bogging everything down but the developers can't change it to a range or buttons? Is this some kind of rocket science where the god of Java must be consulted?Nobody shops for LED's based on exact forward voltage. It's a grouping based on the semiconductor technology i.e green LED InGaP with ~3V is totally different than AlGaInP with ~2Vf.Nobody shops for LED's based on exact brightness, i.e. 3.7mcd verses 3.92mcdAll you have to do is sort by any column and look at outliers, they are almost always errors. LED Indication - DiscreteExample: LED Lens Color BLACK? wtf is that, where is your common sense. No IR for indicators nor for the long wavelengths. None of those 3 parts are correct, oh wait they're all actually phototransistors "Phototransistor LED Indication"One is a Marketplace item "Color: Phototransistor"I sorted my search results by Forward Voltage and noticed many are 14V, 12V in a T-1 package having an integrated resistorwhich is interesting but you don't offer it as a property in the Features column so I would never really know. If it has a built-in resistor or comparator (low battery detect), those are features.

author: SVFeingold
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 06:52:45 am
content: Though I love DigiKey I concur with the annoying picklists. And also the way sorting is sometimes done...0.8V0.9V10V1V1.1V12Vetc.Comes up from time to time. The best example of a company saying to suppliers "you will fall in line with these categories and you will like it" is McMaster. And look at what a joy that site is to use.Same for manufacturer-specific footprint codenames (for common footprints) getting mixed into the list. Which can actually be useful sometimes, but mostly just gets in the way. I get that it's a huge amount of work to do for all the parts already in the system, but it needs to happen sooner or later.

author: _joost_
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 06:55:49 am
content: There is a filter selection to exclude marketplace products

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 05:58:50 pm
content: Quote from: bombledmonk on January 05, 2021, 09:21:57 pmThis is true for major parts like CPU, interface IC, when major part of your design revolves around that choice, but there is a whole bunch of what I would call "support parts", which are necessary for main parts to work, but are not super-critical as to what specific P/N or vendor to use. These are things like passives, or transistors, logic level converters, simple logic gate ICs, and other things of that nature. Capacitors are especially annoying - for decoupling you'd want low ESL, for DC-DC converters - low ESR and high ripple current - good luck finding either of those parts on Digikey via filters. Part of the blame for this goes to manufacturers, as they rarely publish these things, but the end result is that it's still a nightmare with trial-end-error being the only viable method at the moment.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2021, 03:51:08 am
content: Quote from: floobydust on January 07, 2021, 05:35:11 amQuote from: _joost_ on January 07, 2021, 06:55:49 amIt raises a good question- who looks after the quality of the Marketplace data? I could see cowboy vendors filling things up with garbage.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2021, 12:34:13 am
content: Quote from: SVFeingold on January 07, 2021, 06:52:45 amThat drives me nuts. I have a hard enough time remembering all of the standard packages without trying to remember the half dozen other designations for the same footprint.

author: Terry Bites
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2021, 04:45:51 pm
content: Its not just them. RS and Farnell have completely fkd their websites over the past few years. Have they forgotten who uses their sites? I seriously wonder if they have an engineer on their staff!

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2021, 06:46:50 pm
content: Quote from: bombledmonk on January 05, 2021, 09:21:57 pmThat's unfortunate. I like the idea of a surplus section where all sorts of random slow movers are sold at rock bottom prices, say scrap value plus enough overhead to cover the expense of packing them up. Turning finished parts back into raw materials is a far less efficient form of recycling than getting them into the hands of people who could do something with them. A "surplus bin" would be a great draw to a section where all of that marketplace stuff could be offered alongside remnants and slow movers where it would not be so out of place. Engineers designing new products aren't going to want surplus parts and they're not likely to want marketplace stuff either but the hobbyists and "makers" looking for bargains are exactly the sort who might consider the marketplace stuff.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2021, 02:46:46 am
content: Managing inventory is very difficult, just look at all the brick-and-mortar retailers going bankrupt because they'd bungled it.If a part isn't selling - there are many reasons "management by numbers" can screw up:Inventory shows part in stock, but actually there's none or trade-size incorrect (reels, tape, bulk, single). You can't sell what you don't have, or packaged wrong for typical production.A part out of stock looks like a loser, it's not selling better drop it. My grocery store sells out of items fast, then thinks the item is selling poorlyand drops it from their lineup.Inventory shows part in stock, but actually there's an error in specs/category. You can't sell what customers can't find.Inventory shows part in stock, but it's been replaced by a new part. You wouldn't design-in old parts, so it gets orphaned.When parts get discontinued, the price gets jacked up to make money from desperate purchasers I guess, until Engineering gives an alternate p/n on the BoM. I don't see any discounted/surplus pricing at all on Digi-Key and assume they then sell the stuff to surplus dealers, probably Marketplace Vendors lol. I get annoyed the items have gone up not down in price.The New Product intros are nice, but there's nothing highlighting unique, cool parts or the lineup afterwards.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2021, 02:36:40 am
content: Quote from: james_s on January 10, 2021, 06:46:50 pmI concur. Something weird was up with the price of cypress PSOC5 parts on digikey. They are normally hella-$pensive but for a time in 2020 a few parts in the series could be had in the $2.50-$3.00 range "without warranty". I assumed it was because the shelf life had expired with respect to moisture content guaranty, no problem for the hobbyist. Digikey had good stock too like 4000 units. So I said to myself I'll come back later and buy 10 and have a lifetime supply. All gone now.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2021, 03:38:49 am
content: Quote from: floobydust on January 11, 2021, 02:46:46 amThe long dead paper catalog was one of the more useful ways to discover products, and that experience has doesn't really have a digital analog. The amount of effort placed into curating such a beast had many benefits along with the overall density that paper gives you when browsing. Highlighting cool or unique parts has always been a strong desire for the engineers and technical people internal to the company. As a very genuine ask, if anyone has run across industries or companies that do this well, it would be great to see examples.Quote from: chickenHeadKnob on January 12, 2021, 02:36:40 amYou found some stock that is beingcleared out on behalf of Cypress. There areother MCUs, but not a huge assortment. There'sother product categoriesalso.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2021, 10:49:16 am
content: I couldn’t agree more. I LOVE perusing catalogs.What amazes me is how few web shops use variants (i.e. one product with various styles/values) and instead just present endless lists of individual SKUs. Even the ones that have variants rarely present the series well. Catalogs tended to do this very well.

author: Ysjoelfir
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2021, 11:28:10 am
content: What the heck has happened here? The last times I was in the antenna section I didn't remember it being THAT shitty....

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2021, 10:47:32 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on January 12, 2021, 10:49:16 amIt is actually a huge PITA to set up in most e-commerce software. Easier to just fill it with SKUs...

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2021, 11:20:17 pm
content: Quote from: Ysjoelfir on January 12, 2021, 11:28:10 amThat is so bad, it shows they're clueless about the products they sell.- picklists are being blindly populated by specific values from each manufacturer- instead of a class or grouping, or range to input.- picklists that are are stupid, qualities that nobody purchases based upon, like VSWR.Obviously nobody there has used components or done design work to know what parameters are important.I know EE's that don't even own a soldering iron- and guess who's hiring them en masse lol.So we have to complain here about the obvious, argue for the mess to get cleaned up? It's a multi-billion dollar corporation that's inept with their website design. This thread can never end.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2021, 11:35:56 pm
content: Each time i see this happen i always have just one question:- What was wrong with the existing design?

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2021, 12:04:57 am
content: Quote from: Bud on January 12, 2021, 11:35:56 pmNothing. Change for the sake of change. The same happens in lots of places. It is infuriating at times.If the accounting department measured and accounted for the man/hours lost in productivity, these initiatives would either be totally shot down or much better thought out.

author: SVFeingold
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2021, 12:22:50 am
content: Might as well use this forum to gripe about one issue I have with DK. Which AFAIK isn't new by any stretch, but after having to input like 200 parts into a BOM recently...Please just have the Digikey PNs use the same format? It's so annoying to have part numbers like this: NHD-0216K3Z-FS(RGB)-FBW-V3-NDRather than just using a numpad to quickly punch out part numbers you have to type all this nonsense in...makes the process much slower. If it evolves to where you're typing in the MPN in addition to a bunch of other special characters and designators (already the case for certain types of parts)...I'm about 99.9% sure this will never change but there, I said it.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2021, 11:02:01 am
content: Your post reminded me how we used to have someone that had to verify the BOM of several Contract Manufacturers and input these manuly into SAP. She was always fixing small typos on part numbers (suggesting they were also manually typed at the customer's side) and, for a few other customers, had to convert their own house part numbers into ours.Even after an order entry system accessible by the customer was set up, this still went on for several years as some were reluctant to change their own ways. Only after she decided to leave the company is when an executive decision was made to push back manual order entries from the customer.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2021, 07:44:17 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on January 13, 2021, 12:04:57 amThere is a type of person out there who gets frequently bored, you will hear them praise changes like this because "it looks fresh", as if it's a head of lettuce that starts to wilt after being out for a while. It makes me seethe to hear that because I absolutely loathe change, especially when it is done just for the sake of change without any tangible benefit in exchange for the discomfort it causes. I am very firmly in the camp of preferring the tried & true, something that has gone through the incremental improvements and reached the point where it can be considered perfected and done, then leave it alone and quit screwing with it because it can only go downhill from there. I really like the rare physical products you find that have managed to dodge all the regulatory nonsense and been made exactly the same way for decades with parts still available. For example I recently overhauled the 1960s kitchen sink faucet at our cabin and could buy all the parts to do so off the shelf at the local hardware store. The needs of a faucet have not changed significantly since the 1960s so there is no need for the design to have changed.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2021, 08:25:55 pm
content: Having being through a lot of orgchanges at different companies throughout my employment, I garantee - this is happening because they hired another Chief of  Executive Officer, who came from a sugar drink type of company and brought with him (her being typically worse) a New Vision of Customer Service Strategy. Garanteed, this crap comes from above, so no common sense should be expected.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2021, 08:27:43 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on January 16, 2021, 07:44:17 pmSadly, someone thought there was a need for them to be made of cheaper materials... non standard of course.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2021, 08:36:34 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on January 16, 2021, 07:44:17 pmOne example that I love: Craigslist.Quote from: james_s on January 16, 2021, 07:44:17 pmThis is truly heaven. I have a few examples as well, one being a solder sucker sold in Brasil by a company named AFR - I have bought replacement parts for my model that I bought in the 1990s. Here in the US another example is the Edsyn Soldapult. Hakko, Weller and others used to have replacement parts for quite a number of years after discontinuing their models as well.Despite not having the same long term commitment, after I moved to US I was quite surprised to see how great is the after market parts availability for appliances.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2021, 05:55:47 am
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on January 16, 2021, 08:36:34 pmHistorically that has been true. A few years ago I bought a new gear for the ice maker in the 1971 refrigerator in our cabin. Clothes dryers at least as recently as about 10 years ago are virtually indistinguishable inside from those made in the 1960s and most of the parts are still available. That has been true of the classic top load washers that are common in the US which were all one of 2 or 3 mechanical designs with different cosmetic parts. I think that is starting to change though, even major appliances are getting more complex, more cheaply made and less repairable. I've managed to keep my original Maytag Neptune washer and dryer going for probably 14 years since I got it and it was a broken down freebie when I got it. I suspect eventually the drum spider will break and that will be the end of the road unless I want an excuse to get a TIG welder and do some fabrication.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2021, 11:34:19 am
content: Quote from: james_s on January 17, 2021, 05:55:47 amThat's changing now, thanks to heat pump dryers, which are vastly more energy efficient than traditional vented dryers. (And they're gentler on the clothes, since they don't heat the clothes up as hot.)

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2021, 03:31:55 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on January 17, 2021, 11:34:19 amHow do they work - are they basically a dehumidifier?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2021, 04:05:59 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on January 17, 2021, 03:31:55 pmYes, insofar as a dehumidifier is a heat pump operating with both the hot and cold sides in the same space. In a heat pump dryer, the hot side warms the air, which is passed through the clothes. The moist air then passes over the cold side, where the humidity condenses. The cold, dry air then passes over the hot side again to warm it back up to begin the cycle again.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2021, 06:59:59 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on January 17, 2021, 11:34:19 amMy friend got one of those recently, he likes it, they're still very rare in the US though, he's the only person I know who has one. I'd heard of them before though, apparently they've been fairly common in Europe for a while.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2021, 08:33:56 pm
content: They might save a lot of electricity. Would be interesting to see the numbers.

author: dbctronic
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 02:55:47 am
content: I have also gotten cranked with Digikey lately. I go back and forth between DK and vendors to find parts that have Spice models and are still actually for sale (Spice is looking really passe--getting harder to find these parts). And I don't mean for sale one last time from Rochester with their weird minimum purchase quantities. Why a minimum of 236 parts when they have 3,345 on hand??Digikey has made this a time consuming hassle by blowing away my spinbox setups, or making me leave the category, then come in and set up again because it won't clear only one spinbox on request, or whatever it's doing this week. The whole process takes twice as long as it did a few years ago!

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 02:58:11 am
content: Quote from: dbctronic on January 18, 2021, 02:55:47 amWhat do people use instead of Spice?

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 06:22:55 am
content: DigiKey has been changing a lot lately, but I can sympathise with their position. They have to make their website work for (at least) two very different use cases, which I'm sure is difficult.On the one hand, they're a distributor. If you know what you want to buy, you type in a part number, add it to your cart, checkout, get it the next day, awesome. IMO they excel at this part of their website. I can log on two minutes before the deadline for next-day shipping, order the parts I know I want, get them before 10am the next day, super easy.On the other hand, most of my time actually spent on DigiKey is discovering parts. Like many other EE's I use DigiKey for finding the best components to use in a new product. Designing a website like this has a lot more intricacies than just a stright-forward distributor ecommerce website.One thing to keep an open mind about, is that while DigiKey might work for you, and you don't want it to change, there are new EE's joining our profession and hobby every day. Every day (maybe even multiple times per hour?) there are people navigating to DigiKey for the very first time, placing their first ever order. This is the reason websites continually change. It's not just "change for the sake of change". As EE's we don't change all the parts on our BOM because we feel like it, but if we find a more efficient part, a cheaper part, or need to replace an EOL'd part, we will make the change because that's worth our time.A good example of this is the recent picklist change, where the picklists went from normal html select lists, to the (imo) frustrating picklists that no longer perform like a normal html select list. Using CTRL and SHIFT to select multiple is items is broken now, and replaced by selecting individual items by clicking on them. This change is frustrating, but I understand why they did it. I've stood behind at least 3 junior EE's who while using digikey, would select one item from a picklist, view the results, then go back, select another, view those results. When I pointed out that they could select multiple items, they were surprised that this (basic, default html select) feature existed. I observed these same people trying to select multiple items by just clicking on them (like you can do now). This is why websites like DigiKey make these changes, because while you may know how to use the tool very efficiently, there's bound to be lots of people less experienced learning or struggling.It's a tricky balance to keep. On the one hand you don't want to alienate your existing customers, but on the other hand you want to make it as easy as possible for new users to make their first order. Inevitably the balance usually tips more towards the new users, as experienced users are probably less likely to leave over UI changes. I know I won't leave over the new picklists. While I really don't like the new picklists, I know that the value DigiKey offers is in more than just their picklists.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 06:40:02 am
content: There's nothing about the new website that makes it easier for a brand new customer to place their first order. When an engineer is choosing a part they need a good parametric search to find that part, it doesn't matter if they have 40 years of experience or are a fresh college grad, the process is the same. Making a crappy website that is in a constant state of flux, requires extra clicks everywhere and a parametric search that is a complete mess doesn't make it better for anybody.

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 06:51:13 am
content: Quote from: james_s on January 18, 2021, 06:40:02 amIliterallyjust explained one real world case where the new picklists would have been easier to use for a junior EE I've observed with my own eyes.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 06:55:06 am
content: It is still not a good argument to dumb down the interfaces instead of educating people.Standard UI elements are not that hard to figure out. If you don't know how multiple selections work, you are likely not very efficient with managing files in the OS. As a junior anything you should be looking for education rather than expecting that things will be fixed for you.It is unbelievable how many people I see that have no clue how to do even the most basic things with the command line. And asking to add something to PATH is like asking to write a PhD. This stupidity must end at some point.

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 07:04:12 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on January 18, 2021, 06:55:06 amThat's a great point and I completely agree. I'd much rather see some useful tooltips or pop-overs educating users how to use a standard html select list and breaking a standard HTML element.OTOH, for a while now Windows has let you select multiple files by clicking a select box on each one, presumably because selecting multiple items wasn't intuitive enough. I'm sure there was some solid user testing behind that change. Only DigiKey knows the actual win/loss ratio of how these changes attract or detract customers. There's a good chance we are in the minority

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 08:38:50 am
content: Quote from: gussy on January 18, 2021, 07:04:12 amI don't think they do know. I think somebody in management has been watching Amazon rake in billions and wants to be like them. The problem they don't seem to realize is that DK has an entirely different customer base with entirely different needs and trying to be Amazon will fail, while abandoning the needs of their existing customer base will also fail. By the time anyone realizes that the person who made that decision will have taken their bonus and moved on to some other company.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 08:41:42 am
content: Quote from: gussy on January 18, 2021, 06:51:13 amIf somebody can't figure out how to select multiple items I would be seriously questioning the hiring decision. That is something that virtually every 8 year old should know how to do by now, more so anyone who has managed to earn a degree in EE. If they can't figure out how to do that, how are they ever going to navigate their way through any EDA or IDE in order to produce any output?

author: SVFeingold
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 10:21:26 am
content: I'm glad to see these viewpoints laid out so passionately. It really helps me identify the kind of engineer Idon'twant to become as I roll through my 30s and beyond.Everyone is stupid if they don't use my workflow. New customers are confused by the UI? Good. They're dumb anyway. How'd they get to be engineers? Anyone going through a 4 year program should know how to use this website! Good riddance! Digikey doesn't need such dumb customers.Seriously what kind of attitude is this? Digikey doesn't exist to rant at the clouds about youngsters these days. They're here to attract new customers and keep existing ones and grow their business. As is every business. Only they know whether their changes accomplish this goal or not, because they're the only ones with relevant data. I hope they fire any web designer that can't set up simple A/B tests without going off on a tangential rant about how everyone is stupid nowadays.Now that said: yes, I agree that some of their design changes aren't great for my workflow. The picklist threw me off for a bit at first until I got used to it. Which took about 15 minutes. Do I like it more? Not sure yet, but there have been many times in the past when I accidentally let go of CTRL and wiped the selection I spent a while making. So I get the motivation. It's ironic to rant about dummies who don't understand a simple UI considering how it's arguably even simpler now. Glass houses, etc.This is the same attitude Linux fanboys have. I wonder how "everyone who can't use a command line is stupid" Linux is doing vs MacOS in the consumer market? I wonder why that could be.Doesn't mean everything DK does is perfect but they're not going to listen to people ranting about young engineers in lieu of constructive criticism. I'm as opinionated as anyone else but I try to consider things from other viewpoints in case I'm wrong. And frankly the more I progress in my career, the more and more I encounter mid-to-late career engineers who are needlessly bitter/angry about literally every little thing. It takes actual work to not go that route and folding your arms saying "everyone's dumb but me" isn't the way. Anecdotally this attitude has been much more prevalent in the EE field than any other field I work with. Who knows.On-topic: When I was a new engineer I had no problems with the picklists (yay) but I admit that Digikey wasn't really useful to me. I wasn't working with an existing BOM, rather was looking for random parts to do cool projects. In other words: trying to discover new products. And it wasn't really great for that. It still isn't IMO. Nowadays I know exactly what I'm looking for so Digikey is much more usable for me, but I understand the struggle for new and/or inexperienced engineers. It took a while for Digikey to "make sense." Until that point I frequented Sparkfun and Adafruit much more often because they cater to new engineers and really just to exploring and discovering cool stuff. They're not really comparable. I definitely don't want Digikey to changethatmuch but there's probably something they could borrow that would make it more enticing for new engineers. Throwing a bone to a new engineer today might mean tens of thousands of dollars in POs in the future.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 05:09:08 pm
content: Quote from: gussy on January 18, 2021, 06:22:55 amAlthough not 100% of the cases, in my experience that happens enough times to be very significant. I have been in many UI/website/platform decision making committees and, in my experience, the bad decisions are made based on several factors: either "pie-in-the-sky" goals (we need to become an Amazon or a Facebook), using weak arguments (the ever ethereal "market trend" or modern "look and feel"), feedback shutdown due to bad planning/timing (we like your suggestion but can't do anything as the deadline is too close) or based on very small sample size "research" and/or "studies" (only a very small fraction of customers take their time to answer usability and feedback questionnaires, let alone the ones that subject themselves to early user adoption test). In my experience, they are incredibly correlated with internal management change - the origin of my original comment.The great number of good decisions exist, but they are usually based on solid research and feedback - yes, this is one of the few cases I dare to say that "design by committee" tends to have more successful stories than "single ruler party".Quote from: gussy on January 18, 2021, 06:22:55 amI don't quite follow your example. Despite the change to something (in your opinion) worse, you showed the junior EEs how to do a multiple selection and this brought one more tool to their belt. The way I read it, the operative word on your example is "learning".I personally don't have a beef with "sticky-click" picklists, as they are one of the most usable ways if you are on a mobile platform without a keyboard. Besides, you can still use Shift to select ranges and, even better, you can select non-contiguous ranges using the same key. However, intuitiveness is not the holy grail and certain non-intuitive things need to be inserted to make people pause before taking a decision - the "OK" or "Apply" buttons in configuration screens, for example, which are disappearing from newer UIs.Quote from: gussy on January 18, 2021, 06:22:55 amI agree with the balance part of it. However, I also agree with the sentiment that UIs can make people leave your platform - see Arrow.com, for example. For a B2B e-commerce, however, the issue must be much worse than a few clicks here and there (automation is usually much more valued).

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 08:09:04 pm
content: This is about mass incompetence with their new website.The basics of project management- software requirements, signoff, coding, testing - all missing.I'd roll some heads because it's obvious nobody knows what an LED is or even owns a soldering iron over there lol.Example: looking for a voltage range in a component group.Can we enter a range in "Search Filter" ? NO. "2-3" gives nothing.Can't do it at all with MCU's, if looking for a 5V or 1.8V part. This has been complained about by many and nothing done.For LED's. let's try type in a friendly "4" for Vf.Oh look, it's our old friend of inept website coding -Radix sort,great with punched cards in 1923, as if numeric values are text.Results (in pic) includeanyentry containing a "4", up to 48V or 64V. Type in "2.9" and 12.9 is a hitTOTALLY STUPID.Most corporations would now look at (and fix) all parameter filters, but no we get to die a slow death complaining here byte by byte. Or go to Mouser lol.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 09:10:15 pm
content: Quote from: SVFeingold on January 18, 2021, 10:21:26 amYour attitude is to change something making it more difficult for one group in an attempt to make it easier for another group, how is that any better? This is such a trivial thing that simply informing someone how to do it would solve the "problem". Perhaps you'll "get it" once you're old enough to have gotten bored of change for the sake of change and tired of re-leaning things you already spent time learning and having your workflow and muscle memory disrupted by pointless changes.. Get off your high horse, you're not any more virtuous than the rest of us and you're not going to be fundamentally different when you grow up than the people you're complaining about..

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 09:18:25 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on January 18, 2021, 08:09:04 pmI did just that in my most recent order, I got so frustrated trying to find what I was looking for that I closed the browser in disgust and ordered it from Mouser instead. Not that Mouser's website is any kind of gold standard but at least the sorting of stuff like voltages isn't completely broken and useless.This is the stuff that really makes a difference. I can adjust to a change in the way the picklists work if the values are at least sorted properly so I can select a range, but when it's just completely broken, I'm sorry but this train wreck is a display of gross incompetence and is simply inexcusable.

author: SVFeingold
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 11:28:11 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on January 18, 2021, 09:10:15 pmI agree, but they could probably say the same about the new system.Quote"It's inevitable, you'll be bitter when you're older too." Sorry, I don't subscribe. And anyway I agree with you about change for the sake of change. I've got plenty of examples I could go on about. It's not that I don't "get it," it's that there's no reason to condition myself to view every issue in the light of "how does this make me smart and everyone else a moron." There's your high horse right next to mine.Like the classic dad move where every conversation, no matter how it starts, somehow ends up about being WWII. And refusing to change is just as bad. Ask basically every convoluted, archaic ECAD/MCAD/FEA software out there that requires 4 keystrokes and a command line argument to do some common function that could easily be done with a single click. It's a long list to choose from. But don't you dare change a single icon or the hordes of engineers who think UI design peaked at Windows 3.1 will raise hell. Shit, now my high horse is getting taller.To make it clear I agree with you that there was nothing really wrong with the old picklist. And I agree with nearly ever complaint in this thread. Especially flooby about the terrible sorting, but he managed to do it without taking it in a "kids these days" direction.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 09:07:04 am
content: Quote from: james_s on January 17, 2021, 06:59:59 pmCorrect. European energy standards have made non-heat-pump dryers essentially illegal to sell, IIRC. The apartment I live in came with one, and I've been here for over 7 years. I've been exceptionally happy with it, as the lower temperature means I can put things in the dryer without fear of shrinking them.A friend of mine in USA got one about 2 years ago. But yeah, we had to look around to even find one. (He ended up going with Miele.)

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 09:11:19 am
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on January 17, 2021, 08:33:56 pmThe numbers I've seen say that they use 50-60% as much energy as vented dryers, and only 35% as much energy as (non-heat-pump) condensing (ventless) dryers, which are hellishly inefficient.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 09:48:07 am
content: Quote from: SVFeingold on January 18, 2021, 10:21:26 amAs someone who is a) old enough to have established preferences and experienced things change for the sake of change, but b) has always had an interest in usability, c) has worked as a user interface designer, including at a usability agency where we did do user testing, d) has always hated the elitist attitude of Linux, etc, and d) has always had an interest in electronics, and is now changing to that as a career, I think you're absolutely right.Quote from: SVFeingold on January 18, 2021, 10:21:26 amYep. In all fairness, I'm not sure what'd be wrong with lists of checkboxes, since that's essentially what the new lists are. But with the old ones, it's so easy to accidentally wipe out a complex selection, just as you said.What a lot of people forget is that a good interface buffers you from errors or lets you recover from them easily. It's not just beginners who make mistakes,everyone does, all the time. That's why "undo" was revolutionary. (And why it shocks me how, especially on mobile, Windows and Linux, there are still lots of apps with poor or nonexistent undo.)Quote from: SVFeingold on January 18, 2021, 10:21:26 amYup.Quote from: SVFeingold on January 18, 2021, 10:21:26 amI see it in EE, but also with old-school IT/CS people (who needn't be old people, there are plenty of young ones who still like the old-school mindset). For a lot of engineers, it's really hard to step into the mindset of people who aren't identically technically-minded as them. I worded that that way because I've seen plenty of people who have extraordinary technical expertise in one area, but not another, and as such, you can have someone who is a gifted engineer in one area, but nonetheless is a relatively unskilled computer user.Plus, why should stuff be needlessly complex to use? User interfaces need to be as simple as possible, but as complex as needed (but no more!). That's why it's acceptable for professional software to be more complex than consumer software. But if the needed pro functionality can be accomplished an easier way, then it should be.I also have to remind people that the easiest interface is the one the user already knows. In other words, if you can make your interface work like something the useralready knows, then it's the easiest of all. So even if you have an idea that works well in isolation, if it's very different from everything else, it is still likely to be harder to use in practice. Incremental change is a good way to overcome this, by slightly extending an existing interface bit by bit (for example, how someone came up with the "pull to refresh" action in mobile phone lists: it extends the existing interface seamlessly).Quote from: SVFeingold on January 18, 2021, 10:21:26 amHonestly, what's missing is old-school catalogs. I have never encountered a web shop that manages to recreate the browseability of a paper catalog. (DK tried: in addition to the parametric search and categories, there's a whole separate layer of content as theonline catalogand the manufacturer pages, etc. But it never caught on.) I love perusing catalogs to discover things I didn't know to look for. Searches are great for when you know exactly what you need and what it's called. But it's terrible for just random discovery.Quote from: james_s on January 18, 2021, 09:10:15 pmYou're accusinghimof being on a high horse?!?Then what are you riding, an elephant?A good design makes it better foreveryone. "I had to learn to suffer with the old, hard interface, so so should you" is not a sensible argument against improvement. (But it's absolutely the attitude many espouse.) A truly exceptional interface is so transparent that you don't need to actively "learn" it, it just works the way you expect, without thought, letting you focus on yourtaskrather than on the tool you're using to accomplish it. (This is what IMHO the Mac has always been far better at than anyone else: the interface just doesn't get in my way the way Windows does.) But any change is going to involve some adjustment for existing users, even if it's objectively a change for the better.I actually agree that in the past few years, there's been a lot of pointless change in computer interfaces, a substantial amount of which is absolutely for the worse. (Like removing all visible cues to features? Hello, insanity! And the nonsense of designs so "airy" that there's less content on a 27" screen than on an old 14" 640x480 CRT back in 1994...) But that fact doesn't meanallchange is bad! Some things were bad design decisions at the time, or were imposed by technical limitations that no longer apply. Such designsdeserveto be replaced.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 04:34:50 pm
content: People generally hate UI changes, because they have to make an effort to (re)learn something they already knew how to do.A friend in the financial industry had a spectacular example of this where they moved the Cancel and OK buttons a couple of centimeters to one side on a touch screen GUI for a trading system, to make room for a new feature.The customers went berserk and rang the help desk down all day... - it turns out they weren't even looking at the screens, they had the positions of all the controls embedded in tactile memory and were talking on the phone while their "fingers did the walking" on the touch screen! They were hitting "Cancel" when they meant "OK".... It was so bad, they had to issue an emergency release overnight to put the controls back in the exact same location as before the change.

author: cortex_m0
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 01:35:40 am
content: I've been shopping for components for a new design lately, and I actually quite like the new parametric search interface. It's very responsive. And I'm pleased not to need to filter out a bunch of equivalent parts with packaging options (e.g. DigiReel, Cut Tape, Full Reel) any longer. That was jarring at first, but it's a good change. I used to reflexively pick "Cut Tape" to eliminate duplicates, but that also eliminated parts that were sold in trays, tubes, etc.I wouldn't mind if they took that a step further, and condensed parts which are offered in various packages by the manufacturer into those packaging listings, even if it is technically a different manufacturer part number. For my needs, doing small builds, it doesn't matter much if the part comes to me on a tray or on a Digi-Reel.Someone here complained that you couldn't CTRL+Select or SHIFT+Select in the new parametric search. Its been working fine for me in Firefox. I was able to select all AVRs which will operate on 3.3V pretty easily using the traditional keystrokes.However, it's unfortunate that the new parametric search took months after public rollout to get the obvious bugs resolved.

author: SVFeingold
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 02:42:49 am
content: IMO a big step forward would be figuring out how to bin features together. I mean look at this nonsense in the picture...Instead of just choosing the protocols you're after from a short list and having it show you all relevant modules, every single configuration is a unique line item. This happens with most kinds of parts on there. LEDs were already mentioned earlier.If I had to pick one thing to change it'd be that.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 03:23:44 am
content: Yeah I find that annoying too. Also they should really use a different type of element for numerical data. Ex voltages. Instead of having a list of voltages and having to check each one individually there should be a simple min/max option. A lot of the time they have a bunch of arbitrary voltage ranges within the options.I think what happens is when they import data it probably just looks at the datasheets so like if an item is rated between 5-15 volts, rather than have that item show up if the user picks any of those values, it will actually create a value for 5-15. So if you only pick 5v then you won't get that item show up because you also need to pick the explicit 5-15 option too. At least that's my guess.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 01:48:22 pm
content: They could probably ask manufacturers for help with that - after all, it is in the manufacturer's interests to have their products displayed correctly. So their rep shouldn't have a problem filling in a spreadsheet for their products.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 03:03:56 pm
content: This is super-amusing fail

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 08:17:14 pm
content: Quote from: asmi on January 21, 2021, 03:03:56 pmThats' a good oneFWIW, whenever I see errors like that I use the "Report an Error" button and write a quick description of the problem. It takes less than 30 seconds and helps pay it forward to other users of the site. The errors I've reported seem to be resolved quickly.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 10:17:30 pm
content: I guess if you're passing high enough voltage through that cable it does not really matter what you use, so flash chips will do the trick.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 10:50:58 pm
content: Quote from: gussy on January 21, 2021, 08:17:14 pmWhen they start sending me a paycheck to be their QA engineer I'll start taking the time to file bug reports.

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 11:18:54 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on January 21, 2021, 10:50:58 pmThat's a very scorched earth policy, do you have the same policy for the products or devices that you create?"Hello yes the widget you designed then sold me broke, it's bad and you should feel bad. I could tell you how it broke but I need you to send me $100 first, then I will share the details with you."

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2021, 03:10:21 am
content: If I think the vendor is making a good-faith effort to improve, then of course I'll work with them to help them understand the problem and fix it.If I think the vendor is bumbling around breaking things that worked fine, doing so for no valid reason on God's green earth, I might bring a different attitude to the table.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2021, 03:45:05 pm
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on January 21, 2021, 10:17:30 pmThat's an MCU. But you point still stands

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2021, 10:46:33 pm
content: I made my first marketplace purchase through DigiKey this week. DigiKey sent out a quick 5 question, 1-5 stars survey after the order was received which makes me hopeful that persistently bad marketplace vendors will get kicked off the platform. We'll see how this goes longer term.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2021, 11:56:05 pm
content: Quote from: gussy on January 21, 2021, 11:18:54 pmI'm already paying them for a service, and I see no indication that they are putting any effort into actually fixing the problems that people are complaining about so why should I waste my own free time finding their bugs for them? They should be paying testers to do this work for them so that the sort of bugs we're seeing do not escape into the field in the first place. My attitude about this sort of thing took it's current direction when Microsoft decided to outsource most of their QA to the consumer. The fact that they're too cheap to pay staff to perform that important task for them doesn't mean that I'm obligated to do it for them for free.If I develop a widget I don't expect the customer to find all the bugs for me. Maybe there's an edge case that slipped through my processes in which case I'm happy to hear about it and I'll make an effort to fix it for them as soon as possible. But if I sell a widget that is a piece of crap with all kinds of glaring faults suggesting I couldn't be bothered to even test it at all before I sold it to the customer then I'd expect the customer to take their business elsewhere.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2021, 10:56:29 am
content: Quote from: james_s on January 22, 2021, 11:56:05 pmYour logic makes sense except for the fact that the premises it’s based on are entirely wrong. Microsoft never actually reduced testing: has more testers than programmers, and everything undergoes massive ongoing automated testing as well. (It’s the immense complexity of modern software (and hardware) that’s been responsible for a lot of the problems, as well as releases being driven by marketing decisions rather than doneness.)It’s easy to think of others as being lazier than you, but in reality, that feeling is often unjustified.

author: olkipukki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2021, 12:58:32 pm
content: Quote from: olkipukki on December 03, 2020, 01:33:15 pmIt looks like DK allows to sell anyone (of course who passed their onboarding team), not long time ago used to be only suppliers with USA warehouse...Quote

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2021, 11:11:42 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on January 23, 2021, 10:56:29 amI feel that I have a better view into this than most observers since I worked at MS for about the first 10 years of my career as a professional tester during what I would consider their golden age in the Win98 through XP era when it was really a fantastic place to work, filled with some of the most amazing people I've ever met. I was actually there, I saw it all from the inside and don't have to speculate and although that was quite a long time ago I still have many good friends who work there. I left for greener pastures when they cut the pay scale for QA engineers roughly in half and made a big push to replace it with automation and developers unit testing their own code. Nadella quoted at some point "Who better to test the code than the developers who wrote it" to which I would say who WORSE to test it than the developers who wrote it, I could go on a whole rant detailing why but that doesn't really matter, just look at the market share for Windows 8 and the adoption percentage of the Edge browser as examples of the result. During that time friends still working there who were mostly developers and middle managers were complaining that they couldn't find decent testers, well, duh, they were trying to pay them peanuts while other companies still offered competitive wages. This led to a large talent bleed as experienced people fled to various startups, some of which later became big. For a while MS had almost no QA engineers at all but that started to change just a few years ago after several disastrous releases including data-loss bugs that escaped into the field that led to some major internal drama. Even now they still have the majority of their testing automated which is great for regression testing but automation will never see an edge case and go looking for it, and it's very, very easy to fall into a trap where the automation is passing so you think everything is fine, but it is rare that anyone really takes a close look at what sort of real world use cases the automation is covering. Being a good SDET is a lot like being a good technician, it's not as glamorous as being a SDE or hardware engineer but it requires a lot of the same skillset with an additional skillset on top of that. Developing useful automated test scripts is far more than coding, it requires the skills of a tester. They have their "insider program" or whatever it's called, which is absolutely an attempt to outsource testing to unpaid fanboys instead of paying internal staff to do it.Anyway, bottom line is companies have paid me a very good salary (better than I've made in stints of doing EE related work) to find and document defects and deficiencies in their products, so forgive me if I'm not inclined to give away my services for free. We are discussing for-profit businesses here, not charities, and I don't think you will find many professionals in any field who are interested in working for free to help someone else earn money.

author: SVFeingold
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2021, 11:43:13 pm
content: That's pretty interesting. I appreciate the perspective. As far as I can see Digikey isn't demanding your "professional services," unless taking 15 seconds to say "hey there's a typo" once or twice a year is what you consider worthy of a 6-figure salary. A completely voluntary report at that: they're really not asking anything. They have a voluntary bug reporting feature, like most software. Where's the fire?If a friend asks me if a shelf they hung is level I don't skip right to "Sir! I did not spend 15 years working hard to gain my engineering skills just to give away my professional services for free! If you want my professional opinion you will pay for it."Seems a lot easier to just say "yeah man looks fine." I suppose when everything has to be "about the principle of the thing" the world looks different.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2021, 04:03:40 am
content: Some of you guys are taking my cynical comment way too seriously. It's not like I'm completely unreasonable, I'm just annoyed that they took something that was working fine and "fixed" it until it was broken. It's one of my pet peeves and they are FAR from the only company that has done it. If I spotted a typo I might let them know, but I'm not going to go too far out of my way to report all the self inflicted issues that are going on which I see as the direct result of half-assed "we'll just fix that later" "Agile" web development. I can't turn off the testing thing, I find bugs in everything and it's one reason I came back to QA more than once despite taking my career in other directions at times. At one point I really thought I'd enjoy EE as a job but I very quickly realized that I don't want to turn something I really enjoy doing for fun into work that I HAVE to slog through to hit deadlines.

author: SVFeingold
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2021, 09:10:26 am
content: When you put it that way then yeah, I agree. Certainly I'm not gonna probe their site for bugs. Truthfully I've never reported a single one (never really thought to) because I just assume nobody reads them, but if they do maybe I'll reconsider for things that are quick.I'm an ME by degree and title, EE only sometimes. But in both realms, the number of times I've seen software teams try to apply "agile" thinking to hardware (and struggle or fail) is too many. They're not always accustomed to thinking that "recompiling" a hardware product will take 3 weeks and $50,000, to give one example.At the end of the day we're all friends here.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2021, 10:57:22 am
content: Quote from: james_s on January 24, 2021, 04:03:40 amI can truly relate to that. Too much "post release" mess is the tone in several places. A true "scorched earth" approach; nuke the previous thing with a half baked idea or implementation to replace it.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2021, 04:41:04 pm
content: Quote from: SVFeingold on January 24, 2021, 09:10:26 amJust as an FYI, every single comment submitted on the Digi-Key website is read by multiple people. Things like incorrect data are usually corrected within a day or two and requests for missing parameters help in planning additions/refinements. Search specific comments are read by the people responsible for development, new features and future road mapping, and are also actively pushed to all management. Volume of specific comments and standout detailed comments do help us to prioritize and more effectively address issues like those stated here.I'll also make the offer again. If anyone would like to rant at a live person, I'd love to set up a session with anyone who would like to have a conversation. The people who have responded thus far have been incredibly helpful and had an outsized impact on our ability to focus our resources on what matters. PM me if that's of interest.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2021, 11:41:36 am
content: Ah great, now it's giving me 403 error.Probably because I was browsing on the website looking for a component, and "clicking too fast".

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2021, 03:00:39 pm
content: Quote from: bombledmonk on January 25, 2021, 04:41:04 pmUnfortunately, the red "Feedback" tab on the right or the bottom of the page does exactly nothing when I click on it!Not sure how to make you aware of that...

author: Mark19960
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2021, 03:17:51 pm
content: I'm loving Digi-Key at the moment.It's dreadfully slow and it's throwing a 404 when I click on any category....Then it throws 500s when searching.Lovely!They really need to get a handle on this website of theirs.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2021, 07:18:23 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on January 28, 2021, 03:00:39 pmI noticed exactly the same thing recently with my bank website, which has also been turning from a functional site into a hot mess. If you click on the section to transfer funds and pay bills the page is a completely different style, "modern" flat look, everything huge so I have to zoom out to 80% and still scroll to see what should easily fit on a single screen with room to spare. Then if you click any of the dropdowns instead of just popping open they SLOOOWLY slide down, taking a full second or more to open. Doesn't sound like much but it adds up and is completely superfluous. Then there is a feedback link that doesn't work at all.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2021, 07:33:36 pm
content: To their credit, Digikey is following up on the non-working feedback link issue.

author: bombledmonk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2021, 08:37:27 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on January 28, 2021, 07:33:36 pmThis was resolved on Friday, but it was still making it through CDN caching so I avoided posting until I was sure. Thanks for helping resolve it SilverSolder and dcarr.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 01:52:22 am
content: I just got email from DigiKey in Chinese. It does not look like spam, and looks legit.QuoteIt has a bunch of links that eventually lead to digikey.cn, which appears to be a Chinese version of the DigiKey site.I don't read Chinese and I'd prefer my email not used for spam. But it looks like new style of doing business continues.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 03:18:57 am
content: No- that's your free Digi-Key coffee cup or ruler or t-shirt you get for pointing out their website's design mistakes.Every 1,000 mistakes and you qualify for some free bling. Although, it might just be afortune cookie

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 03:21:50 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on February 02, 2021, 01:52:22 amI received it as well.

author: Daixiwen
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 08:17:36 am
content: It looks like everyone received itI got it on both my personal and my professional email adresses.The DKIM signature is verified, so it did come from Digikey's servers, or at least one approved by Digikey.

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 02:17:11 pm
content: Quote from: Daixiwen on February 02, 2021, 08:17:36 amI got it also on two email accounts. I was going to report it to Digi-Key, but I couldn't find a spoof or spam receiver email, so I checked here first.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 06:17:44 pm
content: Quote from: Daixiwen on February 02, 2021, 08:17:36 amI didn't, at least I don't think I did. I don't recall ever receiving spam from any of the major suppliers.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 06:24:56 pm
content: It was sent by DK, there is no question about it. Or someone figured out how to spoof DKIM signatures. But if so, it would be stupid to redirect people to the vendor web site.Why would independent spammers what us to go to digikey.cn?It was probably a mistake, of course. Or some over-zealous marketing people.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2021, 08:43:00 pm
content: Digi-Key, your "applied filter" is broken, example I select three resistance values 4.961k, 5k, 5.369k and the search results are including the wrong values such as 10k, 100k, 330k, 47k, 30k etc. This is also occuring for many different types of parts, like capacitors.I also clicked on "In Stock" but "0 - Immediate" shows up for many items. If I sort by "Stock" column, the zero's (stock) items disappear.If I sort by "Resistance in Ohms @ 25°C" column, then out of range value parts disappear.Why STILL can't I enter a range for parameters? Nothing happens when I click on "Search Filter" and type to enter a number.You want me to click the zillion check boxes for a range from say 2k-4k?I tried to find parts under 20mm height and I laughed so hard at your website dumbness, and then ordered from Mouser because it took seconds to find short parts.

author: cortex_m0
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 15, 2021, 11:09:11 pm
content: I was shopping for resistors today, and I found something curious: Resistors with 25 significant figures in their resistance, apparently manufactured by Vishay Dale. Good work, VishayThe Voltnuts will go wild to get their hands on these!(obvious sarcasm, resistors do not have anywhere close to that kind of precision, I suspect this is IEEE-754 problems)

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 15, 2021, 11:38:24 pm
content: Quote from: cortex_m0 on June 15, 2021, 11:09:11 pmOMG!

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2021, 02:52:52 am
content: And you STILL have to click the stupid thing to show more parameters, and the stupid checkbox to exclude marketplace items EVERY SINGLE TIME too.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2021, 07:28:10 am
content: They fixed problems I had with the Applied Filters, which is nice but they worked a while back so how do they break that and not notice it in test?It's been along time and the website is still terrible. I guess it keeps a bunch of people employed, when I submit component errors, there's literally a person per part lol.Let's compare superior Mouser website technology lol. You are granted the right to search by range. Instead of being held hostage to dumbness. Click click click click....Their Web Committee is very stubborn it seems.

author: Daixiwen
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2021, 08:37:28 am
content: I want my cap to be 1.09mm high, not that 1.10mm rubbish.I'm using a lot the different ranges in the Mouser search, but each time I click somewhere it seems that there is a delay where any other click is ignored, so when I need to select a range, I need to wait several seconds between each click. Is it only me?

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2021, 03:46:32 pm
content: Nah, Mouser too was programmed by typical web programmers. I think there is some check box you can click to disable smart filtering or something like this. I think it is supposed to help with that. But there are a million different ways it is slow, so it is hard to tell which of those ways the checkbox prevents.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2021, 08:10:40 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on June 16, 2021, 07:28:10 amSimple, there is nobody testing it. They probably have at most one QA person on the team and releases come far too quickly for a proper test pass, that person is probably not a hardware engineer and is totally clueless about the specific parameters an engineer will use to select a part. The rest of the testing will rely on automated tests which of course will only confirm the specific things the person writing the test script thought to check.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2021, 09:37:56 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 16, 2021, 02:52:52 amMarketplace is useful to me, I've bought from it once, but I also don't understand at all why its not off by default (and then add a hint to turn it on if nothing is in stock).Look at this listing, why would I buy from Digikey when marketplace is cheaper?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2021, 10:44:29 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on June 16, 2021, 09:37:56 pmMaybe because you want your whole order shipped from the DigiKey warehouse in a single shipment? Maybe because you want a single source for customer service? Maybe because you want parts that are fully vetted and come from a known supply chain, not some random seller offering them on the DK website?It's fine to offer a marketplace, but the setting should be simple to disable and it should STAY set however you set it. I don't want to set it every single time.

author: cortex_m0
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2021, 11:23:43 pm
content: Thm_w: That diode is only cheaper from Rochester because they are showing you a price for a 4,000 piece minimum order. The same part, sold by DigiKey and made by ONSemi, is 3.7 cents when you use comparable quantity.https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/on-semiconductor/BAV199LT1G/918322

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2021, 11:34:34 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 16, 2021, 10:44:29 pmyep, thats what I said.Quote from: cortex_m0 on June 16, 2021, 11:23:43 pmYes missed that, it won't even let me order it if I wanted to as well..

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2022, 06:08:00 pm
content: I found out today I can't place certain parts in my shopping cart when I'm logged in, but I can do it as a guest.It was like that for a while and I was ordering those parts from different sources. Today I logged out and the suddenly I could place the part in the cart.Are they limiting some accounts or is it only my account?

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2022, 04:18:04 am
content: Might be regulatory requirements by country. Were the items chemical in nature, or IR cameras or other Wassenaar items?

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2022, 04:42:49 am
content: Are you on a same regional site (.com or .ca) when logged on and logged off?

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2022, 04:24:19 pm
content: They were various semiconductors in the past what I remember I was not able to put in the cart. It probably started one or 2 years ago.I was not paying much attention to it and ordered it elsewhere, but lately it is more and more.Yesterday it was a SMCJ22A diode.I could order it by creating another account, but later I received an email with this PO exception:11-OCT-2022 21:24 A7N7 EMLD STEVE Gxxxxx TO ADVISE THAT THIS PART CANNOT BE SOLD TO HIS COMPANY CLASSIFICATION PER THE MFG. THIS PO WILL NOT BE PROCESSEDI'm in Canada and ordering from the Canadian web site. I was getting 90% of my needed parts from DigiKey the last 23 years.Suddenly being discriminated against feels strangely familiar.This is their explanation from this morning:Hello Steve Gxxxx,Thank you for contacting Digi-Key! I am sorry, but we are unable to supply you with part number 497-18723-1-ND due to the part’s limited availability.Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.Thank you,Rylee LundeenGlobal Customer SupportDIGI-KEY ELECTRONICS701 Brooks Ave SouthThief River Falls, MN 56701 USA+1 800 344 4539 x 11658+1 218 681 7979

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2022, 05:06:16 pm
content: Something is going on with that outfit. Pay attention when you are ordering how many items you will get with the missing quantity window and not being able to add it to your cart.It can't be only me with that issue.I wrote back to Rylee to see if I can get any more clarification:Hello Rylee,This is just a simple discrimination. Nothing else.You have 5797 pieces in stock and the part is widely available from other sources.Perhaps the "limited availability" only applies to my company?If you don't want me to be your customer after 23 years just say so.It will save me time going through creating orders on your web site and I take my business elsewhere.Thanks

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2022, 09:16:11 pm
content: Order to your home address or get someone else to order it for you. Did you check off the "this product will be exported outside of Canada" question?

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 02:15:10 am
content: Digikey's management might have thought it was a good idea at the time to link up with brokers, but we users generally dislike it. It will do Digikey damage in the long term unless when Chipageddon is over, the marketplace stuff will move to another site completely and free up Digikey to be the supplier.I also noticed in many cases Mouser has stock but Digikey has nil stock of the same part. It seems Mouser can often get stock, but with Digikey it seems the lights are on but no-one is home. I think they have a kangaroo loose in the top paddock.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 02:34:18 am
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 12, 2022, 05:06:16 pmOP, Digi-Key customer for 23 years and only 4 posts here on EEVBlog? What is this? A TVS for russian tanks or something?It's a vanilla TVS made by ST. On account I can add it to cart and go to checkout with no messages, but I did not finalize the transaction.But I've never seen the weirdness you are experiencing, it makes little sense- unless your company is on the ITAR list or something.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 05:37:32 am
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on October 13, 2022, 02:15:10 amI’ve observed that, too, but I very seriously doubt it’s due to incompetence, and instead to the fact that for many people, Digi-Key is the first place we look for components (thanks to their parametric search, which is IMHO hands-down the best in the industry, even if there’s still room for improvement, as well as them having the largest selection of parts under one roof). So it stands to reason that they’ll be the first to sell out of things.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 05:47:07 am
content: Quote from: floobydust on October 13, 2022, 02:34:18 amI'm more active on my other two home forums more specific to what I'm doing. (mainly TV repair)Those are completely private forums with paid membership.I ordered the part from Newark, so it is not an issue.What is an issue is that so far nobody experienced the same treatment from DK.I am trying to understand why?After exchanging a few more emails this is what I received:Hello Steve Gxxxx,Due to limited access to new stock, Digi-Key has made the decision to reserve our current stock for companies that are classed as a Manufacturer.Thank you,Angie VanderportGlobal Customer SupportDIGI-KEY ELECTRONICS701 Brooks Ave SouthThief River Falls, MN 56701 USA+1 800 344 4539 x 12934+1 218 681 7979I wrote back to her this and did not receive any further replies:Hello Angie,Thanks for the clarification.I will spread the message through all the forums where I'm member and where small business owners are discussing daily issues.It is good to know how your company supports the service industry who is trying to prevent items ending in the landfill.It is very green of you.ThanksIs there anybody else who has the same issue with DK?If it is true for the service industry, somebody else must have the same kind of issues when ordering parts from DK.If they have a few thousand in stock would 4 make a difference?Yet as a guest I could order 4 pieces and pay for it and they canceled the order after they figured out it is me.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 06:50:47 am
content: I’m not sure your tone is conducive to producing a positive outcome. You’re venting, but not actually asking for anything. So they’ll just dismiss it as “well, they’re gonna be cranky, oh well”. If you had instead said “I understand your position, but it really puts me and my customers’ repairs in a pickle. How can we find a solution that works for us?” you might have gotten farther.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 03:29:23 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 13, 2022, 06:50:47 amI'm putting up with it for a while and I no longer understand their position.There are other repair shops in Canada who checked out yesterday if they can order that part and they were not restricted.I'm asking for an explanation.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 06:52:32 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 13, 2022, 03:29:23 pmAssuming what you’ve shared above includes the entirety of the emails to them, then no, you haven’t really askedthemfor an explanation. You just got miffed and threatened to take your business elsewhere (Which anyone who’s worked retail can tell you: that just gets an eye roll and “ok, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”) and to badmouth them online. You haven’t made it clear that you’d still like to find a resolution.I understand your frustration and need to vent. But you’re not giving them any reason or opportunity to work towards a solution. If you actually want to keep buying from them, then ask them to help find you a solution. “We” is the operative word. Being adversarial will not get your problem solved.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 08:43:20 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 12, 2022, 05:06:16 pmDon't dox the DK people who are writing back to you, it's unnecessary and going hostile or personal must have likely happened before with youAll this drama over 4 TVS diodes? WAFWOM. CAD $4.44It seems suspect that they wouldn't sell to you- unless you made the blacklistI've gotten angry at Digi-Key over their website functionality, account policies, technical typos in product descriptions etc. but find their staff has mostly helped out. Lately it's not as good, it seems to be zillions of newbs they've hired and issues get lost in the sea.I treat the staff respectfully and make an attempt to be constructive so Digi-Key can maybe get better - but not if I have to argue or take up a lot of my time.Last option is vote with your wallet and buy somewhere else.

author: aeberbach
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 09:33:17 pm
content: This thread caught my eye because I just tried to use Digikey. They had some DC connectors in stock that Mouser didn't - so I figured I would give them a try. A couple of minutes later with the broken search and I decided just to wait for Mouser to get them back in, it's only another month.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2022, 09:37:24 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 13, 2022, 05:47:07 amPaid membership TV repair forums?

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2022, 10:53:20 pm
content: Need more emails?This issue is not new. I am having a problem ordering items from DK for a while.Some are available and some are not.It's not about the 4 diodes. I needed a clear answer why it is so.Dear Steve Gxxxxx,I am sorry, but we are unable to supply you with this part due to the part’s limited availability.Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.Thank you,Todd KirbyGlobal Customer SupportDIGI-KEY ELECTRONICS701 Brooks Ave SouthThief River Falls, MN 56701 USA+1 800 344 4539 x 14976+1 218 681 7979Hello Todd,Can you please explain me in plain language what you mean by limited availability?You have a few thousand, so it can't be not enough volume. (I had that excuse on other items from you)This part is widely available from other sources and I can order it there.So, is it limited only for my company or is it limited some other way?I need a clear answer.ThanksDear Steve Gxxxx,Part 497-18723-1-ND is not available for distribution, order was cancelled.Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.Thank you,Melanie StenzelGlobal Customer SupportDIGI-KEY ELECTRONICS701 Brooks Ave SouthThief River Falls, MN 56701 USA+1 800 344 4539 x 11155+1 218 681 7979Hello Melanie,This still does not answer my question.I could place an order as a guest and I could place an order when I created another account.That is until you guys figured out it is my company.I am able to order the part from different sources (I just did), so it is not restricted for distribution from other places.So, it is not the manufacturer limiting the availability of parts. It is your company limiting my company from ordering certain parts.That is discrimination.My question is why?ThanksHello Steve Gxxxx,Due to limited access to new stock, Digi-Key has made the decision to reserve our current stock for companies that areclassed as a Manufacturer.Thank you,Angie VanderportGlobal Customer SupportDIGI-KEY ELECTRONICS701 Brooks Ave SouthThief River Falls, MN 56701 USA+1 800 344 4539 x 12934+1 218 681 7979So, a guest ordering 4 pieces could be a manufacturer...

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 12:10:36 am
content: Well, that is quite unfortunate. According to US law, they can refuse service to anyone. However, as a customer, you can vote with your wallet. I would suggest you do so, although it can be quite a hassle.Regarding motivation, I wonder what prompted them to take this action. Further competing brokerage wouldn't be the reason - after all, it is only a very limited quantity.Perhaps they are pulling a Keysight and found out that cost of sales for individuals is proportionally expensive despite the higher cost per unit?Oh well, so far my favourite resellers are not (yet) doing this. Knock on wood.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 01:04:47 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on October 16, 2022, 12:10:36 amOr vote with your feet by going to another supplier. I suspect Mouser has had less damage done to it as a company than Digikey, even though Mouser has its problems.The company I worked for 12 years ago got burnt by Element 14 (Farnell/Newark) to the tune of around $1400 by Element 14 failing to honour warranty on a proven defective batch of electronic devices they shipped. Not honouring warranty on a defective product is illegal in Australia. They absolutely broke the law. Short of suing these dipsticks, we rarely ever used them for anything from then on. I certainly voted with my feet, and Element 14 is the last resort for me to buy components from. They would have lost a lot more business than the $1400 over the past 12 years.The point is, when these companies treat the little customer badly it can be much to their own detriment in the long term but they lack the intelligence to understand that.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 01:23:54 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 15, 2022, 10:53:20 pmWell, what we don’t know is whether that order would actually get filled. I suspect it’d get canceled.

author: jmelson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 03:48:39 pm
content: Well, Digi-Key is still the first place I look, but I do check a number of other distributors either when D-K doesn't have stock or I don't like the price.It seems D-K is getting better than this spring, I don't know whether that has to do with more staff returning from Covid issues, or just parts being more available. I have had to scramble to get various ICs for things I manufacture, and go to Shenzhen brokers for certain ICs, but D-K seems to now have stock on mundane parts. Back in the spring, they were out of small screws, washers, heat sink pads and an amazing variety of mundane NON-semiconductor parts.Jon

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 06:56:38 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 16, 2022, 01:23:54 pmOther repair shops I know could put that part in the cart. I could not even do that. The web site blocks that feature on the page for me. If I log out as a guest I see that web page as it should be.I have the parts coming from UK, so it is not about not able to source it.Actually for 5$ I can buy 50 pieces from China.I'm just trying to understand why are they doing that specifically to me.I always paid with a credit card and never owed them anything.Never talked to them before and only used the live chat when I was looking for parts.Even that explanation that it is reserved for a manufacturer is lame.I don't believe it , but I will leave it as is.If you leave it for the manufacturing sector put the ordering limit to a few hundred or thousand pieces and don't allow to order 4.Could this be the beginning of the social credit system?

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 07:08:34 pm
content: If you think that politics can't filter down to business just look at their statement here:https://www.digikey.com/en/help/privacyI think I start to understand if I look at this line :Information that we obtain from third party sourcesOur website may contain links to third party websites, embedded content that comes from or relates to third party websites and services, and buttons from third party websites and services (such as social media sharing buttons).From time to time, we may receive personal information about you from third party sources.interesting ....Not agreeing with the narrative gets you in trouble....

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 07:23:36 pm
content: You are paranoid and overthinking this. Just go to any other supplier.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 07:54:24 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 16, 2022, 06:56:38 pmYeah, everyone here understands that. What I posited is a different question. We don’t know whether they’d actually FILL the order. If they’re actually refusing to sell it to non-manufacturers, then they may well cancel the order once it goes for review.Quote from: St66666 on October 16, 2022, 06:56:38 pmOh FFS. You need to lay off the psychedelics.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 07:57:14 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 16, 2022, 07:23:36 pmI did. The parts are irrelevant.Why am I treated differently is the question.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 09:59:06 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 16, 2022, 07:54:24 pmYeah right, because during the last 2 years everything went perfect. In my country people got their bank accounts frozen for speaking up against the establishment.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 10:05:56 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 16, 2022, 09:59:06 pmI really doubt it. But this is not the forum to discuss conspiracy theories.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 10:45:41 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 16, 2022, 10:05:56 pmWhat conspiracy? If you are not familiar with what is going on in the world just don't say anything.Here is from the Canadian government bringing in the emergency act because of the protests.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 11:02:31 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 16, 2022, 10:05:56 pmYou got to be really blind to the world if you think this is a conspiracy theory...

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 11:13:46 pm
content: You don't "speak up" by blatantly violating the law and disrupting the lives of everyone around. I'm with the government on this one.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 11:32:02 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 16, 2022, 11:13:46 pmI see. So, there is no such a thing as a right to protest when you are treated unfairly.We will never agree on this. But I understand if you base your opinion on the information from the main stream media and refuse to listen to the other side. I just hope you don't get to a similar situation. Then you would understand perhaps.Enough politics.I still need to go and cancel my PayPal account so I don't get charged the 2500$.Look that up!

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 11:34:05 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 16, 2022, 11:32:02 pmProtest all you want, just don't block public roads.Quote from: St66666 on October 16, 2022, 11:32:02 pmThey already said that they won't do this. Also, they are a private company and free to charge whatever they want as long as you agreed to their terms of service.

author: Zoli
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2022, 11:53:42 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 16, 2022, 11:34:05 pmDon't tell me that you support Putin too; because what you said here, it sounds like.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 12:01:24 am
content: No, I don't support Putin and I don't see how one follows from the other. But that't really offtopic and I will stop responding here.

author: Zoli
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 12:13:14 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 17, 2022, 12:01:24 amThen learn what civic unrest means, and how to properly handle.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 12:22:50 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on October 16, 2022, 11:13:46 pmYou have no clue what you are talking about.

author: TheNewLab
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 12:52:44 am
content: response to Off topicFreezing bank accounts is not so uncommon in certain other nations. Weather the bank just does not have the funds, or fear runs on their banks. It happens and has happened repeatedly in the USA until the FDIC was established guaranteeing up to $100K was protected, now $200K.On topic:This really sucks about Digi-key. I have an open account with them, and now my small buss, will have to remove DK from our supplier list

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 12:53:17 am
content: Please quit the politics and stick to the topic.Any more political posts and they will be deleted.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 12:58:27 am
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 12, 2022, 04:24:19 pmThat's likely just some supply chain availability issue, it happens more these days.You wants crazy, this happened to me at Farnell:https://www.eevblog.com/2014/02/24/element-14-holding-orders-based-on-us-government-watch-list/I've also been hit with restricted export agreements for component before, not uncommon for those outside the US. And I've heard reprots about Digikey orders being pulled because they goofed the stock number or something. It's nothing about you, it's whatever convoluted system someone in the chain has in place, or some mistake. Just try and buy it from someone else and move on.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 04:26:30 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on October 17, 2022, 12:53:17 amI agree with you. Politics should not be here, but it should not be in the parts supply chain either.If there are companies who bring politics in to their business it should be a fair game to point it out.I am not in favor of some Chinese style social credit system.I requested DK to reveal what personal information they collected about me. Will see ...

author: TheNewLab
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 04:38:07 am
content: Agree with Dave andQuote from: St66666 on October 17, 2022, 04:26:30 amHowever, I really want to joke about some of this, like solution:https://www.eevblog.com/2014/02/24/element-14-holding-orders-based-on-us-government-watch-list/A SOLUTION:Due to PATRIOT ACT that person had an issue, sosolution, include a video of you ordering included as an attachment to the order? or maybe a pic of your room?or whatever...Now for Dave, that's a really creepy guy! So you must mail your hour-long video with a copy of every online video you ever made to :US Homeland SecurityDept of PATRIOT ACTors issu'sWTF post 999999999Wahsing DC 98765-4321

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 05:33:44 am
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 17, 2022, 04:26:30 amYes, but this has nothing to do with any "social credit system".Digikey don't know nor care who you are are. You've just caught up in a supply chain availability issue like a bunch of people have reported in recent times.We've even talked about it on the Amp Hour podcast this year how people have had their Digikey order magically cancelled or whatever.If you are unhappy wiht Digikey just dump them and go to Mouser or Element14 or whoever.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 05:39:06 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on October 17, 2022, 05:33:44 amI beg to differ. They have it in their privacy policy.https://www.digikey.com/en/help/privacyon that page you can find this:Information that we obtain from third party sourcesOur website may contain links to third party websites, embedded content that comes from or relates to third party websites and services, and buttons from third party websites and services (such as social media sharing buttons).From time to time, we may receive personal information about you from third party sources.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 05:59:43 am
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 17, 2022, 05:39:06 amOh FFS, just delete your account and never buy from them again if it worries you that much.That's a nothing-burger clause put in there for some niche requirement.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 07:34:20 am
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 17, 2022, 05:39:06 amIn short, it means they advertise on social media, and may get affinity data and click/view metrics from the social media services they advertise on in order to determine the efficacy of their ad campaigns. In other words, they do what pretty much every single other company in the developed world does, and they are kind enough to inform you. If you don't like this, don't use the internet.

author: Zoli
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 07:50:41 am
content: Quote from: james_s on October 17, 2022, 07:34:20 amAlternative(what I do):don't be part of any anti-social network.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 05:57:25 pm
content: An update...Finally an explanation I can accept:I was contacted by a DK rep and the explanation was that my account was classified as a dealer/reseller and was re-classed to repair.Everything now looks like is back to normal.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 08:21:35 pm
content: That's actually good news, then. It suggests they are taking concrete action against predatory brokers.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 08:47:52 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 17, 2022, 05:57:25 pmWhile I am happy about the outcome, I can’t help but think you would have gotten your answer much sooner, and with fewer stomach ulcers, had you taken a different approach.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 10:40:03 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on October 17, 2022, 05:57:25 pmWhen I order stuff from Digikey, one of the questions is along the lines of "will you be reselling these parts?"When you sell countless products into practically every country in the world the amount of red tape catgegories you must have would be be astronomical.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2022, 10:49:36 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 17, 2022, 08:47:52 pmHow?This was an ongoing problem for me for at least a few months. I tried to find out why a while ago through a live chat.With these diodes it was too obvious something is not right.I wrote 4 or 5 emails and nobody bothered to check?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2022, 06:53:24 am
content: If those emails were written in the tone you shared and used here, then you came off as an argumentative crank. But you also tend to whine without actually asking specific questions.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2022, 06:16:35 pm
content: It's reasonable for a customer to be upset when they are refused service for undisclosed reasons, particularly on an order this small.I'm all for DigiKey restricting sales to scalpers, but scalpers aren't going to order four or five pieces at a time, as St66666 did. Those safeguards should kick in when someone with little/no customer history orders hundreds or thousands of parts at full-retail prices.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2022, 06:56:22 pm
content: Digi-Key's website focus is on analytics - not common sense or what customers really need. For years now.

author: Zeyneb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2022, 07:05:25 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on October 18, 2022, 06:56:22 pmHow do you know? What sources can you share to back up this claim.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2022, 07:53:04 pm
content: Look at your web browser's load of the Digi-Key home page. But I believe you have the Data Protection Law GDPR which we don't have in North America.I can see some of sites are all about analytics for tracking, others for security/fraud prevention and content providers, some are legit.akamaiedge.netanalytics-egain.comevgnet.comgo-mpulse.netgoogle.comgoogleoptimize.commktossl.comsift.comtiqcdn.comtrustwave.comyoutube.com...If the staff and labour costs associated with analytics could be instead used to make the website a better experience, that would be great.Who has access to the data mined, including scalpers, we don't know- as if it's private

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 18, 2022, 09:50:40 pm
content: Quote from: KE5FX on October 18, 2022, 06:16:35 pmErr, what's wrong with someone purchasing something in bulk at full retail price from a company who's entire business model is bulk component supply?

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2022, 11:06:49 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on October 18, 2022, 09:50:40 pmNothing inherently wrong or not wrong, digikey is prioritizing long term business over short term profits.Mass component scalping of new parts will end, eventually, and at that point scalpers disappear and you're back to your regular customer base. Some of us regular customers remember how we were treated.Same sort of issue with Nvidia and GPU miners. Crypto GPU mining is essentially dead at this point, so catering to that transient market could have been a bad idea long term.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2022, 01:00:33 am
content: Nothingwrongwith it, except at some point you'll get a better price from a manufacturer's rep.Just pointing out that somebody buying 4 pieces is probably not a broker or a reseller, while somebody buying 4000 might be. Suspecting/flagging/accusing small-time buyers of being a reseller is not good business.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2022, 01:50:20 am
content: When Digi-Key started in the 1970's they catered to the small orders, the hobbyists. They had the highest markups and highest level of service.This made the company, I guess people were willing to pay extra for service (well, along with some surplus cool NS clock modules like MA1010, MA1012 they sold as bait lol).1-100 lot are stupid expensive now, those markups have increased, and bigger production quantities Purchasing depts are always using other distributors, unless they are forced to use Digi-Key as a source because their prices are silly high. So going after the big fish, selling to manufacturers to hit the bigger volumes- I'm not sure will work because the company was not built on that. Prove it by running your BoM through other distributors and comparing prices.Whether that reel of parts ends up in communist weapons systems, or a scalper's shelf, or at another competing distributor, or some lowly hobbyist/repair shop, they can't control any of that.Why are they following some myth of being able to control who their customers are?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2022, 06:27:24 am
content: Quote from: floobydust on October 19, 2022, 01:50:20 am1. Because suppliers and government regulations require them to restrict things.2. To maintain a better customer experience for their own customers overall.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2022, 08:23:16 am
content: Quote from: tooki on October 17, 2022, 08:47:52 pmOr if DK weren't assholes and informed about the situation sooner. Or if anyone there took initiative and realized that somebody ordering four diodes and complaining about it not working perhaps is not a scalper.It's becoming standard practice in online businesses (and most businesses are becoming online) to treat customers like shit and then hide behind clueless, powerless and overworked support reps who can't help you even if they had time for that, and don't have time to help even if they wanted to, and possibly don't even want anything more than their paycheck at the end of the day.And if God forbid you get pissed off then you are a crank, thank you for your concerns dear valued customer, goodbye. Of course you can vote with your wallet and take your business elsewhere, rinse and repeat.It always takes licking the ass (as we say here) of a bunch of people before they finally connect you with somebody who can actually resolve your problem.And then some people even think it's normal, maybe they got so fluent in navigating this byzantine mess that they believe it's them who are being clever, nevermind the time they are regularly wasting writing all those polite and constructive emails

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2022, 03:04:59 pm
content: I tend to agree with magic here. The (claimed) amount of time and back-and-forth communications since the beginning of problems was caused by an error on the supplier side, which probably led to their operators/reps to discredit any claims of problems and de-prioritize any communications. We all know how this goes: due to the high volume of requests, the operators probably have a customer screen with various flags that characterize its activities, etc. Once the flag "scalper alert" was lit/checked, the level of engagement in subsequent actions were proportional to the quality of responses received by the customer. That also ties directly with floobydust's post regarding the quality of small customer engagement.Funny how the world works these days: the customer only got his plea heard after making a stink in a popular website that probably has someone from the supplier monitoring it. What in the past was done only locally with a megaphone, nowadays is done using the keyboard.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2022, 09:29:50 pm
content: Quote from: magic on October 19, 2022, 08:23:16 amNo one here was "treated like shit" lolShitty treatment would be an outright ban of him as a customer.Ordering four diodes probably did not label them as a scalper, whatever actions they took prior to that purchase likely flagged them and prevented purchase of any quantity of specific items.

author: St66666
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2022, 09:20:19 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on October 19, 2022, 09:29:50 pmOnly ordering parts what I need. Roughly 3 or 4 times a month. I don't waist time talking to them or writing emails if there are no issues. The truth is that their web site sometimes has glitches and does not work correctly.I put up with the issue for months until it became too obvious that there is something wrong.All I wanted is equal treatment and some answers.What exactly do you suspect I did?

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2022, 10:08:10 pm
content: Quote from: St66666 on November 08, 2022, 09:20:19 pmNo idea what you did, nothing intentional of course.Maybe refresh the page too many times, ordered a specific item, quantity, etc.BTW recently tried to order a UV LED and would not add to cart, asked support and they said it was not allowed to be shipped to Canada. So they don't have a built in error message for that, for whatever reason, it just blocks the cart.edit: here is the parthttps://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/luminus-devices-inc/SST-10-UV-A130-G385-00/9749623385nm LED

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2022, 07:47:35 am
content: Quote from: thm_w on November 08, 2022, 10:08:10 pmThat's bizarre. Why on earth would they not let a UV LED be shipped to Canada? It would be trivial to get someone in the US to send one, no way customs would know there was anything special about it.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2022, 01:19:14 pm
content: Could be something as trivial as exclusivity agreements between the manufacturer and local distributors. (E.g. manufacturer has given exclusivity in Canada to a Canadian distributor, so manufacturer tells their non-Canadian distributors they may not ship it to Canadian addresses.)