RS Components new crappy webiste  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: pcmad
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 02:37:01 am
content: the new website is crapwhy is there a trend to make website look and feel like a consumer /retal feel and not for trade where we just want a simple website where we can do what we need to do order and have done withpop upsstupid animationmissing featuresno custom items per pagethe mass select for param filters gone i now have to click and WAIT 5 seconds to select values for voltage values etcwhen selecting a param filters item (left hand column) the page automatically scrolls up its soo annoyingwebsite look and feel like for mobile phone only the desktop experience was not considereddoes and one else have issues the there crappy new website

author: perdrix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 04:14:51 am
content: Me three - it's yuk

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 04:19:29 am
content: Another case of web designers gone wild.Quote from: pcmad on July 20, 2021, 02:37:01 amI can't imagine many people would order electronic components from their mobile phones...

author: 2N3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 07:05:06 am
content: Yeah it is utter turd.Wrote to them. They don't care...

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 07:32:09 am
content: How do I change language?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 07:57:33 am
content: Not an improvement. The 'smooth scrolling' also sucks because now you have to wait longer for it to stop before you can read /select something from the list. Who comes up with this idiotic stuff?Next thing you know you get emails from them asking to rate your purchase (like Farnell is doing). 'Yes, these resistors are fine. They look tiny though in 0402 size and I don't like the color of the reel'.

author: fourtytwo42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 08:16:02 am
content: God it's awful!!Just tried going through the motions of selecting Mosfet parameters, every time you select one it goes off & refreshes the screen, SO SLOW.......Reckon there IT people are barely out of nappies

author: nali
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 08:27:38 am
content: Quote from: fourtytwo42 on July 20, 2021, 08:16:02 amI thought I'd take a look at the same section. Look what it says at the top:Quote

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 09:29:44 am
content: Yes, it's really bad. There's loads of white space and limiting the number of results per page to just 25, with no option to change it, is retarded.The old website was batter. All they should have done was added the ability to only display results for stocked items. It's really annoying when the half of the search results are on stupidly long lead times.It's a shame no one who posts here works for RS Components. They should get one of their sales people to sign up to forums like this, not to spam, but to keep up with what people think.There is a feedback form on their website. I suggest eveyone gives it a severe trolling.

author: richard.cs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 10:07:17 am
content: Just looked, it's pretty bad. I mean the old one was fairly poor but this is worse.Quote from: Zero999 on July 20, 2021, 09:29:44 amAgreed

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 12:34:18 pm
content: Quote

author: mc172
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 01:06:34 pm
content: Yep, I agree. It's utter crap. The old one wasn't great but workable - I could at least select multiple values in the search filters easily which is really all I cared about. I hadn't needed any components for a few weeks but when I went on the RS website to buy some today it wound me up so much that I just went to Mouser and found the components using their better search tools. I've preferred RS for years for various reasons but screw 'em, I ended up buying from Mouser as well.It'd be nice if someone also vetted the filter options on these websites so you don't have, for example:1 kΩ1 k Ω1k1k Ω1kΩ1000 Ω1000ΩetcI appreciate that that's a massive task... Perhaps not, you've only got to edit the duplicates... Meh.I think the only way that the RS website can now be made worse is if they go the full distance and remove the useful filters we're left with and only leave us with sort by price and "popularity". Wouldn't surprise me.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 01:07:29 pm
content: The RS website has always been various forms of terrible, always lagging years behind the competition.It has slowly improved over the years in areas like parametric search, but literaly over a decade later than Farnell it still doesn't show stock in search results listing.Can't say I've noticed much recently as it's usually the last place I look .

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 01:09:22 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on July 20, 2021, 09:29:44 amwouldn't do any good. Over the years I must have spoken to over a dozen RS people to explain exactly what the issues are but nothing ever gets fixed

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 01:42:11 pm
content: That means either their main source of revenue comes from elsewhere, or their web designers are too engrossed with how their redesign is so much better to care.If it's the second case, taking your business elsewhere may give them a hint.

author: jc101
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 04:19:02 pm
content: The RS site keeps unlinking my company ID from my login, so I go to order and can't put it on the trade account and shipping is added. I've had to re-link it half a dozen times in the last few months. I did call them at one point, they were going to look into it but never called back.

author: richard.cs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 04:22:45 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on July 20, 2021, 01:42:11 pmIt could be that most of the high volume sales are from electronics manufacturers using the BOM upload tools.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 04:53:02 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on July 20, 2021, 04:19:29 amIt’s simple: they have their phone in their hand and need to order components. One not being able to imagine why another would do something another way, is irrelevant.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 08:53:20 pm
content: See some silly light overlay and a spinner that flashes after every search.Another one without the overlay:The pages seem to load quick so they are not needed but cause me visual annoyance.Code:uk.rs-online.com##.Box-sc-1a4tiu7-0.Flex-ftxd62-0.terminal-node-containerstyled__AddToBasketSpinnerContainer-igw735-2.kZlMqQuk.rs-online.com##.Box-sc-1a4tiu7-0.Flex-ftxd62-0.terminal-node-containerstyled__TerminalNodeLoader-igw735-1.bNEDuXuk.rs-online.com##.react-loading##.react-loadinguk.rs-online.com##.Box-sc-1a4tiu7-0.kgbukH.loaderActually just comparing with them hidden and I find they seem to slow down the page load but might just be an illusion.There seems to be an issue in hiding the search suggestions which appears to be javascript enforced and it is not that alone there are many other types of suggestions appearing:Code:uk.rs-online.com##.Box-sc-1a4tiu7-0.PredictiveResults__PredictiveResultsContainer-vya3gm-1.eHMEPOuk.rs-online.com##.Box-sc-1a4tiu7-0.SearchBar__RecentlySearchedContainer-okj0vs-4.iAlJxbuk.rs-online.com###js-predictive-searchuk.rs-online.com##.predictive-searchuk.rs-online.com###js-search-history-listuk.rs-online.com###js-search-hintuk.rs-online.com##.search-hintuk.rs-online.com##.search-history-titleI hide them and they hide but after page reload it seems to reappear and in different browsersI don't like suggestions when I type they appear or swing out like that, get in the way of other stuff and distract me.Ah all of a sudden seems to be working now on this occasion hiding the search suggestions, search history list, search hint, recently searched container, and predictive search.I think I had this happen intermittently before to do with my blocklist maybe I should check it for rule mistypes.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 09:24:42 pm
content: Quote from: tszaboo on July 20, 2021, 07:32:09 amGo back to school and learn a new one!Sorry, couldn't resist.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2021, 09:35:13 pm
content: Two things that really annoy me.1) Now you can't select the number of items per page (you could on the old site), so you are forced to page back and forth if you want to pick a part from more than a very few (or the filters make it impossible to narrow down to less than several pages worth because of (2)).2) They STILL haven't fixed their database. You have to guess the 2, 3, sometimes 7 ways, that they have entered some characteristic that should be ONE entry. If you are going to piss about with the thing surely you should fix the broken before then going on to make the newshittyshiny?

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 12:19:52 am
content: Sheesh.I have used the RS parametric search before and, yeah, it had its issues, but I could usually find something for the job at hand. Haven't looked for anything on RS for a while, but just now tried finding some capacitors. Bloody painful and next to useless.They've slipped right down my list of suppliers to the point where Aliexpress is starting to look good.Quote from: Cerebus on July 20, 2021, 09:35:13 pmThat's an old complaint I've had as well. A classic GIGO scenario that doesn't help the people who want to spend money.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 05:37:12 am
content: "RS Components new crappy webiste "What is a "webiste"?

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 08:45:52 am
content: Quote from: eti on July 21, 2021, 05:37:12 amYes the OP cocked up. It should be webshite.

author: temperance
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 11:01:25 am
content: RS components invoices are of the shite.The website has manufacturers part numbers and a description. The invoice only states RS order codes and a descriptions which doesn't match the description on the website. It would be practical if they put the part numbers on the invoice.

author: mc172
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 11:29:07 am
content: That has annoyed me in the past as well when I've tried to reorder something I know I've ordered recently by looking at past orders. It becomes a bit of a mission because when you click the part number it pops up in a window rather than just taking you to the part. A bit like the annoying eBay links from Google that take you to a stripped down version with no way of even getting to the full page... But even more shit.Yes there's a "reorder" button but I just want to go to the bloody item!

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 12:03:05 pm
content: Quote from: temperance on July 21, 2021, 11:01:25 amAnother way of thinking about that is "Invoices are for accounts, who gives a ****?" or "Invoices are for accounts, I don't want them micromanaging what I buy without it being hard work for them.".The manufacturer's part number and description DO appear on the delivery note - although the descriptions can sometimes be terse to the point of being useless.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 01:47:15 pm
content: The pictures are as good as a bad dating site. I know it says image "representative of range", but they shouldn't bother with photographs, if they're completely different.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 29, 2021, 10:18:00 am
content: Their voltage regulator section is now a mix of linear, LDO and SMPS controllers. What a mess, if you select LDO and Linear you don't get any output voltage results.I have now gone to Farnell. RS seem intent on destroying themselves. Last remaining british wholesaler, oh yea, that must be the problem, bristish - otherwise known as suicidal!

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2021, 01:03:11 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on July 29, 2021, 10:18:00 amI hit that a few weeks back when I found myself out of small 3V3 LDOs. Finding that I couldn't select regulators by voltage was a real WTF moment.The fact that a number of people have clearly tried to get RS to fix some of their basic problems, like inputting/storing the same technical value like the resistance of a resistor in several different ways, and have failed is inexplicable. If it were a person exhibiting self-destructive behaviour at that level we'd try and persuade them to get some professional help. I can see why it might happen if the head of IT was the CEO's nepotistically employed son-in-law or something like that, but I can't come up with any rational explanation.RS's corporate website has a "Five key reasons to invest" page. One of the reasons given as "MARKET SHARE GAINS DRIVEN BY BEING FIRST CHOICE" includes this choice kant:Quote from:https://www.electrocomponents.com/investors/five-key-reasons-to-invest#market-share-gains-driven-by-being-first-choiceThe conversation here indicates they are doing a good job of creatingdetractorsnot promoters, if they do drive more traffic to their websites it's gonna run away even faster once it's tried them, and every change they make to their websiteworsensexperience not improves it.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2021, 01:59:29 pm
content: This, coupled with their persistent reduction of in-country stock and the removal of the free delivery for anything under $70 has just pushed me over to Digikey. Digikey is faster to arrive than most RS "global stock" (4 days vs 5-7), and their shipping is free over $60 (vs $70+GST). Then of course the massive advantage of a significantly larger product range.RS were "good enough, fast enough and cheap enough". They no longer tick any of those boxes.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2021, 03:46:07 pm
content: Yes, it's extremely frustrating, when they have the same category listed more than once, with a slightly different format.I often click the feedback button, to tell them what a load of old pants their website is and I suggest everyone should do the same. Hopefully they might listen, if they get enough complaints.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 29, 2021, 06:17:39 pm
content: I think the complaints form is pointless. ring them and email them. This morning I sent them a link to this thread tagged onto the emails I have had about them with the website. Expect a marketing drone speaking crap to turn up, or to be totally ignored again.The incredibly stupid thing is that I drive past these assholes twice a day on my work commute! I could drop in on the way in and pick stuff up as I actually pass Corby at their opening time so the extra time it takes me to get to work would be on work time anyway. So if we needed something really urgent - perfect. But then when I get to their website I can't use it to order anything so I do what I did today after speaking to an idiot on the customer care team who was adamant they had no bad feedback about the website. I went to mouser and found with easy what I wanted.It is easier for me to buy from a company half way around the world than it is one who's doorstep I pass daily. so much for saving the planet. The time it takes to arrive from texas in the US I may have found something on the RS webshite!

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 29, 2021, 08:22:02 pm
content: Quote from: BradC on July 29, 2021, 01:59:29 pmIn the UK businesses get free delivery, but that has turned to shit as Parcel Farce (force) have become hopeless. I was desperately in need of parts that went from AM delivery to PM delivery to me standing outside work after work waiting for a driver that was a 5 minute walk around the corner. I then spent the next morning trying to find out where my goods were. So that was the loss of the last incentive for using RS, they used to deliver at 8:40 am next day, then it became the day after next - some time, when we can be arsed.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2021, 10:04:55 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on July 29, 2021, 08:22:02 pmThere was one time I was repeatedly lied to by ParcelFarce for failing to deliver a 40x40mm? fan in 2014 with all sorts excuses and then saying after the final delivery attempt that no one was in in despite being in all day with the door opened, and workmen digging the ground outside to run new water pipes. I was told by RS on the phone that they had GPS records from ParcelFarce to show that the courier did stop there and according to the driver no one answered and it won't redeliver. At this point I was so infuriated I didn't realize that I was sounding aggressive and the lady warned me that she'd hang up but advised me that if it was a business address they would have to turn around and redeliver. She she took my complaint, refunded me including the delivery (I think was next day) and I ordered it again to be delivered to a business address where I was working at and it came on time and they had camera's there just incase.I don't think I had any problems with ParcelFarce after that.I remember this ParcelFarce Twitter account I once came across and still seems to be there.https://twitter.com/parcelfarce?lang=enI still like this one:Quote

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 31, 2021, 11:56:18 am
content: They have done it again. Just found this part on the analogue devices website then found it on RS via findchips:https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/instrumentation-amplifiers/7798978//?cm_mmc=aff-_-uk-_-findchip-_-7798978&utm_medium=buyNow&utm_source=supplyFrameSo I thought OK, not the cheapest, now I know what category they are usually in lets see what else there is on offer..... oh..... it's in the instrumentation amplifier section... OK, yes they are technically instrumentation amplifiers but i assume there is now a parameter selection for the type of instrumentation amplifier function. Oh don't be silly, It's RS. LT parts are great but expensive, I am sure another so called distributor other than RS has these sorts of things and they will have correctly categorized them!

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 31, 2021, 01:33:01 pm
content: Another classic RS fuckup. I took a look at the table Simon indirectly refers to above and found this:Now, I'm looking at the whole "Instrumentation Amplifiers" table and there isonepart they are holding a "Maximum Voltage Gain" parameter for, and that 'gain' is 0.172 dB (I suspect that it would be completely lost on the folks at RS that a gain of 0.172dB is obvious an error figure of some sort.*). Just one part, it's blank for all the others. The part, if you select on that field, is an AD8221, which actually has a maximum voltage gain of 1000, aka 60 dB, not 0.172 dB. Don't worry though, that's only wrong by a factor of 1000, what's that amongst friends?What the fuck do they think they are doing?. They waste screen and database space to hold a selection parameter for one part and one part only, failing to populate it for the other 341 parts in that table. Then they even get the value stored therecompletely wrong. To put it in terms that the folks at RS might understand, suspecting that electronics specific stuff confuses them, it's like having a box for 'colour' on a page where you're buying t-shirts and then filling it in with 'white' for one product which happens to be a black t-shirt and leaving the rest blank. All having that parameter selectable can do is make itharderto find a suitable part. It doesn't merely fail to add value from their service, it actually takes it away!* Perhaps this is why they do so badly at website design, they've go a metric somewhere that tells them how many customers they have gained and every time they make a website change the number goes up. Only they have failed to notice the minus sign at the front of it, 'sums' being hard and all that.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 31, 2021, 02:36:13 pm
content: They did one better than that for filling wrong numbers in. I bought £32k of stock off them for a mere tenner! yup! and I ordered in two batches. Cleared them out just to teach them a lesson. I even emailed them about a month later offering to sell them back to them as "I no longer needed them/bought in error". I did not even get a reply. When a couple of months later they got more in they increased the price by a about £2, so I reasoned that in volume this stuff is worth £8'500. Yup, instead of doing a deal with me and I would have happily taken say 50p a piece for them to have them back in stock days later at a cost of a little over £2'000 they paid £8'500 for more to arrive 3 months later and put the price up to be more than what say Farnell or anyone else charge for the same price thus making themselves uncompetitive. they really could not care less. They probably don't even know about websites like findchips and octopart, well they do, they just rely on company buyers buying into their "come to us, do enough business and we will give you a discount". one day when say in 10 years they go bust they might figure out that it was the engineers that were picking the parts, no that no one is making that stuff that is 10 or more years old no one is ordering from them because 10 years ago they made life impossible for the engineers that kept them in business.I am constantly finding replacements for parts our assembler cannot get. The BOM was made out with Farnell numbers. the buyer sends me the problem parts and naturally unless RS just happen to have the identical manufacturers number I go to Mouser or Digi Key as to find an otherwise compatible but not the same part I need a parametric search that works.Hopeless absolutely hopeless. Like you say, if it was an individual we would be very worried about their suicidal nature and trying to get them professional help. But it's OK, it's only several hundred individuals jobs and more than one may be suicidal when they loose they jobs and realize what a stupid employer they worked for. The last remaining British owned supplier is putting itself out of business. I suppose they can at least say they are only as bad as other incapable British business's.I suspect the web developers are the ones with the most secure jobs, we seem to keep going round in circles with RS, they fuck it up, then sort of fix it, then fuck it up again, then eventually sort of fix it and so it goes on perpetually gradually getting worse and worse. Bit like company IT departments who most of the time just make life impossible for everyone else and at the end of the day the only skill they have is to punch in a password so that they can do for you what you could have done yourself without it taking 4 times longer.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 09:22:21 am
content: As of this morning, the RS website seems to have reverted to the former version. Went looking for solder, suddenly realised that I was not looking at the even more horrible new site, just the horrible old site.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 10:32:56 am
content: Unfortunately it's still "new and awful" here.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 10:37:07 am
content: Quote from: Cerebus on July 31, 2021, 01:33:01 pmParametric data at distributors except Digikey has always been, and likely always will be poor, as the only way to do it right is to have people that understand what the numbers mean do the data entry, and that's expensive,I accept that it's unrealistic to fix this, so for me the most important thing is to be able to search in a way that avoids missing potential parts. i.e. very quick and easy ways to select multiple options, and quickly view a large number of parts to scan through visually. One of the most annoying ways that RS obstructs this is that they don't show stock levels in search results.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 10:38:22 am
content: Quote from: Simon on July 31, 2021, 02:36:13 pmISTR a while ago Dave had a sideline in buying a particular Fluke meter from RS listed at an incorrect price and reselling on Ebay....

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 10:42:25 am
content: Quote from: BradC on August 03, 2021, 10:32:56 amDifferent time zone and they probably do re-deploys in the wee small hours. Or it's a nation by nation thing and they have decided to make you continue to suffer.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 10:51:26 am
content: Quote from: Cerebus on August 03, 2021, 10:42:25 amI'm in the UK too and also get the new crappy webside. Perhaps the old one is still up and you got to it using an old bookmark or link? If so, please post it. I'd love to use their old, slightly less crappy site!

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 10:58:32 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on August 03, 2021, 10:37:07 amI think you're cutting them too much slack. If they sold cheese you wouldn't expect a Stilton to be listed as Roquefort, or either to be listed as rind washed cheeses, or one of them to be the only cheese of the 150 blue cheeses that they stock that pops up when you ticked 'blue cheeses' in a parametric search, or to have pack sizes variously listed in inconsistent units such as 0.2kg, 200gm, 200g etc. They sell electronic components, it isnottoo much to expect some domain expertise, just as it would not be to expect it from a seller of cheese.If it costs money to use someone with a reasonable amount of domain expertise to compile your catalogue then that is a cost one has to bear if one wants to be a seller in any specialist domain be it electronic components, cheese, paper, mechanical fasteners, or wet fish.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 11:05:45 am
content: Quote from: Zero999 on August 03, 2021, 10:51:26 amI did nothing more than type "uk." into my browser's address bar and let it fill in the rest of the URL. Hold on ...That causes a remembered "uk.rs-online.com" to come up (no bookmarks for RS). Hit return I get to "uk.rs-online.com/web" and I get ... the new site. Ah, but hold on, I was actually getting an order ready earlier. Ah, if I log in I get the old site.So, it seems I only get the old site if I'm logged in. Curiouser and curiouser.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 11:43:33 am
content: I "used", ok visited their webshite this morning and it was still unusable. Fortunately I only needed to see if the do any 24V 3A mains adapters so that was a fast simple one.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2021, 12:34:59 pm
content: Try their export site. It's not so bad. More like their old site and can display 60 hits per page, rather than 25.https://export.rsdelivers.com

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 05:57:44 pm
content: I tried navigating through RS and get two different versions of the website.If i go through the region select page (with the map) to the UK website i get (what i assume is) the new website and only get 20 results per page with no option to change the number of results.But if i go to the Lithuanian website i get a different website that lets me select between 20, 40 and 60 parts per page.The pictures also look lower resolution in the LT version.Also in the LT version i get this "digital transistors" section with only 4 parts (pic included), which is not present in the UK or the export versions.ahem..."You wouldn't download a transistor"....yeah i'll show myself out.I've only been to RS a couple times, a long time ago, so i don't really remember what it was like.Ps: the descriptions above each section are so unbearably cringe.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 06:29:52 pm
content: RS has been taken over by assholes that think they are selling t-shirts to teenagers.Oh look, you are looking at this semiconductor, well, other people that bought this semiconductor, also bought these fasteners, why don't you buy both too.......The website is so cringy but this latest iteration has just killed off RS a supplier for me as I have better things to do. As great as the digi key site is it took me 3 days to find a chip I could use due the supply situation, I did not even bother with RS.

author: pcmad
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 01:36:13 am
content: why use fucking java script link for navigation (javascript:void(0)) its bad for SEO and we as engineers like links to right right open new tab to look for like component and tab hopping to compare product it seems rs web designer love to wank off to show off there ego to compensate for there SHORT CUMMINGS

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 04:31:43 am
content: I wonder how does this impact their business.I assume a website as bad as this will turn customers away immediately but that is my opinion as an EE.What does the average joe think of such a website? Do those cringe-tastic descriptions above each section help them out any?Because they do seem like they're trying to explain the bare basics to someone who knows absolutely nothing like "Ooga booga small signal go in transistor. Transistor make signal BIG".But then you have to wonder what those people are doing there in the first place, because surely there are better places to learn about electronics other than the section description in RS

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 07:35:15 am
content: Unfortunately it will not impact their business much at least not for a while. Most sales will come from the assembly contractors or people paying over the odds for their ironmongery. So they likely make their money on big items that are easy to find or assemblers putting in large orders directly to them without going through the site.But those assemblers are employing people with little more skill than the people working at RS (oh how I want to laugh when I ring up to complain about the site and some ditzy customer service agent says that they can help me find the part I want). So assemblers like to have BOM's with distributor stock numbers, Newbury have become champs at this when they wrote in stating that a micrel LDO was now obsolete. This was because they had a farnell number. Farnell in their infinite wisdom set the stock of these regulators to 0 and stated that they were obsolete. Then they duplicated the listing with the live stock and put Microchip down as the manufacturer as they bought micrell out. So it took me seconds to find the replacement for them by simply searching for the manufacturers part number rather than the stock code.So RS will in the future be loosing sales when products being made now disappear and we are making products designed at a time when the RS website was unusable so other stockists numbers are on the BOM. Personally I refuse to put stock codes on my BOM's, it's insane to reference a number that could be changed in years to come. I always put the MPN and go to some lengths to make sure that it is the correct full number baring the TP or R or whatever they put or i will just put all the options.I just had an LT part that has the tape and reel suffix before the lead free suffixso I can't have an MPN that just has some character's missing off the end, the extra characters appear to have more significance than they do. But I try.....

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 11:45:05 am
content: Quote from: Simon on August 05, 2021, 07:35:15 amExactly my thought. Right now manufacturers go to RS just to buy parts wholesale, they don't have to search for anything because they have the BOM.But the engineers who design the product are the ones who set what parts are to be bought and from where.So if RS website continues being crap it will put off engineers from using it and the next generation of products will no longer have parts supplied by RS.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 11:55:33 am
content: that is what I tried explaining to them on the phone. I am an engineer, not a buyer, the buyers will buy what I tell them too. Piss me off and the buyers won't have any orders for you.I neglected to point out that I would never be so stupid as to use a stockist number in the first place. But when I get requests from assemblers for a substitute part they need to order now to make stuff for us the last site I use is RS and at that time RS directly losses a production order and the assembler will likely change the BOM to reflect the last stockist's number they bought it from - bye bye RS.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 12:17:12 pm
content: Quote from: Refrigerator on August 05, 2021, 04:31:43 amOne word for you: "Makers".There, I hope you appreciate that because now I have to go and wash my mouth out with soap.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 01:50:35 pm
content: Quote from: Cerebus on August 05, 2021, 12:17:12 pmAre they the ones that do "Coding" ?

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 03:55:01 pm
content: Quote from: BradC on August 05, 2021, 01:50:35 pmNo, hairy-arsedReal Programmerslike me do coding, they do 'cut 'n paste from stackoverflow'.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 04:08:15 pm
content: Quote from: Cerebus on August 05, 2021, 03:55:01 pmMeh, real programmers use machine language. None of this namby pamby assembler stuff.http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/story-of-mel.htmlI aspired to be like Mel. I learned to "code" using a 6502 mnemonics chart and paper. Programs were punched in hex. I know it's luxury compared to the "real programmers" who toggled them in using the front panel, but then I started late and had the advantage of the progression of technology.

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2021, 04:12:19 pm
content: Those cringe-worthy description texts on each category page are no doubt because some slick SEOwankerconsultant told them that stuffing as many relevant keywords on to the page was a great idea for search engine optimisation, to bring in 'organic search traffic' and increase 'click-through engagement' - the purpose of which is largely to create some stats that make the consultant or marketing department look good, but not actually benefit anyone using the site. The task of formulating these texts will no doubt have been delegated to some naive intern who knows nothing about the field of electronics, who ends up cutting-and-pasting together some incongruent nonsense from Wikipedia articles in order to meet an arbitrary word count requirement.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 15, 2021, 08:26:51 am
content: They've updated their website again and it's much better. I haven't actually used it in anger yet, but the ability to sort by fields such as resistance, power rating etc. and list up to 100 results per page are big improvements.https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/passive-components/fixed-resistors/through-hole-fixed-resistors/

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 15, 2021, 09:04:16 am
content: But still no way to filter out-of-stock items or show stock level with search results, which especially nowadays makes it far less useful than Farnell/Digikey/Mouser

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 15, 2021, 09:31:02 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on August 15, 2021, 09:04:16 amThere's an option to select 1 to 3 days lead time though, which is nearly as good.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 15, 2021, 01:16:11 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on August 15, 2021, 09:31:02 amBut it doesn't appear on all listings.e.g. It appears for MLCCs (https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/passive-components/capacitors/mlccs-multilayer-ceramic-capacitors/?applied-dimensions=4294886074) butnotfor Wire-Wound Surface Mount Inductors (https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/passive-components/inductors/wire-wound-surface-mount-inductors/)

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 15, 2021, 06:08:06 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on August 15, 2021, 09:31:02 amwhat it actually works now? last time I tried that it rendered all results nil as they had not put in any data for that field. This is the problem with the reorganisation that has put more than one type of product into one category. Firstly the person that did it is an asshole! secondly if you are going to add a filter you have to add fields bfor that filter to every product you just dumped in there and fill it out, correctly!From what you say we are back to the old site with an unneeded face lift. Don't these jerks look at their competition? Haven't they seen how visually unappealing the Digi key site is, but guess what, in a time of crisis it's my first port of call is digi key for I care not how the site is aesthetically, I care that it works! My job is to find parts and bake them into designs and tell manufacturers where to buy them, if RS want to cut themselves out so be it!

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 15, 2021, 06:10:37 pm
content: Quote from: Cerebus on August 05, 2021, 12:17:12 pmI can’t believe I missed this thread and comment. Cerebus nailed it.And yes the new web site is a fucking shit show.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 15, 2021, 07:00:30 pm
content: Quote from: bd139 on August 15, 2021, 06:10:37 pmit will be when RS start loosing orders because board assemblers are screeching at design engineers for alternative parts and want to know the stock code, all those bulk orders going out of the window for RS as they are just too much hard work for a "stockist" that puts more effort into fucking up their website than doing what their name says: keep stock!

author: mc172
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2021, 12:12:47 pm
content: I haven't gone back to RS since this happened. That boat has sailed for me.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 17, 2021, 05:29:13 pm
content: I've used it very little and as a last resort. I tried the lead time setting today and it told me that all of the out of stock stuff well into 2022 was available in 3 days. When selecting properties of the search the lead time option disappears. the problem at RS is that they have a database full of crap data but apparently the solution is adding more empty fields to the database and then expecting the search to magically happen on empty fields and changing the look of the search apparently makes up for the lack off or garbage data in their database. RS must be employing UK government ministers.....

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2021, 07:17:27 pm
content: Don’t even get me started on their database100 ohms100R100 R100.0 ohms100 omhs0100 ohms

author: mc172
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2021, 08:13:17 pm
content: It gets worse than that. Look at this nonsense.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2021, 08:17:16 pm
content: Wow that's a complete crapfest

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2021, 12:15:31 pm
content: Yea, I have seen a few like that too.

author: Sparrow
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2025, 11:27:22 pm
content: The RS website search is a complete failure.For example, I searched for "schottky" and narrowed down the categories to find diodes. (Here's theURL)(Note - this is just one example of the problem, other searches also have me tearing my hair out.)I only want a few. I'm prepared to buy 10 or so if I have to.I don't want to spend a lot. Price is important, I'm looking to spend around £1.So I sort on "Price: Low to High"Top result costs £25, second result costs £110.Absolutely ridiculous.I KNOW they are the lowest cost EACH, but that's no good to me when the MOQ is 10,000. That is not LOW PRICE.There are 9162 search results. I can't look through all of them to find the lowest cost. The SORT should be the tool to do that.And even if I do find something at the right price, it's only after clicking on a link that I find out that the item is not in stock anyway.Should have another sort option - "Price for MOQ: Low to High"I used to use RS. Now I always get frustrated with their terrible website search and buy elsewhere.I've tried to talk to them many times, but they don't listen or care.Listen to your customers.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 06, 2025, 07:31:29 am
content: I've filled out 3 surveys and got called back once and discussed it but yea, when you are telling some call centre guy and he agrees that is not going to translate into management agreeing. I have even sent them links to threads on here discussing how bad they are.If you go onto the parts page often then have other packaging options so you can move between reels and cut tape but overall it's an inconsistent mess. The worse bit is that you can't filter on what is in stock. The filters that looks like they should don't. If parts have the spec you want but the figure has not been entered into the parametric search you will not get a valid part in the search, happens often.I always tell my boss that it is easier to use Mouser and Digikey, it's a 3 day wait and more emissions but sadly that is the state of the UK, we can't even cook up a parametric search that lets customers buy products.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2025, 10:45:24 am
content: I've been telling RS about how bad their website is for over a decade. They just don't understand what users need and seems they never will. I've long since given up any hope of them ever getting it.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 06, 2025, 12:28:29 pm
content: If the money is rolling in they won't care. What baffles me is that they keep making changes that actually make it worse, apparently their position in the market is so solid that they don't have to care. I think they make the most trouble for electronics design engineers making prototypes which are not their market. Their market is assembly houses that will always demand RS or Farnell stock codes on the BOM's as they work at a level where they could not tell that two parts are the same but in different packaging as all they care about is the purchasing stock number.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2025, 02:10:19 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on June 06, 2025, 12:28:29 pmI have long suspected, without evidence, that may be the case. Any such changes would be making it better, not worse. Better for RS, that is, i.e. enshittification.They do offer "procurement service solution", which are irrelevant for prototyping.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 06, 2025, 03:42:58 pm
content: Yes they will take your BOM and sort your order out for you. The website is probably seen as an advertising medium. Over the last 4 years it has degenerated.I remember ringing up once for my employer. We wanted the 7" RPi screen, they had them in cartons but not individually. The manufactures part number was the same whether singularly or in cartons and yet they had separate listings. The lady on the phone was completely hopeless, I tried and tried to explain that their business is to buy things in bulk and take them out of the bulk packaging to sell individually, I even gave the example of me buying Dave's meters in boxes of 40 but that I did not expect to sell them by the 40 I sold them individually, nope, she was right, RS was right, it was all good and no they had no individual screens in stock despite having thousands available in cartons and I was wrong. A couple of days later the stock dropped and they were on sale as single units as well. I guess someone else got someone with a few more brain cells or she though to check with someone.The problem with big companies is that inevitably their employees just see it as turning up and getting paid, most don't have the brains to care and be proactive.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2025, 02:56:04 am
content: Quote from: mc172 on July 20, 2021, 01:06:34 pmThat's also a huge problem with Jameco's website.The company needs to come up with absolutely standard nomenclature for parts descriptions, and whoever is doing the data entry needs to adhere to it rigorously.I think DigiKey has that pretty much nailed.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2025, 08:31:44 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on June 07, 2025, 02:56:04 amYeah, Digikey is the only supplier where the data has been entered by someone who understands what it means, rather than copy-pasting manufacturer value sin all different formats.The problem is that unless you start doing this at an early stage, you have so many product lines that it becomes an impractical task to fix.We're all used to this now and it's annoying but not the end of the world. However it tends to exacerbate RS's biggest problem - not showing stock in search results. If the parametric data was good, you can constrain the search down to give few results, so not the end of the world to look at stock for each. But the poor parametrics mean you have to keep the search wide to avoid missing badly-categorized items, leading to lots of results with no option to ignore out-of-stock lines.Clueless, just bloody clueless.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2025, 08:55:54 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on June 07, 2025, 08:31:44 am"The best is the enemy of the good""Good enough for our purposes"... and other intensely irritating but regrettably relevant concepts.For mechanical components, it is hard to beat McMaster-Carr. See, for example, this delightfully simple explanation of how to search...https://www.mcmaster.com/mv1749237850/mcm/openhelp.asp?browserOK=true&helpContext=searchI'm not sure they ship to individuals in rightpondian countries"We evaluate international orders from all new customers to determine whether we can accept them."

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 07, 2025, 10:02:23 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on June 07, 2025, 08:31:44 amYes that is precisely the problem, you have to actually understand the failings of the parametric search in order to use it or you end up with zilch, it's a skill in itself. If your customers need special skills to get your site to work then it's more than failed. If you ask for feedback and agree that it's bad and still can't fix it well thankfully there are alternatives. But they know that it will be the assemblers that will come to them in the end with the big orders. The Engineers as always don't matter.I think to "save time" the parametric search product entry will accept anything much like ebays item specifics will let you just make your specification up. This means that any gibberish the unskilled but cheap worker enters will be accepted speeding up entry and saving more money. They obviously do not want to pay the one off higher fee to someone competent to come up with one version of each valid option.Either these people are really really dumb or they can't see what has already been entered, so you get gems like "V" "VDC" "DC" "V DC" that all mean the same thing. Chances are that they are using some program to just populate the database, even cheaper but AI is not intelligent so you get the mess we have.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2025, 07:14:39 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on June 07, 2025, 10:02:23 amWellll, maybe, just maybe this could be a good application for "AI", to go through the work product of those data-entry flunkies and clean up their descriptions so they all use standard terminology and nomenclature.