DigiKey sells that?! (Items you didn't know DigiKey sold) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2021, 08:42:03 pm
content: Since buying from DigiKey is easier than getting a new vendor approved at many of the places I've worked, I've started to explore categories of DK that I've never looked at before.What have people found on DK (Or Mouser) that doesn't fit into the normal "electronic components and supplies" categories?Here's a few that I've discovered on DK:- Good german tools: Wiha, Knipex, Gedore- 8020 Aluminium Profile (See "Structural, Motion Hardware")- Laser cutters and 3D printers (Glowforge, Dremel)- 3D Printing filaments (Overpriced but decent range if you're in a pinch)- Raspberry Pi's (Handy when out of stock everywhere else)This isn't limited to DK of course. For those with McMaster accounts:https://www.mcmaster.com/3542N11/

author: ozcar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2021, 10:33:33 pm
content: I have not bought anything at all from Digikey for a very long time.I did get a vacuum cleaner filter from Element14 a few months ago.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2021, 10:36:40 pm
content: They sell a lot of things, but fairly recently they've started to act as an online market place for other vendors, so a lot of the products are from other sellers.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2021, 11:07:08 pm
content: Was hoping they'd take over mcmaster when they started selling bearings:https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/filter/bearings/979but that hasn't been the case.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2021, 11:12:29 pm
content: Yup, they even stock* tubes now.*Albeit via marketplace. I think Richardson is the last, traditional large industrial supplier of tubes; everyone else is either in the audio market, or at least smaller local suppliers that you'd have to find.Tim

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2021, 11:18:13 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on January 06, 2021, 11:07:08 pmOh, so you want McMaster's website turned into shit too?

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2021, 11:25:12 pm
content: Quote from: helius on January 06, 2021, 11:18:13 pmI mean take over their business and start selling more hardware parts: screws, nuts, drills, etc.mcmaster is not as reliable to Canada as digikey is.

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2021, 11:42:27 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on January 06, 2021, 10:36:40 pmI see the marketplace gets a lot of hate here. For the hobbyist or for personal projects I can see how the marketplace would be a pain, but for businesses or workplaces I think it's great. I'm making at least one DK order a week for my team/lab at work, sometimes multiple if we have a lot going on. Need a new scope? Icouldgo through the process to get Siglent added as an approved vendor, wait a few weeks, get a quote from Siglent, generate a PO, wait for approval, then make the purchase. Or I could buy the Siglent gear through Digikey on our account and get on with my day. I suspect this is the exact use case DK had in mind for the marketplace.You don'thaveto buy the marketplace products, and there's even a checkbox to exclude it from search results, so I don't really get what the issue is?Quote from: thm_w on January 06, 2021, 11:25:12 pmGood tip on the bearings!McMaster also treats you differently as a business/individual, and if you're using it for personal projects not having fixed shipping costs is insane. I've often been hit with $100+ of (ground) shipping on $100 of hardware because it comes in 3+ separate packages from different warehouses. Hitting the order button is a huge gamble. My personal McMaster account got muddled with all our work accounts, and I always cheap next-day shipping. After I got it separated from the work accounts, no more overnight shipping and every order since has taken a week to arrive.

author: SVFeingold
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 12:30:11 am
content: Quote from: gussy on January 06, 2021, 11:42:27 pmNot surprising. Maybe it's too soon to know. There's a right and wrong way to do a marketplace. Newegg is a classic example of doing it the wrong way: "Hey everyone come dump your cheap shit and counterfeit products here, we won't even vet you as a vendor, promise!" Amazon is whatever. Good luck finding non-counterfeit batteries on there. It is literally impossible.Usability aside, the one great big gigantic obvious reason to order from McMaster or Digikey is trust and reliability. You know exactly what you're getting, and you trust that they do the diligence to ensure that counterfeits, scams, faulty stuff, etc. simply isn't a concern, or at worst is incredibly rare. Maybe they'll do the same diligence for the marketplace. But maybe not. MBAs always like to come in, fuck up everything that built X company into what it is over the last several decades, and then bounce right after completely demolishing the reputation.Anyway that's the concern. OTOH if "marketplace" just means "allowing other trusted vendors to sell stuff" then it's a good thing.QuoteOn this note, if you ask they can probably order something for you and just create a custom PN. Not something that'll be on the site, just a little value added service. McMaster did this for us when a German vendor refused to open a vendor account with us due to our poor credit rating.

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 01:56:59 am
content: Quote from: SVFeingold on January 07, 2021, 12:30:11 amThat makes sense, and I can get behind that. Amazon is a gamble but returns are easy, NewEgg is a disaster. The reason I pay a premium for something like a Fluke DMM over buying it from Amazon is because I know it will genuine from DigiKey.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 11:52:18 am
content: Quote from: Zero999 on January 06, 2021, 10:36:40 pmNo, a vanishingly small percentageof the products are marketplace products.Don't get me wrong: I hate marketplace BS, and I can't see how it actually helps most of DK's customers. But since they make it trivially easy to exclude those products from search, and those parts make up such a tiny part of the catalog, I also cannot understand thedegreeof outrage DK has been getting here on the forums.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 11:53:05 am
content: Quote from: gussy on January 06, 2021, 08:42:03 pmHere's something I wish DK sold, but doesn't: the blue baggies they use. I'd love to buy packs of them, but they don't sell them.

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 12:35:43 pm
content: I also found out that Digikey and Mouser sell Adafruit, Seeed and Sparkfun products.Very useful because although they are marked up a little bit (IME a tiny bit), Mouser is AFAIK the only one that offers DDP Fedex shipping+tracking for free at >50EUR to EU, which when supplemented with other hobby components, is met on a regular basis. Probably Digikey also has fast free shipping for >50EUR, but not sure if they do DDP to EU though.I found this to be really useful, as it combines several shop purchases into one with no extra import hassle. For example, I could order a BeagleBone Green from Seeed for 44$, pay with Paypal and then also pay an additional 17.49EUR at the door for import fees for a grand total of 53.18EUR (assuming that DHL/UPS/Fedex shipping is free, which it isn't). Or I can order one from Mouser, supplement with 12 EUR of other stuff (always good to have a wish/todo list), pay without a CC or Paypal, and have it Fedex shipped while only paying 46.65EUR for the same product.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 01:31:01 pm
content: Quote from: hans on January 07, 2021, 12:35:43 pmThey do

author: ConKbot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 03:41:36 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on January 07, 2021, 11:52:18 amWhen you see something you don't like, bitch loud and hard while its an insignificant portion of their business. I you just go "maybe this time it will be different than Amazon, newegg, Wal-Mart's website!" And wait for it to turn into a shitshow, it can grow into something that isn't easily pruned from existence.I'm already seeing stuff where if you search an exact manufacturers part number, the marketplace item comes up inatead of the search page because they use mfr PN as their PN. So if I give someone in purchasing a manufacturer part number so they can source it from digikey/mouser/newark as needed, now they could end up with parts from whatever random vendor, instead of a trusted vendor. So now I have to babysit the purchasing people even more.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 03:56:24 pm
content: Digikey are mere amateurs,if you want an electronics supplier who will sell you bog roll along with a pic or 2 some transistors and a 500 piece jig saw ( code LH06076) look no further than cpc

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 05:21:13 pm
content: Quote from: hans on January 07, 2021, 12:35:43 pmThey do, but it depends on the country and the currency you pay in. Go to the Digi-Key website for your country and switch between currencies: a popup will open telling you the free shipping terms, incoterm, and available payment methods.I’ve used both Mouser and DK here in Switzerland, and I only use Mouser if DK doesn’t have what I need: in my experience, Mouser has been both slower to get the package out the door, and UPS from DK in Minnesota gets here faster than from Mouser in Texas. (If I order at 6pm on Wednesday, a DK package will get here by 1pm on Friday!)

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 05:23:36 pm
content: Quote from: ConKbot on January 07, 2021, 03:41:36 pmAgain, since you missed my point: I’m not saying you have no reason to be annoyed. I just think the reactions here have been completelydisproportionate.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 06:16:13 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on January 07, 2021, 03:56:24 pmLMAO. It’s CPC that’s the amateur: they carry about something in the order of 100,000 different items. Digi-Key carriesa millionSKUs in stock (of over 11 million SKUs available). And that’s without the marketplace.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 07:57:15 pm
content: I meant amateurs in the selling of unrelated tat,without an added marketspace

author: IDEngineer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 08:50:17 pm
content: At least DigiKey lets you exclude non-DK sources with a checkbox. I just click it by default now, along with the in-stock and active boxes.

author: exe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 09:31:14 pm
content: Quote from: Ice-Tea on January 07, 2021, 01:31:01 pmWith mouser packages just delivered. With DK I have to pay taxes separately, either at delivery, or I got an invoice sent by mail two weeks later. Although, it's not that big deal make an IBAN transfer, done it three or four times already. I'm talking about NL, may be in other countries it works differently.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 10:43:00 pm
content: Up until a year or two ago, Farnell sold iPhones/iPods/televisions/etc. CPC still does, but that's the more consumer facing side of the business.I suspect they realised that it wasn't worth competing with the big players on these, they never seemed cheap. Maybe for companies for whom ordering from Amazon et al., was difficult but Farnell was easier.

author: gussy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2021, 12:11:24 am
content: Quote from: tooki on January 07, 2021, 11:53:05 amGood one! They sell anti-static bags but not their blue bags. There's probably some hack were you can order a specific component that is very cheap and have it come in individual bags. I'm sure I've received packages like that before.Quote from: IDEngineer on January 07, 2021, 08:50:17 pmSelecting in-stock and active has become muscle memory enough now that I don't even think about it. It would be nice if you could just set it for good, but I get why that would be a bad UX for some users.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2021, 02:16:08 am
content: Quote from: exe on January 07, 2021, 09:31:14 pmThen it wasn't DDP incoterms. Again, with DK, it depends on the country, currency, and shipping option. Note that if you haven't ordered from DK in a while, take a look now — I know that their terms with Switzerland have changed in the past few years (for the better), for example.Right now, it looks like DK to NL is DDP if paid in Euros, or when paid in USD but only with UPS (with FedEx or DHL it's CPT).

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2021, 09:16:04 am
content: Quote from: gussy on January 06, 2021, 08:42:03 pmThink you need to bear in mind that they're targeting industry clients where admin burden costs money and having all the parts to fit out a production line, lab or do grounds maintenance, janitorial duties, even paint the building etc. available from one supplier means the supplier takes a larger percentage of your spend and you save yourself and purchasing a load of admin burden.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2021, 09:39:51 am
content: Quote from: exe on January 07, 2021, 09:31:14 pmWell, YMMV. I've ordered enough from Digikey (to Belgium) to trust it will be DDP for me

author: exe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 08, 2021, 12:54:21 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on January 08, 2021, 02:16:08 amI ordered recently, three purchases last three months. Btw, I order as private customer, not a company. To be more specific, they ask to pay VAT on delivery. And yes, I'm confident that I select DDP option. So, their definition of "DDP" differs from that of Mouser.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2021, 12:56:02 pm
content: Well, I order as a company. Perhaps that's where the difference lies.