Fun with sourcing! Got quote $2000 for a $2 part... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Boscoe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2022, 09:19:36 pm
content: So I was on the look out for some of TI's LMZM23600SIL voltage regulators, a part I used a lot of before sourcing them became impossible. I have a hobby design fully built apart from this part which is in no rush for completion. I sent an RFQ and this is what I got back...I find this strategy from them totally bizarre. I guess they are playing a long term game and only selling to people who are so desperate, stupid or to companies who don't care? Maybe if this is the only regulator missing on your $10k FPGA board, $2k isn't so bad....? Even then just mod the board, surely? Or maybe they don't know what the part is? I did email back to make sure of the , vs . issue in Europe vs everywhere else but nope, they did mean to quote $2k!

author: ali_asadzadeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2022, 09:38:49 pm
content: Check this outhttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003661179892.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.126a5a71j0ToQJ&algo_pvid=058a4a27-bb88-4949-be24-04648ca75a1b&algo_exp_id=058a4a27-bb88-4949-be24-04648ca75a1b-0&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000026693860354%22%7D&pdp_pi=-1%3B161.92%3B-1%3B-1%40salePrice%3BUSD%3Bsearch-mainSearch

author: moffy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 12:42:34 am
content: Wow, that is outrageous!

author: eugene
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 02:02:11 am
content: Less than 1/10th the price on Ali, but take into account that it'll take a month to arrive.

author: m98
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 02:48:38 am
content: Maybe that particular module is used in some certified application where they absolutely can't change any parts without recertifying everything?

author: ejeffrey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 04:01:48 am
content: I wouldn't assume its rational. Just because some parts scalpers are making tons of money off of randomly scarce parts right now doesn't mean they all know what they are doing. They may not know what that part is, who uses it, or what the actual market is for it. Maybe there are buyers at $2000, maybe not, but I wouldn't assume there are.QuoteCould be, but I would guess that any certification policies that make it impossible to swap out a regulator with a reasonable amount of work also frown on purchasing from unauthorized distributors/scalpers. Maybe Boscoe's scalper is providing sufficient traceability for some purposes but that's clearly not going to fly for the $200 aliexpress part.My guess that if there is a market for that at $2000 its just a low volume high price product where this is a small fraction of the total BOM.

author: inse
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 05:35:47 am
content: For curiosity, I was looking up the part on TI's website.The price indication was in the same range, but for 1ku - nevertheless none of them available.Is yours a TI or distributor quote?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 09:20:00 am
content: Quote from: ali_asadzadeh on March 27, 2022, 09:38:49 pmThat’s not even the same part, dude.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 09:24:45 am
content: Quote from: inse on March 28, 2022, 05:35:47 amHow is that in “the same range”? TI is under $2 per part, not $2000. Remember that TI, being American, uses the period as the decimal point, not the comma. So “$1.756” means “one dollar and 75 point 6 cents”, NOT “one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six dollars”!!

author: inse
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 12:02:44 pm
content: Yeah, sure - I mixed up , and . once again...

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 07:18:14 pm
content: Holy crap... at that point it becomes far more economical to solder them out of devkits (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/LMZM23600V5EVM/296-49392-ND/9371195?curr=usd&utm_campaign=buynow&utm_medium=aggregator&utm_source=octopart) or junk PCBs.Quote from: m98 on March 28, 2022, 02:48:38 amMore likely the "distributor" is just being a dick.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 08:04:48 pm
content: Is it possible the minimum quantity is 1,000 (one thousand)? So, the quote was for 5,000. DigiKey and other places will sometimes have a unit volume of greater than one.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2022, 10:46:11 pm
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on March 28, 2022, 08:04:48 pmIt says 5pc right there though. Mouser expects these things to come in in one year. So anything you buy now will be at a huge premium.Could be a typo for $19.88?OP was it this place?https://www.lanka-micro.com/products/Texas-Instruments/LMZM23600SILT

author: Boscoe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 29, 2022, 08:55:07 am
content: Quote from: daqq on March 28, 2022, 07:18:14 pmI have been desoldering microcontrollers from dev boards for over a year now!