Progress at Reichelt! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 08:19:27 am
content: Many here will be aware of Reichelt as a source for electronic equipment and components: Their catalog covers only a fraction of Mouser's or Digikey's, but prices are low and shipping costs are reasonable (at least to European destinations). I use them regularly for my day-to-day hobby needs. They have finally improved their website and I thought I'd give them a shout-out for that:For many years Reichelt ran a ridiculous parametric filter implementation which only let you select one value per category. If you were looking for an electrolytic cap with either 16V, 25V or 35V rating, you had to do three separate searches and browse the results lists individually. (Well, if you were really quick you could click two different checkboxes before the server read your input and started building the results list...)Then they made thingsworseby switching to an implementation which did not support the browser's Back button: Look at the details of a specific article, and when you go "back" to the results list you got an error message, forcing you to reload the page and wait for the server to rebuild the filtered list.Now they finally have proper filters where you can select multiple values per category, and can go back and forth between the results list and item details. The screen layout is not great -- all filters are in a long vertical sidebar -- but at least it works. Progress!Next, if they could start cleaning up their inventory's metadata, make values and naming conventions consistent (e.g. avoid having "5V" and "5.0V" values to choose from), and fill in the glaring gaps in the data...

author: woofy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 08:42:22 am
content: Looks like the UK is in their bad books, no options to select UK, GB or England.Am I missing it?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 09:06:26 am
content: Indeed, it looks like they are specifically excluding the UK. Strange -- you can select the Virgin Islands or Antarctica, but not the UK. Turns out that has been the case for a few years now:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/reichelt-uk-shipping/

author: woody
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 09:58:19 am
content: Yep, I use 'm every now and then.Like everyone else they are cheap for some products and very expensive for others. But they are able to ship to me without VAT (as a company) and they offer iDeal as a payment option, which I like.I (still) do not like their site very much. I find it somehow very confusing, if compared with fi Digikey. Although the site can be set to multiple languages, the language used to describe products varies. This is sometimes in English and sometimes only in German. I know, my problem for not being fluent in a neighboring language, but nonetheless not handy.When I am logged in and I want to take a look at my orders, for some reason I have to log in again with the same credentials. I honestly do not know if there are invoices on their site. I would expect them to be on my orders page but AFAICS the're not there.Another thing that I find peculiar is that, although they have a part in stock, it still takes 4-5 days to get it to me. And shipping is never free. Not something I find insurmountable as I know free shipping is paid for somewhere, but it stands out among the competition where shipping becomes free over a certain amount. (€50 .. €75).Ah well, there is always something to complain about

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 10:15:17 am
content: Agree, they are certainly not perfect. The website still has its rough edges, but for my taste it would be more important that they improve the metadata for their inventory than polish the website. I mostly buy components and consumables there, where their prices tend to be good in my experience. I can recall only one larger piece of equipment I bought from them; for that you often find better prices and better product information elsewhere.Turnaround time is quite fast for me: When I place an order, even late in the day, they nearly always ship on the next day and the package arrives the day after. I guess it helps that I am based in Northern Germany, where Reichelt is located as well. (They are part of the Swiss Dätwyler corporation now, but I believe all operations are still out of Wilhelmshaven in Germany.)

author: woody
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 10:32:18 am
content: One thing I secretly like is their catalog. I still remember when companies like RS components had large catalogs every year and Reichelt still has them (at least, in 2023 they had).There is something oddly satisfying in leafing through a paper catalog filled with pictures and details of products I never realized were available

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 10:58:09 am
content: Quote from: woody on November 05, 2024, 10:32:18 amThe one thing websites are very bad at, is where you are looking for something related, which will be on nearby pages.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 11:45:09 am
content: Quote from: ebastler on November 05, 2024, 10:15:17 amNope, Dätwyler sold Reichelt 3 years ago.And since Dätwyler sold Distrelec in 2017, that means Dätwyler is out of the components distribution business.(Interesting, by the way, that you’ve always had quick turnaround. One of the reasons I don’t use Reichelt more often is that there is always, without exception, a few days mystery delay on orders from them before the package leaves the warehouse. And since I’ve observed this with three different accounts (my personal one, my current employer, and my previous employer) I don’t think it has anything to do with payment method, etc.)

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 12:21:28 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on November 05, 2024, 11:45:09 amThanks, I had missed that! Invision is the current owner -- never heard of them, but apparently they are a pure holding company which helps privately owned companies find successors or growth funding, and sometimes steps in directly.QuoteJust when I mentioned how well they perform for me, they don't... I have always ordered via my age-old customer number. Yesterday I did not have that on hand and used their "Paypal direct" order option instead -- and have not even received a confirmation email so far.Edit: All good, they just sent a shipping notice -- next day, as usual. And I found yesterday's order confirmation email in the spam folder; my hosting provider got overzealous. Fingers crossed that DHL can get the package to me by tomorrow!

author: eTobey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2024, 07:32:57 pm
content: Now Reichelt needs to get rid of the junk they sell. They have to do a bit of work for me to come back. Digikey is the key!

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2024, 10:36:32 am
content: ... and it seems they have gone back to their prior, terrible version of the parametric search: Click one selection checkbox and the filter kicks in right away, disabling the selection of further alternative values. View some item's details and try to go back to the list -- "this page can't be reached", need to reload and rebuild the filtered list. WTF?EDIT: They brought the new search back online yesterday (Nov 23rd) -- must have found and eventually fixed some bug. Let's hope the new version is here to stay this time!

author: eTobey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2024, 12:25:39 pm
content: Nobody (almost) gives a sh** anymore about good functioning products/websites. Be it the offering end or the receiving end.

author: dietert1
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2024, 01:25:50 pm
content: I thought the same when i tried to order online from rs components. They had some old fashioned CMOS CD4504 the others no longer list. Then i tried to find some other parts to complete the order.Their search doesn't work at all. When i was looking for certain PTCs, it produced thousands of list entries but missed the ones that should be found. Giving the exact product name => "not found". Took me some time to dig out the items i was looking for and i don't remember how i finally got them.They also have the habit of listing non-stock items and it appears that about 50 % is non-stock. No way to suppress those entries. You need to enter each product page to read "Available in July 2025" or so.Regards, Dieter

author: the Chris
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2024, 01:59:36 pm
content: Hmmm... on my side, it looks like the old search, but it seems the filter won't be applied as long as you click additional options within ~1s. At least this way, you can select a lot of options within one cathegory before the side reloads with the filter applied and you scroll to the next cathegory.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2024, 02:13:07 pm
content: Quote from: the Chris on November 12, 2024, 01:59:36 pmYes, they have clearly gone back to the old search implementation -- hopefully it's just temporary to fix whatever glitch they found with the new & improved version.The "quick multi-clicking" has always been possible with that, as mentioned in my initial post above. But I rarely manage to get more than two clicks in before the filtered list starts to build, unless the alternatives are directly next to each other. (Which, thanks to Reichelt's somewhat messy meta-data, naming conventions and number formats, they often aren't...)EDIT: They brought the new search back online yesterday (Nov 23rd) -- must have found and eventually fixed some bug. Let's hope the new version is here to stay this time!