Best Value-Priced Sources for Electronic Components?

[mdbarg]

There are many electronics component suppliers who are honest and reliable but too expensive for the electronics hobbyist on a tight budget; e.g., Allied, Digi-Key, Mouser, Newark.  Reading consumer reviews online indicates there are many more suppliers who are inexpensive but unreliable; some to the point of outright fraud.  What electronic component supplier companies do you recommend who are reliable and affordable for those on a tight budget; i.e., most of us?  It would be useful to have this feedback based on firsthand experience and share it with the community.  Thank you!

[trophosphere]

When I was in high school and on a shoe-string budget, I used to order from Futurlec to stock up on parts and never got anything fake as far as I could tell.

[nanofrog]

You might want to give Tayda Electronics a look (they're based in Thailand; so cheap but slow).

[retrolefty]

There are many electronics component suppliers who are honest and reliable but too expensive for the electronics hobbyist on a tight budget; e.g., Allied, Digi-Key, Mouser, Newark.  Reading consumer reviews online indicates there are many more suppliers who are inexpensive but unreliable; some to the point of outright fraud.  What electronic component supplier companies do you recommend who are reliable and affordable for those on a tight budget; i.e., most of us?  It would be useful to have this feedback based on firsthand experience and share it with the community.  Thank you!

 I've been a electronics hobbyist for 60 years or so as well as working in electronics. I buy almost all my stuff from Asia via Ebay. Hundreds of purchases over the last decade, almost always satisfied with the
purchases. Now it would be real stupid for anyone to get into any significant commercial volume manufacturing purchasing that route, and should rely on the known main stream electonics distributors.

[r00t]

I've been a electronics hobbyist for 60 years or so as well as working in electronics. I buy almost all my stuff from Asia via Ebay. Hundreds of purchases over the last decade, almost always satisfied with the
purchases. Now it would be real stupid for anyone to get into any significant commercial volume manufacturing purchasing that route, and should rely on the known main stream electonics distributors.

Yeah I concur. If I'm not in a rush I get the a lot off what I need from eBay shipped overseas or Aliexpress just the same.

[kripton2035]

just search for your component on https://octopart.com/
it will find the cheaper for you

[joseph nicholas]

If you don't mind getting your hands dirty and don't like to wait, find the local metal recycling yard.  There you will find heat sinks in various sizes, transformers, computer motherboards, atx power supplies, appliance microcontrollers motors (ac or dc) of various sizes.  They will even remove these things and sell them at a fraction of the cost of ebay. 

Most towns have a electronics dump (recinto ferial).  Visit it every day there you will find broken computers, microwave ovens, televisons, and stereo equiptment by the truck load.  My local yard even has completely usable bicycle frames ready to repair.  All this stuff is sometimes under lock and key but other times not.

[Wuerstchenhund]

There are many electronics component suppliers who are honest and reliable but too expensive for the electronics hobbyist on a tight budget; e.g., Allied, Digi-Key, Mouser, Newark.  Reading consumer reviews online indicates there are many more suppliers who are inexpensive but unreliable; some to the point of outright fraud.  What electronic component supplier companies do you recommend who are reliable and affordable for those on a tight budget; i.e., most of us?  It would be useful to have this feedback based on firsthand experience and share it with the community.  Thank you!

And in what way is this related to Test Equipment and why isn't this posted in "Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff" where it wouldn't have been off-topic? 

@Mods: Please move

[Simon]

There are many electronics component suppliers who are honest and reliable but too expensive for the electronics hobbyist on a tight budget; e.g., Allied, Digi-Key, Mouser, Newark.  Reading consumer reviews online indicates there are many more suppliers who are inexpensive but unreliable; some to the point of outright fraud.  What electronic component supplier companies do you recommend who are reliable and affordable for those on a tight budget; i.e., most of us?  It would be useful to have this feedback based on firsthand experience and share it with the community.  Thank you!

And in what way is this related to Test Equipment and why isn't this posted in "Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff" where it wouldn't have been off-topic? 

@Mods: Please move

Actually I have decided that it is going into beginners! so there!

[Back2Volts]

I do get some stuff from the red tag specials at Newark/e14.

[raspberrypi]

I was looking into this myself. Ebay is great but:
-I'm in the usa and hate buying things from china, you used to have an option: buy crap from china for cheap or pay more for quality stuff. now you dont have that option.
-I have waited a month for things from china you never know
-The english is usually horrible, and I hate being called "friend" and makes gathering technical details almost impossible

Amazon just hoses you with hidden shipping

Digikey is not good if you just need a few parts although I trust it

I actually miss radio shack, where if you needed a basic part it was five minutes away

We should say what country we are in. The scrap yard is awesome but if you can't drive its not an option and sometimes you want new guaranteed to work parts. .

[steverino]

I was looking into this myself. Ebay is great but:
-I'm in the usa and hate buying things from china, you used to have an option: buy crap from china for cheap or pay more for quality stuff. now you dont have that option.
-I have waited a month for things from china you never know
-The english is usually horrible, and I hate being called "friend" and makes gathering technical details almost impossible

Amazon just hoses you with hidden shipping

Digikey is not good if you just need a few parts although I trust it

I actually miss radio shack, where if you needed a basic part it was five minutes away.
We should say what country we are in. The scrap yard is awesome but if you can't drive its not an option and sometimes you want new guaranteed to work parts. .

I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the quickness of receiving items from China (principally, through ebay).  In fact, I just received 2 SSRs from china quicker than I received a thermocouple from a US source (which I still haven't received).

[keethrax]

Digikey is not good if you just need a few parts although I trust it

I can almost always find enough to make an order worth it. Very small orders usually aren't great from most other sources either. Its just the nature of mail order.

I may be a bit biased though, living in northern MN means that even at the cheapest shipping I often get stuff the next day if I get my order in before 2 or 3pm.

[boz]

I should probably start selling some of the shit I have here!

I could probably be classed as the biggest hoarder supplier in the South Island of NZ if I thought about it 

[JPortici]

You might want to give Tayda Electronics a look (they're based in Thailand; so cheap but slow).

tayda has always shipped me crap. every order had passiver AND POTENTIOMETERS wrongly marked and what i suspect counterfeit/rebadged semiconductors

[vk3yedotcom]

A lot of the dearer parts are plugs, sockets, cases, switches, variable capacitors etc. 

These often go for a song at junk sales and hamfests often run by local radio clubs.

Even buying just some of your parts from these sources can result in significant savings.

[nanofrog]

tayda has always shipped me crap. every order had passiver AND POTENTIOMETERS wrongly marked and what i suspect counterfeit/rebadged semiconductors

First time I've heard complaints in this regard that I can recall, but it's not unexpected. I'd imagine they get suckered into buying crap/counterfeits from time to time and pass it on. But the OP asked for inexpensive/value, and both they and Futurlec have the lowest pricing I'm aware of for a single source (would have thought they'd be OK for common stuff, particularly passives).

Personally, it's not worth the hassle to me, so I buy primarily from Mouser (and it's faster to my door, as I'm trying to minimize my stock).    Cheap stuff I get from eBay.

[KerryW]

DipMicro has good prices, but a limited selection compared to Mouser or Digikey.

Dan's small parts http://www.danssmallpartsandkits.net/ is a pain to deal with, but has a lot of obscure / hard to find stuff.

[Back2Volts]

A lot of the dearer parts are plugs, sockets, cases, switches, variable capacitors etc. 

These often go for a song at junk sales and hamfests often run by local radio clubs.

Even buying just some of your parts from these sources can result in significant savings.

When I hear this one, I wonder how many people leave close to one of this events or clubs.    Just for fun I just run a search for radio clubs near my zip code.    The one that showed up is in a city (village) in one of the counties next to mine.   I had never heard of the city, which seems to have 241 inhabitants.   My city has 14,000 people and the most I see is an arts and crafts fair in the summer and farmer markets on a mini park during the warmer months.    I leave in central Minnesota. 

If anyone in Minnesota can point me to one of this bountiful events, please do !

Answering to the OP, I do buy from eBay, Newark, Mouser,  Digikey and some other minor places in order of frequency.   I do use eBay for things like headers, jacks, screws, breadboards, DC-DC boosters and the like, some resistors and LEDs.   No semiconductors products, no electrolytic, no "brands".   I do give preference to eBay (Chinese) sellers located in the US, but I will order some stuff from China when I do not care about 2 weeks shipping.     

For jelly beans I tend to go to Newark for parts on red tag sale.   Parts like diodes of all kinds, transistors, resistors, capacitors, basic ICs..     

In general for Mouser/Newark/Digikey, I will build a cart for weeks until I am pressed for something and then pull the trigger.

[raspberrypi]

I'm going to buy my parts on black friday even though the myth that it is cheaper is just that. Line up at midnight, stomp people to death for a 39$ dvd player and get into fights over the spirit of giving, while cheaping out on your gift. I'm so glad I stopped doing christmas a few years back. No malls no decorations, christmas music, advertisements etc etc. The true spirit of christmas is capitalism charley brown!

[vk3yedotcom]

If anyone in Minnesota can point me to one of this bountiful events, please do !

This hamfest guide might be helpful http://www.arrl.org/hamfests-and-conventions-calendar

Looks like there's several in your state but none until next year.

[Back2Volts]

Thanks.    There is one in the spring about 100 miles away.   I may give it a try.

[ieast]

For the basics I just buy the cheap Chinese stuff from eBay.  I don't know how they can make a profit from selling 10x 555's for $.99 including shipping, but I'm not complaining.  If the shipping is ePacket it usually takes 1 to 2 weeks.