Arrow.com: Spend $20 get a free Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and Free Overnight Ship

[thm_w]

My "free" pi3 arrived. The free is in quotes as I still had to pay tax on the retail price of the pi based on how they declared it coming in to Canada, and the $10.00 Fedex brokerage fee. So in the end the pi3 cost me about $15 USD - still cheap but not free.

If Arrow has something I really need and offers free shipping I'll consider them but when using Digikey or Mouser there are no additional fees when delivered to Canada and shipping is free over $100 CAD.

Yep, assuming the website prices were the same, there is zero reason to shop with Arrow.
Its better to see this stuff up front and not be surprised at the door.

[Macbeth]

My "free" pi3 arrived. The free is in quotes as I still had to pay tax on the retail price of the pi based on how they declared it coming in to Canada, and the $10.00 Fedex brokerage fee. So in the end the pi3 cost me about $15 USD - still cheap but not free.

If Arrow has something I really need and offers free shipping I'll consider them but when using Digikey or Mouser there are no additional fees when delivered to Canada and shipping is free over $100 CAD.

Yep, assuming the website prices were the same, there is zero reason to shop with Arrow.
Its better to see this stuff up front and not be surprised at the door.

Did Fedex actually demand payment at the door in Canada? That seems off.

In the UK the normal mail (Royal Mail / Parcelforce) get to hold your delivery to ransom, but commercial courier companies just deliver ASAP and then invoice you later.

[TheSteve]

My "free" pi3 arrived. The free is in quotes as I still had to pay tax on the retail price of the pi based on how they declared it coming in to Canada, and the $10.00 Fedex brokerage fee. So in the end the pi3 cost me about $15 USD - still cheap but not free.

If Arrow has something I really need and offers free shipping I'll consider them but when using Digikey or Mouser there are no additional fees when delivered to Canada and shipping is free over $100 CAD.

Yep, assuming the website prices were the same, there is zero reason to shop with Arrow.
Its better to see this stuff up front and not be surprised at the door.

Did Fedex actually demand payment at the door in Canada? That seems off.

In the UK the normal mail (Royal Mail / Parcelforce) get to hold your delivery to ransom, but commercial courier companies just deliver ASAP and then invoice you later.

Yes,it is standard practice in Canada to demand payment on delivery with UPS, Fedex, DHL etc. When I get Fedex from overseas and there will be taxes due Fedex often calls to try to get payment in advance of delivery.

[Macbeth]

Yes,it is standard practice in Canada to demand payment on delivery with UPS, Fedex, DHL etc. When I get Fedex from overseas and there will be taxes due Fedex often calls to try to get payment in advance of delivery.

What if you don't have any means to pay at the doorstep? Surely they can't just take your goods you have paid for away?

I'm in UK and I've had deliveries from USA manufacturers like Texas Instruments for example that are over the ludicrously low 22 EUR limit and never had to pay brokerage or VAT/Duty. I notice Dave gets a AUD $1000 limit before all that tax shenanigans.

Ultimately I am not legally in a contract with Fedex and while I will pay the VAT (legal requirement) - I will just deduct the £12 as I never asked for them to do my customs brokerage for me 

[TheSteve]

It's simple - if you don't pay, they don't give you the package. This is how everyone operates here including Canada Post.
You can refuse the package and tell them you'll do the customs clearance yourself. But that generally means a lot of driving around which uses more $$$ in fuel then the brokerage charge.
With couriers such as Fedex/UPS/DHL they charge the tax and a brokerage fee on anything over 10 dollars. With Canada Post they seem to let most items under $200.00 enter tax free. If I physically bring something across the border they seem to let anything $400.00 or less enter tax free depending on their mood and what it is you're bring into the country.
I assume the couriers could probably let more then a 10 dollar item enter tax free but then they couldn't charge a brokerage fee.
99% of the packages I receive go to a US address and then I cross the border to pick them up.

[thm_w]

It's simple - if you don't pay, they don't give you the package. This is how everyone operates here including Canada Post.
You can refuse the package and tell them you'll do the customs clearance yourself. But that generally means a lot of driving around which uses more $$$ in fuel then the brokerage charge.
With couriers such as Fedex/UPS/DHL they charge the tax and a brokerage fee on anything over 10 dollars. With Canada Post they seem to let most items under $200.00 enter tax free. If I physically bring something across the border they seem to let anything $400.00 or less enter tax free depending on their mood and what it is you're bring into the country.
I assume the couriers could probably let more then a 10 dollar item enter tax free but then they couldn't charge a brokerage fee.
99% of the packages I receive go to a US address and then I cross the border to pick them up.

Yes. The actual legal limit is $20, so they can't charge if its less than that.

[Macbeth]

In the UK it was only the actual Royal Mail (and particularly Parcelforce, their "commercial" offshoot) that actually hold items to ransom. This has always been illegal, something to do with "interfering with the Kings/Queens mail" and was a hanging offence back in the good old days. Unfortunately nobody got hung drawn and quartered in the past century and so they got away with it for a long time. Apparently with the privatisation of Royal Mail they have finally got statute law to give them the unique ability to hold goods to ransom, the commercial carriers don't have that.

[amitchell]

It's simple - if you don't pay, they don't give you the package. This is how everyone operates here including Canada Post.
You can refuse the package and tell them you'll do the customs clearance yourself. But that generally means a lot of driving around which uses more $$$ in fuel then the brokerage charge.
With couriers such as Fedex/UPS/DHL they charge the tax and a brokerage fee on anything over 10 dollars. With Canada Post they seem to let most items under $200.00 enter tax free. If I physically bring something across the border they seem to let anything $400.00 or less enter tax free depending on their mood and what it is you're bring into the country.
I assume the couriers could probably let more then a 10 dollar item enter tax free but then they couldn't charge a brokerage fee.
99% of the packages I receive go to a US address and then I cross the border to pick them up.

Arrow is the worst for this I find, Fedex always collects the brokerage fee with them. Digikey and Mouser both ship fedex next day free(order over $100) to canada, brokerage paid by them.  Sure some prices may be a bit less at Arrow but I dont save in the end when Fedex knocks.

And to top it off, the last shipment arrow sent to me every line item was in a  seperate box and I got hammered with 6 different fedex bills all at $10 each plus duty and taxes, almost the same values as the items i purchased!!!!

[Brumby]

And to top it off, the last shipment arrow sent to me every line item was in a  seperate box and I got hammered with 6 different fedex bills all at $10 each plus duty and taxes, almost the same values as the items i purchased!!!!

Ouch.

[TheSteve]

It's simple - if you don't pay, they don't give you the package. This is how everyone operates here including Canada Post.
You can refuse the package and tell them you'll do the customs clearance yourself. But that generally means a lot of driving around which uses more $$$ in fuel then the brokerage charge.
With couriers such as Fedex/UPS/DHL they charge the tax and a brokerage fee on anything over 10 dollars. With Canada Post they seem to let most items under $200.00 enter tax free. If I physically bring something across the border they seem to let anything $400.00 or less enter tax free depending on their mood and what it is you're bring into the country.
I assume the couriers could probably let more then a 10 dollar item enter tax free but then they couldn't charge a brokerage fee.
99% of the packages I receive go to a US address and then I cross the border to pick them up.

Arrow is the worst for this I find, Fedex always collects the brokerage fee with them. Digikey and Mouser both ship fedex next day free(order over $100) to canada, brokerage paid by them.  Sure some prices may be a bit less at Arrow but I dont save in the end when Fedex knocks.

And to top it off, the last shipment arrow sent to me every line item was in a  seperate box and I got hammered with 6 different fedex bills all at $10 each plus duty and taxes, almost the same values as the items i purchased!!!!

At work I generally alternate between Digikey and Mouser - I compare prices as they have a lot of similar stock. Many times I place orders at both the same day to save a few bucks(sometimes we can save hundreds). Sometimes when placing orders for a single part with a value over 1K we shop around and 99% of the time end up back at Digikey or Mouser because getting quotes is too much hassle/delay and prices are rarely more then a percent or two cheaper - if at all.
For personal orders I also use both. The smallest order from Digikey was for 8 dollars, and another 8 dollars for overnight shipping. So for less then 20 bucks tax in I was able to gets the parts needed to fix something - I hate waiting.

[bitseeker]

Yeah, I find that DigiKey and Mouser are usually pretty close on item prices. Sometimes shipping can be sufficiently different to tip the choice to one over the other.

[julianhigginson]

Well it all showed up in Australia yesterday. well packed, and no import duty surprises here.

I'm normally going between digikey and mouser (and sometimes element14) for my stuff, so I'm happy to have another option for things that is low hassle and fast to get deliveries from.

I really wish they would do something about their interface though - I had a go at searching to discover some new parts with specific parameters yesterday and it's next to impossible to search for new things... I often use digikey mouser and e14 that way when in parts research for a project - so Arrow are always going to be at a disadvantage to those 3 if I only find new things on their sites. My new things will already be in someone else's shopping basket before I even consider Arrow.

[gmb42]

I really wish they would do something about their interface though - I had a go at searching to discover some new parts with specific parameters yesterday and it's next to impossible to search for new things... I often use digikey mouser and e14 that way when in parts research for a project - so Arrow are always going to be at a disadvantage to those 3 if I only find new things on their sites. My new things will already be in someone else's shopping basket before I even consider Arrow.

Have you tried using Octopart when searching for parts?  They show a lot of distributors and variations on parts if you enter a "base" part number.

I find Octopart quite useful although I do regard it the same as other search\shopping engines, they only show you what they want you to see, so they might not be showing better deals available elsewhere.

[Macbeth]

...Did anyone else get a Raspberry Pi Zero W from Arrow for free this week? It was given as a bonus because they cocked up their ledger for the original Pi 3 giveaway and demanded accounts payable for it? 

Oh yes, I also disputed FedEx and got them to credit the ludicrous £12 customs brokerage fee. 2 emails. Though I still paid the VAT on the "free" Pi 3.

I'm a tight-arsed bastard when it comes to stuff like that.   

[bitseeker]

My Pi3 was free of ledger-malfunctions, so no bonus PiZW for me.

Aside: I did order from Arrow again for some components. Eight different items, mostly passives, but a few ICs and transistors. They were sent in three separate overnight shipments, which ended up all arriving at the same time anyway. I don't yet grasp those logistics.

[PedroDaGr8]

No ledger malfunction for me, though it took a week for to get it. No free Pi W.

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