Any recommendations where to buy components, cheap?

[koendv]

I'm a hobbyist; sometimes I design a board, have a pcb made, buy some components and solder it myself.

Most of us buy components at sites like digikey, farnell/newark, radio spares, mouser. These sites have a great choice of components, and quick delivery. But sometimes I just want my components cheap, even if delivery takes a month.

So I'd like to ask: do you know of any Chinese/Shenzhen web sites, where the components are cheap and the shipping cost is low? It doesn't matter how long delivery takes.

regrds,

[nowlan]

www.taydaelectronics.com
www.aliexpress.com

[wraper]

do you know of any Chinese/Shenzhen web sites, where the components are cheap and the shipping cost is low?

Not the right question. It should contain ...and not counterfeit. Some parts are pretty safe to buy, others are almost guaranteed to be fakes.

[bob1033]

Anything bought from the Chinese/Shenzhen web sites will have a element of risk to them. Resistors can be a mixed bag, I've bought some perfectly fine resistors from Aliexpress and some that will change resistance from the heat in your hand! Capacitors can be of questionable quality. I've bought one or two IC's form Aliexpress and they worked as expected but they were only 30 cents cheaper than mouser. To me, if I spend my time designing a circuit and having a PCB made, an extra 30 cents is worth knowing I have a spec part. However, if that's not important to you, I've had success with good-rated Chinese eBay stores or Aliexpress. Don't know if it's the same in Spain, but in the US you can usually get $1 shipping with most of the stuff from china.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Volume matters.

These days, just about everything gets SMD parts in it. They are made in larger volumes, thus the cost is lower.

SMD parts come on giant reels. Breaking up a reel costs money. Pick a few values and but full reels. Yes it seems expensive. You will likely have a lifetime supply of caps or resistors after you buy a fairly small number of reels.

Once you know what your part inventory is, design your board to use it. If you need 2.2 K ohms, use two 1K's and two 100 ohm resistors. Yes it's a bit nutty. The cost is very much in your favor if you do.

Where to get the reels? I get them on eBay from people who seem legit. I test the parts when they come in. Every so often I toss out a reel. I rarely spend over $10 per reel. The majority come in below $2 for a reel of 5K to 10K pieces. Most of what comes in (90%) is legit top quality material. Yes this takes time. You need to buy them at auction and be really careful about the shipping from where ever in the world they are coming from.

Bob

[l0wside]

As for resistors, splitting is not worth the money. I purchase most of my passives at TME, where a 5000-part reel of resistors costs me around 3 EUR (with tax). These parts are literally cheap as dirt. Ceramic capacitors (in 0603) cost about twice that, still cheap. eBay does not seem to be cheaper.

For starting, I once have purchased a resistor set from China (like 301908865616). Some poor Chinese had produced cut tapes for each value and labeled them by hand. The set still serves me.

Max

[bicc1306]

PCBway and PCBcart are also a good options.

[technotronix]

I would go with pcbway.