Components suppliers

[Auggie]

What are some good component suppliers with low prices?

[joelby]

It depends on where you live!

In Australia, Farnell and RS aren't especially cheap, at least compared to the US, but the free shipping is pretty great.

For generic components such as resistors and capacitors, eBay is pretty decent.

In the USA, try Digikey, Mouser, or anyone else who advertises in a US magazine like Circuit Cellar.

If you need many components (as in reels of them), you could try your luck with Dealextreme or Alibaba.

[Zero999]

Rapid electronics are a pretty cheap UK supplier but you have to order over £35 to get free delivery.

Always shop around as much as you can, sometimes you'll spot bargains at the most expensive shops. For example I discovered that dual ganged potentiometers are the same price as single pots at Maplin which is cheaper than Farnel and RS Components.

[EEVblog]

These tools are useful to find the supplier with the best prices if you know the part number
findchips.com
octopart.com
oemstrade.com

Dave.

[rossmoffett]

Between Digikey and Mouser, Mouser has no minimum order and you can sort their components by price.  They don't have as many options as Digikey but I think that makes them more hobbyist-friendly.

[fsleeman]

Spark Fun (http://www.sparkfun.com) has some really, well, fun stuff for projects. Not so much for basic parts but a lot of kits, Arduino boards, and sensors.

[charliex]

digikey search thing drives me nuts, mousers is better, dk's customer support has been good to me though,.

[Auggie]

digikey search thing drives me nuts, mousers is better, dk's customer support has been good to me though,.

I agree digike's search thing sucks balls. And it does not have pictures and I am a visual person. Thanks you guys for all the suggestions.

[desolatordan]

digikey search thing drives me nuts, mousers is better, dk's customer support has been good to me though,.

I agree digike's search thing sucks balls. And it does not have pictures and I am a visual person. Thanks you guys for all the suggestions.

Hmm, I love digikey's search better than mouser. It gets right down to the point, and is stripped of all the fancy "look nice" formatting. Most items do have a photo preview, which is another reason I like it. One thing I do not like is that you cannot sort by price.

[macpod]

Not being able to sort by price drives me crazy on digi-key. What's their reasoning behind it?

[rossmoffett]

Not being able to sort by price drives me crazy on digi-key. What's their reasoning behind it?

$$$

It wasn't too long ago that Mouser couldn't do it either.

[ArtemisGoldfish]

Electronic Goldmine is kinda interesting, with pretty good prices on some stuff. Check it out: ( http://goldmine-elec.com/ )

[chemicaloliver]

I recently did a blog post on this topic in the UK: http://chemicaloliver.net/electronics/where-to-buy-electronic-components-in-the-uk/

[Simon]

I recently did a blog post on this topic in the UK: http://chemicaloliver.net/electronics/where-to-buy-electronic-components-in-the-uk/

great little article and source of good (looking as of yet) suppliers, I can't agree more with your opinion of Maplin, i hate them with a passion and use as a last resot for basic stuff only. you have not mentioned RS, common you must have used them, ok they charge £ 4.95 shipping but if your buying a lot you can easily get it cheaper than farnell

[Zero999]

You may hate Maplin and so do I most of the time but as I said before they can occasionally be cheap.

For example, try getting a dual ganged pot. from RS, Farnell or Rapid for 80p including VAT.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=2204

The cheapest I could find in Farnell is 95.5p and that excluding VAT
http://uk.farnell.com/bourns/pdb181-k420k-503a/potentiometer/dp/1601316

RS are more expensive and it's harder to find so I've not bothered.

An E3 resistor kit is cheaper at Maplin than Rapid when VAT is factored into the equation:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=42453

http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/Resistors-Potentiometer/Carbon-Film-Resistors/E3-Series-480-piece-carbon-film-resistor-kit/74263

Unless it's inconvenient to go to Mapins then I strongly recommend checking their price before going elsewhere, you might be pleasantly surprised.

[Simon]

well there is more to parts that price, there is quality too, after my experiences of maplins gear such as a digital caliper that really I would have expected to buy off ebay  for its standard of quality and did not work I see what maplins policy is: cheap and whatever, personally I can't be botheredto drive a 25 mile round trip to buy something i may have to drive another 25 miles to return. Their website ranges from only partly functional to having descriptions hastily and innacurately written. And yes their staff are not exactly competent, they are certainly not interested in electronics maybe computers and premade gadjets

[ste hughes]

in the UK i use

bitsbox
oomlout

both are excellent and really cheap

[Simon]

why don't you put a catalogue on your website, people like good all round suppliers.