Digikey absurdity?

[MuTeD]

So digikey offers free shipping on orders over $100 to europe (where I live). Great! So, I'm in the US for holidays and I figure, I should probably buy it here, that way I don't need to deal with customs and shipping should be faster. WRONG!! it costs me over $20 in shipping!!!  So I talked to two sales representatives and they have confirmed this! Buying stuff on digikey and having it shipped to europe is cheaper than having it shipped to the US! (assuming no issues at customs and an order over $100) Where the heck is the logic in that or am I missing something? Why would anyone inside the US use digikey then? I have also found the prices of Mouser and Farnell to be better. The only thing I can think of is that they have a large selection but generally I find everything on Farnell and Mouser.

[dannyf]

Why would anyone inside the US use digikey then?

Large selection, and speedy delivery. Pretty much whatever you want, there is a way for them to get it to you on your desk next morning.

You do pay quality prices for quality services.

[mikeselectricstuff]

They have more competition in Europe, which may be a factor.

[devanno]

I can't recall what, but there were some parts I could only find at Digikey, but then the same has been true that I could only find certain things at Mouser.  I suspect that the competition factor as suggested above is driving this. 

[edpalmer42]

That seems very odd.

Digikey shipping to Canada is a flat $8.00 for any 'normal' order.  Unusually big or heavy orders would be more.

Ed

[MuTeD]

Ok so yea, I expected it to be more of a business decision as in "we will charge for shipping in the US because we can" since it doesn't make sense in any other way. I thought Mouser was pretty active in the US too? I didn't expect there to be less competition in the US though, if anything I thought there would be more. Indeed, there might be the occasional component you can't find anywhere else but in general I see no reason to use digikey. I get mouser delivered 2 days after I ordered it with free shipping. Farnell is a different story, can't be in a hurry when ordering from then. =)

[MuTeD]

That seems very odd.

Digikey shipping to Canada is a flat $8.00 for any 'normal' order.  Unusually big or heavy orders would be more.

Ed

It is odd, that's the reason I'm asking =). I talked to two sales representatives and they both confirmed it.

[pickle9000]

Shipping rates are often related to a deal the vendor makes with a courier. Then they pass that on to the customer. Normally these "deals" come up for review by the courier if they fail to meet minimum limits.

[Corporate666]

So digikey offers free shipping on orders over $100 to europe (where I live). Great! So, I'm in the US for holidays and I figure, I should probably buy it here, that way I don't need to deal with customs and shipping should be faster. WRONG!! it costs me over $20 in shipping!!!  So I talked to two sales representatives and they have confirmed this! Buying stuff on digikey and having it shipped to europe is cheaper than having it shipped to the US! (assuming no issues at customs and an order over $100) Where the heck is the logic in that or am I missing something? Why would anyone inside the US use digikey then? I have also found the prices of Mouser and Farnell to be better. The only thing I can think of is that they have a large selection but generally I find everything on Farnell and Mouser.

I really don't understand the complaint.  Shipping isn't free anywhere since all shipping companies charge for their services.  Digikey may choose to subsidize the cost of shipping to Europe for whatever reason, but that doesn't mean that charging for a service which costs money to provide is somehow unreasonable as it appears you feel.

As for why anyone would use Digikey - they are by far the best distributor, IMO.  You can order by 9pm EST and it's gauranteed to ship same-day.  They have a lot of stock, and they are usually the cheapest provider on most parts.  Off the top of my head, compare LXM2-PL01-0000 or ATTINY13A.  Digikey is cheapest.  Mouser is equal on some stuff, and on a few parts Avent or Arrow may be lower - but it's rare.  I keep spreadsheets of all my BOM's with prices from all the distributors, and the vast majority of the time, Digikey is cheapest on most stuff - with Mouser cheaper on one or two items.

By the way - Mouser, Newark, Avnet, Arrow, Future and all other distributors charge to ship also, so Digikey's shipping fee isn't a detraction at all.  And $20 is quite a lot - since Digikey charges actual rates, it must be either a 3-day or 2-day shipment, or a package weighing several kilos - which would probably be quite an expensive lot of electronics.  And in such cases, who cares about $20 for shipping when you're spending hundreds or even a couple thousand on the parts, especially if all other sellers also charge for shipping?

[netdudeuk]

Let's see face it.  This must be the only time ever where the Brits don't get hammered big time when compared to what our friends in the USA have to pay.
 

[zapta]

Let's see face it.  This must be the only time ever where the Brits don't get hammered big time when compared to what our friends in the USA have to pay.

No VAT on digikey orders?

[Macbeth]

Let's see face it.  This must be the only time ever where the Brits don't get hammered big time when compared to what our friends in the USA have to pay.

You want to see how the USA corporate oligarchs and paid shill politicians and insiders working at the FCC have been stitching up the broadband market then. It's ludicrous how they are doing their best to keep crap internet speeds and the worst customer service on the planet at huge prices, including trying to fuck up Net Neutrality which will affect the rest of the world too. Monopolists like Comcast are in charge over in that "free economy" USA. Yeehaw!

I feel hard done by our incumbent telecoms/cable/sat/phone companies in the UK, compared to South Korea or Romania, but it's nothing like the USA. It is even illegal (and I mean criminal - 10 years jail) to unlock a mobile phone over there.

[Howardlong]

Not sure how it works on personal deliveries these days, but both Mouser and Digikey deliver VAT free to EU companies when given a valid VAT Id.

For Digikey that's a fairly recent thing, I used to have to pay duties COD to UPS for deliveries, so it was important to keep track of your delivery and call up to pay duties at the "sweet spot" to get the fastest delivery.

Mouser use Fedex to the EU who seem to have had a more streamlined process for some time, even for personal deliveries.

[Howardlong]

Let's see face it.  This must be the only time ever where the Brits don't get hammered big time when compared to what our friends in the USA have to pay.

You want to see how the USA corporate oligarchs and paid shill politicians and insiders working at the FCC have been stitching up the broadband market then. It's ludicrous how they are doing their best to keep crap internet speeds and the worst customer service on the planet at huge prices, including trying to fuck up Net Neutrality which will affect the rest of the world too. Monopolists like Comcast are in charge over in that "free economy" USA. Yeehaw!

I feel hard done by our incumbent telecoms/cable/sat/phone companies in the UK, compared to South Korea or Romania, but it's nothing like the USA. It is even illegal (and I mean criminal - 10 years jail) to unlock a mobile phone over there.

Yeah, get it off your chest why don't you. 

[zapta]

I feel hard done by our incumbent telecoms/cable/sat/phone companies in the UK, compared to South Korea or Romania, but it's nothing like the USA. It is even illegal (and I mean criminal - 10 years jail) to unlock a mobile phone over there.

 It's a horrible place here. You don't want to come.

[Macbeth]

Not sure how it works on personal deliveries these days, but both Mouser and Digikey deliver VAT free to EU companies when given a valid VAT Id.

For Digikey that's a fairly recent thing, I used to have to pay duties COD to UPS for deliveries, so it was important to keep track of your delivery and call up to pay duties at the "sweet spot" to get the fastest delivery.

Mouser use Fedex to the EU who seem to have had a more streamlined process for some time, even for personal deliveries.

For some reason, no matter the tiny or large value of an item from the USA, it is always 100% without question Dutied & VAT'ed. Even if it is declared at $15 or whatever absurdly tiny duty that is allowed (compare with Daves $1000 AUD on imports to Oz) .

I never use UPS, Fedex, DHL or any of those commercial carriers of USA shipments as they have ludicrous handling and invoice fees. Their "fast track" expediting also tends to come up with a 10% Duty when 0% is the proper rate, and so I have to argue with them and get a refund. I always use USPS for stuff from the states, knowing I will be stung for Duty and VAT, but only have to pay £6 or so for the handling.

But EVERYTHING that I order from China - it 95% always slips through the customs net. Also, sellers are quite happy to mark $500 of goods as $100 or so on a personal shipment.

Quite what business the HMRC has in other countries is beyond me, but the USA are lickspittles while China can just stick two fingers up at the uniformed officious clowns in Heathrow.

[Corporate666]

Not sure how it works on personal deliveries these days, but both Mouser and Digikey deliver VAT free to EU companies when given a valid VAT Id.

For Digikey that's a fairly recent thing, I used to have to pay duties COD to UPS for deliveries, so it was important to keep track of your delivery and call up to pay duties at the "sweet spot" to get the fastest delivery.

Mouser use Fedex to the EU who seem to have had a more streamlined process for some time, even for personal deliveries.

For some reason, no matter the tiny or large value of an item from the USA, it is always 100% without question Dutied & VAT'ed. Even if it is declared at $15 or whatever absurdly tiny duty that is allowed (compare with Daves $1000 AUD on imports to Oz) .

I never use UPS, Fedex, DHL or any of those commercial carriers of USA shipments as they have ludicrous handling and invoice fees. Their "fast track" expediting also tends to come up with a 10% Duty when 0% is the proper rate, and so I have to argue with them and get a refund. I always use USPS for stuff from the states, knowing I will be stung for Duty and VAT, but only have to pay £6 or so for the handling.

But EVERYTHING that I order from China - it 95% always slips through the customs net. Also, sellers are quite happy to mark $500 of goods as $100 or so on a personal shipment.

Quite what business the HMRC has in other countries is beyond me, but the USA are lickspittles while China can just stick two fingers up at the uniformed officious clowns in Heathrow.

I feel your pain... however I ship a ton of international packages.  And I know it sounds rude (it's not meant to), but the very frank answer to the above is... it's not my problem.  I have tons of customers in Canada, S. America, all over Europe, Australia and elsewhere.  The UK customers are probably the "worst" when it comes to complaining about import fees, customs duty, etc.  A lot of them are clearly frustrated by it all - but sales to the UK are a tiny tiny fraction of our business (same goes for almost all companies who do international business, save a few), so it doesn't make sense to jump through hoops to cater to the frustrations of Brits, especially when their problem lies with their gov't, not foreign exporters.  I share their frustration - but I'm not willing to lose profit to cater to it when they ought to talk to their legislators about it.

Sure, you can ship USPS, but nobody wants to pay for Express Mail, which means if the customer isn't happy with the time it's taking to arrive (which is totally out of the shipper's control) they can simply file a claim with eBay or PayPal, or a chargeback with their CC company, and the seller loses all the $$, plus a $35 chargeback fee, plus they lose the product. 

[Bud]

I noticed on my last order to Newark Canada that shipping jumped from 8 bucks to twenty. I won't be getting as much stuff from Newark any more.

They switched from UPS to FedEx.

In contrary, i began to use Newark more, they often have damn good deals, at Digikey that would cost me twice as much on ICs, and hugely more on passives. But i typically order ICs in dozens and passives in hundreds.

[netdudeuk]

C666, it sort of IS your problem.  I've heard it said several times that nothing gets through unopened and the handling charges can be severe, especially when compared with the item costs.  Maybe we complain the most because we're hit the hardest ?  Anyway, the reason I suggested it is your problem is that we more than likely shy away from US purchases (and there's lots on eBay that I fancy) because of the duty.  That will be why we're only a 'tiny, tiny' part of your business and that will, of course, hit your bottom line.

[VK3DRB]

The Europeans should not complain so much. If I order a resistor costing a few cents from Digikey, they charge a $34 delivery to Australia. I have complained about the fact they do not have lower shipping costs for tiny, low cost items that will fit in an envelope, but they are not interested in fixing the problem at all. I guess price gouging is part of their profitability game.

Alternatively, RS has free delivery and Element 14 has lower cost delivery, but they don't carry the stock that Digikey has.

They is little alternative in Australia, as our halfwit short sighted politicians have let our electronics industry decay over many years. There are few real electronics stores left in the entire country and many common parts are simply not available anywhere here - they have to be imported.

I have a good friend who left Australia forever for the US because of the sorry state of the electronics industry here. And that was 18 years ago! Best move he ever made career wise.

[netdudeuk]

I'm not European.  I'm English 

[pk7639]

You're being duped.
DigiKey offer (ed) free shipping to Australia on orders >$200 (IIRC)  if you ordered through digikey.com.au (or your web account was listed as being an AUD).

Somehow I ended up with the option to check out in AUD or USD from the main site. 

If I load my cart with products > AUD$200 and compare the total CIF cost (exchange rates calculated) between the USD and AUD checkout options, then it miraculously works out USD$35 more expensive to check out in AU$ and get the free shipping..

Companies do not (nor should they) give things away for free..
PK

[LabSpokane]

First off, US shippers cannot just lie about the value of the contents if shipments. In the US, that's called fraud and people go to jail for that. The US Government is very strict about its citizens engaging in corrupt practices abroad.

We have virtually no customs issues importing goods for personal use here. Our customs and importation system works.  Aside from military materials and encryption, our Customs system has nothing to do with exportation. Honest.

And if the UK has a selective, anti-American bias in how it enforces customs law, that is a 100% UK problem. The US has nothing to do Chinese shipments getting a free pass into the UK.

Lastly, if you're not happy with the costs of getting things into your country, quit being such pains in the ass to do business with!  Seriously. We're sick of it on our side too, to be perfectly honest. 

[VK3DRB]

You're being duped.
DigiKey offer (ed) free shipping to Australia on orders >$200 (IIRC)  if you ordered through digikey.com.au (or your web account was listed as being an AUD).

Somehow I ended up with the option to check out in AUD or USD from the main site. 

If I load my cart with products > AUD$200 and compare the total CIF cost (exchange rates calculated) between the USD and AUD checkout options, then it miraculously works out USD$35 more expensive to check out in AU$ and get the free shipping..

Companies do not (nor should they) give things away for free..
PK

You missed the point. Theoretically it is $35 for one 1K 0603 SMD resistor from Digikey. I would rather Digikey charge me the actual shipping costs that is incurred by them rather than price gouging customers or encouraging them to buy stuff they may not want to make the cost >$200.

As far as exchange rates go, the party is over. $1.08 was nice for us importers. It is now about 81 cents. Will go to around 70 cents or lower within 12 months.

[LoyalServant]

They have more competition in Europe, which may be a factor.

I can believe it.
If I go to Newark/Element14 to order something it almost never fails that what I want or need is "UK stock"
That means I have to pay $20 to have it shipped from Britain and it takes 1-2 weeks or I can go to Digi Key and get it within a few days or less for the same amount, and often less.
Digi key having virtually everything I need all the time and I think they know it... so you pay for that.

Seems they (Farnell/Newark/Element14) have parts well stocked on that side of the pond.