But this farnell discussion is a bit interesting,I don't really get why they won't sell stuff to hobbist. It only give them a bad reputation, and may lose custermers because if you can't buy stuff as a hobbist you may not buy from them in you job. About the same logic (but in reverse) the manufacturers have when they send you free samples.
I am such a case. To me as a person they don't want to sell. But to my employer they of course do. And I of course try as hard as possible to interfere with my employer buying from Farnell (or RS), whenever I have the opportunity. As a person I am not good enough for them as a customer? Ok, fine. They aren't good enough as a supplier for me in my job.
Over the years I have received a bunch of excuses why they don't sell to non-businesses. The most popular ones are
It is not economic to sell to non-businesses, because they only buy so few parts. Which is bullshit. They have no problem to ship one single resistor a year to a small shop, as long as it is a business. And they do sell to non-businesses in other countries.
The other common excuse is that consumer protection laws make it impossible for them to sell to non-businesses. Which is bullshit, too. Consumer protection is harmonized in the EU. The directive is from 1997. It is the same everywhere in the EU. But they sell in some EU countries to non-businesses. And, they sell to non-businesses in the US. The country where they not only have really strong consumer protection, but insane civil lawsuits if you get hurt for some reason.