LCSC vs Digikey

[asmi]

I always knew that Digikey is more expensive than other suppliers, but only recently realized just how much the difference is!
I've bought a reel (2000) of Samsung 22uF 0805 caps for 30.4 USD, the exact same reel (same p/n down to the last letter!) on DK is 581.21 USD! I've also managed to snag a last reel (15000) of Yageo 0.47 uF 0201 caps for 34.5 USD, while on DK the very same reel goes for 391.88 USD!
Wow! I wonder if there is any explanation for such ridiculous difference in prices.

[spongle]

How sure are you that you'll actually get CL21A226MAQNNNE from LCSC

If you look at a lower rated cap, say CL21A226MQQNNNE, the price difference is a lot smaller..

[FrankBuss]

It is from China, so they are right at the source of it, and labor cost is much lower. And I guess they have lower maintenance costs because they have a smaller warehouse and not as many parts.

But same with PCBs: I used to buy them from http://pcbpool.de (now "Beta-Layout"). They are still selling one 2 layer PCB, 10 cm x 10 cm, 6 days, for EUR 80.93. You can get 10 of these from JLCPCB for $2. Ten PCBs costs EUR 245 from pcbpool. This is more than 100 times the price of JLCPCB. I don't know why they are still in business. But hey, you can get a free stencil from pcbpool

I bought a few times parts from LCSC. So far no problem with it. Looks like they are genuine, good quality and according to specification.

[coppice]

Digikey is a supplier of convenience for development work and production emergencies. They don't really position themselves as a low cost supplier for mass production.

[asmi]

How sure are you that you'll actually get CL21A226MAQNNNE from LCSC

I can ask you the same question of DK. You are sure because they say so, and you take their word for it. Or you call the vendor and ask them to confirm if tracking information that is on a reel checks out. If I was to use these parts for serious production, I'd surely do the latter, but for now I will take their word for it. All suppliers had incidents when they shipped fake parts (I think there is a Dave's video about DK), but these incidents are rare enough for most customers to not care because they are doing the right thing and always provide healthy margins so their devices will work even if parts are not 100% up to spec. And those few who do will take care to save all tracking information in case some incident will happen.

But none of it can justify almost 20x price difference!

[Bud]

Not in my wildest dream will i buy production components from China. Even for prototypes nothing more than resistors, since i must be 100% sure when prototyping that if i have a problem the junk parts are not in the equation. Saved me a Lot of grief over the years.

[langwadt]

Not in my wildest dream will i buy production components from China. Even for prototypes nothing more than resistors, since i must be 100% sure when prototyping that if i have a problem the junk parts are not in the equation. Saved me a Lot of grief over the years.

where do you think the components DK et al. sell is made?

[spongle]

sorry but you can't possibly think LCSC has the same reputation and standards of traceability as digikey

[spongle]

Not in my wildest dream will i buy production components from China. Even for prototypes nothing more than resistors, since i must be 100% sure when prototyping that if i have a problem the junk parts are not in the equation. Saved me a Lot of grief over the years.

where do you think the components DK et al. sell is made?

big difference between buying from manufacturer with Chinese facilities and from Chinese distributor.

[mzzj]

I always knew that Digikey is more expensive than other suppliers

Ha! What color of pills did you take in the morning? 
Digikey is usually cheapest supplier that I would trust if you are buying less than zillion pieces. 
Plus they are really fast and actually stock good range of items.

[asmi]

sorry but you can't possibly think LCSC has the same reputation and standards of traceability as digikey

It does for me. Actually I do know for fact that DK have had incidents with shipping fakes while I haven't heard the same of LCSC yet

[asmi]

big difference between buying from manufacturer with Chinese facilities and from Chinese distributor.

And that difference is....what exactly?

[asmi]

Not in my wildest dream will i buy production components from China. Even for prototypes nothing more than resistors, since i must be 100% sure when prototyping that if i have a problem the junk parts are not in the equation. Saved me a Lot of grief over the years.

That's good. People like you due to various phobias keep DK/Mouser in business, while others can save a ton of money by going closer to the vendor, and cutting greedy US management out of equation.
I wonder what will you do when you do finally encounter a fake from DK

[ddavidebor]

I always knew that Digikey is more expensive than other suppliers, but only recently realized just how much the difference is!
I've bought a reel (2000) of Samsung 22uF 0805 caps for 30.4 USD, the exact same reel (same p/n down to the last letter!) on DK is 581.21 USD! I've also managed to snag a last reel (15000) of Yageo 0.47 uF 0201 caps for 34.5 USD, while on DK the very same reel goes for 391.88 USD!
Wow! I wonder if there is any explanation for such ridiculous difference in prices.

Because electronic is now made in Shenzhen. Everybody else can suck their toe.

[mzzj]

Digikey is usually cheapest supplier that I would trust if you are buying less than zillion pieces. 
Plus they are really fast and actually stock good range of items.

Ever heard of Arrow (free overnight shipping in US, free priority shipping internationally, for orders $50 or more) and Mouser (on average 5% cheaper than DK)?

Also, from Japan, Chip-one-stop has some cheap stuff (an Arrow company).

If you are okay with new old stock, check out Verical (another Arrow company) and Rochester.

FYI, if I need a part, I always do an Octopart search and pick the cheapest one.

O tempora, O mores. Last time I heard of Arrow was back when they wouldn't even to spit on small 50usd customer. 
Digi-key was the first? one to stir up the market with free shipping and others seem to have followed.  Mouser I'm familiar but last couple of times they were missing some exotic crap that I had to have.

Good to know the Arrow free shipping deal, even if it won't help with my craving for Tadiran high temperature batteries..

[coppice]

Digikey is usually cheapest supplier that I would trust if you are buying less than zillion pieces. 
Plus they are really fast and actually stock good range of items.

Ever heard of Arrow (free overnight shipping in US, free priority shipping internationally, for orders $50 or more) and Mouser (on average 5% cheaper than DK)?

Also, from Japan, Chip-one-stop has some cheap stuff (an Arrow company).

If you are okay with new old stock, check out Verical (another Arrow company) and Rochester.

FYI, if I need a part, I always do an Octopart search and pick the cheapest one.

O tempora, O mores. Last time I heard of Arrow was back when they wouldn't even to spit on small 50usd customer. 
Digi-key was the first? one to stir up the market with free shipping and others seem to have followed.  Mouser I'm familiar but last couple of times they were missing some exotic crap that I had to have.

Good to know the Arrow free shipping deal, even if it won't help with my craving for Tadiran high temperature batteries..

The internet has finally changed things quite a lot. You can get small quantities of parts directly from many vendor's web sites. You can get small quantities from most distributor's web sites.

[mrpackethead]

Not in my wildest dream will i buy production components from China. Even for prototypes nothing more than resistors, since i must be 100% sure when prototyping that if i have a problem the junk parts are not in the equation. Saved me a Lot of grief over the years.

That's good. People like you due to various phobias keep DK/Mouser in business, while others can save a ton of money by going closer to the vendor, and cutting greedy US management out of equation.
I wonder what will you do when you do finally encounter a fake from DK

Yup. It all good.  These phobias help me remain cost competivtive.  Have now bought 100's of thousands of product from LCSC ( and SZLCSC ) and for the price difference, its well worth it.

[lilstevie]

Not in my wildest dream will i buy production components from China. Even for prototypes nothing more than resistors, since i must be 100% sure when prototyping that if i have a problem the junk parts are not in the equation. Saved me a Lot of grief over the years.

That's good. People like you due to various phobias keep DK/Mouser in business, while others can save a ton of money by going closer to the vendor, and cutting greedy US management out of equation.
I wonder what will you do when you do finally encounter a fake from DK

I just bought a whole heap of passives from them cause they were cheapest by a long shot, and at least as far as limited testing shows, they perform (within tolerance) of the manufacturers specs so  some of the other things like the NPN transistors I use they were slightly more expensive so didn't bother with them. Only thing I did take a gamble on was some DRAM to test in a known working design, but the package matches my US sourced Micron stuff, with no irregularities so seems okay.
Yup. It all good.  These phobias help me remain cost competivtive.  Have now bought 100's of thousands of product from LCSC ( and SZLCSC ) and for the price difference, its well worth it.

[wraper]

It's not all so nice. Yes you can save a lot on passives and other cheap jelly bean components. But when it comes to more expensive parts which make most of the BOM cost, it may get the other way around. Especially if you consider other big distributors already mentioned. Often they are more expensive at LCSC, and component choice is very poor in comparison.

[ddavidebor]

Of course, LCSC seem only competitive in the kind of component you will find in consumer products.
Fortunately, that's quite a lot. Only thing I have not found there were:
* some connectors
* industrial grade stuff
* fancy ICs

[thm_w]

LCSC often has a lot of "factory overrun" type parts that they may sell once to clear out, so sometimes its not fair to compare prices.

However, yes in general their prices are a lot better than DK, especially at low volumes CL21A226MAQNNNE:
LCSC 20pc 2.45c, 1000pc 1.53c (40% discount)
DK 20pc 97c, 1000pc 44c (45% discount)

Part of this is due to low labor costs in china compared to USA. AFAIK DK is not terribly automated in terms of grabbing and binning the parts. Also DK will often double bag and add a dessicant (to certain parts), which again increases cost of low quantities.

BTW I would try to find the voltage/capacitance curve of that cap, there is good chance its garbage and has little capacitance above 10V or so.
I couldn't find that exact PN but here is a similar one: https://www.samsungsem.com/kr/support/product-search/mlcc/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2019/01/29/Data%20sheet_CL21A226MAYNNNE.pdf
Look how useless that thing is above 10V. This seems to be a pattern with samsung caps I looked up.

[olkipukki]

Wow! I wonder if there is any explanation for such ridiculous difference in prices.

Never saw this huge difference between US-base distributors, but DK/Mouser vs Avnet/Arrow is common.
Basically, a few reels agains one for same price.

[wraper]

LCSC often has a lot of "factory overrun" type parts that they may sell once to clear out, so sometimes its not fair to compare prices.

However, yes in general their prices are a lot better than DK, especially at low volumes CL21A226MAQNNNE:
LCSC 20pc 2.45c, 1000pc 1.53c (40% discount)
DK 20pc 97c, 1000pc 44c (45% discount)

Particular component is way more expensive than normal. Probably caused by MLCC shortage. For example at arrow it's 10 times cheaper compared to DK.

[wraper]

Look how useless that thing is above 10V. This seems to be a pattern with samsung caps I looked up.

It's not just Samsung. You should expect something like that when going for top notch capacitance/voltage ratings at given size.

[asmi]

BTW I would try to find the voltage/capacitance curve of that cap, there is good chance its garbage and has little capacitance above 10V or so.
I couldn't find that exact PN but here is a similar one: https://www.samsungsem.com/kr/support/product-search/mlcc/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2019/01/29/Data%20sheet_CL21A226MAYNNNE.pdf
Look how useless that thing is above 10V. This seems to be a pattern with samsung caps I looked up.

That's not really the point of this discussion, but this is exactly why you would want to pick a capacitor with highest rated voltage available in the same package.

[asmi]

Particular component is way more expensive than normal.

That's what I thought too, which is why I also offered another example of 0201 cap. I need a lot of them for FPGA decoupling, so I've been hunting for such reel at affordable for a while.

Probably caused by MLCC shortage.

I didn't notice any shortages of them on LCSC. Which makes me wonder if this "shortage" was created artificially to make suppliers rich...

[Psi]

Watch out for fakes on LCSC.
I got some SMT fuses and they were total fakes.
The solder would melt from the heat and they still had not blown.


NOTE: They were ordered and populated on a PCB by PCBWAY.
i spec'ed a LCSC part and that's what they said they used, but who knows, maybe it came from somewhere else.
Can't really be sure who to blame.

[wraper]

I didn't notice any shortages of them on LCSC. Which makes me wonder if this "shortage" was created artificially to make suppliers rich...

Many part numbers became unavailable or became priced very high, wild price fluctuations worldwide. Also average MLCC price rose a lot. Situation somewhat stabilized by now. It was not artificial, simply MLCC demand became higher than production capacity and new factories couldn't be built fast enough.
https://qz.com/1575735/a-mlcc-shortage-is-stifling-electronics-hardware-auto-makers/
At one time my favorite supplier for passives (TME) simply had no 0.1 uF 0603 capacitors left at all.

[thm_w]

Particular component is way more expensive than normal. Probably caused by MLCC shortage. For example at arrow it's 10 times cheaper compared to DK.

You are probably right. But I should have specified a bit more for the second part, DK usually has a higher "discount %" based on how many you buy, so if you buy 1 vs 100 at digikey you get a larger discount, vs LCSC the lower quantities are not quite as marked up, although it depends on the part.

It's not just Samsung. You should expect something like that when going for top notch capacitance/voltage ratings at given size.

I found others with much more respectable curves. I suspect Samsung has "optimized" for capacitance at 0V somehow (specific chemistry, etc.). Maybe other vendors are the same, I didnt compare many.

That's not really the point of this discussion, but this is exactly why you would want to pick a capacitor with highest rated voltage available in the same package.

That is generally true but not always the case, look at how fast that graph drops off. You can sometimes find better capacitors with a lower voltage spec, or with the same voltage spec and a "lower" banner spec capacitance.
Sure you can start by picking the large package size/high voltage part, but then you need to take a glance at curves IMO.

Its not the point of the discussion, but OP could be overpaying for a part that may be inferior to alternate parts, defeating the savings from LCSC.

[wraper]

BTW I would try to find the voltage/capacitance curve of that cap, there is good chance its garbage and has little capacitance above 10V or so.
I couldn't find that exact PN but here is a similar one: https://www.samsungsem.com/kr/support/product-search/mlcc/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2019/01/29/Data%20sheet_CL21A226MAYNNNE.pdf
Look how useless that thing is above 10V. This seems to be a pattern with samsung caps I looked up.

That's not really the point of this discussion, but this is exactly why you would want to pick a capacitor with highest rated voltage available in the same package.

Not really. You might notice that at the same voltage say 25V part is only barely better than 10V part but a lot more expensive. Like when @10V 10V rated cap loses 80% of capacitance but 25V cap loses 'only' 75% of capacitance. So it's best to not use extreme capacitance for the size at all (unless using them at small voltages) and just go for larger size when possible.
Here is cap from Murata, not much better than Samsung:

[asmi]

Its not the point of the discussion, but OP could be overpaying for a part that may be inferior to alternate parts, defeating the savings from LCSC.

I am the OP in this thread And I'm well aware of limitations of MLCC caps, but their advantages far outweigh disadvantages for my application.

[asmi]

Not really. You might notice that at the same voltage say 25V part is only barely better than 10V part but a lot more expensive. Like when @10V 10V rated cap loses 80% of capacitance but 25V cap loses 'only' 75% of capacitance. So it's best to not use extreme capacitance for the size at all (unless using them at small voltages) and just go for larger size when possible.
Here is cap from Murata, not much better than Samsung:

It depends on the use case. In my case the package is the most important part. All of my voltage rails are 3.3 V and lower (except for input rail, and some special cases like LCD backlighting rail), so pretty much all of them will do as far as voltage rating is concerned.

[Styno]

So far for my limited experience with LCSC, I haven't bit anything bad. I heard rumors that they don't handle parts properly (ESD, MSL, etc.), but I don't care.

I have first hand experience with this. Got a cut-tape of MSL3 led's from LCSC without proper packaging (air-tight bag with desiccant and indicator card) like you get from their Western counterparts.

FYI, it's not like I never got bad parts from Mouser. From time to time, about once per year, I got something bad from them (missing parts, superfluous parts, chipped off caps/coils, empty reels, etc.).

Mistakes are made, that's understandable up to a point. Once I received a partial reel of MSP430's from Mouser so I sent them a complaint with photo's of the empty unpeeled tape and they fixed it. Haven't had to go through this with LCSC yet

[SMTech]

We keep a vendor record for all our suppliers and all the major western suppliers to the UK, (Mouser,Digikey,RS,Farnell,Anglia,Rapid..) are well over 99% for shipping correctly. Mistakes do happen, pretty much exclusively with cut tape where the wrong device has ended up in the wrong bin somehow (all those warehouses are quite automated). We don't really use LCSC but I have looked on it a few times out of curiosity and certainly it seems pretty cheap for the common stuff. However slightly odd values or high voltage caps etc aren't stocked at all. All the western suppliers do charge a fairly large premium for the small stuff, this isn't surpsing its an expensive service to offer. They also obey their suppliers shipping and export rules (mostly one of them has got in some trouble with TI recently) , lots of industries will adjust their pricing by region. If by any chance LCSC are doing the same thing as dodgy online software sites and shipping to regions they shouldn't @ prices they shouldn't they could lose legitimate sourcing for those brands, if you're counting on that super low price, that could be painful.

LCSC are making you pay upfront, all those western companies will extend you credit, which is important if you are extending credit to your customer (std in B2B) or sticking that stuff on your shelf. The also can apply account specific discount schemes based on your volume, these can take the form of x% of all products in certain categories, or last line pricing regardless of qty ordered. In the UK RS&Farnell offer free next day shipping, your account manager can look at quotes and improve them where possible. On top of that if you have an exiting product or business they can go back to the manufacturer and get supported pricing, lower than anything they would normally offer. You can even extend your discount structure to your manufacturing partner if yours is better than theirs (maybe your little company is owned by a much bigger group)

[mrpackethead]

I find i can get another 3-5% by paying up front to so called western companys.  If you dnt' ask, you dont' get.

[SteveyG]

I found others with much more respectable curves. I suspect Samsung has "optimized" for capacitance at 0V somehow (specific chemistry, etc.). Maybe other vendors are the same, I didnt compare many.

Going off topic, but if you were interested...

[Mr. Scram]

Not in my wildest dream will i buy production components from China. Even for prototypes nothing more than resistors, since i must be 100% sure when prototyping that if i have a problem the junk parts are not in the equation. Saved me a Lot of grief over the years.

Yeah yeah you dislike anything Chinese. We know. I wonder what your house looks like without any Chinese made products.

[thm_w]

It depends on the use case. In my case the package is the most important part. All of my voltage rails are 3.3 V and lower (except for input rail, and some special cases like LCD backlighting rail), so pretty much all of them will do as far as voltage rating is concerned.

Yeah in your case its almost ideal then, 0 to 3 volts or so it hasn't dropped too much.
My complaint was coming from looking for caps for a ~20Vdc rail.

[asmi]

My complaint was coming from looking for caps for a ~20Vdc rail.

The rule I've learnt to trust is that caps' voltage rating needs to be at least twice the expected voltage of the rail. This is especially important for rails which include some cables, as you can have rather large voltage transients, and it's also valid for MLCCs for reasons mentioned above.
When you choose caps for decoupling, you pretty much need to pick as small of a package as you can, because some important cap's parasitics are pretty much set by the physical size of a cap, as opposed to any datasheet value it's got. So you would usually pick a package, and then get the highest capacitance in that package that you can get while still fitting in your budget.

[wraper]

When you choose caps for decoupling, you pretty much need to pick as small of a package as you can, because some important cap's parasitics are pretty much set by the physical size of a cap, as opposed to any datasheet value it's got. So you would usually pick a package, and then get the highest capacitance in that package that you can get while still fitting in your budget.

Unless space constrained, it's better to place in parallel small cap for low impedance at high frequencies and larger cap for bulk capacitance instead of going into extreme specs. Not only they are expensive but also less reliable due to thin dialectic and large amount of layers. Extreme capacitance MLCC going short is not rare at all.
Also for decoupling you usually don't need a lot of capacitance. Unless it's something with very high current consumption like computer CPU/GPU.

[T3sl4co1l]

FYI, ceramic capacitor voltage rating is simply what the part is tested at.  It has nothing to do with the construction, formulation or characteristics.  So, a rule of thumb like "rating twice nominal" doesn't mean anything.

Higher voltage ratings carry a guarantee of operation at that voltage, and a price premium.  The parts may well be physically identical.

Most also fail at many times the rated voltage.  I've regularly seen 6.3V to 16V parts survive over 100V.  Yes, the capacitance continues to drop at higher and higher voltages; the E(V) curve is approximately linear, interestingly enough (so, C ~ 1/sqrt(V)?).

The only consistent answer is, annoyingly: look in the datasheet, and failing that, look in the manufacturer's database.  If they don't provide a curve for the specific part, assume it's trash.  Or at least only use it at very low voltages (0-2V?).

A typical saturation threshold is 70% of nominal (-30% change).  Inductors are normally sold with a rating near here, or from -10 to -50%.  YMMV.

Tim

[ddavidebor]

Watch out for fakes on LCSC.
I got some SMT fuses and they were total fakes.
The solder would melt from the heat and they still had not blown.


NOTE: They were ordered and populated on a PCB by PCBWAY.
i spec'ed a LCSC part and that's what they said they used, but who knows, maybe it came from somewhere else.
Can't really be sure who to blame.

You can check in the box with the leftover components, the chinese version of lcsc is called 立创商城 then compare on https://www.szlcsc.com/

[asmi]

Unless space constrained, it's better to place in parallel small cap for low impedance at high frequencies and larger cap for bulk capacitance instead of going into extreme specs. Not only they are expensive but also less reliable due to thin dialectic and large amount of layers. Extreme capacitance MLCC going short is not rare at all.
Also for decoupling you usually don't need a lot of capacitance. Unless it's something with very high current consumption like computer CPU/GPU.

I'm always space-constrained as space on multilayer boards is expensive. And sometimes there is just not enough space - like between vias under BGA. Which is why I bought that reel of 0201 caps - they fit neatly between 1 mm vias without requiring any sort of technology to prevent solder from getting sucked into vias (like plugged vias, or via-in-a-pad). Since I assemble my boards manually, it doesn't matter a whole lot if I need to stuff 0402 or 0201 parts. And yes - modern SoC are requiring ever lower voltages and consume ever larger currents. For example, the Artix 100T can consume up to 7 Amps of current on Vccint rail, which is not a trivial amount.

[ebclr]

You can buy from LSSC products from Digikey, Mouser, and arrow


https://so.szlcsc.com/global.html?c=&isFormOverseas=yes

[thm_w]

You can buy from LSSC products from Digikey, Mouser, and arrow
https://so.szlcsc.com/global.html?c=&isFormOverseas=yes

So that first part as an example (GRM155R71C104KA88D), 10c ea from digikey or 12c ea from LCSC. About 2-8% markup depending on the part it seems.
Imagine buying a part, having it shipped from factory in China to digikey warehouse in USA, shipped to LCSC in China, and then shipped back again to USA for cheaper than it would be to buy it direct

I can't even think of the logistics required for this. The combining PCB + parts orders thing died off as it must have been too hard for them (would require a lot of storage space and coordination).

[mairo]

On a side note, with DK you can submit a quote for a lower price, which you can do with all other large distributors. My experience with DK is that everytime I submit a quote (regardless of the amount being $100 or $1000+) I always get a discount, most of the time it either matches the lower price from Mouser for example, or beats it by small amount. With Mouser I have never had luck getting a discount when asking for a quote (alto I have not tried hard either). With E14, is similar to DK with the difference that not all the time I get a discount, but when i do get a discount, sometimes is the lowest price of all by a good margin.

[thm_w]

On a side note, with DK you can submit a quote for a lower price, which you can do with all other large distributors. My experience with DK is that everytime I submit a quote (regardless of the amount being $100 or $1000+) I always get a discount, most of the time it either matches the lower price from Mouser for example, or beats it by small amount. With Mouser I have never had luck getting a discount when asking for a quote (alto I have not tried hard either). With E14, is similar to DK with the difference that not all the time I get a discount, but when i do get a discount, sometimes is the lowest price of all by a good margin.

Interesting, are we talking a few percent here or more, roughly? I assume you are working somewhere that has reasonable amount of business with DK.
I requested a quote from Newark/Avnet, for a piece of test gear ($1k), and they replied with the same price on the site.. So no luck there. Meanwhile transcat was 10% off, testforce 3% off.

[pk7639]

I've visited LCSC and seen their part validation process, warehouse and really cool packing carousel. I'd be confident buying from them. Perhaps I should, but I don't.. For us the convenience of a one stop shop is just worth it. When we want to buy larger volumes, we just go directly to the factories.

[ratatax]

Bought many times from LCSC and they're great.
It's as smooth as JLCPCB, i think their process is super optimized/automated to achive this kind of performance (PCBs made in 1 day, LCSC orders shipped in a few hours..)

[NorthGuy]

How about shipping? What shipping methods do they offer? Do they ship for free? Do they do DDP to Canada?

[ratatax]

They offer several shipping methods (DHL, royal mail...) it's not free but you have the choice, Fast and pricey or cheap and slow...

I don't know for Canada

[1276-2449-1-ND]

LCSC is great and they earned my trust, but they're not always cheaper than NA distributors for large amounts.

For example some caps/resistors are around the same price or cheaper at Digikey for full reels.

[SMTech]

Yup we have a client whose volume dwarves ours and I have seen their pricing from conventional suppliers (Arrow,Avnet,Rutronik etc), you're talking up to 5 times cheaper than the cheapest break price on LCSC for your boring 1% resistors. Of course to those of us without those volumes, probably couldn't do much with the saving even if we had it anyway, the cost per device to place is higher.

[james_s]

Ever heard of Arrow (free overnight shipping in US, free priority shipping internationally, for orders $50 or more) and Mouser (on average 5% cheaper than DK)?

Arrow had free shipping for a while and it was great, but the last couple times I checked their shipping was more than 50% higher than digikey for the same items, plus an additional handling fee on small orders, plus their parametric search is a pain. If they're back to doing free US shipping I'll consider them again.

[thm_w]

How about shipping? What shipping methods do they offer? Do they ship for free? Do they do DDP to Canada?

Currently for Canada:
- ePacket ($5 <2 weeks usually)
- DHL ($20)
- DHL ecommerce
- EMS
- Fedex

Fedex/DHL you will be paying fees (~$15) and taxes. With epacket (canada post) its unlikely you will pay anything unless its a very large order ($100+).
EMS and DHL ecommerce I'm not sure as I have yet to try those.. if anyone does please update.

[EEVblog]

Digikey is a supplier of convenience for development work and production emergencies. They don't really position themselves as a low cost supplier for mass production.

Depends on your definition of "mass production" and your margins.
Some many products mass products is in the thousands, and in many cases using Digikey/Mouser for that is just fine.

[mrpackethead]

Digikey is a supplier of convenience for development work and production emergencies. They don't really position themselves as a low cost supplier for mass production.

Depends on your definition of "mass production" and your margins.
Some many products mass products is in the thousands, and in many cases using Digikey/Mouser for that is just fine.

Shoppign around saves me many thousadns of dollars each week.  The rules and prices are in constant flux, and the best deals move in real time.   This is hard. You need to work hard.  If you want easy, then its expensive.

[mzzj]

How about shipping? What shipping methods do they offer? Do they ship for free? Do they do DDP to Canada?

Currently for Canada:
- ePacket ($5 <2 weeks usually)
- DHL ($20)
- DHL ecommerce
- EMS
- Fedex

Fedex/DHL you will be paying fees (~$15) and taxes. With epacket (canada post) its unlikely you will pay anything unless its a very large order ($100+).
EMS and DHL ecommerce I'm not sure as I have yet to try those.. if anyone does please update.

Incoterms DDP is the killer deal from Digikey in here. Free shipping is nothing if the DHL/UPS/whatever adds 45 usd! fees for handling the customs forms. You can do it also it by yourself but assholes at DHL want that 45 usd to give the needed information to do DIY customs declaration 

[wraper]

You can do it also it by yourself but assholes at DHL want that 45 usd to give the needed information to do DIY customs declaration 

Are you certain about that? In Latvia they send all needed documents for free.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Not in my wildest dream will i buy production components from China. Even for prototypes nothing more than resistors, since i must be 100% sure when prototyping that if i have a problem the junk parts are not in the equation. Saved me a Lot of grief over the years.

How many thousands of times I will have sworn that "next time I'll check each and every one of the components before assembling them", but still (almost) never do it.

[mzzj]

You can do it also it by yourself but assholes at DHL want that 45 usd to give the needed information to do DIY customs declaration 

Are you certain about that? In Latvia they send all needed documents for free.

Yeah, I'm sure as I got my ass bitten by DHL fees. 20 euros + 5% of taxes OR 40 euros "Release to Broker" for DIY option. 

Now they were forced to change their policy after consumer protection board got unhappy about DHL's extort fees. But AFAIK that only applies to private consumers, not companies.
They are still running some weird "scam", offering free "DIY customs documents" only in case recipient wasn't informed in advance  of the DHL fees.

[wraper]

Yeah, I'm sure as I got my ass bitten by DHL fees. 20 euros + 5% of taxes OR 40 euros "Release to Broker" for DIY option.

Hmm... I found this fee on their website. However when doing this for company shipments, a few times I just forwarded documents they sent by default (label scan and invoice with track number) to other customs broker and got things done there  , no fee asked by DHL. One time they were a bit confused when I mailed them parcel is already cleared.

[TJ232]

Go and get a EORI number as european citizen, or EU company:
https://tulli.fi/en/e-services/search-and-query-services/eori

Inform DHL/FEDEX/whatever that you have your own EORI number and you will pay EU Customs taxes by yourself.
If they not comply you can raise an oficial complain as they are not respecting EU rules and regulations. Usualy as soon as they know that you know EORI story they will not continue pushing for that extra fancy "processing" money stuff.

Link with all details for all EU member states:
https://www.customssupport.com/brexit-where-can-i-get-an-eori-number-an-overview-of-all-eu-customs-authorities/

How about shipping? What shipping methods do they offer? Do they ship for free? Do they do DDP to Canada?

Currently for Canada:
- ePacket ($5 <2 weeks usually)
- DHL ($20)
- DHL ecommerce
- EMS
- Fedex

Fedex/DHL you will be paying fees (~$15) and taxes. With epacket (canada post) its unlikely you will pay anything unless its a very large order ($100+).
EMS and DHL ecommerce I'm not sure as I have yet to try those.. if anyone does please update.

Incoterms DDP is the killer deal from Digikey in here. Free shipping is nothing if the DHL/UPS/whatever adds 45 usd! fees for handling the customs forms. You can do it also it by yourself but assholes at DHL want that 45 usd to give the needed information to do DIY customs declaration 

[Siwastaja]

Incoterms DDP is the killer deal from Digikey in here. Free shipping is nothing if the DHL/UPS/whatever adds 45 usd! fees for handling the customs forms. You can do it also it by yourself but assholes at DHL want that 45 usd to give the needed information to do DIY customs declaration 

Never seen this, and I order from them all the time. I guess the problem is, you are buying as an individual, not a company? Registering as a sole entrepreneur - IIRC the cost was around 80 EUR - would enable you to get rid of this problem, and give you access to any company who doesn't want to deal with individuals. The downside is, you lose the possibility to most forms of social security transfer payments.

[mzzj]

Incoterms DDP is the killer deal from Digikey in here. Free shipping is nothing if the DHL/UPS/whatever adds 45 usd! fees for handling the customs forms. You can do it also it by yourself but assholes at DHL want that 45 usd to give the needed information to do DIY customs declaration 

Never seen this, and I order from them all the time. I guess the problem is, you are buying as an individual, not a company? Registering as a sole entrepreneur - IIRC the cost was around 80 EUR - would enable you to get rid of this problem, and give you access to any company who doesn't want to deal with individuals. The downside is, you lose the possibility to most forms of social security transfer payments.

Oh, should have been more careful with my wording.

Killer deal = (extremely) good/excellent/favorable deal
Deal killer = not good

Digikey shipping terms are DDP =delivered duty paid = UPS/DHL bills handling fees and custom duties from Digikey (but not VAT)

Too much work to check every other distributor but AFAIK Mouser et al. wont use as generous shipping terms like Incoterms CPT
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/incoterms-on-shipping-(ups-dhl-etc)-with-mouser-digikey-etc/

[mzzj]

Never seen this, and I order from them all the time. I guess the problem is, you are buying as an individual, not a company?

Company.
Btw have you ever look carefully at the Digikey/UPS VAT bill?

At least couple of years ago they calculate the amount of VAT wrong every time.
"Free shipping" was too complicated for UPS so they added 18 euros on top of the Digikey bill and calculated VAT based on that 
So you paid 70 euros with free shipping, UPS calculated VAT from 88 euros 
Company accountant was not happy when the numbers never matched on UPS import VAT bills.

edit: nowadays digikey shipments seem to go bit different route, imported in Germany? and shipped intra-eu to here.

[NorthGuy]

Company.
Btw have you ever look carefully at the Digikey/UPS VAT bill?

Here, in Canada, DigiKey uses FedEx (I don't remember of you can change this or not), and there's never any surcharges. I try to avoid UPS as much as I can, and I would never use DHL under any circumstances.

When I order from China (never tried LCSC though), I try to use ePacket. It is 2-3 weeks (compared to 1 day with DigiKey or Mouser) and no entanglements.

[Bud]

Company.
Btw have you ever look carefully at the Digikey/UPS VAT bill?

Here, in Canada, DigiKey uses FedEx (I don't remember of you can change this or not), and there's never any surcharges. I try to avoid UPS as much as I can, and I would never use DHL under any circumstances.

When I order from China (never tried LCSC though), I try to use ePacket. It is 2-3 weeks (compared to 1 day with DigiKey or Mouser) and no entanglements.

That is because Digikey in Canada has DDP (duty delivery paid) Incoterms. The cost of duties is included in the parts price.