4 ms·

I'd never expect to find these in official products from trusted brands, but off-brand crap? Oh yeah. DIY kits? Absolutely. The parts drawer at the makerspace?

I'd never expect to find these in official products from trusted brands, but off-brand crap? Oh yeah. DIY kits? Absolutely. The parts drawer at the makerspace? One hundred percent. So much stuff on eBay is free shipping, that's huge when you only need a few dollars worth of stuff. If I could convince Digi-Key to lick a 55-cent stamp when I need ten of something, instead of charging me $7 for shipping, I'd have a lot fewer counterfeit parts around.

fennecfoxen 6y ago
There will be no licking of 55 cent stamps. US stamps have been 100% self-adhesive since 2016ish. The envelope is of course another matter.
- sfgweilr4f 6y ago
  Not to mention the obvious, but that glue isn't necessarily that great* for you either. * allegedly of course.
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    Is this a Seinfeld reference, or something else I’m not understanding correctly? :)
  - fennecfoxen 6y ago
    the old fashioned glue is gum arabic... gum arabic sees more uses these days in food than outside it
IgorPartola 6y ago
This. I buy a decent amount of hobby electronics from eBay and AliExpress because yes it is cheaper. When I need quality, Mouser, DigiKey, and McMaster-Carr are there for me. But the minimum $7-9 shipping is the main reason is forego them. I’d gladly pay 2x for small electronic components (vs directly from China options) if shipping wasn’t a problem.
- fermienrico 6y ago
  For any serious person trying to develop a little bit beyond hobby projects: Think about an hourly rate of $80/hour for yourself. If you have to spend an hour trying to fiddle with subpar shady parts, you've already paid for the shipping 8 times over. Also, it is painful to wait for these packages from China. Digikey ships same day and its at your door step in the morning (I overnight it) and if you use $7, it is usually 2-3 days. Plus, you're supporting legit businesses and not the shenzhen market. I can understand total hobbyist who cannot afford $7 shipping often. But even then, you can bundle all your parts and order once. Any engineer who earns a salary can afford $7 shipping. If you're a business, there is absolutely no excuse to penny pinch here. You're losing money by using unreliable parts, if not now, at some point in the future.
  - bigiain 6y ago
    > I can understand total hobbyist who cannot afford $7 shipping often. But even then, you can bundle all your parts and order once. Or, like me, pretty much go "Meh, its counterfeits all the way down!" and frequently tack on a buck or twos worth of other "That's interesting looking, I might want one of those one day, I'll grab a few on this order" stuff when you're buying things you need for a current (hobby grade) project, so you've got a few boxes full of (hopefully sufficiently well enough labelled and documented" junk on-hand for the next random project idea... I bet I have a dozen or so "DS18b20"s here from that approach. I _think_ I could probably find then in under 10 minutes if I had an idea that needed one right now. Maybe... (Actually, I do have that idea. I want to put temp logging on a little LiPo battery that sits under a small solar panel to run an ESP32. I _think_ it's probably failing early because the whole thing gets too hot in the du5rect sunlight. Logging will confirm/deny that, and let me measure changes with insulation and/or fan cooling. Maybe I'll go hunt for one tonight...)
  - fpgaminer 6y ago
    > But even then, you can bundle all your parts and order once. I fall for this trap every. single. time. _HOURS_ spent racking my brain to think of all the things I might need in different scenarios, so I can be absolutely, positively, 100% sure that I have everything in that one single order. ... and end up placing 2 to 3 more orders before the project is done.
kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
These show up in "trusted" Chinese brands too. Whenever you see a teardown where the markings are ground off a chip with obvious, non-trade secret function (USB serial converter for instance), its most likely a counterfeit that needs to have its fake markings removed to get past first world customs inspectors.
- rasz 6y ago
  KingFast SSD https://www.thessdreview.com/daily-news/latest-buzz/manufacturer-shipped-review-sample-ssd-contains-fake-nand-flash-memory/ https://www.thessdreview.com/daily-news/latest-buzz/manufact...
Gracana 6y ago
Hmm, I was going to say that digikey has 3 or 4 dollar shipping, but I checked and it's $5 for a first class mail. Maybe they've changed it, or maybe it's COVID-related. I recall that they had a low price for shipping of a small maximum weight, which was good for little orders of just a few components. I generally just suck it up and place the order regardless of the shipping cost, it's not great to spend as much on shipping as you did on parts, but it's still cheaper than buying parts locally. Remember buying the assorted resistor packs at Radio Shack? Ugh.
- the_pwner224 6y ago
  I've made a few orders over the past few months. The $5 is for less than 14 ounces (which is surprisingly heavy, I just had a big heatsink and a bunch of other components shipped in that weight); after that it's $9 for any of UPS/FedEx/USPS. I guess it's just USPS price inflation? I remember when stamps used to be 42 cents.
- as-j 6y ago
  I've got this soft spot in my heart for digikey, they've always shipped so quickly and called on the smallest issue and offered to help. When ever they call I always do that "why is someone from Minnesota calling me?" It's interesting how some vendors can build trust easily. But $5 doesn't feel bad for shipping to get good parts quickly from a company I trust. But your point is taken. Sucks to put a $0.30 temp sesnor and pay $5 to ship it. =)
- VLM 6y ago
  I pad my order by adding expendables, stuff I know I'll use a lot of. There's a certain kind of end-fed SMA pcb connector I use a lot of. Solder. Flux. Certain JST-type connectors. I also keep a "gift list" for myself of things I've always meant to experiment with but haven't gotten around to ordering. I ended up playing with MSP430 controllers this way.
p1mrx 6y ago
When I bought stuff from DigiKey this year, the shipping was $5.
numpad0 6y ago
I’ve read there’s some financial scheme that you get >100% kickbacks for untracked packets from China through Singapore to destinations. Certain mail containers are going at regular intervals carrying much as possible by volume, paid by governments as investments to build nations might, or something like that. So sellers pay for shipping, which is cheap, then gets subsidy, then there’s delay between Buy Now and actual transfers and financing to compensate it, those supposedly all add up and turn profits. Digi-Key on the other hand probably has employee pension plans and that would be as far they go in terms of global financial investment techniques, so...
amelius 6y ago
I wonder how do you organize parts? Do you keep your "possibly fake" parts strictly separated from the real parts? I already have trouble keeping resistors with the same value but different power rating separated.
uep 6y ago
I think this is about to change. The Chinese shipping will go up. A couple weeks ago, there was an article posted here about why shipping from China is so cheap, epacket[1]. Because of epacket, it was cheaper to ship from China than it was to ship to even within the same state for small packages. A recent change allows the USPS to increase rates for epacket. It looks like the new rates will go up slowly, so shipping from China will still be cheaper for packages under 3 ounces for a few years. [1] https://www.ecomcrew.com/why-china-post-and-usps-are-killing-your-private-labeling-business/ https://www.ecomcrew.com/why-china-post-and-usps-are-killing...

fennecfoxen 6y ago

There will be no licking of 55 cent stamps. US stamps have been 100% self-adhesive since 2016ish. The envelope is of course another matter.

sfgweilr4f 6y ago
Not to mention the obvious, but that glue isn't necessarily that great* for you either. * allegedly of course.
- pmiller2 6y ago
  Is this a Seinfeld reference, or something else I’m not understanding correctly? :)
- fennecfoxen 6y ago
  the old fashioned glue is gum arabic... gum arabic sees more uses these days in food than outside it

IgorPartola 6y ago

This. I buy a decent amount of hobby electronics from eBay and AliExpress because yes it is cheaper. When I need quality, Mouser, DigiKey, and McMaster-Carr are there for me. But the minimum $7-9 shipping is the main reason is forego them. I’d gladly pay 2x for small electronic components (vs directly from China options) if shipping wasn’t a problem.

fermienrico 6y ago
For any serious person trying to develop a little bit beyond hobby projects: Think about an hourly rate of $80/hour for yourself. If you have to spend an hour trying to fiddle with subpar shady parts, you've already paid for the shipping 8 times over. Also, it is painful to wait for these packages from China. Digikey ships same day and its at your door step in the morning (I overnight it) and if you use $7, it is usually 2-3 days. Plus, you're supporting legit businesses and not the shenzhen market. I can understand total hobbyist who cannot afford $7 shipping often. But even then, you can bundle all your parts and order once. Any engineer who earns a salary can afford $7 shipping. If you're a business, there is absolutely no excuse to penny pinch here. You're losing money by using unreliable parts, if not now, at some point in the future.
- bigiain 6y ago
  > I can understand total hobbyist who cannot afford $7 shipping often. But even then, you can bundle all your parts and order once. Or, like me, pretty much go "Meh, its counterfeits all the way down!" and frequently tack on a buck or twos worth of other "That's interesting looking, I might want one of those one day, I'll grab a few on this order" stuff when you're buying things you need for a current (hobby grade) project, so you've got a few boxes full of (hopefully sufficiently well enough labelled and documented" junk on-hand for the next random project idea... I bet I have a dozen or so "DS18b20"s here from that approach. I _think_ I could probably find then in under 10 minutes if I had an idea that needed one right now. Maybe... (Actually, I do have that idea. I want to put temp logging on a little LiPo battery that sits under a small solar panel to run an ESP32. I _think_ it's probably failing early because the whole thing gets too hot in the du5rect sunlight. Logging will confirm/deny that, and let me measure changes with insulation and/or fan cooling. Maybe I'll go hunt for one tonight...)
- fpgaminer 6y ago
  > But even then, you can bundle all your parts and order once. I fall for this trap every. single. time. _HOURS_ spent racking my brain to think of all the things I might need in different scenarios, so I can be absolutely, positively, 100% sure that I have everything in that one single order. ... and end up placing 2 to 3 more orders before the project is done.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago

These show up in "trusted" Chinese brands too. Whenever you see a teardown where the markings are ground off a chip with obvious, non-trade secret function (USB serial converter for instance), its most likely a counterfeit that needs to have its fake markings removed to get past first world customs inspectors.

rasz 6y ago
KingFast SSD https://www.thessdreview.com/daily-news/latest-buzz/manufacturer-shipped-review-sample-ssd-contains-fake-nand-flash-memory/ https://www.thessdreview.com/daily-news/latest-buzz/manufact...

Gracana 6y ago

Hmm, I was going to say that digikey has 3 or 4 dollar shipping, but I checked and it's $5 for a first class mail. Maybe they've changed it, or maybe it's COVID-related. I recall that they had a low price for shipping of a small maximum weight, which was good for little orders of just a few components. I generally just suck it up and place the order regardless of the shipping cost, it's not great to spend as much on shipping as you did on parts, but it's still cheaper than buying parts locally. Remember buying the assorted resistor packs at Radio Shack? Ugh.

the_pwner224 6y ago
I've made a few orders over the past few months. The $5 is for less than 14 ounces (which is surprisingly heavy, I just had a big heatsink and a bunch of other components shipped in that weight); after that it's $9 for any of UPS/FedEx/USPS. I guess it's just USPS price inflation? I remember when stamps used to be 42 cents.
as-j 6y ago
I've got this soft spot in my heart for digikey, they've always shipped so quickly and called on the smallest issue and offered to help. When ever they call I always do that "why is someone from Minnesota calling me?" It's interesting how some vendors can build trust easily. But $5 doesn't feel bad for shipping to get good parts quickly from a company I trust. But your point is taken. Sucks to put a $0.30 temp sesnor and pay $5 to ship it. =)
VLM 6y ago
I pad my order by adding expendables, stuff I know I'll use a lot of. There's a certain kind of end-fed SMA pcb connector I use a lot of. Solder. Flux. Certain JST-type connectors. I also keep a "gift list" for myself of things I've always meant to experiment with but haven't gotten around to ordering. I ended up playing with MSP430 controllers this way.

p1mrx 6y ago

When I bought stuff from DigiKey this year, the shipping was $5.

numpad0 6y ago

I’ve read there’s some financial scheme that you get >100% kickbacks for untracked packets from China through Singapore to destinations. Certain mail containers are going at regular intervals carrying much as possible by volume, paid by governments as investments to build nations might, or something like that. So sellers pay for shipping, which is cheap, then gets subsidy, then there’s delay between Buy Now and actual transfers and financing to compensate it, those supposedly all add up and turn profits. Digi-Key on the other hand probably has employee pension plans and that would be as far they go in terms of global financial investment techniques, so...

amelius 6y ago

I wonder how do you organize parts? Do you keep your "possibly fake" parts strictly separated from the real parts? I already have trouble keeping resistors with the same value but different power rating separated.

uep 6y ago

I think this is about to change. The Chinese shipping will go up. A couple weeks ago, there was an article posted here about why shipping from China is so cheap, epacket[1]. Because of epacket, it was cheaper to ship from China than it was to ship to even within the same state for small packages. A recent change allows the USPS to increase rates for epacket. It looks like the new rates will go up slowly, so shipping from China will still be cheaper for packages under 3 ounces for a few years. [1] https://www.ecomcrew.com/why-china-post-and-usps-are-killing-your-private-labeling-business/ https://www.ecomcrew.com/why-china-post-and-usps-are-killing...