Hi, this is Daniel from Shanghai, China. I am an embedded software engineer who can also design hardware, now a fan of Arduino. Having tight connection with the local electronic market, I have an idea to host a regular "group purchase" of LED (or other electronic components).
1. Price
Most electronic components you see are manufactured in China. A group buy in local market would make the price much lower compared to those in your country. 2. Shipping
EMS would take 1-2 weeks, with DHL/UPS the time would be less than a week. 3. Payment
Paypal is available here, other methods are open for discussion.
A common process would be:
You tell me about your needs, I would provide the price range;
I fetch the components from the electronic market and take photos of them before you make the final decision;
Components sent to you by DHL or UPS;
Please kindly leave any comments or suggestions, this is a proposal open for discussion. Thanks.
Its a nice idea, but can you guarantee the quality - many people have been stung
by dodgy goods on eBay, many of us will pay money for something that has a big
name like Farnell/Digikey behind it since they avoid factory-reject and bootlegged
sources. Known provenance is important!
and not only do I mirror MarkT's thoughts.. my initial reaction was to look at your post count, and get some sort of idea about your place int he community here?
If this was a 'big name' (on the forum).. I would probably have an easier feeling giving this a try....
*Tip: never send anyone money over PayPal as a 'GIFT'.. you will have no protection over the money sent if done this way.
If you send as payment for goods you can (somewhat) use PayPals tools to recall or dispute the payment for the quality or lack of goods...etc
If there is a guarantee on the quality and arrival of goods, it might be worth while.
Is there a minimum order on your end? (To make it worth your while?)
Most of the time the costs of goods are NOT the problem.... but the shipping costs can make a part double/triple the price.
Thanks for your suggestion, MarkT. I can understand your concern, as I was once fooled by someone on Taobao(China's ebay). Maybe I should try to get some certifications for the electronic components, if there were some.
In fact, I should build some pages to show what I can provide, but before that I hope I could hear some suggestions about what to show. Thanks.
Thanks for your tips, xl97. I am not a "big name" on the forum, in fact, I am a newcomer who met Arduino Uno recently. As an automotive engineer, most of my time spend with Infineon and Freescale chips, but not Atmel. Technologically speaking, the design is not that complicated for me (and most of you, I think), what amaze me is its magic power that attracts so many people.
I did notice that shipping cost may become a problem, small packets air is cheaper but takes about 3 weeks, then EMS 2 weeks, DHL/UPS 1 week but the most expensive (60-70$ for 1KG from Shanghai to USA, if my memory works right).
About the minimum order, honestly, I don't have a clear answer yet. Maybe fill in the size of the iPad packing box?
Hi,
Shipping is a major issue with components from China. I ship thousands of parts via DHL from Shenzhen to Vermont USA to build kits. It's expensive but usually fast (like 3-4 days to East Coast USA).
Shipping small amounts to customers worldwide is better; IF you can find a shipping aggregator company that will give you part of their discount on DHL. But you need volume to get that. I ship 200 or so a month so they are more friendly.
I just wanted to do Electronics, but Shipping is a necessary hassle. Fortunately my good friend and partner Peng has most of it figured out now. What we say is on THIS: page.
Hi, guys. I collect the needs from the forum and turn them into an online website. Here is the link: www.14circuits.com. Have a check if you are interested. Thank you!
I suggest you start an Ebay store with your products. Ebay has some buyer protections and has paypal which works well for international money transactions.
Daniel_lin, I do appreciate your initiative but I'll go straight into a question which might sound a little too direct but it is bugging me nonetheless: why should I use your site to buy electronics instead of using eBay, especially considering the prices there are higher than what I can find on eBay?
You should provide some justification for the higher price in order to succeed... I know if I buy from DigiKey or other well known suppliers I'm going to get original components with some guarantee and proper datasheets. Which advantage to I get buying from 14circuits.com?
zoomkat:
I suggest you start an Ebay store with your products. Ebay has some buyer protections and has paypal which works well for international money transactions.
