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.
The envelope is of course another matter.
* allegedly of course.
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...
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.
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...)
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.
Now it feels like I'm paying some kind of tax.
I understand that. But please charge me for what it costs. Don't let people with small orders pay the price for people with large orders. They already get discount for their order size!
Or if this is not possible at least call it an order-picking fee, don't lump it in the shipping costs.
Most of these sites offer free shipping to trade accounts with no MOQ as well.
But also you want that customer service as a business. Mouser once sent me a replacement camera at work (university) because they supplied one with the wrong interface. No doubt we have a big order book, but I've had similar experiences with RS as a hobbyist customer - ordered tools which are not up to scratch or slightly out of tolerance - "just keep it, we'll send a replacement".
I do have ethical qualms about supporting/funding "stolen IP", but then I've kinda got ethical qualms about the whole concept of IP anyway, and if you wanted to go hardline on IP compliance you'd probably have to avoid everything out of China (and everything that contains components out of China)... I wonder how often Apple get counterfeit components slipping through on Foxconn production lines, and how much effort they put into stopping it beyond extensive QA - which only ensures any counterfeits that make it through need to be close-enough to functionally equivalent to pass all the tests? The "test after" approach kinda pushes towards more IP infringement rather than less, since it's likely parts built from stolen designs would pass more often that parts reimplemented according to the spec?
It didn't used to be that way -- mail order suppliers used to charge high fake "Shipping & Handling" fees.
That's why Amazon introduced 'free' shipping.
Going further, if I'm in Germany, and order from a local place (e.g. a local ebay seller), I pay like $0.80 for postage on a delivery.
If I order from a reputable store... it's like 2 weeks waiting time with $15 on delivery.
In the past there used to be small stores everywhere selling every tiny part, but nowadays...
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. =)
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.
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...