I buy from AliExpress and eBay not because of the shipping fee but because most of the time digikey/mouser doesn't sell hobbyist friendly form factors (like breakout boards) and some of this ic come in really tiny package (like tssop) which for an amateur are difficult to solder. Sometimes they need a resistor or a capacitor or a transistor easier to buy a board with everything on it that you stick to another board and that's it.