> I'm not sure what the answer is
Stop buying from Amazon, at least for me it is - i pretty much go out of my way to actively avoid buying there and encourage others to do so.
Stop buying from Amazon, at least for me it is - i pretty much go out of my way to actively avoid buying there and encourage others to do so.
Amazon's electronic parts are a complete shambles of junk. Take, for instance, this page which is selling "Germanium Schottky diodes", a thing that does not exist. They have a part number for a Germanium diode, but are apparently selling a silicon based Schottky diode instead. This is simply fraud, but only different from vats of other frauds on the site because it is so blatant. Yes, the Amazon parts are typically more expensive than the Ali parts, but there is very little reason to use either one.
If you actually want to receive the part you ordered, go to Digikey or Mouser. The prices will often be better as well.
The advantage that specialty electronics distributors have is that they have supply-chain relationships directly with first-party manufacturers. A part with a manufacturer's name on it will come from that manufacturer. By contrast, marketplace-type sites don't care about an item's provenance.
If you are doing everything in China, you should at least go with LCSC (https://www.lcsc.com/) as they are bargain but generally not completely counterfeit.
Note: That "generally" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. I'll use LCSC for hobbyist stuff or prototypes. I'll generally use Digikey/Mouser/Arrow/Future/etc. if I need intermediate production (up to about 10K units). Once you get above 100K units, you can utilize Chinese suppliers again as you have an on-site representative managing everything at that point.
It used to be (several years ago) that they wouldn't ship to Australia, and (I think from rough memory) they wouldn't ship to the EU either.
I'm not seeing info about that on their website when look around now though, so it may have changed. (?)
She took a while to convince me to stop using it at all. It just seems so convenient. Truth is I honestly don't notice any difference now. Maybe it's slightly more hassle to put my credit card number occasionally, but things get delivered about as fast as Amazon ever did, and I'm much more confident in what I'm actually getting.
Same for Walmart. For example, the Pet Supplies Plus retailer in my neighborhood smashes WalMart's selection and prices. There is no service at Walmart, PSP has passionate, knowledgeable people always on staff.
Microcenter is another example. Service, price and ultimately convenience, make the online shopping experience feel like a waste of time.
While I am a fan of Microcenter...it's a sort of pandora's box of product discovery to me every time I go, but...the closest Microcenter to me is about 30 minute drive away, without traffic, in a strip mall with a hellscape parking lot that's full 95% of the time. This is the very definition of waste of time.
I only go, if I need something right now. Otherwise I shop online.