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Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

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Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#131

Post by dragonwriter »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #130
vanchor3 wrote: post #86

I'll just add in that I've placed around 30 orders with Mouser over the past few years and have never really had any trouble. I only ever order UPS 2nd day, because FedEx loves to find excuses to not deliver packages and UPS Mail Innovations usually makes packages disappear, and I don't really see a good reason to save a few dollars for the package to take 5 times as long to arrive. The only time I had an issue was r…

FYI if you're shipped something you didn't order, at least in the US, you never have to send it back. The rule exists to prevent scams related to shipping stuff people didn't order and counting on people's hesitancy / forgetfulness.

Reference 39 USC § 3009 [0] which specifies that outside of specific cases, shipping unordered merchandise is an “unfair method of competition and an unfair trade practice”, and further that unordered merchandise, whether or not it falls into the exceptions to the rule marking it an unfair trade practice, “may be treated as a gift by the recipient, who shall have the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender.”

[0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/39/3009

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#132

Post by the__alchemist »

As stated near the beginning of the article, there aren't a lot of options. Designs add inertia to changing parts. If a part is available on Mouser, but not Digikey, what should the author do? These realtors cater to people and small business who can't commit to the order quantities needed to buy direct from manufacturer; they have leverage.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#133

Post by avsteele »

I wish there was an electronics supply company as good as McMaster Carr. Those guys also have a huge inventory but are always fast and on the ball.

Is there anyone with a decent inventory on the east coast so I can get ground shipping faster?

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#134

Post by lutorm »

vanchor3 wrote: post #86

I'll just add in that I've placed around 30 orders with Mouser over the past few years and have never really had any trouble. I only ever order UPS 2nd day, because FedEx loves to find excuses to not deliver packages and UPS Mail Innovations usually makes packages disappear, and I don't really see a good reason to save a few dollars for the package to take 5 times as long to arrive. The only time I had an issue was r…

Me neither and, because UPS/Fedex is stupid expensive to HI, I always send it USPS. Never had a problem.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#135

Post by terinjokes »

nottorp wrote: post #99
erremerre wrote: post #76

Trying to buy from either Mouser or Digikey from Europe is very misleading. They have European shops in European domain. But when you are going to pay. You get smashed with a ridiculous delivery price and the uncertainty of how much customs will charge you... Wish we had a good alternative rather than having to get components in ebay/aliexpress.

Farnell has warehouses in Europe and they say on every item where it will ship from. No idea what's really available though, I only buy vert rarely what some pros tell me to for work purposes.

They also refuse to work with hobbiest in the Netherlands, as I found out after I put together a whole cart worth of items.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#136

Post by KennyBlanken »

jjoonathan wrote: post #51
55873445216111 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arrow is the largest electronic component distributor in the world. They cater mainly to mid/large companies though, not hobbiests/etailing.

They had a free shipping promotion on (relatively) small orders a while ago, so I don't think they mind the attention.

I think it's more about establishing business relationships with young EEs, entrepreneurs, etc who may rise to more senior positions.

Treat your small customers well and there's a decent chance they remember it when they're big. People remember good service, especially when they feel they weren't a "big fish" at the time they received that good service; it feels more genuine and consistent.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#137

Post by morninglight »

TylerE wrote: post #16
nebula8804 wrote: post #2

Wow I am going through the same thing as the author right now. I recently placed an order with Mouser doing side by side comparison shopping with Digi-Key. The last time I used Mouser was 12 years ago in my college days. I thought hey they were good back then let me just compare the prices and Mouser came ahead this time due to the shipping cost. I am just ordering replacement capacitors for an old PC motherboard tha…

Sort of like how in the mechanical world you just order from McMaster-Carr.

Grainger has a local rep and that makes a big difference for us. We are always biased towards local support, even when there is a reasonable price differential. It can save your bacon if you have any questions/problems before or after the sale.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#138

Post by joshvm »

exmadscientist wrote: post #35
reaperman wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, actually a lot like that, because in the mechanical world you'd order from either McMaster-Carr or Grainger. They're largely equivalent in broad strokes, no one would fault you for favoring one over the other. In 2015 that was the exact same situation for DigiKey and Mouser. Small differences, both have great selection, great service, competitive prices. This would be like either Grainger or McMaster-Carr just s…

It's also interesting because all four of these companies cater to professionals. And as a professional you never want to be talking to customer service, even if it costs you extra. I don't think I know how to contact Mouser CS, because I've never had to. And I buy a lot of parts. Enough that we've spent more on overnight shipping this year alone than the article's entire spend. I'm guessing that's related! But I do…

Mouser customer service (at least 5 years ago) as a big purchaser (University) was excellent. They would do things like screw up an order and then send the replacement free of charge, even for $300 parts. But then the uni order book was probably hundreds of thousands if not millions a year, so it's nothing on their margins.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#139

Post by CamperBob2 »

teraflop wrote: post #114
mason55 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One is clearly the result of getting a handful of hardware engineers in a room and telling them “we need to put our catalogue online!” The other looks like it has been infected by “UI” and “design” and other non-engineering concepts. 1. I'm not sure why you think UI and design are not engineering concepts. If people can't figure out how to use your product then it's useless. 2. These sites are almost exactly the sa…

If nothing else, Mouser has one enormous usability flaw (which has been an issue for years): you can't sort by price. Or rather, they will let you sort by the "pricing" column, but the effect is to sort parts by their unit price at whatever the minimum quantity for that part is . But some parts are orderable in single quantities, and others only in large trays or reels. Even if you manually filter out those packaging…

The big problem with Mouser is that you can't sort by quantity in stock. That's a very useful cue, one that DigiKey has always supported, and it has absolutely resulted in sales going to DigiKey over Mouser when in the planning stages of a new project.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#140

Post by phendrenad2 »

macjohnmcc wrote: post #121
nebula8804 wrote: post #2

Wow I am going through the same thing as the author right now. I recently placed an order with Mouser doing side by side comparison shopping with Digi-Key. The last time I used Mouser was 12 years ago in my college days. I thought hey they were good back then let me just compare the prices and Mouser came ahead this time due to the shipping cost. I am just ordering replacement capacitors for an old PC motherboard tha…

And back in the peak covid days they asked for donations to keep them alive and operational. They wanted the community to support them based on goodwill and now they seem happy to burn that goodwill to the ground.

Is that real? Do you have a link?
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