[Premium-Rx] Sourcing IC's

[Geoff Fors]

Ah yes, the problem of sourcing IC's using Internet search engines...

You'll find that about 8 out of 10 "companies" which show up on a Google
search for a particular semiconductor are actually just what we call
"scalpers," namely some guy at a desk in a closet with no inventory at all.
His website will ask that you fill out a form for a "quote" and as often as
not, also ask your "target" price and the quantity you want.  He then goes
to a real distributor such as Allied, Newark, Avnet or American Microsemi
and gets their quote, marks it up and gets back to you.  Having done this
for a living years ago, I can say that some of these guys are real nut
cases, just to add insult to injury.

You sometimes have better luck using industry search engines such as
PartMiner, but few of the suppliers are geared up for small quantity sales.
A problem we are currently having with scalpers is that they are also
selling counterfeit high demand IC's apparently made in China, which fail to
meet original standards.  Many corporate purchasing departments are trying
to shave costs by sourcing the cheapest parts, and these counterfeit items
can really ruin your day.

I've had good luck using a small outfit called "007 Electronics Network.
Inc.", but I still needed to buy about
$ 150-200 of product and then try to eBay the excess to recover my
investment (which I haven't done yet.)  They took credit cards and shipping
was fast and reasonable.  I still had to go through the old routine of the
quote form and "what's it worth to you," however.

Geoff
WB6NVH