Cheap parts worldwide :)

[OliverD]

Often, as a DIYer, you have to face the problem that your special part is available for a good price only in, say, Germany, while you live in USA. Or you live in Malaysia and cannot get your parts locally.

Retailers like DigiKey charge expensive fees for sending outside USA, so I think it would be much cheaper if you had a friend in that particular country... You could ask him to order the parts in his name and later ship them to you. But, aren't we all friends?

So here is my idea: I, for example, live in Germany. You all know www.reichelt.de (TDA1543 for 0,60€) and www.schuro.de (lots of high end parts and kits). So, if you are from the Netherlands, from Sweden or USA, you send me a mail with the components you need, and the money. I then order the components from Reichelt or Schuro, remove the sticker from the package and forward it to you.

Example:

Shipping Reichelt -> AMT-freak: 3,60 €
+ 0,8% of order for insurance
Minimum order: 10,00 €
Shipping AMT-freak -> Europe: 7,70 €
(ground, small package, up to 2 kg)
(add 6,10 € for air mail)

Ordering directly from Reichelt will be much more expensive, I guess.

Why should I take the risk and my time without earning any money? Because next time someone else from the DIY community will send me my parts from a componany that wants 50+ $ to ship to Germany. Remember, I'm still looking for Accuphase Service Manuals from that Californian Service Center

What do you think? Stupid idea, good idea? Worth the trouble, not worth? Who wants to participate?

P.S.: As the time of all of us is limited, noone could expect me or others to run to the post office every day, but hopefully we could manage to ship orders every ten days or so.

P.P.S.: Sorry for reposting, I posted in the wrong place first.

[pinkmouse]

AMT-Freak

It sounds like a good idea in practise, and I think it might be worthwhile for small components, but I think the shipping costs would offset any savings on large or heavy components unfortunately. But hey, I might have to start looking around thoose European websites

p.s. I have deleted your other thread

[OliverD]

Thank you for deleting the wrong post

Doesn't make much sense for transformers or heatsinks, but thinking of the big differences between prices for special transistors or DAC chips, it might be a good way to save some bucks.

Taking a look at www.schuro.de is never a bad idea

[roadkill]

What about things like Duties and Import Taxes some countries charge? Does anyone have info on this, as in, how much is charged for, say, a DAC or some power MOSFETs? I've seen a similar thread on importing speakers into India, and the general drift was that customs will double the cost. If someone could post specific numbers, that would be nice.

[Peter Daniel]

It depends on what amount is declared on a parcel. Usually the sender, who knows about excessive duty charges and high prices on simple audiophile parts, can state much smaller value on a package, so the customer wil pay very little or nothing in extra charges. In Canada it is 15% of taxes plus brokerage fee which varies from $5 to $30.

Here's the example of such practice:

>>In order to avoid the excessive customs' duties imposed by many countries I normally list a declared value much less than the retail value of the goods shipped, and mail the
invoice under separate cover. This can result in a substantial savings for you. The drawback to this is that I cannot then insure the package for its full value. In many cases the
insurance for packages sent by Air Parcel Post is limited to $500.00 or less and, in some cases, not available at all (e.g. Indonesia). You must decide whether you wish full
insurance coverage, (if available) and request it, or low customs charges; the risk of loss is yours. I might add that only three or four International parcels have been lost as of
this catalog date.<<

[ruangrit]

Your idea is great, this will help a lot as I have been experiencing lots of problems both in getting certain and quality parts locally and high shipping cost...

Another problem that I will have is that site such as www.schuro.de is not in English...:P

[till]

http://translate.google.com/translat...language_tools

may help for the start. Else you have us here to ask questions.

[richeros]

Great idea! I have been wanting to order some IRFP9240/240 MOS-FET from Germany... Just need some of that money thing first!

Richard
NORWAY

[Nicwix]

AMT-Freak

Thank you for your kind offer ... hope to take you up sometime soon.

Nic

[OliverD]

For shipping to Europe, I don't expect any problems with customs...

So far I have received many orders for TDA1541 and TDA1543 Hope I will get that many, as they are out of production...

Is there anyone living in USA who wants to participate?