Selling samples?

[Mr Teal]

Not sure on the policy on this, I have some transistors I bought from Digikey that I plan to sell, but I also have a bunch of transistors from OnSemi that I got as samples back in the day, mostly MJL21195/96 and MJL4302A/MJL4281A. It seems a waste to have several hundred dollars of audio transistors sitting on my shelf for the next god knows how long.

Is it kosher to sell samples for a nominal fee to cover the cost of boxing and shipping? I'd hate to see them go to waste on my shelf, but I don't really want to give them away if I have to pay shipping either. :P

[john65b]

If it was not your initial intent to sell them when you first requested the samples, then I do not see the harm...

[DJNUBZ]

I don't see why not

[pinkmouse]

As long as you only do it for cost I don't see a problem.

[jmillerdoc]

Pm sent.....

[jazko]

Sooo what is the price

[dchisholm]

That's an interesting ethical question.

From one perspective, these items were freely given to you, probably with no explicit conditions on their use. (I presume there was no misrepresentation on your part as to your identity or intended purpose for the components.) From that viewpoint you would be free to sell them for whatever the market allows. I guess that's not much different from an employer I once had who actually shipped finished products that contained a significant number of "samples".

From another perspective, there may have been an assumption by the manufacturer that you were "evaluating" some aspect of the components to gauge there suitability for some application. In that frame of reference, if you have completed (or cancelled) the evaluation, then it could be argued that you should return the components to the manufacturer.

In practice, manufacturers have widely varying views on samples, and policies change over time. On one occasion, an applications engineer wanted to see enough design documentation to verify that we were actually doing a project suitable for his parts. (OK, we were asking for pre-production samples of a rather pricey (as IC's go) and high performance part.) On the other end of the spectrum, until just 2 or 3 years ago Microchip would send 3 or 4 pieces of just about anything in their catalog to pretty much anybody who asked. I think they knew the system was being abused by some, but rationalized it as a way to build good-will and get engineers into the habit of using their components. If those transistors move off your shelf, and into the hands of somebody who mentions them in a "Circuit Cellar" article or a letter to "Linear Audio", then On Semiconductor probably figures they recovered the cost of the samples several times over.

Dale

[AndrewT]

Originally Posted by dchisholm

From one perspective, these items were freely given to you, probably with no explicit conditions on their use. .................... From that viewpoint you would be free to sell them for whatever the market allows.

Samples are not for re-sale.

The most he could ask is the original postage cost (I would not even allow interest/inflation on that charge).

[Mr Teal]

Oh, I don't even want to cover my original postage cost, just my current postage cost for a bubble envelope and shipping. I was thinking $15 for however many you want to Canada or the US, within reason. International would probably be more. I just trying to sell/get rid of a bunch of stuff sitting in my basement.

Some are spoken for, by I still have 12 MJL4281A, 22 MJL4302A and 15 each of MJ11032/33 (TO-3). If anyone wants some, let me know. If not, maybe I'll use them in a few years.

[SY]

I can't see anything wrong with that unless you agreed specifically with the supplier not to transfer the parts. Selling them for a profit is a different matter- I can't comment on legality, but it sure looks pretty dishonest to me.