I can't believe it.. Whenever I buy components from eBay, they are typically sent in an ESD hazardous manner. Wrapped in aluminum foil, inside a paper bag or whatever.
I have no idea WHY sellers do this, but today I got REALLY angry.
Bought 3 MPSU60 transistors for quite a price, and they arrived... Taped to a styrofoam pad 😱 😱 Why?? Why don't they put them in ESD bags or similar? I waited a month for these to arrive, and now I won't dare to use them. Who knows what hidden damage may have been caused!
What is your experience? Why does this happen so often?
I have no idea WHY sellers do this, but today I got REALLY angry.
Bought 3 MPSU60 transistors for quite a price, and they arrived... Taped to a styrofoam pad 😱 😱 Why?? Why don't they put them in ESD bags or similar? I waited a month for these to arrive, and now I won't dare to use them. Who knows what hidden damage may have been caused!
What is your experience? Why does this happen so often?
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ebay.
yes that's the perfect place to buy semiconductors.
If that is the only place you can find the devices your after, then I'd be more worried about it being a counterfeit.
yes that's the perfect place to buy semiconductors.
If that is the only place you can find the devices your after, then I'd be more worried about it being a counterfeit.
Ebay sellers buy their parts in bulk packaging (who knows where from), so they get
no individual packs, and would have to buy them at significant cost in small quantities.
ESD packing costs money, and ebay is all about cheap prices. If you buy from reputables
(Digikey, Mouser, etc.) everything is properly done and ESD safe, and you won't get fakes.
no individual packs, and would have to buy them at significant cost in small quantities.
ESD packing costs money, and ebay is all about cheap prices. If you buy from reputables
(Digikey, Mouser, etc.) everything is properly done and ESD safe, and you won't get fakes.
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Not only are they ESD unsafe but probably fakes anyway.
Why bother with ebay or China ?
Its a real lottery.
I found China good for cheap quality PCB manufacture.
I occasionally buy obsolete cheap A2D converters from Ali-Express but I sometimes have to buy from different vendors to get some that work.
RS Components and Farnell are my main reputable suppliers.
Why bother with ebay or China ?
Its a real lottery.
I found China good for cheap quality PCB manufacture.
I occasionally buy obsolete cheap A2D converters from Ali-Express but I sometimes have to buy from different vendors to get some that work.
RS Components and Farnell are my main reputable suppliers.
I'd have thought high voltage transistors would be reasonably tolerant to ESD as opposed to something like a CMOS device. Why not just make a bench test circuit to verify their function?
Ebay sellers are often just warehouse people. They wouldn't have the first idea about things like static discharge. They just know to get a box of 1000 units and break it up into single units for profit.
If you want it done properly, you have to buy from an actual electronic supply company such as those already mentioned.
Just as an example, I bought some DIP-8 sockets from Farnell and they were embedded in ESDS safe foam, inside a large ESDS safe bag. That was just for sockets with nothing electrical!
You may find a modern equivalent here: Bipolar Transistor Cross-reference Search | Equivalent Transistors
Ebay sellers are often just warehouse people. They wouldn't have the first idea about things like static discharge. They just know to get a box of 1000 units and break it up into single units for profit.
If you want it done properly, you have to buy from an actual electronic supply company such as those already mentioned.
Just as an example, I bought some DIP-8 sockets from Farnell and they were embedded in ESDS safe foam, inside a large ESDS safe bag. That was just for sockets with nothing electrical!
You may find a modern equivalent here: Bipolar Transistor Cross-reference Search | Equivalent Transistors
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Frankly, I can't think of a safer electrical wrap than aluminum foil. Unlikely a static charge will build up.
Yes, but how did they handle the parts while they were moving them from the master pack to the foil bag?
on ali, i get them to confirm that they will send them in esd safe packaging (shown in pictures), then open a dispute when they inevitably do not.
arrow sent me some passives in nice reusable black cardboard boxes with stiff esd safe black foam glued to the bottom of the box and pink foam taped to the top of the box. only happened a couple of times.
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Your making a big fuss over devices that aren’t ESD sensitive,
If you want ESD packing buy from Digikey, Mouser etc and pay their prices.
If you want ESD packing buy from Digikey, Mouser etc and pay their prices.
Agree 100%, and I only buy from eBay in very special circumstances (e.g. can't find a proper replacement component). However, regardless of the marketplace, if you sell it, you should know how to handle it. Sure, the sellers might "just" be warehouse people, but I don't think that's any excuse, and perfectly warrants a negative review if they don't want to correct the matter.
In my case, I got a reply back telling me "we've always done it this way and it works fine". That's not ok when you sell transistors for $6 a pop, IMHO.