Reliable and Unreliable Part Sellers (Ebay or Webstore)

[rocket88]

This has been something that has been talked about for awhile, since there are so many sellers, especially on ebay that have taken advantage of people by selling faulty or counterfeit parts. So I figured I'll finally start it with the sellers i have personally used. the ones in the reliable sections, have not paid to advertise for them, but a satisfied customer. all in no particular order.

Reliable Web Stores

1 -  DIY Guitar Pedals: run by Paul in Australia, who's a pedal builder himself, youtube channel with the same name. his prices are more than fair, doesn't sell parts he doesn't use himself, and ships worldwide.

2 - Tayda Electronics: seller of damn near everything you need, best prices for pots.

3 - Bitches Love My Switches: run by Lawrence, who's also part of the diy community. great prices and flat rate shipping no matter how much you buy.

4 - Small Bear Electronics: run by Steve, who's another who's part of the diy community. a little on the pricer side, but has a lot of parts you don't really find easily.

Web Stores to AVOID

1 - Futurlec: while thought of as being in the same category as tayda i had nothing but bad experiences with them. shipping too over a month before they sent it out, parts were missing, and took them forever to send what was missing. the cost is not worth the aggravation IMHO, and with tayda i don't see a reason to deal with Futurlec.

Reliable eBay Sellers

1 - MW Electronics: for those that have seen posts mentioning our Bulgarian friend, this is one of his eBay stores. tons of soviet era parts, especially Germanium transistors and diodes. beyond reasonable prices. if you want things send him a message and tell him you're part of the forum here. he'll even put together a sample package for you if you want.

2 - ML Electronics: our Bulgarian friends other eBay store. similar to the first, but more NOS caps. if you want things from both let him know and he'll work on combining the shipping. again, let him know you're part of the community here.

3 - Joe Gagan Wah: people have asked where i get my inductors from, and other wah parts. we'll here's the man's store. he's a huge part of the diy community and been so for years. super guy, and best damn inductors and wah parts IMHO. if you need something special or have questions about wah builds, just message him and he'll help you out.

4 - Elena8913: seller of Germanium transistors and diodes, as well as other soviet parts at fair prices. if you want more than they show message them and they'll get you a better price.

5 - ELECEMENTS13: another seller of soviet parts, with good prices. if you want more than they show message them and they'll get you a better price.

6 - janeh2100: chinese seller that has a bunch of stuff. i buy my 3PDT switches from them, since i order so many i get an unbelievably low price.

7 - bird_sr71a: great prices on soviet Germanium diodes.

8 - ELE-Parts: chinese seller of many parts. while cheap, i've reliably ordered hundreds of ICs from them and they're all legit.

9 - dpi4parts: US seller that has great prices. you can message them if you are looking for more, and bulk prices. great guy to deal with.

10 - KIM Electronics: another Bulgarian seller. has lots of soviet parts and good prices.

11 - valtek_2005: another eastern european seller. good prices on soviet era parts.

12 - orpheus_2005: another Bulgarian seller. has lots of soviet parts and good prices.

13 - minifux1: german seller with tons of parts, and fair prices, but watch out cause they're all auctions.

14 - Thai-Shine: tayda's eBay store. seems more expensive then ordering from tayda, but that's cause they factor shipping into the price. one benefit is that you can get parts quicker then ordering from tayda's webstore.

eBay Sellers to AVOID

1 - polida2008: once reliable and dirt cheap, now well known for sending faulty/counterfeit parts. AVOID at all cost.

2 -  GOLDEN RULE: If you are looking for ICs or JFETS follow this Golden Rule:
Do not buy any out of production ICs or JFETS from any seller in China - you will almost certainly end up with a useless fake.

[Silver Blues]

I'm gonna mention Banzai Music as a hit or miss web store. They have a pretty good selection with competitive pricing in certain cases (e.g. I ordered my Belton Bricks from there because they had the best price) but the service could be better and their response time is not good. I waited a month with my order on "processing" until I emailed them asking what the big idea was and it was shipped the next day. Looks like someone just forgot.

[PMowdes]

Here's a few places that I use in the UK

https://www.rapidonline.com/ : Wide variety of parts and pretty good prices.  They sell a bunch of alternative enclosure which are good quality and a cheaper alternative to Hammonds.

http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/ : Well useful, reliable, prompt

https://www.switchelectronics.co.uk/ : Fairly new seller, really good prices on pots and switches.

https://www.musikding.de : Not so quick, but a good selection of parts.

I agree with Banzai, I've had a few bad experiences with them.

[Pavlos]

A few more in the UK

I've used all of these a few times always with good results, some also have web stores, but I've found that their ebay stores work out to be better value


Mallinson Electrical
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/mallinsonelectrical/
I use these for hook up wire, fast delivery and reasonable prices


Bright Components
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/brightcomponents/
Some decent prices on veroboard, again fast delivery


ems-chloe
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/emselectronicsstore/
Good prices for SIL sockets
 

dunkselectroshop
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/dunkselectroshop?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
not a wide variety of parts but some decent prices on footswitches and jack sockets


Time Traveller Audio
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/timetravelaudio/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
Some good prices on enclosure multi buys, fast delivery


twohundred200
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/twohundred200/
Some more good prices on enclosure multi buys, fast delivery


whiteroseacc
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/mittoson/
Not too much of interest but good prices on LDR's


I'll second Pmowdes regarding Switch Electronics, wide selection of parts, multi buy prices for toggle switches and LED's are pretty good, fast delivery

[distraughtman]

It's funny, I've never had a single bad experience with Futurlec !
I still order most of my Rs, Ts and ICs there as well as solder and a few other tidbits, especially because their shipping prices are based on order price, and not on weight.
But hey, maybe I was just lucky.

+1 on Banzai, their prices are tempting but they are really unreliable in their customer service and even in their orders (many a component switch-up in my few orders from them), as well as having huuuuge shipping prices. I now go out of my way even towards more expensive stuff just to avoid them.

[PMowdes]

There's also these guys that have been recommended to me.  I haven't used them yet but another option

https://www.jprelec.co.uk/

[Beaker]

"eBay Sellers to AVOID

1 - polida2008: once reliable and dirt cheap, now well known for sending faulty/counterfeit parts. AVOID at all cost.

2 - Anyone that sells for way below normal price. if it seems too good to be true, and way too cheap it is. "


If you are making this a sticky post Zach, you should add the following caveat in big bold letters for the benefit of the new guys, and anyone else who may not still be aware.

"If you are looking for ICs or JFETS follow this Golden Rule:
Do not buy any out of production ICs or JFETS from any seller in China - you will almost certainly end up with a useless fake."

If the part is a cheap, currently in production item, then you should be absolutely fine, but in my (and many others) experience, avoid the above items like the plague or you will be dissapointed and you will have wasted your money. They are either unwittingly selling fakes (they have been scammed themselves), but don't seem to care, or they are knowingly selling fakes and don't care.

[Sensei Tim]

in North America:

Mammoth Electronics
https://www.mammothelectronics.com/

Pedal Parts Plus
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/Default.asp

Stew Mac (not just for electronics, but all things stringed instruments)
https://www.stewmac.com/

Mouser
www.mouser.com

Digikey
www.digikey.com

Next Gen Guitars
http://nextgenguitars.ca/



For PCBs:
Madbean
www.madbeanpedals.com

1776 effects
http://1776effects.com/

JMK PCBs
http://jmkpcbs.com/

[Sensei Tim]

I've bought from langrex in the UK and have had good experience with them also

https://www.langrex.co.uk/
ebay store: http://stores.ebay.ca/LANGREX

[Sensei Tim]

Beaker wrote

"If you are looking for ICs or JFETS follow this Golden Rule:
Do not buy any out of production ICs or JFETS from any seller in China - you will almost certainly end up with a useless fake."

also:  don't buy 1n34a (and probably other "germanium" diodes) from tayda or other chinese sellers as they are probably "work-a-likes" and not germanium.

[Beaker]

Thanks for reminding me about Langrex - I knew there was another one I could not remember.

Add Useful Components: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/usefulcomponents/

Jabdog: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/JabDogElectronicComponents?_rdc=1

and Brecon Jess: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/breconjess?_rdc=1

All these in the UK.

[rocket88]

tim: i actually haven't had that issue with tayda, as i have a source i grabbed 1000 1n34a and 1000 1N60, and 500 1N270 diodes so i haven't tried any from tayda in awhile.

distraughtman: not saying you're lucky or wrong, they may have cleaned up their act over the years. i had 2 or 3 orders a few years ago, probably 5 or so that the same thing happened so i just wrote them off.

beaker: totally agree. unfortunately since this is a thread and not a topic i can't add that to the top, as much as i want to.   i'm thinking of starting a golden rules thread in the library section for the new guys that we could add all our golden rules and R.G. Keens, which are like the 10 commandments of pedal building. lol. i'll bold it in my post though, since i'm sure this will get rather large and make it one of the first things people see.

i also follow the golden rule with chinese sellers of IC's and transistors that if i haven't dealt with them before and their seller rating is bellow 99.5% i don't trust them. seems extreme, but i'm just super cautious even with in production parts. keep in mind too that a lot of the chinese sellers on ebay have multiple stores with different names so it can be hard to weed them out. hell people have ordered the super common and available TL072 ICs from sellers like polida where it's just too damn cheap and they chips are DOA, burn up, just don't function, and even relabeled parts. the crazy to think that a profit can be made on parts so cheap that have been relabeled.

[Sensei Tim]

I bought some 1n34a diodes from tayda a few years ago and they were all junk.  same with their j201 and 2n5457.

[rocket88]

Man that's crazy and good to know.

[blorvak]

A few more eBay sellers you might want to consider...

Albertville Hobby Electronics
This store has some very fine "BC" series transistors that I've been very happy with. US based, and not as cheap as China, but not super expensive. Very prompt shipping.

efirstelectronics2014
It became clear after building a few pedals from this site, that I want the SMALLEST capacitors I can find. It just makes boxing so much easier. For some reason, finding low profile capacitors is kinda hard on eBay. This seller has a good selection of them, at reasonable prices.

[Muadzin]

rocket88 wrote

2 -  GOLDEN RULE: If you are looking for ICs or JFETS follow this Golden Rule:
Do not buy any out of production ICs or JFETS from any seller in China - you will almost certainly end up with a useless fake.

I fully and wholeheartedly agree!

If anyone wants to buy guitar related parts avoid Muziek Outlet (http://www.muziekoutlet.com/) at all cost. I ordered 4 cans of nitrocellulose at the end of april, I still haven't got them or my money back. All I got were excuses:
- They've just been shipped
- They're still on order
- They've been shipped
- That's weird, your local collection agency has send them back. (Which they have no knowledge of ever having done by the way, by now I know them so well we're on a first name basis)
- We will ship them ASAP
- They're still in our depot, we will send them after the weekend
- Your order has been canceled and we will refund to your paypal address

Since then nothing, especially in the paypal department. I have since started a paypal dispute.

[Emil]

I also would like to agree on what's been said about Banzai. I recently ordered from them and had a few items backordered. Then I waited a couple of months and never heard from them about one of these items. After reading this thread I realized they might have forgotten about it so I sent them an email. Sure enough, they answered today with apologies and made sure that it was going to be sent right away.

So, in conclusion: Very helpful thread!  

[Sensei Tim]

Found this page today.  Really good overview on different suppliers and vendors:

https://aionelectronics.com/resources/where-to-buy-what/

[PMowdes]

Not sure on reliability but a large range of Ge Transistors

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/minifux1

Will report back if I buy anything

[Travis]

minifux is good, he's been around forever and many of us have bought from him. His listings are usually auctions and I have seen a few deals fly under the radar for great prices

Not sure I would call Tayda "reliable" actually. Love em for pots, cheap caps and resistors, but they sell a lot of junk too, to me that's kinda unreliable