Links
If you’re looking for links to blogs and electronics sites similar to mine I recommend EEWeb “Site of the Day” directory, categorized by type and topic. New website link every day!
This list is updated frequently, additions and suggestions are kindly accepted in the comments field.
Update: Now featuring twitter links for online stores and suppliers which are represented on twitter.
Please note that not all suppliers are active twitter users, and their feed may not be updated on a regular basis.
See info below table for more info
| Logo | Tags | S | P | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Element 14/Farnell Components, #, @element14 | - | N | US |
 | Digi-Key Components, #, @digikey | $32.5 | N | US |
 | MakerShed kits, arduino, components, modules,community, robotics, @makershed | $35.59 | N | US |
 | Sparkfun manufacturer, kits, arduino, components, modules,community, robotics, @sparkfun | $8.48 | Y | US |
 | Adafruit kits, arduino, components, modules,community, robotics, @adafruit | $6.56 | Y | US |
 | Active Robots Robotics | $5 | Y | UK |
 | Bitsbox rec, components, @BitsboxUK | $4.5 | Y | UK |
 | DealExcel Tools, instruments, @dealexcel | Free WW | Y | CH |
 | Earthshine Electronics arduino, components, kits, robotics, @EarthshineElec | $2.97 | Y | UK |
 | Future Electronics components, #, @FutureElec | $35.33 | N | CA |
 | Futurlec | $5 | N | TH |
 | Ledshoppe LED, @ledshoppe | Free | Y | CH |
 | Littlebird Electronics kits, arduino, components, modules, robotics, @lbhq | $23 | Y | AU |
 | Oomlout @oomlout, arduino, tools, components, kits | $2.7 | Y | UK |
 | MindKits kits, arduino, components, modules, robotics, @MindKits | $53.59 | Y | NZ |
 | MindSets Components, kits, mechanics, MOC £10 | $52 | N | UK |
 | MyDuino arduino, clones, components, robotics | $2 | Y | MY |
 | Pololu manufacturer, kits, components, robotics, arduino, @Pololu | $8.95 | Y | US |
 | ProtoStack components, kits, modules, @Protostack | $6 WW | Y | AU |
 | Rapid components, @Rapidonline | $60 | N | UK |
 | Robot Electronics robotics, components, educational, mechanics | $24 | N | UK |
 | RS Components components, #, @RSElectronics, @DesignSparkRS | $20 | N | UK |
 | RSH Electronics components, @RSHElectronics | $6.5 | Y | UK |
 | Seeed Studios Free shipping @ $50, PCB, components, arduino, kits, robotics, community, @seeedstudio | $2.58 | Y | CH |
 | Technobots Rec, kits, modules, mechanics, arduino, robotics, components, @TechnobotsLtd | $7 | Y | UK |
 | Trossen Robotics kits, arduino, modules,community, robotics, @trossenrobotics | $36.56 | Y | US |
 | Solarbotics kits, arduino, components, modules,community, robotics, @solarbotics | $8.53 | Y | CA |
 | SK Pang Electronics components, robotics, kits, arduino | $10.4 | Y | UK |
 | Hobbytronics arduino, robotics, components, @hobbytronics | $6.4 | Y | UK |
 | Micro4U components, robotics, arduino | $5.25 | Y | TH |
 | ITead Studios robotics, community, PCB, @ITeadStudio | $3 | Y | CH |
 | Easy Electronics components, arduino | $2 | Y | IN |
 | Netram Technologies Arduino, components, kits, modules | ? | ? | ZA |
 | Australian Robotics robotics, components, kits, arduino | $15.8 | Y | AU |
 | Cool Components arduino, robitics, kits, modules, components | $3.7 | Y | UK |
 | Mouser Free shipping @ $120, components, # | $50 UPS Exprs. FdEx | N | US |
 | Jameco MOC $30, components, # | ? | N | US |
 | FunGizmos Robotics, components, kits, arduino | $14.85 | Y | US |
 | Electronics-DIY Components, kits | $5 | Y | US |
 | Curious Inventor Components, arduino, kits, mechanics | $3.72 | Y | US |
 | BG Micro Components, audio, kits | $3.77 | Y | US |
 | Quasar Electronics Kits, tools, components | $15 | Y | UK |
 | Hobby Engineering Robotics, components, mechanics, tools, kits | $8 | Y | US |
 | NKC Electronics @nkcelectronics, arduino, components, robotics, kits, tools | $5.22 | Y | US |
 | Proto-Pic@Proto_Pic, arduino, kits, robotics, components | $12 | Y | UK |
 | Watterott Electronic @welectronic, kits, robotics, components, arduino | $26 UPS | Y | DE |
 | Hardware Kitchen Arduino, robotics, sensors, open source, | $8.5 | Y | CZ |
 | DFRobot @dfrobotcn, kits, components, arduino, robotics, mechanics | $3 | Y | CN |
 | Tayda Electronics Components | $2.34 | Y | TH |
 | ByVac Modules | $2.1 | Y | UK |
 | Arduino Store @arduinoteam, @arduinoblog, official arduino store, beta | $17.6 | Y | CH |
 | Inventables @Inventables, materials, electronics, mechanical, construction, crafting, prototyping | $34 | N | US |
 | BlueSmokeLabs @BlueSmokeLabs, arduino, components, microcontrollers, tools | $4.25 | Y | UK |
 | Fingertech Robotics @FingerTech_Bots, robotics, hardware, R/C, materials | $8.75 | Y | CA |
 | Polycase @Polycase, cases, enclosures | $62.12 | N | US |
 | Surplus Gizmos @surplusgizmos, surplus, electronics, litterature, clothing, hardware, industrial, test, tools, instruments, educational | $31.35 | Y | US |
 | Tech Supplies Picaxe, components, educational, litterature, tools | $3.3 | Y | UK |
 | Superdroid Robots @SDRobots, robotics, R/C, mechanics, | $37 | Y | US |
 | Dimension Engineering R/C, DC-DC regulators, accelerometer, | $1.25 | Y | US |
 | Robotics Connection robotics, sensors, kits, motor | $13.67 | Y | US |
 | Liquidware @liquidware, android, embedded, sensors, kits, arduino, components | $32.25 | Y | US |
 | Arc Euro Trade CNC, mechanics, tools, hardware, machines | $18.5 | Y | UK |
 | LEDsales LED | $16 | Y | AU |
 | Bizbot Technology Components, mechanical, robotics | $82.5 | Y | MY |
 | Toys Downunder R/C, arduino, makerbot | $7.40 | Y | AU |
 | Zagros Robotics | $12.95 | Y | US |
 | SG Botic @sgbotic, robotics, litterature, components, kits | $47.25 | Y | SG |
 | Robots In Search @RobotsinSearch, robotics, components, mechanical, tools | $17.15 | Y | CA |
 | RobotGear robotics | $12 | Y | AU |
 | RobotCraft robotics, components | $18 | Y | CA |
 | RhydoLabz kits, components, robotics | $18 | Y | IN |
 | Ocean Controls cnc, arduino, litterature, components, tools | $18 | N | AU |
 | InMotion arduino, components, robotics | $10 | Y | PL |
 | GES Electronics Components, tools, chemicals, robotics, mechanical | $3.4 | Y | CZ |
 | MDFLY Electronics Components, modules, CNC, power, programming, BGA | $6.4 | Y | US |
S: Shipping cost to Norway*
P: Accepts PayPal?
C: Country of origin
You can sort, search and manipulate this list based on shipping costs, if the site accepts PayPal or country of origin. For an example, to show only US based stores, type US in the search field or click the C cell and scroll to US entries. You can also search by tags.
Popular tags are arduino, robotics, components, free, rec (recommended by me), # (major component supplier), community…
* All shipping costs are checked manually by me, and are shown in US dollars. The value shown is minimum shipping cost to Norway. When shipping costs seems high, it might be worth checking out if it is courier or overnight shipping because it was the only available option.
The reason for adding shipping costs to Norway is simple. This list was intended for me. There are no places to get parts like this in stores here in Norway, and if I were to buy it from a Norwegian online store, shipping usually starts at about $15 (so 10 LEDs costs me about $15.5)! But also, since Norway is far north in Europe, and not a member of the EU, this part tells a lot about a stores capability to ship a cheap item to a non-standard destination.
I’ll finish this page of with a link to a video blog post from Akiba (Chris @freaklabs) at freaklabs.org
http://www.tokyohackerspace.org/akihabara/
If I had this right down by my street, I may never have written this page…
It may be worth noting that Digi-Key leaves it to FedEx to collect VAT. FedEx (and other shippers) will charge you a $20 fee on top of the VAT.
Yes, you must be very careful and take precautions when using courier services. As this is, for now, only just a list of links I don’t see the need of adding specific info about individual shipping companies. But thanks for pointing this out, the hint also goes for several other online stores who uses FedEx!
As discussed on The Amp Hour, you could say big companies like Digi-Key could not afford making several deals with different couriers and post offices because of the vast amount of products shipping out each day. A suggestion might be to provide ordinary ground mail for those who are willing to wait for the item to be shipped through a more slow process at Digi-Key.
You may want to note down which sites only sells to registered companies, too…
RS Components is one.
Good idea.
One tip though, is to borrow the organization number from your workplace and have it delivered there, just register your own credit card.
Except that they may send the invoice to my office…
(I’m in a government agency. We’re NOT supposed to get any ‘private benefits’ from our employment, or even anything that could conceivable look like it. We’re not even allowed to use any ‘frequent flyer’, hotel bonuses or other bonus points collected on business travels on private travels. *Sigh* )
BTW: Add Farnell to the list of sucky companies. On their reg form, they don’t require a company name, ane even have ‘Private/Hobbyist’ as a choice in the ‘main use’ field… Then don’t hit you with Org. number before you try to checkout. Got me REALLY pissed after spending an hour searching out the components I wanted. (LEDs can’t be filtered by form factor, such as 0805 SMT as I needed)
You need to add elfa.se on the list. They will take my order… Also, even if they’re a Swedish company, they have a warehouse in Norway, so no T(r)OLL… ;-)
I’d like to keep the list confined to companies who deliver worldwide. Do you know if Elfa does this? Elfa is expensive though, but considering international shipping cost and toll, I guess it depends on your order.
Too bad to hear that about Farnell. I know they are very helpfull on the norwegian support telephone, so if you’re desperate to order from them I’m sure they’ll figure something out for you ;)
Seems they support about half of Europe directly, and the rest of the world using resellers, including Distrelec which has about half of Europe.
Just go to elfa.se to see it all.