Cheap components - TaoBao

[matseng]

Today I finally got my order from Taobao, delayed by hurricanes in Shanghai, the national day in Singapore and and the Eid al Fitr (end of Ramadan) celebrations in Malaysia...

Detail of contents in the package

I got 110 pcs each of the OLED displays, the LiPo batteries, the IR receivers and the SMD 16 MHz crystals. 2000 pcs of the 6x6mm SMD tactile switches and 2000 pcs of the 3x6 mm switches and 200 pcs of the tiny piezo beepers.

The contents of the box....

[Rickarddahlstrand]

Wow, great! What did you pay and do you have urls for the screens, lipos and crystals. Making my order now.

Thanks for the URL to the shield!!

[matseng]

OLED http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a23 ... 6826568645 - paid RMB 10 ($1.57) each
Crystal http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=13839004252& - paid RMB 0.70 ($0.11) each
LiPo http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a23 ... 3414797681 - paid RMB 7 ($1.10) each

Total agent fees and international shipping ended up at $60 - the shipping costs was rather high since the displays was securely packed and very bulky. The actual total weight of the displays is 0.17 kilos, the weight of them boxed is 0.93 kilo, but due to volumetric charges is was calculated as 4.3 kilos :-(

[Rickarddahlstrand]

Thanks. I clicked the "remove packaging"-button on my ATMEGA-order and got an picture from the warehouse of 20 chips in bobble wrap.. :O I seeing this first order as a learning-experience, but I'm getting some pretty sweet deals already it seems.

I found these guys, http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=6227695008 they are 1/10th of the price on Ebay. Going to build one of these http://www.digitalunderpants.com/?p=219 Or 20 as I seems to have ordered a few more than I needed for one. I also ordered them in white, going to look great with a lasercut clear case.

Btw, what do you plan to build with all those screens and batteries? Or are you a horder like me. ;)

A few questions. How come you got the screens for RMB 10? Did you haggle?

Also, I get a lot of "Item is out of stock and the seller does not know when will be available again" from my agent (taobaofocus). It seems strange, do any of you know why?

Rickard.

[matseng]

The OLED's were on sale when I got them.

Ohhh... The decade switches looks nice, could definitely get a few of them for some future project :)

Most of this shipment will, together with a PIC18F25J50, go into making conference badges for the speakers and staff at the HackInTheBox security conference later this fall. I'll have a lot of soldering to do before then.

It is not uncommon that the shops don't have proper inventory levels displayed. If I seen an item with 10000 , 100000 or some other even number I consider them just made-up and will move on to the next shop.

[Rickarddahlstrand]

Which agent did you use? Taobaofocus just keeps telling me things are out of stock and I cant order batteries.

Rickard.

[touch]

Which agent did you use? Taobaofocus just keeps telling me things are out of stock and I cant order batteries.

Rickard.

Same thing here... Looking for a good agent that I can buy from, tons of interesting stuff on Taobao I'd like to get. Trying to find agents via google gives nothing but spam.

[CircuitMart]

There is no love without a strong reason,
no cheap things without a reason.
To seek bargain with TAOBAO, first you better can speak at least write Chinese,
secondly you must have eyesight to indentify parts could still be used.

per my own knowledge, most parts are second handed, refurbished, they are
good for a trial run, but better to use brand new parts for mass production.

You guys must have heard such news as space shuttles or rockets fall down because of
a second hand past outsourced from kitchen companies.

And I know there is a city in southeastern China, they make a good living
by taking second hand parts from scrapped equipments, and washed first in
the river, and the river grows grayer and grayer these years, not too exaggerated.

I DO buy parts for clients' assembly service, but not always from taobao. For cheap
things like resistors, I dare to have a try, for very crucial and expensive parts, I have to be very
alert when dealing with taobao guys, I myself was cheated 2 times, undertake all shits
by myself.

[nabilt]

I also recently got my parts from taobao Focus. Unfortunately, there don't ship batteries. Here are the details.

10 x 12 RMB 0.91'' OLED - http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z ... 8982688479
3 x 12.88 RMB 0.84'' OLED - http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=7085782089


First payment
Items price: 158.64 RMB
Domestic shipping: 15 RMB
Subtotal: 173.64 RMB
Commission (10%): 35 RMB
Total: 208.64 RMB
Total in USD: 34.43 USD

Shipping fees
International shipping fee: 176 RMB
Total in USD: 29.04 USD
Difference first payment: -12.37 USD
Second payment total (including order balance): 16.67 USD

Ordered on August 21
Arrived at TaobaoFocus on August 25
Arrived in Canada on Sept. 5

Total $63.47

[matseng]

So did it become cheaper compared to ebay? Our was it too few and too bulkily packaged parts so the shipping costs caused the total price to be same-same?

[nabilt]

I would say it was less than half even tho I ordered from 2 different stores. Not bad :) The same LCDs on ebay are $12 each. I plan to order in bulk next time for even more savings. Thanks again for the tip!

[ginpb]

shipping fee was a little pricey or not?, how big and heavy can be a package with 13 oleds.

[matseng]

As I said in an earlier message: My 110 displays had an total weight of 0.17 kilos, the weight of them boxed was 0.93 kilo, but due to volumetric charges is was calculated as 4.3 kilos.

Volumetric = If the box being sent is very light but still large you are getting charged for the volume it takes up instead of the weight.