Hey folks, with the tariff situation still ongoing and New Zealand Mouser orders shipping from Texas I wanted to try a different supplier that wouldn't be affected by tariffs. I figured being based in China some people would have trepidation about using them (like I did tbh) and so I would share my experience.
Firstly I will say that navigating the website for me felt pretty easy, the filters were easy to use, I found the components I wanted quickly. The cart management and BOM saving experience was also really nice to use and helped me organise various lists of things. Prices overall seem to be cheaper than Mouser (especially on actives) and often cheaper than Tayda. Having access to some of the "Asian Brands" definitely helps in this regard. For actives I stuck with the known manufacturer, though did buy an "Asian Brand" lot of 5532s so it will be interesting to compare those with the TI ones I have at some point.
One nice thing is that until your order is shipped, if you forgot something you can combine orders into one shipment which prevents you having to pay another minimum shipping fee. My ADHD brain enjoys that. You can also combine and JLCPCB order with an LCSC order, I haven't done this myself yet so can't comment on the value proposition of that.
The package arrived nicely boxed, everything came in anti static bags, and was well labelled so on par with Mouser in that respect I would say.
I would say the lead times and shipping costs are definitely the downsides compared to Mouser. The oders often took quite a few days before they were shipped, and unlike Mouser, there isn't a free shipping threshold.
Here is the breakdown of the costs for the big CAP/Resistor restock.
The shipping by Global Direct has a tipping point (somewhere around 1.4kg I think) where there's a big jump in price, like 20$ to $70. So it's worth playing with either splitting your order into two shipments. Or after a certain amount of weight, I found it was cheaper to ship with Fedex. The Cao/Res restock was 1.8kg and I used Fedex, the actives order I used Global Direct.
Something I saw mentioned on Reddit was that LCSC over estimates the weight of passives like resistors and therefore it inflates the shipping cost. However I found the estimated weight was actually 1.76kg on the shipment and the actual gross weight was just over 1.8kh, so I don't think they are scamming you on postage.
TlDr: I think the experience of using LCSC is good and I will probably continue to use them in the future. What I do want to do is create shopping cart for Mouser where I just reach the free shipping threshold, then recreate the same cart at both LCSC and Tayda and see, shipping included, which ends up being the cheapest.
Some pictures of the packaging.
Firstly I will say that navigating the website for me felt pretty easy, the filters were easy to use, I found the components I wanted quickly. The cart management and BOM saving experience was also really nice to use and helped me organise various lists of things. Prices overall seem to be cheaper than Mouser (especially on actives) and often cheaper than Tayda. Having access to some of the "Asian Brands" definitely helps in this regard. For actives I stuck with the known manufacturer, though did buy an "Asian Brand" lot of 5532s so it will be interesting to compare those with the TI ones I have at some point.
One nice thing is that until your order is shipped, if you forgot something you can combine orders into one shipment which prevents you having to pay another minimum shipping fee. My ADHD brain enjoys that. You can also combine and JLCPCB order with an LCSC order, I haven't done this myself yet so can't comment on the value proposition of that.
The package arrived nicely boxed, everything came in anti static bags, and was well labelled so on par with Mouser in that respect I would say.
I would say the lead times and shipping costs are definitely the downsides compared to Mouser. The oders often took quite a few days before they were shipped, and unlike Mouser, there isn't a free shipping threshold.
Here is the breakdown of the costs for the big CAP/Resistor restock.
The shipping by Global Direct has a tipping point (somewhere around 1.4kg I think) where there's a big jump in price, like 20$ to $70. So it's worth playing with either splitting your order into two shipments. Or after a certain amount of weight, I found it was cheaper to ship with Fedex. The Cao/Res restock was 1.8kg and I used Fedex, the actives order I used Global Direct.
Something I saw mentioned on Reddit was that LCSC over estimates the weight of passives like resistors and therefore it inflates the shipping cost. However I found the estimated weight was actually 1.76kg on the shipment and the actual gross weight was just over 1.8kh, so I don't think they are scamming you on postage.
TlDr: I think the experience of using LCSC is good and I will probably continue to use them in the future. What I do want to do is create shopping cart for Mouser where I just reach the free shipping threshold, then recreate the same cart at both LCSC and Tayda and see, shipping included, which ends up being the cheapest.
Some pictures of the packaging.
