It could be Digi-Keys own fault for charging more than Micro-chip, or
    they may have purchased these parts in a large volume and are still
    making a profit.  Digi-Key is a very expensive company to get parts
    compared to many other companies I deal with.  The only reason I would
    ever use digi-key is for unique items that are hard to find anywhere
    else and you just seem to have more money than time to deal with it.

So where would be a good place (better than digikey) to buy
approximately 100 PIC12F parts?

My impression of digikey has been that they're a reasonable place to
deal with up until your orders get 'large."  For some value of large
that they seem to gradually push upward (IIRC, digikey was initially
wholely a hobbyist supplied.  Somewhere I have the "free 555 with
catalog request" that they sent out early in their existance...)

BillW

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