Timothy Weber wrote:
> Question from a guy who's still learning his way through the commercial 
> electronics manufacturing process:
> 
> I'm looking at buying a part in moderate quantity (thousands).  Got a 
> quote from the manufacturer for $N/piece.  They then notified their 
> distributors, several of which are now giving me quotes for $N+m/piece. 
>   Nothing else about the quote seems to differ - minimum order, time. 
> Just a slightly higher price.
> 
> I'm confused.  Why would I pay a premium to order through a distributor 
> if I can order direct from the manufacturer?  Is there something I'm 
> missing?  Some service the distributor typically provides that I'm 
> unaware of?

Service (noun): something that used to be provided by distributors who 
charged extra for it; obsolete term.

Vendors used to rely solely on disties to get product to end users 
unless the oem was purchasing real volume and would deal directly. 
Disties earned their cut by being a "stocking distributor".  They also 
perform services like kitting, making cables, testing, etc.

Digikey used (10? years ago) to stock > 90% of what they listed in their 
catalog.  Now it's down to around 50% and non-stock items have a 
significant moq.  Whenever I encounter this, I try to go direct but many 
vendors refuse so I either design something else in or buy the moq.

Then internet is slowly changing the situation.  Many vendors are moving 
to setting up shop on the net leaving disties out.  This will have ups 
and downs for most of us.



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