$200 sounds like too much for a relatively low sized order from China.

Western Union provides an utterly watertight transfer. Once the money
is sent it is NOT  recoverable via WU for any reason whatsoever.
Wire transfers of Paypal (ach) or Credit card may have some comeback.
(I have just reversed a $99 VISA payment made 2 months ago due to what
was effectively a scam. Ultimate success is not certain but end bank
would need to recertify, which they have no grounds for doing as
supplier is completely out of the loop.

__________________________

A company that I recommend you at least talk to is Mobicon, who have
offices in Hong Kong, China , South Africa and 5 other Asian
countries.
I think Hong Kong is their home base. / HQ.
They sell (or used to) one off quantities of components at prices that
would sometimes make RS look good BUT they also do volume sales at
prices that are competitive with other China based suppliers. I have
had some components supplied by them for use in Chinese manufacturing
at prices as good as any available. Where they change from high price
small volume to competitive pricing I don't know. They are Chinese but
have people with better than average English compared to most China
based companies.

Start here http://www.mobicon.com/en/
Website is a bit hard to navigate around.
You may wish to talk to or email somebody after an initial look around.
I may be able to provide a contact name but it's been perhaps 2+ years
since I had any sort of dealings with them.

Their webpages give the impression that they support mainly 'foreign'
brands but they are a good general source.

Mobicon components line-card page
http://www.mobicon.com/en/mhl.html

One of their companies, with line-card and some datasheets
http://www.milliard.com.hk/html/product.html

________________________

If you need an in-China person to talk to people for you I can provide
a possible contact person who can provide a reasonably competent
"front" for you at a cost for services that is attractive by western
standards.




         Russell

________________
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