General Query Is there any way to buy Components off AliExpress or Banggood and ship it here since it has been banned now?

RumbaMon19

Feel Pain.
I want to buy some MCUs and electric components. Although Digi-Key and Mouser like vendors are ready to ship them here, some of the components' MOQ is in 100s. Plus they are charging a very high shipping amount on it.(54$ for Cheapest Fed-Ex. The more cheaper ones are taking months)

So any suggestions you guys have?
 
OP
RumbaMon19

RumbaMon19

Feel Pain.
:(

Like this doesn't make sense tbh. Not everyone can import 100s of components, those who want a small quantity of components not available here have no choice now.

Before the ban, The Chips and ICs worth 150 rs have jumped to 450rs today after the ban(Prices have 3x-4x now). Chip shortage can be blamed for this, but still Indian retailers are selling everything at exorbitant prices.
 
OP
RumbaMon19

RumbaMon19

Feel Pain.
So after searching, I found some sellers,Utsource(PCBway), LCSC(From the same company that owns trustable and old JLPCB and EasyEDA software).

Mouser and Digikey are also there but they require MoQ of 20-100

They deliver in india. But to get goods delivered in india, one needs to

1) Clear the customs shipment by producing KYC documents to customs.
2) If it has chips(Which my order is basically) I need to submit advance notification to CHIMS (The Chip Imports Monitoring System)
3) Get a registration number by paying a registeration fees government(which has an expiry) on imports.gov.in (Yeah click that link, you will get the biggest photo splashed on your face which looks like a sarcasm attempt by the site designer)
4) After all this, they will allow my order in India and maybe charged anywhere from 10%-90% custom import tax extra.

This is so much hassle, one of the sites has made a column for indian buyers in their FAQ.
1681576023388.png


TBH, this specific moderation on chips is very stupid. India does not have any of its own commercial fabs which these vendors would compete with. And we all know these are the very basic requirements of prototyping of any type. Basically they are just hindering individual research in a way.

Interestingly, India does have Fabs for PCB. A few I found,

LionCircuits, PCBPowerMarket, Robu[.]in

Now here, Both LionCircuits and PCBPowerMarket have lead time of 7days. and 3-4 days for shipping which comes to 10-11 Working days. Robu has a very long lead of 15-20 days.

Whereas The Fabs in china, have literal lead time of 24Hrs(PCBway) and 2Days(JLCPCB). international priority by DHL takes 5-7 days which means that Chinese PCB providers are still faster. But again, to import those PCBs, I will need a registered Buisness and provide its GST number.

Price wise also, The chinese manufacturers take a maximum $5 for 5pcs of 100x100mm PCB, and including shipping it comes to 2400-2800INR total. Whereas in India, Both LionCircuits and PCBPowerMarket take 3000-3200 for 5 PCBs of same size. Robu takes only 800 + shipping extra but has a huge lead time.



In conclusion, Importing chips feels like importing Uranium. Only option is to pay 4x-5x the price to Indian sellers(And the chips I require, Are not even available with Indian sellers). If they really wanted to ban, they could have stopped import of Devices already manufactured in India, Instead they went ahead and banned whole thing altogether. But you know, This ban has only affected the middle class. What people used to buy off Aliexpress earlier, same thing is now sold by brands like Boat, Noise, Fireboltt and what not under "Packed & Badged in India" initiative at double the cost. RedGear literally badges the keyboards off aliexpress and sells it here. TBH they are just making these people more richer while the middle class suffers.
 

Nerevarine

Incarnate
There is another way i could suggest. Do you have a university/education id ? if yes, then go to the chip manufacturer's website, like Texas Instruments, Cirrus Logic, and request for parts as a sample using that email id. It will come totally free of cost to you, in just 4-5 days.
You would be surprised of the amount of stuff you can get, enclosures, microcontrollers, ICs, etc etc.
I had an old bookmark saved somewhere, where there was a huge list of such websites. ill try to find it.
 
OP
RumbaMon19

RumbaMon19

Feel Pain.
There is another way i could suggest. Do you have a university/education id ? if yes, then go to the chip manufacturer's website, like Texas Instruments, Cirrus Logic, and request for parts as a sample using that email id. It will come totally free of cost to you, in just 4-5 days.
You would be surprised of the amount of stuff you can get, enclosures, microcontrollers, ICs, etc etc.
I had an old bookmark saved somewhere, where there was a huge list of such websites. ill try to find it.

Yupp, I got a few Op-Amp ICs off TI that way, but Microchip(the Manufacturer of the chips I require) don't have such options. They only give free samples to industries.
 
Top Bottom