DigiKey order under review for 4 days

[gaminn]

So I again made the mistake and decided to order something from Digikey - 1mOhm current shunt from Murata, 10 through hole PTCs and 20 3mm LEDS from Vishay. And guess what - after 4 days my order is still in "Received" status, according to the customer support it is under review. The reason of the review is unknown. The review team is said to be busy. So you got the delay and the best thing you got 0 information about it from Digikey.

I normally order from Mouser, many orders over the years and I can't remember any problem, any delay. Whereas Digikey? If I remember correctly I placed 4 orders and there wasn't single one without any issue meaning some delay. But this order, they are really trying their best to delay my order.

Any idea why they review it? Export compliance of the current shunt, PTCs and LEDs? I'm from Europe and have my VAT ID registered with Digikey.

[SiliconWizard]

Yes, for all they know, you could be helping Russia with your LEDs and PTCs.

[Njk]

Interesting. Just recently, I'd ordered at DK (not directly but via my European rep) some analog parts with industrial temp range (to improve my welding machine so it can reliably operate outside in winter) and 3M conductive adhesive tape (to fix my loved big desktop LCD watch). The order was timely shipped. Then guess what? DK tracking reported exception. UPS tracking showed more details: US custom clearance passed. The package has moved over the ocean. EU custom clearance passed. The next strings looked a bit odd. "Contacted recipient or importer for clearance information" (no actual contacts were made). Finally, after some delay, the package was delivered. No idea for what it was. Perhaps the extended temp range looked suspiciously. As for the Scotch tape, it can also be used for tying multiple grenades together to make the weapon more deadly. Paranoia is now a pandemic illness.

[gaminn]

That was my previous order on Digikey - shipped via UPS with DDP (delivered duty paid) and I was contacted by UPS to clear the package myself at EU customs. So I refused the package and Digikey resent it several days after that, this time it was delvered. Five days delay approximatelly. Really, just nothing else than bad experience. But this current order, it seems it will beat all the previous ones...

[Bud]

Well, Fedex once billed me for something I did not order. Upon investigating it turned out the intended receiver was a person with exact same first and last name, living in a different city 20 miles away. Apparently Fedex did not bother matching the receipient name with the address when clearing the package at the border. 

[Njk]

But Digikey has one advantage. The order value threshold for free shipping is lower than that at Mouser

[schmitt trigger]

We once had some FPGAs sent to Texas, as the consultant that was developing the VHDL code for us lived there. But the order was placed from Mexico. The order also included some 0.1% tolerance resistors.
That triggered suspicion, and the order was rejected. Never got a clear explanation.
The only way we could get those components delivered was for the consultant to place the order himself with his personal card, and we later reimbursed him.

Hmmmm. So FPGAs are now used to make Fentanyl?

[thm_w]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/digikey-keeps-flagging-me-for-export-compliance/ maybe

[gaminn]

For my location, Digikey offers the same free shipping threshold as Mouser (both 50 EUR).

I don't know if I'm being flagged for export compliance. My other orders with digikey last year were some MCUs/FPGAs/CPLDs and these orders weren't delayed between order acceptance and shipping event. There are some stupid PTCs, LEDs and current shunt in this order.

I received no shipping notification yesterday so today, it is already 5th day of the delay without knowing the reason of the delay. No explanatory email, nothing...

[Psi]

What did you write in the digikey reason for export / declaration box when checking out?

If you don't fill it in, or put in something vague they tend to get annoyed at having to chase you up about it.

[tooki]

I had a DK order held for review a week ago. However, customer support was immediately able to tell me why: one item was waiting to be assigned an ECCN number. Without that, they can’t export it.

In my case, it was just some bootlace ferrules. I just told them to delete that item so the order can be released. It looks like it’s been assigned an ECCN now, so I guess I’ll order them on a future order.

[gaminn]

To be honest, I can't remember what I filled in the "application" field. But I don't think that it was "aerospace", "nuclear energy", "military" or similar sensitive field.

I again contacted Digikey customer support and now at least I know the reason "The order has to be reviewed for necessary export information." Unfortunately, the team is not in office during weekends and the customer support will send an email to the team to urge my order. Do they really communicate about customer orders via emails or is it a joke?

UPDATE: After another hour, I received "PO Acknowledgement for Digi-Key Salesorder". So obviously the team was in office

These are their notes in the "PO Acknowledgement"

09-JUL-2024 07:06 ABG3 RECEIVED W/C FROM JOHN SMITH FOR ORDER STAUS INFRM THE S BEING REVIEWED BY THE INTERNAL TEAM. ONCE THE VERIFIACTION IS DONE WE AILL
PROCESS THE ORDER.
11-JUL-2024 07:29 AAVY JOHN SMITH W/C ABOUT ORDER. REPLY BEING REVIEWED BY THE INTERNAL TEAM
13-JUL-2024 13:35 A8GZ RECVD W/C FRM JOHN SMITH FOR STATUS. JOHN IS VERY UPSET ORDER HAS NOT SHIPPED.

[tooki]

Do they really communicate about customer orders via emails or is it a joke?

Why wouldn’t they? Large organizations have been known to use email from time to time.

[gaminn]

Do they also print and pass to other departments tons of papers about every order they receive like in good old times? I mean, I uderstand they are not able to ship quickly if it works like that... Anyway, I'm glad that at least the email works at digikey.

[tggzzz]

Do they also print and pass to other departments tons of papers about every order they receive like in good old times? I mean, I uderstand they are not able to ship quickly if it works like that... Anyway, I'm glad that at least the email works at digikey.

There may be a legal requirement for visible traceability. Email would be better than some internal-only application.

[SiliconWizard]

From the above notes, you can tell that DK employees must be as annoyed by the situation, if not more, than customers. That just gives them more work (for probably the same salary), pending orders that are hard to clear, and angry customers to deal with. Must not be a ton of fun.

[Daixiwen]

My last order with Digikey was weird. I also used UPS shipping with DDP (delivered duty paid) to avoid the UPS customs fee. In the cart I could see both the shipping cost and the tax, but when I qualified for free shipping I got free tax too! It looks like a bug on the website.

Two months later I'm still waiting for a bill from either Digikey or UPS for the import tax but I haven't received anything.
The delivery itself only took a few days but I didn't order any component that would trigger any alarms.

[Daixiwen]

It looks like the bug is still here. Is it specific for my country or is it the same everywhere?
For them it seems that the VAT is part of the shipping, so when shipping is free, the VAT goes away too

[thm_w]

From the above notes, you can tell that DK employees must be as annoyed by the situation, if not more, than customers. That just gives them more work (for probably the same salary), pending orders that are hard to clear, and angry customers to deal with. Must not be a ton of fun.

Yeah don't get upset at customer service off the bat, most of the time its just some policy or process they have no control or input on.

It looks like the bug is still here. Is it specific for my country or is it the same everywhere?
For them it seems that the VAT is part of the shipping, so when shipping is free, the VAT goes away too

It can be already covered in the item price itself, and they kind of hide it from you, for your 1N5339 example you can see DKK price is already inflated:
- $6.85 USD 1pc on .com
- 72.47 DKK or $10.58 USD
- $9.91 CAD or $7.21 USD

54% markup easily covers the 25% VAT. May still be a bug though.

[Daixiwen]

It was Norwegian crowns and 72.47 NOK is in fact about $6.69
I get the same problem if I select USD as currency. The VAT disappears when I get free shipping. It's really weird

[digger]

this happens to me even as a US customer. i only order from them as a last resort.
in my case, it gets held up in accounting for manual review (which takes many days unless i harass them) because it gets automatically flagged as fraud.

i asked a CSR if he could promote me to "real user" status instead of clownpenis account holder, but he said it was not within his power.

i suggest hounding their customer support daily starting from day 1 of being stuck in review. just preemptively do it every time. if you are able to be awake during their normal hours of operation, you can use their web chat, explain your problem a couple of times until you are transferred to the correct department, and then basically force one of them to review it for you. this skips you to the front of the line.

[thm_w]

It was Norwegian crowns and 72.47 NOK is in fact about $6.69
I get the same problem if I select USD as currency. The VAT disappears when I get free shipping. It's really weird

oh thats definitely a bug in your favor then, surprising.

[SiliconWizard]

It was Norwegian crowns and 72.47 NOK is in fact about $6.69
I get the same problem if I select USD as currency. The VAT disappears when I get free shipping. It's really weird

oh thats definitely a bug in your favor then, surprising.

It is surprising, but don't you get to pay VAT to the shipping company/local post anyway when you receive the goods, if it hasn't been pre-paid before shipping? I'd very much doubt you can escape VAT.

[Daixiwen]

It is surprising, but don't you get to pay VAT to the shipping company/local post anyway when you receive the goods, if it hasn't been pre-paid before shipping? I'd very much doubt you can escape VAT.

I was certain I would receive a bill from UPS with the VAT, but it has been almost a month now, and still nothing... I'll tell you if I receive it one day!