LCSC in China is much cheaper than normal franchised distributors

[peter-h]

I've known about that company for years and been using it for oddball stuff like LY68L6400, but have just noticed that they are about half the price for "normal" US chips like ADS1118, 1k+ qty.

It used to be the case that US names like Intel sold chips to Taiwan etc for far less than to normal users in W Europe, but that stopped years ago. Or at least one could not get a quote...

I am now looking at an APEM hex switch which we've been buying for 25 years: MDR-16H(AC-100G) replace the APEM switch PT65503L508, for half the price. It may be lower quality but it doesn't get a lot of use in this application...

How many people are buying from these sources? And what about counterfeiting risk? A lot of chips, like the ADS1118, seems very unlikely to be counterfeited due to the complex processing.

[janoc]

LCSC is a completely legit distributor (it is the same company as JLCPCB/EasyEDA).

They stock both western parts (for +/- the same prices as here) - but also a lot of Asian (mostly Chinese) production that is a lot cheaper and typically not available in the West (beyond places like Alibaba/AliExpress). That's why they can be a lot cheaper. So you can buy a onsemi BC546 for 12 cents/piece there - or the same transistor from one of the Chinese manufacturers for 1 cent/piece.

If you are fine with the quality there is no reason to not use them for one offs. If you need long term availability of some parts there you need to do your homework - the Chinese manufacturers are often gone within a few months or the product you used is discontinued without much notice.

Of course, any customer service issues and shipping costs/VAT/customs can be more complicated given that they are in China (not Shenzen like JLCPCB - I believe LCSC has its warehouse just across the border) and they don't participate in the EU IOSS VAT system.

[peter-h]

What I was getting at is how can LCSC sell an ADS1118 for half the price of the Western distis?

The above is not true for all and e.g. an STM32F417VGT6 is no cheaper than distis here. But for an awful lot of "US made" parts LCSC is a lot cheaper.

[BrianHG]

The price seems to be the same as many other distributors, see here:
https://www.findchips.com/search/ADS1118

Only low quantity Newark / Digikey / Mouser and Arrow pricing is messed up...
Actually, Arrow isn't too terrible.

All the other distributors are inline with LCSC.

But it is a TI part, why not buy it directly from TI.com.  It is the cheapest there...
Something like $1.91 each, though you need to buy quantity.

Well, you cannot beat 10pcs from LCSC at $1.26 each if you are willing to wait the extra 10 days for a marketplace purchase.

[BrianHG]

Super cheap, $1.22 each, one by one: https://www.ntemall.com/productdetail/ADS1118IDGSR_75814-4

[squadchannel]

best to purchase directly from TI.
It is good that individuals can purchase from one piece. but it is best to purchase several at once.

[squadchannel]

The reason for the low price is considered to be NOS goods.
There are many items on the market that were purchased in large quantities but are no longer in use. LCSC also deals with these kinds of items.
Therefore, the date code maybe old or the revision maybe earlier.
In terms of soldering, the terminals may be oxidized and not solderable.

[chickenHeadKnob]

The reason for the low price is considered to be NOS goods.
There are many items on the market that were purchased in large quantities but are no longer in use. LCSC also deals with these kinds of items.
Therefore, the date code maybe old or the revision maybe earlier.
In terms of soldering, the terminals may be oxidized and not solderable.

The problem with using LCSC as a reliable supplier is that they list parts with decent quantity and then they go out of stock never to be re-stocked, so it must be squadchannel writes. The only type of parts that consistently stock are jelly-bean Chinese originals or copies of western jelly-beans. Also they have started that market-place third party non-sense now, God only knows if any of those parts are genuine.   

[client]

because those chips were made packaged and tested in local China mainland.