IC on Digikey is 5x more expensive than board containing same IC on Alibaba: How?
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I built a prototype using an NFC board I bought from Alibaba for 1$ (https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/rfid-rc522.html).
It claims to use the NXP MFRC522 IC, and if I look on the board the chip has that part number and even the little NXP logo. It works like a charm on the prototype so now I'd like to build the NFC antenna into the product and use the same chip (I'll go through the antenna tuning/matching process).
The problem is this: If I want to buy this IC on Digikey, it costs $5.36 for QTY 1 and $3.61 for QTY 1,500 (https://www.digikey.com/products/en/rf-if-and-rfid/rfid-rf-access-monitoring-ics/880?k=rc522). The whole board from Alibaba which comes assembled with other passives and a crystal oscillator, along with 2 NFC tags and some headers, is about 1$.
How can this be possible? Is this just a result of economies of scale (are they really making this many generic NFC boards?) or are the ICs definitely clones? I'd love to be able to use the IC only and make my own PCB antenna, but jumping from 1$ to even $3.61 has a very significant effect on the overall cost of the product.
Does anyone know what justifies this huge price difference and how to deal with it as an electronics designer trying to keep costs low? Any advice is appreciated.
pcb pcb-design pcb-antenna nfc cost
asked 42 mins ago
MapleTronixMapleTronix
965
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I built a prototype using an NFC board I bought from Alibaba for 1$ (https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/rfid-rc522.html).
It claims to use the NXP MFRC522 IC, and if I look on the board the chip has that part number and even the little NXP logo. It works like a charm on the prototype so now I'd like to build the NFC antenna into the product and use the same chip (I'll go through the antenna tuning/matching process).
The problem is this: If I want to buy this IC on Digikey, it costs $5.36 for QTY 1 and $3.61 for QTY 1,500 (https://www.digikey.com/products/en/rf-if-and-rfid/rfid-rf-access-monitoring-ics/880?k=rc522). The whole board from Alibaba which comes assembled with other passives and a crystal oscillator, along with 2 NFC tags and some headers, is about 1$.
How can this be possible? Is this just a result of economies of scale (are they really making this many generic NFC boards?) or are the ICs definitely clones? I'd love to be able to use the IC only and make my own PCB antenna, but jumping from 1$ to even $3.61 has a very significant effect on the overall cost of the product.
Does anyone know what justifies this huge price difference and how to deal with it as an electronics designer trying to keep costs low? Any advice is appreciated.
pcb pcb-design pcb-antenna nfc cost
asked 42 mins ago
MapleTronixMapleTronix
965
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I built a prototype using an NFC board I bought from Alibaba for 1$ (https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/rfid-rc522.html).
It claims to use the NXP MFRC522 IC, and if I look on the board the chip has that part number and even the little NXP logo. It works like a charm on the prototype so now I'd like to build the NFC antenna into the product and use the same chip (I'll go through the antenna tuning/matching process).
The problem is this: If I want to buy this IC on Digikey, it costs $5.36 for QTY 1 and $3.61 for QTY 1,500 (https://www.digikey.com/products/en/rf-if-and-rfid/rfid-rf-access-monitoring-ics/880?k=rc522). The whole board from Alibaba which comes assembled with other passives and a crystal oscillator, along with 2 NFC tags and some headers, is about 1$.
How can this be possible? Is this just a result of economies of scale (are they really making this many generic NFC boards?) or are the ICs definitely clones? I'd love to be able to use the IC only and make my own PCB antenna, but jumping from 1$ to even $3.61 has a very significant effect on the overall cost of the product.
Does anyone know what justifies this huge price difference and how to deal with it as an electronics designer trying to keep costs low? Any advice is appreciated.
pcb pcb-design pcb-antenna nfc cost
asked 42 mins ago
MapleTronixMapleTronix
965
$endgroup$
I built a prototype using an NFC board I bought from Alibaba for 1$ (https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/rfid-rc522.html).
It claims to use the NXP MFRC522 IC, and if I look on the board the chip has that part number and even the little NXP logo. It works like a charm on the prototype so now I'd like to build the NFC antenna into the product and use the same chip (I'll go through the antenna tuning/matching process).
The problem is this: If I want to buy this IC on Digikey, it costs $5.36 for QTY 1 and $3.61 for QTY 1,500 (https://www.digikey.com/products/en/rf-if-and-rfid/rfid-rf-access-monitoring-ics/880?k=rc522). The whole board from Alibaba which comes assembled with other passives and a crystal oscillator, along with 2 NFC tags and some headers, is about 1$.
How can this be possible? Is this just a result of economies of scale (are they really making this many generic NFC boards?) or are the ICs definitely clones? I'd love to be able to use the IC only and make my own PCB antenna, but jumping from 1$ to even $3.61 has a very significant effect on the overall cost of the product.
Does anyone know what justifies this huge price difference and how to deal with it as an electronics designer trying to keep costs low? Any advice is appreciated.
pcb pcb-design pcb-antenna nfc cost
pcb pcb-design pcb-antenna nfc cost
asked 42 mins ago
MapleTronixMapleTronix
965
asked 42 mins ago
MapleTronixMapleTronix
965
asked 42 mins ago
MapleTronixMapleTronix
965
asked 42 mins ago
MapleTronixMapleTronix
965
asked 42 mins ago
MapleTronixMapleTronix
965
965
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
I would say that they are probably counterfeit,this is a well known problem when buying from china, you cant be sure that they are original unless you are buying from a trusted chinese supplier.
Most of the time they work alright if you are not pushing them to the spec limits,here are some links that can help you through this problem of chinese counterfeit IC and how to identify if what you are buying is fake
answered 25 mins ago
Lucas AlexandreLucas Alexandre
335313
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Digikey sources their parts from the makers and adds a retail mark up.
The alibaba seller takes remnants from someone's production run (or possibly salvaged parts, or if you're unlucky counterfeit parts) they don't pay full price.
answered 32 mins ago
JasenJasen
11.7k1531
$endgroup$
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
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active
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votes
$begingroup$
I would say that they are probably counterfeit,this is a well known problem when buying from china, you cant be sure that they are original unless you are buying from a trusted chinese supplier.
Most of the time they work alright if you are not pushing them to the spec limits,here are some links that can help you through this problem of chinese counterfeit IC and how to identify if what you are buying is fake
answered 25 mins ago
Lucas AlexandreLucas Alexandre
335313
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I would say that they are probably counterfeit,this is a well known problem when buying from china, you cant be sure that they are original unless you are buying from a trusted chinese supplier.
Most of the time they work alright if you are not pushing them to the spec limits,here are some links that can help you through this problem of chinese counterfeit IC and how to identify if what you are buying is fake
answered 25 mins ago
Lucas AlexandreLucas Alexandre
335313
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I would say that they are probably counterfeit,this is a well known problem when buying from china, you cant be sure that they are original unless you are buying from a trusted chinese supplier.
Most of the time they work alright if you are not pushing them to the spec limits,here are some links that can help you through this problem of chinese counterfeit IC and how to identify if what you are buying is fake
answered 25 mins ago
Lucas AlexandreLucas Alexandre
335313
$endgroup$
I would say that they are probably counterfeit,this is a well known problem when buying from china, you cant be sure that they are original unless you are buying from a trusted chinese supplier.
Most of the time they work alright if you are not pushing them to the spec limits,here are some links that can help you through this problem of chinese counterfeit IC and how to identify if what you are buying is fake
answered 25 mins ago
Lucas AlexandreLucas Alexandre
335313
answered 25 mins ago
Lucas AlexandreLucas Alexandre
335313
answered 25 mins ago
Lucas AlexandreLucas Alexandre
335313
answered 25 mins ago
Lucas AlexandreLucas Alexandre
335313
335313
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Digikey sources their parts from the makers and adds a retail mark up.
The alibaba seller takes remnants from someone's production run (or possibly salvaged parts, or if you're unlucky counterfeit parts) they don't pay full price.
answered 32 mins ago
JasenJasen
11.7k1531
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Digikey sources their parts from the makers and adds a retail mark up.
The alibaba seller takes remnants from someone's production run (or possibly salvaged parts, or if you're unlucky counterfeit parts) they don't pay full price.
answered 32 mins ago
JasenJasen
11.7k1531
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Digikey sources their parts from the makers and adds a retail mark up.
The alibaba seller takes remnants from someone's production run (or possibly salvaged parts, or if you're unlucky counterfeit parts) they don't pay full price.
answered 32 mins ago
JasenJasen
11.7k1531
$endgroup$
Digikey sources their parts from the makers and adds a retail mark up.
The alibaba seller takes remnants from someone's production run (or possibly salvaged parts, or if you're unlucky counterfeit parts) they don't pay full price.
answered 32 mins ago
JasenJasen
11.7k1531
answered 32 mins ago
JasenJasen
11.7k1531
answered 32 mins ago
JasenJasen
11.7k1531
answered 32 mins ago
JasenJasen
11.7k1531
11.7k1531
add a comment |
add a comment |
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