Oh well . . .

[paul.creedy]

I sold a couple of pedals yesterday and thought I'd put a little of the money into filling up some of my parts boxes, partly inspired by seeing a discount code for Tayda.

I started putting the order together last night and finished off just now.

A lot cheaper than I expected based on some of my locally sourced orders, so I was very pleased.

It was only when the confirmation email arrived that it occurred to me that I'd forgotten to use the discount code . . .

[Mark Hammer]

"Did you pack the kids' bathing suits?"
"I thought YOU packed them."
"Well then you're going to have to explain to them why they can't go swimming on this trip."

[paul.creedy]

Now you've reminded me of the time I drove 4 hours to my parents' for Christmas, leaving their presents at home.

[Ben N]

Thank you, Paul. You just made sure I didn't forget the discount code on the order I've been waiting to place for three weeks.

[paul.creedy]

Happy to be of help, even if it was at my expense

(I didn't spend that much, but it would have covered the postage).

[paul.creedy]

How long do Tayda orders take as a rule ?

12 days so far and all the tracking says is that the package has left Thailand on its way to the UK.

I'm not in a great rush, but as I've had stuff from China in half the time, I'm wondering how long to expect it to take.

[bluebunny]

How long do Tayda orders take as a rule ?

12 days so far

About 13 days.   

Unless you choose the courier option (don't - you'll get stung for duty and VAT), then sit back and relax for about a fortnight.

[paul.creedy]

Thanks for that - I shall relax (not that I do much else) and see what the postie brings, hopefully in the next few days.

I've got enough stuff here to keep me busy for a month or two anyway just finishing up a double HLA in one enclosure (to see what happens).

[PRR]

> 12 days so far and all the tracking says is...

If it went by ship or low-priority air: there's *no* tracking until the package clears Customs at LaGuardia/Heathrow. Even then the tracking may not transfer to USPS/Royal Mail until long after it hits your house.

> I've had stuff from China in half the time

China has a special deal. Small-mail packages go on China Air; I have tracked the plane. 2 days truck across China, 8 hours over the pole, then many untracked days in Customs. If everything works right, this can be less than a week.

[dschwartz]

I've had issues with Newark element 14..
I made a small order and the shipping fee was almost U$200!!! Of course i didn't check out..
They need to improve their shipping calculation.

[paul.creedy]

Update: tracking has finally changed, to indicate that the package is somewhere in the UK.

If I read the details optimistically, it passed through Langley HWDC in three hours, which would be remarkable as things that enter Langley can sometimes be there for weeks.

All being well, I might see it this week.

[paul.creedy]

. . . what amuses me most is that unless I check my emails  I have no idea what I ordered, so it'll be like Christmas Day when it gets here

[garyg]

. . . what amuses me most is that unless I check my emails  I have no idea what I ordered, so it'll be like Christmas Day when it gets here

Been there... usually with semiconductors, wondering which project I had in mind when I ordered them...

[vigilante397]

I started paying extra for the DHL shipping from Tayda, not sure if they have the option for UK though. It usually costs me an extra $5-10 shipping but I usually get my orders in less than a week, and since I literally don't have any other hobbies it's nice to not have to wait as long

[italianguy63]

I use DHL on my orders out of Hong Kong.. usually only an extra $2 or so... Much faster, however, I have to be available to sign for delivery (or do it online).

[bluebunny]

I started paying extra for the DHL shipping from Tayda, not sure if they have the option for UK though.

It is an option, but as soon as you use a courier, they can be a bit over-zealous in the collection of duties* on behalf of HMRC (and applying their "fee").  The post office, on the other hand, are a little more relaxed - unless your order is obviously high-value.  My modest ca. $20-40 Tayda orders all come in under the radar.

(Edit: * I should have said "VAT", which is payable on anything above £15, including shipping.  Duty isn't payable until you hit £135 - and then VAT is applied on top of that.)

[Mark Hammer]

My orders generally take between 2 and 4 weeks.  I have no idea how much of that is transit, and how much might be delay in shipping as they wait for inventory to arrive.

Sometimes the stuff arrives with postmarks from Germany, and sometimes from Singapore or somewhere else in S.E. Asia.  I gather this is a result of inflection points in various countries' parcel post rates, whether according to physical size or weight or some combination. 

There was a controversy here in Canada some years back when local subscribers to Canadian Geographic magazine (published here in town) learned that their subscription was moved with all other copies by boat to Columbia, and mailed from Columbia to Canada; thousands of kilometers to travel what ought to have been a few kilometers locally.  The reason was that, at that time, Columbian international postage rates for magazines were much cheaper than Canada's.  And, once international mail arrives in this country, Canada Post is obligated by international agreements to deliver it without any additional charge.

[Ben N]

My experience in Israel is close to Mark's - usually, 3-4 weeks, sometimes a little sooner.

[paul.creedy]

It arrived

The only negative thought I have is that everything is in hideous pink strip seal bags, other than that it's all good.

I'm always amused by the scale of things - an order of 500+ items should need a box as big as my head, not a smallish jiffy bag !

[Mark Hammer]

You're complaining about bubble wrap?  Sometimes, that's the very best part!

What I don't get is how a couple of resistors warrant their own little labelled plastic bag.  I have bags of bags of bags lying around.  The medium-sized ones are often handy for sticking unfinished/underpopulated or unwired boards into for future resurrection.  I'll have bursts of etching and/or building that result in boards which are at risk of being unidentifiable a year or two later.  The accumulated volume of such boards over the years (4 bins and counting) makes it VERY helpful to have the bags labelled in large marker titles with their contents, so that I can sift through a bin quickly, when looking for a specific board.