CPC vs Farnell?
adrian
Just spend a happy few hours rippint two thick layers of paint off our
wooden front gates. Seems that they were 2nd-hand when the guy that
biult the house reused them for our gates - they'd already been
varnished, then he slapped a coat of some unknown paint on top of the
avrnish, and then we unwittingly put our own coat of paint on top of
that lot.
Of course - the rains's got in - and now the whole lot needs to come off
- before applying the microporous preserver...
Anyway - turns out the best tool for the stripping was one of those
'Flap wheels' that goes into an electric drill. Found one at the back of
a cupboard <g> - and it's done the job well.. - covered me in ground-up
gerrn & gery paint - Incredible Hulk, anybody ?<g>
Went looking on CPC for a replacement flap wheel (CPC are ideal because
they'll deliver to us out here in South-West ireland without charging
silly prices for P&P). They'd only got a few wheels.
Now - I'd always thought tha CPC and Farnell were very much the same
company - but a search on Farnell's website showed a much wider range of
flapwheels - even though the website looked very much like the CPC one -
just rebadged..
So - what's the deal ? - anybody use both and prefer one over the other?
Thanks
Adrian
Bob Minchin
CPC, Farnell and Buck & Hickman all part of the farnell group and have
some overlap in stock but their individual pricing and discount structures.
Just like castorama, Brico depot, B&Q, screwfix and trade depot are all
one group
Travis perkins, toolstation, trade counter the same applies.
It is what a large business does. They form different outlets to suit
various customer sectors.
Buy from whoever you feel comfortable with.
Bob
Mike Tomlinson
glass.com> writes
>So - what's the deal ? - anybody use both and prefer one over the other?
I think Farnell took over CPC, and it's a matter of branding. It seems
to me that CPC is aimed at the Maplin crowd (bling 'n' crap) and Farnell
are more aimed at the RS crowd.
You can always find the same stuff on Farnell that you can on CPC, and
vice versa. It sometimes requires some fiddling with order codes.
Prices are usually about the same. The people on the phone are usually
helpful if you can't find something on Farnell that you can on CPC or
vice versa.
Not much in it I think - just go on price.
--
(\__/)
(='.'=) Bunny says Windows 7 is Vi$ta reloaded.
(")_(") http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/windows_7.png
BigGirlsBlouse
"adrian" <adr...@inspired-glass.com> wrote in message
news:gu6i3a$4gd$1...@news.motzarella.org...
as someone else has said they are both part of the farnell group.
they do appeal to different customers tho.... in my job I have to instal dab
radios and CPC have a very good range... FEC have none. Also, service kits
for various electronic equipme t are provided by CPC, but not by FEC.
The other problem we have as a company is that CPC do not send an invoice...
the delivery note doubles as an invoice which is fine for private buyers but
not for companies with separate invoice depts.
John Rumm
> The other problem we have as a company is that CPC do not send an
> invoice... the delivery note doubles as an invoice which is fine for
> private buyers but not for companies with separate invoice depts.
To be fair they do send a proper invoice - stapled to the delivery note
usually. The tricky thing is you can't get them to send that to a
different place from the goods.
--
Cheers,
John.
/=================================================================\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\=================================================================/
Bob Eager
wrote:
> Anyway - turns out the best tool for the stripping was one of those
> 'Flap wheels' that goes into an electric drill. Found one at the back of
> a cupboard <g> - and it's done the job well.. - covered me in ground-up
> gerrn & gery paint - Incredible Hulk, anybody ?<g>
>
> Went looking on CPC for a replacement flap wheel (CPC are ideal because
> they'll deliver to us out here in South-West ireland without charging
> silly prices for P&P). They'd only got a few wheels.
>
> Now - I'd always thought tha CPC and Farnell were very much the same
> company - but a search on Farnell's website showed a much wider range of
> flapwheels - even though the website looked very much like the CPC one -
> just rebadged..
The product ranges are very different, although they overlap quite a
bit. CPC are aimed at supplying consumers and small electrical shops,
etc. Farnell are more 'trade' (well, electronics trade) based.
For example, I buy loads of different stuff from CPC (but avoid anything
too fragile, given the monkeys in their packing department). From
Farnell, I buy stuff such as hard to find chips (e.g. a rare UART and
hard to find static RAM, recently).
CPC have no minimum order, but a small order charge, etc. Unless you
have an account, there is a minimum order at Farnell of 20 quid, which
you *have* to spend. But at basic carriage level, carriage is then free.
They both use UPS fro delivery but I think the default Farnell service
is 'next day' (which it isn't for CPC, although most times the stuff
does arrive next day).
--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com
adrian
Thanks for the explanation....
I did notice the minimum order on Farnell (which seems to be 35euro - so
hopefully that would include 'free' delivery to Ireland).
I've requested a printed catalogue - so we'll see what turns up...
I like the CPC == Maplins / Farnell == RS analogy -
The good thing about CPC (putting their tendency to 'bling' aside!) is
that their delivery rates to Ireland are very reasonable. Lots of UK
suppliers (especially the eBay ones) seem to think that Ireland is just
next door ot Outer Mongolia - and charge crazy prices for delivery...
Another catalogue to read in bed - sad or what <g>??
Thanks guys
Adrian
Andrew Gabriel
John Rumm <see.my.s...@nowhere.null> writes:
> BigGirlsBlouse wrote:
>
>> The other problem we have as a company is that CPC do not send an
>> invoice... the delivery note doubles as an invoice which is fine for
>> private buyers but not for companies with separate invoice depts.
>
> To be fair they do send a proper invoice - stapled to the delivery note
> usually. The tricky thing is you can't get them to send that to a
> different place from the goods.
If you have an account, you get a monthly invoice, which goes to
a different address (or can do). The trouble with that one is that
it only has their invoice numbers on it, and not your purchase
order number, which most accounts departments require in order to
make a payment.
They do at least seem to have sorted out receiving BACS payments
for last couple of years. At one time, they didn't automatically
reconcile received BACS payments with accounts, until they'd
sent you a nastygram for non-payment, and you had to ring up
and get Accounts to crawl back through their BACS receipts to
find the payment you'd made months before.
--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]
Andrew Gabriel
adrian <adr...@inspired-glass.com> writes:
>
> Thanks for the explanation....
>
> I did notice the minimum order on Farnell (which seems to be 35euro - so
> hopefully that would include 'free' delivery to Ireland).
>
> I've requested a printed catalogue - so we'll see what turns up...
The Farnell one is a boxed 3-set.
CPC is just one, albeit big. (They used to do a separate
White Goods catalogue, but that seemed to stop about 8 years
ago and you have to ring up for White Goods spares now.)
Clive
What was the question?
geoff
<b...@tesconet.com> writes
>The other problem we have as a company is that CPC do not send an
>invoice... the delivery note doubles as an invoice which is fine for
>private buyers but not for companies with separate invoice depts.
You mean ...
You have to separate the del note and invoice and forward it ?
My heart bleeds
We manage it here
--
geoff
Mike Tomlinson
writes
>What was the question?
Not the brightest bulb in the box, are you "Clive" (aka Rob the Tiscali
Idiot, troll extraordinaire) ?
BigGirlsBlouse
"geoff" <ra...@kateda.org> wrote in message
news:YT0NkROY...@demon.co.uk...
the problem is that the individual customer of a large company receives the
goods but does not realise that the invoice is attached..does not forward to
invoice dept and the company eventually gets put on block for none
payment.... given up using CPC cos good never arrived because we were on
block and never informed of same!
John Rumm
Its also a bit annoying when you want to drop ship something to a
customer. You then need to get them to forward the invoice back to you,
and it also discloses your markup.
neverwas
> Its also a bit annoying when you want to drop ship something to a
> customer. You then need to get them to forward the invoice back to
> you, and it also discloses your markup.
>
Some of us might applaud them for spreading transparency from MPs'
expenses to traders' mark-ups :)
--
R
John Rumm
Well MPs might survive without their markups, but traders kind of depend
on them!
Man at B&Q
> In article <gu6i3a$4g...@news.motzarella.org>, adrian <adrian@inspired-
> glass.com> writes
>
> >So - what's the deal ? - anybody use both and prefer one over the other?
>
> I think Farnell took over CPC, and it's a matter of branding. It seems
> to me that CPC is aimed at the Maplin crowd (bling 'n' crap) and Farnell
> are more aimed at the RS crowd.
>
> You can always find the same stuff on Farnell that you can on CPC, and
> vice versa. It sometimes requires some fiddling with order codes.
> Prices are usually about the same.
But often cheaper at Farnell.
Man at B&Q
"Are you genuinely a twat?"
Mike Harrison
>On May 10, 2:24�pm, Mike Tomlinson <m...@jasper.org.uk> wrote:
>> In article <gu6i3a$4g...@news.motzarella.org>, adrian <adrian@inspired-
>> glass.com> writes
>>
>> >So - what's the deal ? - anybody use both and prefer one over the other?
>>
>> I think Farnell took over CPC, and it's a matter of branding. �It seems
>> to me that CPC is aimed at the Maplin crowd (bling 'n' crap) and Farnell
>> are more aimed at the RS crowd. �
CPC started off specialising in the TV etc. repair parts business, and have diversified from there,
including Maplin type toys etc.. They still do quite a lot of replacement parts for consumer
electronics, & white goods etc. and have a massive range of AV accessories, cables, connectors etc.
Some of their 'gadget' type stuff does occasionally seem to escape into the Farnell catalogue.
>> You can always find the same stuff on Farnell that you can on CPC, and
>> vice versa. �It sometimes requires some fiddling with order codes.
>> Prices are usually about the same.
Although there is some overlap, there is a lot of stuff only available from one of them - I
frequently order from both at the same time. I have had stuff come from Farnell in CPC prepacks..
>But often cheaper at Farnell.
I'd disagree on this - IME (mostly components, connectors etc.) CPC are (and have always been since
before Farnell bought them) generally cheaper for identical and similar items, but it's always worth
comparing.
CPC have always been less good at packing heavy/fragile items (I've had lead-acid UPS batteries
arrive un-padded in one of their flimsy cardboard cartons). Things like components also tend to come
in individual bags, which can be a PITA if you need a lot of something.
My general order of pricing in ascending order is :
Rapid
CPC
Farnell
RS
And CPC's min order for free shipping is higher - �45 I think at the mo - Can't remember what
Farnell's is as I buy so much from them I get free shipping on all orders.
Andrew Gabriel
Mike Harrison <mi...@whitewing.co.uk> writes:
>
> Although there is some overlap, there is a lot of stuff only available from one of them - I
> frequently order from both at the same time. I have had stuff come from Farnell in CPC prepacks..
I've had the reverse.
> CPC have always been less good at packing heavy/fragile items (I've had lead-acid UPS batteries
> arrive un-padded in one of their flimsy cardboard cartons). Things like components also tend to come
> in individual bags, which can be a PITA if you need a lot of something.
This is a running joke in the office. First time this happened, someone
had ordered a bulk load of D batteries, and in the same order were a
set of those terrible tubular filament lamps. As we collected the box,
the batteries were rolling around loose inside and powdered glass was
streaming out of the corners...
I ordered about 10 T4 fluorescent tubes. Someone thoughtfully wrapped
them all in bubblewrap, and then bound them in the middle with sellotape,
so tightly that all the tubes were snapped in half.
Often boxes arrive burst open, but remarkably few have actually lost
any contents. I did have one I was watching on the UPS tracker, which
suddenly changed to "burst, leaking, returned"! It included a 5 litre
container of screen wash concentrate, so I'll bet that was fun in the
back of the UPS van.
Now, each time someone says they need a light bulb, several others
around the office chip in with needing 40 D cells, or similar...
But we still use them.
Bob Eager
wrote:
> Although there is some overlap, there is a lot of stuff only available from one of them - I
> frequently order from both at the same time. I have had stuff come from Farnell in CPC prepacks..
I've had stuff come from CPC with Farnell labelling...!
> CPC have always been less good at packing heavy/fragile items (I've had lead-acid UPS batteries
> arrive un-padded in one of their flimsy cardboard cartons). Things like components also tend to come
> in individual bags, which can be a PITA if you need a lot of something.
They've recently promised to do something about the bags. But to expand
on my earlier comment about monkeys in the packing department...on more
than one occasion I've received a large box, with all the stuff in the
bottom and a load of the air-filled plastic bags. One of the items
rattling around was a hard disk - in nothing but its antistatic bag.
That's happened too many times (despite complaints, mostly ignored) for
me to buy fragile items any more.
> My general order of pricing in ascending order is :
> Rapid
> CPC
> Farnell
> RS
I agree.
> And CPC's min order for free shipping is higher - £45 I think at the mo - Can't remember what
> Farnell's is as I buy so much from them I get free shipping on all orders.
If you buy 'cash', it's min order 20 quid, and free shipping always.
My favourite for components now has to be Digi-Key. Order in morning of
Day 1, delivery in morning of Day 3 (shipped by air from Minnesota).
Carriage flat rate 12 quid, free if you spend 50 quid. Pay VAT (and
that's all) on delivery.
Mike Tomlinson
<rd...@spamcop.net> writes
>My favourite for components now has to be Digi-Key.
We (uni dept.) won't use them 'cos of catalogue spam.
We made ONE test purchase to see what they were like and since then have
been inundated with their bloody catalogues addressed to whoever's-name-
they-can-find at our office address. Currently, we receive about a
dozen hefty paper catalogues every six months, all of which go straight
into recycling. All calls asking for the deliveries of catalogues to
stop are ignored.
I WILL NOT do business with spammers. End of.
Mike Harrison
For components, I'd agree Digikey are very good and have an unbeateble range, but the poorer
exchange rate now means that Farnell are now often cheaper - I just did a production order that a
year ago would have mostly gone to DK but now all I'm getting from them is the stuff Farnell don't
stock..
However Digikey have really taken their re-reeling service for produciton surface mount parts
seriously, with pretty much every line available whearas Farnell seem to have all but abandoned
theirs since it went free, with a pitifully small and seemingly static proportion of their range
available re-reeled.
Digikey's parametric search also blows away the competition (Farnell : poor data but mostly useable,
RS : useless), as the data has obviously been entered by someone who actually understands what it
means (e.g. 5V = 5v =5.0V = 5VDC etc.)
...If they'd only add 'sort by price' to their website.
I just can't figure out why they can't sort out this PITA business of collecting VAT via UPS - they
already do the (harder) import duty part, so why they can't just add the VAT to the invoice as well
is beyond me.
Tim S
(Farnell : poor data but mostly useable, RS : useless), as the
> data has obviously been entered by someone who actually understands what
> it means (e.g. 5V = 5v =5.0V = 5VDC etc.) ...If they'd only add 'sort by
> price' to their website.
I agree - was looking for 12v or 24v water valves the other day. Never seen
so many typos on "12v" - a bloody perl script with a basic regexp could
have pre filtered most of that into something sane during data input fairly
trivially.
At least with Farnell, you have combo boxes so multiple selection is
possible even if you do come across such problems.
Mike Harrison
Precisely - RS's data is just as bad as Farnell's but the inability to select multiple items renders
it mostly useless.
You wouldn't believe the number of times I've explained this to RS reps at exhibitions..... (along
with a request for the ability to filter by 'in stock') but they don't appear to pay much attention,
so Farnell continue to get most of my business.
The main problem with Farnell is where some parts have no entries in their parameter fields so they
get filtered out when they shouldn't.
Jules
>>My favourite for components now has to be Digi-Key.
>
> We (uni dept.) won't use them 'cos of catalogue spam.
>
> We made ONE test purchase to see what they were like and since then have
> been inundated with their bloody catalogues addressed to whoever's-name-
> they-can-find at our office address. Currently, we receive about a
> dozen hefty paper catalogues every six months, all of which go straight
> into recycling. All calls asking for the deliveries of catalogues to
> stop are ignored.
Did you try emailing them? I've dealt with them that way before and
they're helpful and prompt (at least for the US side). Plus they're based
only just up the road from me (relatively speaking) - so if needed I can
head up there and pick stuff up in person (not worth it due to fuel costs
for non-important stuff, but cheaper than same/next day)
cheers
Jules
geoff
<mi...@jasper.org.uk> writes
>In article <176uZD2KcidF-p...@rikki.tavi.co.uk>, Bob Eager
><rd...@spamcop.net> writes
>
>>My favourite for components now has to be Digi-Key.
>
>We (uni dept.) won't use them 'cos of catalogue spam.
>
>We made ONE test purchase to see what they were like and since then have
>been inundated with their bloody catalogues addressed to whoever's-name-
>they-can-find at our office address. Currently, we receive about a
>dozen hefty paper catalogues every six months, all of which go straight
>into recycling. All calls asking for the deliveries of catalogues to
>stop are ignored.
>
>I WILL NOT do business with spammers. End of.
>
--
geoff
Theo Markettos
> I'd disagree on this - IME (mostly components, connectors etc.) CPC are
> (and have always been since before Farnell bought them) generally cheaper
> for identical and similar items, but it's always worth comparing.
The biggest differences I've seen are for connectors. Farnell will sell you
a 0.1" header strip made by a brand name (Molex, Harwin, etc) for 10p/pin.
CPC will sell you an unbranded Chinese one for more like 2p/pin. Sometimes
it's useful to be able to buy a specific manufacturer's numbered part, and
that's where Farnell comes into its own, but not for basic things like this.
Theo
Man at B&Q
+n...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> Mike Harrison <m...@whitewing.co.uk> wrote:
> > I'd disagree on this - IME (mostly components, connectors etc.) CPC are
> > (and have always been since before Farnell bought them) generally cheaper
> > for identical and similar items, but it's always worth comparing.
Not my experience for identical components.
"Similar" is irrelevant. Farnell will be cheaper than Farnell for
"similar", but different, components.
>
> The biggest differences I've seen are for connectors. Farnell will sell you
> a 0.1" header strip made by a brand name (Molex, Harwin, etc) for 10p/pin.
> CPC will sell you an unbranded Chinese one for more like 2p/pin.
As above, that's simply not a valid comparison. There will always be
differences between brands.
> Sometimes
> it's useful to be able to buy a specific manufacturer's numbered part, and
> that's where Farnell comes into its own, but not for basic things like this.
You've obviously never worked in a real production environment with
proper quality control. Often its *essential* to be able to buy a
specific manufacturer's part number as that is all that has been
qualified to go into a particular product, or it's what the customer
specifies on the Bill of Materials. Unbranded chinese would certainly
not be acceptable without a lot of extra paperwork. Case in point are
some unbranded chinese LM317 that were unstable when used in the same
circuit as LM317 from, say, National, and required extra decoupling.
MBQ
webm...@digikey.com
>dozen hefty paper catalogues every six months, all of which go straight
>into recycling. All calls asking for the deliveries of catalogues to
>stop are ignored.
You can email webm...@digikey.com to be requested to be taken off
the catalog list. Just include your company and address. If you have
any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
whisky-dave
"Man at B&Q" <manat...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:b2dfa3f7-bf6e-4151...@e23g2000vbe.googlegroups.com...
--------------------------
I've usually found the opposite, I order via the name onecall and that is
basically
Farnell and CPC order codes.
http://onecall.farnell.com/jsp/search/results.jsp?N=411+561+401&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=426dlx&Ntx=&isGoback=false&isRedirect=false
As an example.
Fume extractor Xytronic 426DLX
Farnell 4683705 1 off �79.95
CPC SD00895 1 off �49.65
I emailed them and asked them why the price differnce and was told Farnell
have an extensive technical help deptartment.
So guess what I did......
although we have end colum pricing so get it for �35.
Yes it's a bit different but it looks sexier with those curves.
When I become an MP and get expenses I'll get them from Farnell and have
them
gold plated with my own initials and get them courier'd by naked virgins.
:-)
Mike Tomlinson
s.com>, webm...@digikey.com writes
>If you have
>any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
OK. Please tell me why a single test purchase, by one named person,
resulted in you sending unwanted catalogues to others in our department,
who most assuredly did not order them (including our secretary who gets
very upset by spam in all its forms)? Where did you get their names?
Why should I have to email Digi-key to decline catalogues we didn't ask
for? Why should we have to deal with a load of very bulky catalogues we
didn't ask for and don't want?
You're a bunch of bloody spammers, worse than email spammers in fact,
with all the paper you waste. Tell your "marketing" team to get a clue,
will you?
tony sayer
da...@final.front.ear> scribeth thus
>
>"Man at B&Q" <manat...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:b2dfa3f7-bf6e-4151...@e23g2000vbe.googlegroups.com...
>On May 10, 2:24 pm, Mike Tomlinson <m...@jasper.org.uk> wrote:
>> In article <gu6i3a$4g...@news.motzarella.org>, adrian <adrian@inspired-
>> glass.com> writes
>>
>> >So - what's the deal ? - anybody use both and prefer one over the other?
>>
>> I think Farnell took over CPC, and it's a matter of branding. It seems
>> to me that CPC is aimed at the Maplin crowd (bling 'n' crap) and Farnell
>> are more aimed at the RS crowd.
>>
>> You can always find the same stuff on Farnell that you can on CPC, and
>> vice versa. It sometimes requires some fiddling with order codes.
>> Prices are usually about the same.
>
>But often cheaper at Farnell.
>--------------------------
>
>I've usually found the opposite, I order via the name onecall and that is
>basically
>Farnell and CPC order codes.
>http://onecall.farnell.com/jsp/search/results.jsp?N=411+561+401&Ntk=gensearch_00
>1&Ntt=426dlx&Ntx=&isGoback=false&isRedirect=false
>
>As an example.
>
>Fume extractor Xytronic 426DLX
>Farnell 4683705 1 off �79.95
>CPC SD00895 1 off �49.65
Thats gone up to 61.30 plus VAT...
http://cpc.farnell.com/xytronic/426dlx/fume-extractor-426dlx/dp/SD00895?
_requestid=583446
>I emailed them and asked them why the price differnce and was told Farnell
>have an extensive technical help deptartment.
>
>So guess what I did......
>
>http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Fasteners-Production-Equipment/Soldering-
>Equipment/Fume-Extraction/Fume-extractor/81085/kw/fume+extractor
>
Http://www.rapidonline.com/searchresults.aspx?style=0&kw=Xytronic+426DLX
Indeed;))...
>although we have end colum pricing so get it for �35.
>Yes it's a bit different but it looks sexier with those curves.
>
>When I become an MP and get expenses I'll get them from Farnell and have
>them
>gold plated with my own initials and get them courier'd by naked virgins.
>:-)
>
Supplied by Russ Andrews no doubt;!...
>
>
>
>
--
Tony Sayer