Special UK quality

Is it just me or do others find this kind of thing annoying? I thought it might be a good idea to get a PCF8574T I2C I/O expander as a little add-on to the home control system, so you could plug it into, say GPIO4 and GPIO5, losing 2 outputs – and gain 8 – net gain 6 outputs…

So off I went to Ebay – and clearly being a Brit I’d like to support British companies.  I wonder what extra value the UK version would bring? I’m currently in Spain as many of you know.. aside from customs (which would not apply at this price) and tracking…

Chinese version (and not untypical pricing).

Chinese PCF8574T

UK version (not seeing any extra gold-plating).

UK PCF8574T

Not surprisingly I’ll be ordering from China – keep eyes peeled in a couple of weeks or so for blog updates on this.

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10 thoughts on “Special UK quality

  1. i2с expanders good for PWM in real time. As a cheaper alternative to control the output and input reading, I recommend the use of shift registers 74hc164 74hc595. Managing SPI, but it is possible and only 2 conclusions to reads Data Clock 595, for 164 need 3 io. 595 registers the output current of 40 mA per output. Entry tolerant 3V3. Scalability. It’s cheaper than the cost i2c, when mass production is important.

  2. Posting the items from China to the UK costs around 40p, posting in reverse from the UK to China is £3.35

    Chinese prices are automatically 20% cheaper due to them all being gifts.

    China doesn’t have minimum wage.

    Components in china are extremely cheap and 99% clones.

    Those PCF9574T’s will likely cost 10p in bulk, but only to Chinese people, the western price is likely much higher.

    I really don’t see what the problem is, if you want it fast you pay a premium, and help out a business in the UK. A business that will have higher expenses than someone in China.

    1. The trouble is – The UK company is just a reseller.
      They dont make them, design them, or produce them….
      They just buy and sell…

      Personally, i feel like most of the time, buying from china is the more “ethical” thing to do… at least the money is going to the source, not the reseller….

  3. As others have already mentioned the UK price reflects the reduced wait time. The inflated price doesn’t usually bother me because it’s my choice. I can choose to wait or choose to pay extra. I checked the item in the UK and it’s “free postage” so I can only assume the postage reflects the price to get it to you in Spain.

    1. It does – which makes one think – where are the Spanish going to get their stuff from – the UK our China – our loss I guess.

  4. Typical I want it now markup is OK on the price but look at the postage. Free from China, £8.21 internally in the UK.

    It’s no wonder you can’t see the gold plating yet Pete. You need to order one, it’s on the packaging!

    Simon

    1. That will be the postage from UK -> Spain where Pete is currently. It’s free P&P within UK.

  5. The usual ‘I want it now’ mark-up.

    I needed a slightly-not-run-of-the-mill PWM chip to fix a switch mode PSU (no hurry), and I had the choice to buy one in the UK or 10 from a known-good source ol AliExpress for the same price inc postage. The PSU is now fixed so I guess I could test each chip and put, say, 7 on eBay for a healthy mark-up!

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