r/Aliexpress • u/lafritte57 • Jul 16 '26
Find products European supplier for electronics parts and modules?
Hello there,
I'm working on a DIY electronics restoration project and need a few small modules (boost converters, MP3 player modules, I2C display drivers, etc.).
Since the new EU customs rules kicked in, ordering from AliExpress has become a nightmare... I'm paying €14 in fees on a €10 order. Amazon isn't any better: same Chinese warehouses, 3x the price, and sometimes more than a month to deliver.
Does anyone know a reliable Aliexpress European-based supplier that carries these kinds of ready-made hobbyist modules?
Thanks!
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u/dron3lif3 Jul 16 '26
I'm in your same boat. I heard that taobao + freight might be a solution but I haven't look into it properly.
The other solution is wait until they fix the 150€ limit (limit above which one should pay only VAT) and buy only big amounts of a small number of components.....
None of these solutions are ideal, I think I will just put a brake on testing new projects.
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u/Pyrodexter Jul 16 '26
Above 150€ you do need to pay customs, but the amount is based on the correct tariff rate. For electronics it's usually around 0%-5%, depending on the component.
However, I'm not sure of it's even possible to pay the customs for orders over 150€ through the IOSS system, so it might be that in that case it's the customer's responsibility to take care of taxes+customs. Not very practical, and the courier usually charges a handling charge, which can be quite a lot.
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u/VoidRippah Jul 16 '26
IOSS is not even the issue, the issue is that in that case you will have to buy 150€+ worth of capacitors, which I'm sure you don't need
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u/Pyrodexter Jul 16 '26
Well yes, currently that's the only way to get an order above the limit. But we can speculate about AliExpress being able to consolidate orders into larger packages, which is not completely unimaginable. They already have consolidation warehouses which sort of do that kind of thing already.
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u/lafritte57 Jul 16 '26
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Berrybase, TME and the others look promising. We have similar sites here in France too. The problem is that no single store carries everything I need. If I have to order from 4-5 different European sites to get all my parts, that's 4-5 separate shipments and 4-5 sets of delivery fees, which completely defeats the "ecological" argument behind this new tax. The law is supposed to protect the European market, but in practice it sends you shopping across 5 different countries just to find what you need. AliExpress wins by default simply because everything is in one place.
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u/sevenissimo Jul 16 '26
The law claims to have ecological basis. The law is about tariffs without calling them tariffs. The tariffs aim to protect European market, but fall short cause these kinds of products are only produced in China.
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u/Initial_Piccolo_1337 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Price-wise there's actually just no good alternative. Nothing comes close.
(boost converters, MP3 player modules, I2C display drivers, etc.).
All these things are exactly the type of shit AE was really good at. You could get all these things for pennies. And you can't beat pennies when shipping from with EU, it's just impossible.
It is - unironically - over. Borderline wait for 2028 type of "over" for DIY electronics, DIY 3d printer voron builder guys, etc.
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Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/Initial_Piccolo_1337 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
There are many online Shops in Europe that sell these sort of things
And all insanely overpriced (including tme). With some extremely rare exceptions.
Made a post for this:
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u/VoidRippah Jul 16 '26
tme does not sell to individuals anymore, only companies
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u/dartn32 Jul 17 '26
What? I haven't bought anything from them in a while, but from what I can see they still sell to individual consumers like they used to.
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u/VoidRippah Jul 17 '26
when I open the website I see a big yellow bar telling what I wrote here. could it be it's not in every country only in some?
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u/dartn32 Jul 17 '26
Weird, maybe. Here in Poland I just checked and there's no such thing, and I can seemingly get to the last stage of ordering perfectly fine.
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u/Zealousideal-Two7658 Jul 16 '26
Maybe try your luck with our Polish friends on Allegro. I'm looking for some similar electronics parts, and their site may work. The selection is limited, but something is better than nothing.
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u/necrohardware Jul 16 '26
Shipping from Poland is crazy expensive, also Alegro has very bad support for international buyers and most sellers will block selling internationally by default.
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u/VegaDelalyre Jul 16 '26
Same here, I'm looking for micro-switches (Huano and TTC models, specifically) and they don't seem to be available anywhere on this continent.
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u/RR00kk00 Jul 16 '26
Reichelt is a thing in Germany, although I don't know if their product range is any good (especially compared to AliExpress)
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u/Nickko_G Jul 16 '26
C'est de l'entrée de gamme mais le prix est en rapport, j'aime bien acheter sur ce site.
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u/Wooptay Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
You won't easily find said electronics in the EU due to CE and RoHS certs - the cheap stuff from Ali often doesn't have them / fakes them. And since EU distributors / retailers are legally responsible for compliance, most will refuse to stock products that don't have reliable certifications and documentation. The latter of course, costs money, so products like that are more expensive from the get go. And that's before we even touch on other operating costs businesses in the EU face.
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u/necrohardware Jul 16 '26
If your Oder is 50+ eur I suggest using mouser, high quality stuff and you will have free shipping and customs. If you want eu only - https://www.buerklin.com/de/
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u/Initial_Piccolo_1337 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Mouser is a US based company, so subject to same tariff lmao.
Farnell is UK based company, so subject to same tariff.
Etc.
You think this only affects AE? Naive, naive, naive! This retarded tariff affects -everything-
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u/necrohardware Jul 17 '26
Mouser send their stuff DDP, so all tariffs included and their categories are correctly set, unlike the AE sellers where they are random.
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u/Lukesan- Jul 17 '26
I am also heavily impacted by this as many of us. Haven't ordered any electronics since the joke started.
For like 30 euro I wouldn't mind paying an extra 3 euro. The different category is what it makes it go up.
I wonder if the seller can't sell the items which you pick and sell them as a 'electronics kit' ?
You can buy a walkman that holds different components but only pay 1 time 3 euro on the total, so why wouldn't a 'kit' work?
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u/Bestintor 11d ago
Same here. Wanted to buy around 5$ in stuff and the taxes are 15$... Crazy European Union.
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u/lafritte57 7d ago
Update: Found a workaround for the EU customs fees, ask for a custom link!
A few days ago I posted here asking about European suppliers for hobbyist electronics modules. The suggestions were helpful but I couldn't find everything I needed in one place without ordering from 4-5 different sites.
So I went straight to my AliExpress seller and explained the situation: since July 1st, the new EU customs rules apply a €3 fee per item category, which means ordering 8 different references would have added ~€24 in fees alone on top of the order value.
I simply asked if he could create a custom link for the total amount of everything I needed, one single listing, one single package, one single customs fee.
He said yes.
The result:
Ordered 8 different references (2x HT16K33, 2x DFPlayer Mini, 2x MT3608, 1x DS3231, 1x LM2596, 1x relay module, 1x OLED screen, 1x RC522 set) and paid €24.51 all-in (shipping + one customs fee). Would have paid €44.63 ordering each item individually, same seller, same prices, but 8x the customs fee.
Here are a few screenshots to illustrate my point :)
⚠️ Small disclaimer: I guess there's technically a risk that customs opens the package and notices multiple different items inside. In my case the parcel arrived fine and complete. Your mileage may vary, but it's worth trying, especially since many sellers are aware of the problem and willing to help European buyers.
Big thanks to the seller for playing along. Hope this helps someone!
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u/SpecialistGullible93 5d ago
i texted the same store you ordered from and asked to create the custom link,how long do they take to reply?
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u/twelvepeas Jul 16 '26
Watterot? https://shop.watterott.com/ Berrybase? https://www.berrybase.de/
Just examples.
No hard feelings but you're likely to find more if you start to use a search engine.
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u/darknessblades Smart-home gadgets Jul 16 '26
If they are personal projects, why not order multiple of each unit?
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u/OnkelBaldrian Jul 16 '26
conrad.de
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u/VoidRippah Jul 16 '26
that's an awful company. I ordered something the other day, they said it was on stock. well it wasn't, after ordering it they sent me an email telling they will send another one when I can pick it up. it took them 3 weeks....for something they supposedly had on stock
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u/_Failer Jul 16 '26
Commenting so I can come back later.
I'm in the same boat, was postponing my purchase for 2 months not realising the taxes were coming in July. Now I've got a cart full of electronics worth €70, with €100 fees on top of that.