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Using Farnell in the UK - Businesses Only

Shadders

Shadders

pfm Member
Hi,
I was checking some components on the Farnell UK website, and the popup asks if if you are a UK Business that is VAT registered or a personal buyer.

If you click personal buyer you are redirected to the CPC website - and this version has an extremely limited selection of products.

I wrote to Farnell regarding this approach, and they have not replied.

Has anyone else continued to order from Farnell UK as a personal customer and selected the option that they are VAT registered even when they are not ?

Are there any issues later when completing the order ?

Thanks and regards,
Shadders.
 
I have never known Farnell to sell retail, although until a month or two back I'd have said the same about RS - a friend ordered some components to split between us and had no problem.
I had always assumed that Farnell set up CPC precisely to keep retail and trade separate.

If Farnell are trade only, they would probably ask for a VAT registration number. Probably?
 
RS long since happy to sell to private customers, no issue at all there, and their range is the equal of Farnell. CPC is good, but slightly more limited offer than full 'Farnell' and they bomb you with catalogues long after you last used them...)

NB don't forget Rapid Electronics - certainly not the range the of the other two, but excellent for most requirements, inc. on customer service and price, happy to sell you a single resistor if that's all you want.
 
Hi All,
Thanks. I have used RS, Rapid Electronics, Digikey and Mouser too - just that this new requirement that you are VAT registered was a concern. I have not ordered anything for a while, so have not got to the final order screen to add a VAT number or not.

RS terms and conditions state trade only, but seem ok for single personal buyers.

When writing to Farnell, i did state that small businesses and startups may be impacted if VAT only businesses can order.

Regards,
Shadders.
 
I have recently ordered some stuff from Farnell (a couple of months ago) without any problems.

Pete

Just had a play on the Farnell added a couple of things to my basket, no popups
 
I use RS and I don't know if it is because I pay by credit card, but I am not down as a business and provided what you order is from normal stock they send it post free, even an order under £10, mine have always been delivered by Parcel Farce.
 
I have long had trade accounts with Farnell and RS (and CPC) but had assumed that since the advent of credit card trading anyone could use them.

CPCs range used to be a bit different to Farnell in that they did a large range of consumer spares such as an old fashioned repair shop might need but I don`t think that is the case now.

They all have to charge VAT whether or not you are registered but I don`t think they have to show it separately on small invoices if you are not registered.

Some suppliers, such as Staples ask you if you are private or business and then price their products with or without VAT as appropriate - they still charge it though, obviously.
 
Barrymagrec said:
I have long had trade accounts with Farnell and RS (and CPC) but had assumed that since the advent of credit card trading anyone could use them.

CPCs range used to be a bit different to Farnell in that they did a large range of consumer spares such as an old fashioned repair shop might need but I don`t think that is the case now.

They all have to charge VAT whether or not you are registered but I don`t think they have to show it separately on small invoices if you are not registered.

Some suppliers, such as Staples ask you if you are private or business and then price their products with or without VAT as appropriate - they still charge it though, obviously.
Click to expand...

CPC used to be a fantastic resource before Farnell took them over yes. They were the place to go for obscure Japanese semiconductors etc!

It is bloody annoying though that the ranges stocked by CPC and Farnell don't match up! There are certain parts I can only get from CPC and certain others only from Farnell and this has meant my having to put two small orders in and get charged two lots of P+P and handling charges as although the two add up to enough for free delivery etc, the separate ones don't....
 
For as long as I can remember, any order placed online with CPC was free of any P&P charges and that was so until weeks or a very few months ago. Has that changed recently?

Agreed - Rapid - excellent.
 
Free P&P was with orders over a tenner for a long, long time. Then it was all orders for a while. At the moment it is orders over a fiver.
 
I have a trade account, but no business, it depends how much you buy yearly. I buy quite a lot I guess, for a punter.
 
We used Farnell-onecall at Uni and this covers both CPC and Farnell parts on the same order but not sure if this is business only. I have ordered from Farnell for myself a few months ago with no problem.
 
I have an account with Farnell, and with RS, but have had them for many years. One confusing thing is that some items at CPC are considerably cheaper than the same item from Farnell... ??
 
Farnell OneCall is a university-only service - no chance of getting in on that action by yourself. CPC are part of the Farnell company family, but they are relatively independent despite the similar-looking websites - they do share suppliers as well and one can call upon stock of the other if needed. CPC have a smaller customer service/marketing/purchasing department, and don't sell abroad. This keeps their costs down so they can mostly sell cheaper than Farnell - but sometimes Farnell will be cheaper on the same item so it pays to check. Farnell was recently acquired by AVNET (big US distro) and they're being used to expand AVNET's reach into the small/medium business market sector - Farnell generally aim to sell to this kind of client, in most parts of the world, they're not big enough to sell to the really big companies (that is AVNET's market anyway). Most of their clients are buying a fair pile of parts on a regular basis and they can negotiate to get a reasonably good price - the small purchasers like us have to pay the premium price to make it worth Farnell's time to sell to us.

Farnell always have sold to individuals, and always will as far as current plans go. There are no issues if you are buying as an individual when you checkout - VAT numbers and company names aren't needed.
 
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