# Why is there not a U.S. retail distributor for Cree LEDs?



## Greg G (Mar 20, 2008)

Trying to buy Cree LED's, if you're a little guy like me, is a joke. I have 4 lights in que and no emitters, nor any idea of when I'll have them.

I'm tired of placing orders and PAYING UP FRONT from dealers from the other side of the globe that turn their back on me after they get their money, and I never have a clue when I will receive my order. 

Why isn't Cree concerned about having a professional retail vendor in the U.S.? 

What would it take?


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## VanIsleDSM (Mar 20, 2008)

Cutter is great for CREE, in Australia, but shipping didn't take long.


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## Greg G (Mar 20, 2008)

I have an order with Cutter that was placed and paid for on 2/27. Economy Air shipping. Today is 3/20 and I don't even have a tracking numebr yet. 

I know it's not intentional. I guess they are just busy people. So busy in fact that there needs to be a retail distributor in the U.S. to handle U.S. customers.


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## VanIsleDSM (Mar 20, 2008)

Odd, when I ordered from them recently I got my LEDs the following week.


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## WeLight (Mar 20, 2008)

Greg
Your order was despatched on the 11th of Mar, we were out of WD tint when you order first arrived



Greg G said:


> I have an order with Cutter that was placed and paid for on 2/27. Economy Air shipping. Today is 3/20 and I don't even have a tracking numebr yet.
> 
> I know it's not intentional. I guess they are just busy people. So busy in fact that there needs to be a retail distributor in the U.S. to handle U.S. customers.


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## Greg G (Mar 20, 2008)

Thank you for the 411. I would like to have known this when the order was placed though. Maybe an e-mail after you received the order? 

It would help everyone here out if the website showed the status of the particular bins you carry. It showed the bin I chose to be "in stock". I would have ordered something else. If you didn't have anything I could use I could have kept my money in my Paypal account and not in yours, until the time came you had the product and were ready to ship. 

It's all water under the bridge. :kiss:

I wish someone that communicated well and shipped on time would carry Cree's.


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## clg0159 (Apr 4, 2008)

I agree, we need a U.S. distributor. As a full time college student saving for a wedding there are many times (like right now!) that I simply cannot justify the astronomical shipping rates for a couple of emitters even though I have projects waiting. :sigh:


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## JB01245 (Apr 4, 2008)

DX for free shipping. Just need to learn to plan ahead and have some patience.


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## matrixshaman (Apr 4, 2008)

That is odd - seems their Corporate headquarters in Durham, North Carolina would be a good place to have an outlet. Perhaps an email or call to them might get them thinking about a U.S. distributor if they don't already have one (maybe somehow one exists just off our radar). Cree email: 

[email protected]

or call +1-919-287-7888. 

or [email protected]


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## matrixshaman (Apr 4, 2008)

Email sent to Cree


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## Greg G (Apr 4, 2008)

We modders in the U.S. really do need a source for these LED's. 

This thread isn't an indictment against Cutter, I have gotten good service from them. Welight was helpful with providing info on my last order by answering PM's and doing whatever he could on his end. He told me the truth about when it was shipped, etc. It's the shipping that takes a very long time. My last order form Cutter took 3 weeks to get to me. 

The shipping aspect definitely hinders the experience.


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## saabluster (Apr 4, 2008)

Greg G said:


> We modders in the U.S. really do need a source for these LED's.



I agree wholeheartedly. I just ordered 25 R2s from Cutter and I imagine it will be 2-3 weeks before I see them. I know its not their fault though. I will say they seem to have a proper inventory system setup on their website now as it showed when they were out of stock of the R2s. 

I imagine we could be getting cheaper emitters from a retailer here in US through cheaper shipping. Price is a bigger factor to me than shipping time.


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## matrixshaman (Apr 4, 2008)

Well it appears we DO HAVE U.S. Distributors. Here is a response (fast) from Cree and it seems they are quite aware of CPF! :

Hi!

We at Cree do have distributors here in the US. All of our distributors can be found on our web site at: http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp_dist.asp and you can use the interactive map to locate the distributor that serves your area. In North America, we have two distributors, Arrow Electronics and ETG. For the flashlight folks on CPF, I would recommend that you contact ETG. Their web site is www.etgtech.com, and they have a $50 minimum order policy. But unlike Arrow, they can sell you small volumes of our XLamp LEDs, they can mount them for you on star boards, and they can even offer you other value-added assemblies. 

ETG is located in Los Angeles, and they have been a distributor of the Cree XLamp since 2004! I hope this information is helpful to you.

Thanks,

Ron Hall
Sales Manager
Cree, Inc.
4600 Silicon Dr.
Durham, NC 27703
(919) 313-5681 - Direct
(919) 313-5558 - Fax
E-mail: [email protected]

Learn more about our complete line of LED lamps on our web site at http://www.cree.com/products/ledlamps.asp


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## spencer (Apr 4, 2008)

I have been to ETG's website before and I just went there again. The only thing is I can't figure out how the hell to order anything from them or even see their prices. For all of their products they only seem to have data sheets.
Maybe I'm missing something but it must be really good for them when people can't even use their website.


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## Greg G (Apr 4, 2008)

saabluster said:


> Price is a bigger factor to me than shipping time.


 
For me the shipping time is more important. For instance, I'm building a penta Cree light. Well, last night, being the idiot amateur I am, I ripped the domes off 3 R2's thinking I could assemble the head without centering rings on the reflectors. I learned a costly lesson in my carelessness and confidence. 

Now I've got to take them all off and put the Q5 WH's I just got in from Cutter. I'll do an R2 penta on another light when I can find replacements for the emitters I destroyed. But it will take time to get more R2's.


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## saabluster (Apr 4, 2008)

Greg G said:


> For me the shipping time is more important. For instance, I'm building a penta Cree light. Well, last night, being the idiot amateur I am, I ripped the domes off 3 R2's thinking I could assemble the head without centering rings on the reflectors. I learned a costly lesson in my carelessness and confidence.
> 
> Now I've got to take them all off and put the Q5 WH's I just got in from Cutter. I'll do an R2 penta on another light when I can find replacements for the emitters I destroyed. But it will take time to get more R2's.


Whatever you do don't throw those R2s away. If you can get the gel out around from the die just right you will end up with a flashlight that can throw real far. The dome magnifies the die and reduces throw. You can expect some tint shift as well but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you don't want to attempt it I will take them off your hands.


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## mds82 (Apr 4, 2008)

LED Lighting supply is an awesome seller for Cree's and some other LED's as well.,
http://ledlightingsupply.com/ledlightingsupply/default.asp

i have ordered thousands of dollars of LED's through them so far


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## Greg G (Apr 13, 2008)

ETG took my order Friday. They were friendly, and very interested in selling me some LED's. :naughty:

Thanks! :twothumbs


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## doogs (Apr 13, 2008)

now you guys know what its like for just about everyone else!! At least cutter ship internationally , half the US distributors arent interested in the rest of the world!!


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## znomit (Apr 13, 2008)

doogs said:


> now you guys know what its like for just about everyone else!! At least cutter ship internationally , half the US distributors arent interested in the rest of the world!!



Or worse they want to fedex everything for 25$ so your 12.21$ optic order costs 37.21$!!! :thumbsdow

Last order from cutter; 5 optics, 2 drivers, 5 LEDs = a mere 6$ shipping :twothumbs


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## Greg G (Apr 13, 2008)

I think the moral of the story is to try to find a distributor in your part of the world. I prefer to support CPF vendors, and I shop them first. But the shipping time from Australia to the U.S. is extremely slow. Maybe it has something to do with customs, I don't know. 

It's an unfortunate situation.


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## jtr1962 (Apr 13, 2008)

Neither ETG nor LED Lighting Supply have prices on their websites, nor do they have an easy way to order. They could get a lot of US business if their sites were more user friendly. It's really a pet peeve of mine when a website has products without prices.


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## saabluster (Apr 13, 2008)

Greg G said:


> But the shipping time from Australia to the U.S. is extremely slow. Maybe it has something to do with customs, I don't know.
> 
> It's an unfortunate situation.


I got my order in from Cutter. Ordered on Mar. 28th, shipped Apr. 3rd, and received Apr. 11. Not bad I'd say. Of course it hasn't always been this fast.:shrug:


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## saabluster (Apr 13, 2008)

jtr1962 said:


> Neither ETG nor LED Lighting Supply have prices on their websites, nor do they have an easy way to order. They could get a lot of US business if their sites were more user friendly. It's really a pet peeve of mine when a website has products without prices.


I agree whole-heartedly. I refuse to do business with companies who make you fill out quote requests just to find out what their prices are.


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## SemiMan (Apr 13, 2008)

jtr1962 said:


> Neither ETG nor LED Lighting Supply have prices on their websites, nor do they have an easy way to order. They could get a lot of US business if their sites were more user friendly. It's really a pet peeve of mine when a website has products without prices.




Define "a lot". While I agree that user friendly web-sites would likely help all their customers, the reality is that one large customer will buy more in a month than all the hobbyists in a year of an LED. Guess who they cater to?

Semiman


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## jtr1962 (Apr 13, 2008)

SemiMan said:


> Define "a lot". While I agree that user friendly web-sites would likely help all their customers, the reality is that one large customer will buy more in a month than all the hobbyists in a year of an LED. Guess who they cater to?


They should still show their prices regardless of who they cater to. If they don't want to deal with hobbyists just have a large minimum order. I know when I'm doing comparison shopping for large parts orders (i.e. 100s to 1000s) for projects I bypass any websites which don't have prices. I don't have time or desire to fill out quote forms and then wait for their response. This is a very burdensome thing to do if you might be checking 20 or 30 places for the same part. From a business standpoint also, the company is wasting money having someone do what their website can be set up to do. And as a general rule when a company employs salespeople to give quotes their prices are usually higher anyway.


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## iconoclast (Apr 13, 2008)

saabluster said:


> I agree whole-heartedly. I refuse to do business with companies who make you fill out quote requests just to find out what their prices are.



I also don't do business with companies like this. Not so much out of principal, but just because I'll keep searching until I find some company that does make it easy to buy from, and buy from them instead. Even if this means higher prices, longer wait, and international shipping. While that's all annoying, (I'm still waiting for those R2's I ordered to show up) the trade off for my time and effort means that they'll get my order and the hard to deal with company won't. While I may be too small scale for them to care, I'm sure theres some larger endevours that make their decisions similarly.

I'll keep hoping that one of the choices mentioned above gets a clue and makes it easier to order.


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## Probedude (Apr 13, 2008)

saabluster said:


> I agree whole-heartedly. I refuse to do business with companies who make you fill out quote requests just to find out what their prices are.



This is common practice in the electronics industry though it's changing a bit. As a hobbyist I always hated calling a distributor to ask for a price and their first question is "what do you want to pay for it?" The internet is helping alot with the pricing (at least you can figure out approx. what you're going to pay) but pretty much your price depends on the quantity you're buying and your negotiated pricing. Until they know how big you are and how much business you're going to give them, they can't tell you what your price is going to be. 

As a business owner I continually get cold calls and visits from distributors telling me that they can supply me with the same parts cheaper. Well that's usually not the case since we mostly buy from Arrow and Avnet and they are known to have the lowest prices from the manufacturers. All the other places can provide (like Newark, Venkel) is shorter lead times (by stocking the parts) or breaking reel quantities. The sales people have to make their commission somehow!

Finally once you do get a price, get in line and hope the part isn't on allocation.

FWIW, Digikey and Mouser, though they put their prices on line, don't necessarily have the best prices on parts. Working with a larger company you can get it cheaper, but Digikey and Mouser are great for the small quantity stuff you need overnight.


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## jtr1962 (Apr 13, 2008)

I actually find that Mouser has the best prices on a lot of parts, and also reasonable shipping charges. Also, sometimes shipping costs eat up the savings buying from multiple distributors. I purposely go out of my way to design my projects so all the parts can be ordered from Mouser. I wish they would start stocking National Semiconductor ICs though. I had to design an LM2675 out of my last project because I got tired of hunting around for the best price every time I ordered it.


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## Greg G (Apr 14, 2008)

jtr1962 said:


> Neither ETG nor LED Lighting Supply have prices on their websites, nor do they have an easy way to order. They could get a lot of US business if their sites were more user friendly. It's really a pet peeve of mine when a website has products without prices.


 

No easy way to order? I called ETG and immediately got the guy on the phone the rep at Cree told me to call. I didn't get sent to his voice mail. We talked for about 5 minutes, he answered all my noob questions, then transfered me to sales for my order to be taken. The price was given, and it was right in line with what I've been paying elsewhere. I don't know how it could have possibly gone any smoother.

What's the problem? So they don't have prices on their website? So what? All you have to do is call them. I know phones may seem like archaic devices for some, but they still work. 

If you don't want to do biz with them because they won't get their probably overburdened web page designer to set up a price list on the website for only a hnadful of people that's ok with me. That just leaves more LED's for me to buy.


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## saabluster (Apr 14, 2008)

Probedude said:


> Until they know how big you are and how much business you're going to give them, they can't tell you what your price is going to be.


Thats funny Cutter doesn't seem to have that problem.:thinking:

5-10 $-0.70
10-24 $-1.26
25-49 $-1.75
50-100 $-2.10
100-250 $-2.45

Its right there on there site.


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## jtr1962 (Apr 14, 2008)

Greg G said:


> What's the problem? So they don't have prices on their website? So what? All you have to do is call them. I know phones may seem like archaic devices for some, but they still work.


That's the point-I don't want to be bothered calling salespeople and getting prices. Maybe the only exception is if I'm ordering right from the manufacturer as it's only one place to call per part. But you usually need huge orders in the 10,000s to 1,000,000s before most manufacturers will deal with you directly. I actually _was_ dealing with Cree and Ron Hall directly a few years ago. He was very helpful, but unfortunately the customer bailed on that project, and we never needed the large order of LEDs which we anticipated. 

Anyway, fairly small parts orders even in the 1,000s usually leaves people like me stuck buying from distributors. You mentioned it took you 5 minutes. Fine if you're ordering only one part and checking only one or two suppliers. Now picture if you're me and you're looking for the best price on maybe 15 different parts for 500 of a board you'll be building. Maybe you find 15 potentional suppliers for each, and of those 15 perhaps only 3 actually have the price up on their website. So that means 12 phone calls for one part, perhaps 18 for another, and so forth. I could easily spend 2 or 3 days on the phone just asking prices. Besides that, even though it sounds like ETG's salesman was a nice guy, a lot of these people I've dealt with pre-Internet when I had to were as pushy as hell. It sometimes took 20 minutes to finally get them off the phone without being excessively rude. And then they'll sell your contact info to their fellow associates and you'll end up with 20 cold calls fishing for business. I've had it with that. If websites have prices on the other hand I could check dozens of places for parts in a few hours. Who do you think I'll be ordering from? Especially if I find one place like Mouser who has everything I need, has real time inventory, and whose prices I know in advance. And eBay lately is great for a lot of things. I've found stuff at 10% to 25% of what I'd pay elsewhere. Granted, it's a little hunting around, but the savings are worth my time. On the other hand, I remember back from the days of dealing with phone salespeople that prices were usually within pennies of each other. Hours of phones calls might at best save $20 or $30 on a 1000 quantity part order. Hardly productive use of my time.

I guess my point is I know phones exist, and they're fine if maybe I'm having a long, involved discussion with a potential customer about the specifics of a project. I just don't feel I should have to jump through hoops just to get a price. I don't even mind large minimum orders if they want to weed out the hobbyists. Heck, I don't even mind having to call a salesperson to actually give them an order, but not before. Lack of pricing is a huge problem in the electronics industry which goes way beyond LEDs. I think part of the problem is these businesses assume that any business dealing with them will have somebody in the procurement department whose job it is to spend all day calling for quotes and negotiating prices. They forget that the biggest growth is in small operations of a few or even one person. These operations just don't have the resources to do business this way. Let's hope ETG, LED Lighting Supply, and for that matter a bunch of others see the light. It's not like POS software is rocket science any more. The software Cutter uses even converts to US dollars.


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## Greg G (Apr 14, 2008)

It seems you and I are in different boats. I bought 20 emitters the other day. You're looking at many more. But I will say one thing about posting prices on the web. Sometimes companies can't post their prices because they are under the recommended price set by the manufacturer. In that case a phone call or e-mail is required. 

But the purpose of this thread was to find a U.S. source for small numbers of Cree LED's, and I found it thanks to the guys on here. 

ETG came through for me. Sorry they didn't for you.


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## SemiMan (Apr 14, 2008)

I think even the largest distributors mainly have pricing online though they often do not sell in small quantities as they will not break packaging. ETG is a bit in the dark ages that way.

JTR, for an order of 500 parts of 15 different things, I am guessing they no more want a sales person to spend time talking to you then you do to them. There is no money in it at the margins in that business.

Semiman


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## VanIsleDSM (Apr 14, 2008)

I really can't be bothered to phone places either, I just bought 29 emitters from cutter because I was satisfied when I ordered from them before, it was very quick (6 days?) with the economy air option which is about $1 more.. who wouldn't pick that?

..Not to mention concise with the pricing, and I could order on my own time, not have to wait for business hours to call someone up.

However I'm always interested in competition pricing, I suspect I'll be ordering LEDs in the hundreds quite soon.. and hopefully more after that. So for the people who have dealt which ETG or LED lighting supply, why don't you elaborate on what you paid so we can all have a better idea of what's out there?

Maybe a pole should be started about how many people are willing to call, or would just rather order online with prices they can see and make their own decision in their own time... and then email the pole of the obvious landslide victory to the latter mentioned to both companies.. that might get them in gear. More competition is better for all of us.

By the way, cutter's new pricing scheme for XR-Es is awesome.

And don't forgot the 5% CPF discount.


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## Greg G (Apr 14, 2008)

VanIsleDSM said:


> So for the people who have dealt which ETG or LED lighting supply, why don't you elaborate on what you paid so we can all have a better idea of what's out there?


 
Their number is 310-202-6400. I'm not sure if it's within the rules to post prices from a non-vendor, so I'm not going to say anything except what's already posted, that I was happy with the price I was quoted. But if you're getting good service from Cutter, why bother looking elsewhere?


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