Affordable SOIC8 SMT sockets for BIOS chips (15pcs / 36E + cheeap shipping)

[Ivan Ivanov]

Just sharing our pleasant experience and nice find :) These SOIC8 SMT
sockets for BIOS chips are too expensive at AliExpress (don't know
why) - and to order them directly from Dediprog is economically
inefficient because last time I checked they offered only overpriced
express shipping - the cost of which is comparable to the price of
sockets themselves! - But we are patient people and don't want to
overpay that much for shipping regardless of its' speed.

So we decided to order from this EU-based "The LAB eShop" :
https://www.thelabeshop.com/en/Programmer-Emulators/SPI-Flash-Programmers/Ac...
They are asking 36E (41US) for 15pcs sockets. Dediprog's price is 30US
for 15pcs sockets, but "thanks" to their overpriced express shipping:
"thelabeshop" prices are more affordable if you need just the sockets
- they have an ordinary cheap post shipping method available with a
tracking number, for 5 or 6.

Although our first package has been lost, they kindly sent it again
without any extra fees and this time it got delivered :) All 15 pcs
sockets have these rectangular plastic caps and were reliably packet
in a plastic ribbon to protect their fragile pins and for more
convenience. If you need some photos we could share.

What is also great about this "thelabeshop" is that, like aliexpress,
they don't require you to use paypal (paypal adds unnecessary extra
fees and has a horrible ethics / customer service). Payment could be
done by a credit card. So if you need these rare SOIC8 sockets,
"thelabeshop" price seems to be the most affordable. They also have
SOIC16 sockets, although their expensive 58E price seems to be a
mistake and maybe they could lower it for you if you would contact
them - type "SOK-SPI-16W" at their search field if you are interested.
And to find SOIC8, write "SOK-SPI-8W".

These sockets could be very useful for routers or laptop motherboards,
although you need a steady hand or ask professional to install them
for you.

Best regards,
Ivan Ivanov