TechTree Global has relocated from Kwun Tong to larger premises in Fo Tan. The new address is Flat W, 12/F, Phase 2, Kin Ho Industrial Building, 14-24 Au Pui Wan Street, Fo Tan, New Territories, Hong Kong.

The move gives us more racking space for inbound and outbound consignments, which matters more than it sounds. When you buy excess stock, the goods have to be received, checked, photographed and re-packed properly — and that takes floor space, not just a desk. The extra room lets us turn incoming shipments around faster and hold stock for consolidation.

Nothing else changes. The same phone number, the same email address and the same WhatsApp number reach us. If you have a shipment or a sample on its way to our old address, contact us and we will sort out redirection with the carrier.

You are welcome to visit by appointment — we would rather you saw the stock than took our word for it.

Anyone can put a stock photograph on a website. So we have started doing the opposite: publishing pictures of goods we have actually received, photographed on arrival at our own premises, with the manufacturer label and our own ticket visible on the carton.

The point is not to show off a big inventory — we do not hold a big inventory, and we never claimed to. The point is that you can see the kind of consignment we handle, and the condition it arrives in. That is more useful to a buyer than a stock image of a reel.

The list is a small sample and it changes as goods move through. If a part you need is not shown, that means nothing about availability — send us the part number and we will check it properly.

Component lifecycle codes describe a manufacturer's intention, not the supply that exists today. "NRND" (Not Recommended for New Designs) means the part is still in production but should not be designed into new products. "EOL" (End of Life) means the manufacturer intends to stop making it, usually after a final order window. "Last Time Buy" is that window closing.

What catches people out is that an EOL part is often easy to buy at first and hard to buy later. Distributors and brokers hold stock after the manufacturer stops, and it moves from warehouse to warehouse for years. So a part can be marked EOL since 2019 and still be sitting on shelves in 2026 — at a price nobody expected.

The practical rule: for anything on a BOM with a production life beyond two years, check lifecycle status at every design review, not once at the start. Where a part is NRND, get a second source qualified before you need it. Where a part is EOL, decide whether to buy a lifetime buffer now or accept a redesign later — and price both options before deciding.

If you are stuck on a part that has gone EOL, that is the situation we deal in. Send us the part number and the quantity, and we will tell you honestly whether it can be found and roughly what it will cost.

AS6081 is the aerospace industry standard for detecting counterfeit electronic parts, published by SAE International and adopted far beyond aerospace. It sets out what a distributor or test house must do to inspect suspect stock: documentation review, visual inspection, marking permanency, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray and X-ray microscopy, decapsulation, electrical testing, and reporting.

It matters because buying from the independent market without inspection is a coin toss. A reel can be genuine, refurbished, re-marked, or a completely different die in a correct-looking package. The failure mode is rarely "it does not work on arrival" — it is "it works, passes initial test, and fails in the field eighteen months later".

The practical consequence for buyers is that inspection is a line item, not a favour. When we quote a part from independent stock, ask what testing will be done and by whom, and ask for the report with the goods. If a supplier cannot tell you the test house or show you a report, that is your answer.

Our own position: we buy from traceable channels wherever we can, we tell you which channel a part came from, and where testing is needed we will arrange it and pass on the cost rather than hide it in the price.

An Incoterm is a three-letter rule that fixes two things: where the seller's responsibility ends, and who carries the risk of loss at each stage. It does not decide who pays for the goods — the contract does that. This is the single most common misunderstanding in component trading.

EXW (Ex Works) means the buyer collects from the seller's premises and carries everything from there, including export clearance. It looks cheapest on the invoice and is usually the most work for the buyer. FOB (Free On Board) means the seller delivers to the port of shipment and handles export clearance — normally the right choice when you have your own freight forwarder and want control. CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) adds freight and insurance to the destination port, but risk still passes at the port of shipment, which surprises people. DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) means the seller delivers to your door with duties paid — the most expensive on paper and the least work for you.

For components specifically, the value is usually low relative to the freight, so DDP is often worth the premium on small urgent orders simply because it removes customs as a failure point. On larger consignments where you already ship regularly, FOB with your own forwarder is normally cheaper and gives you better visibility.

We work with all four, and we will tell you which one we think is wrong for your order rather than just quoting what you asked for.