| Source | For… | Quality | Shipping |
| Building Materials | |||
| Home Depot | Lumber, foams, adhesives and other general building materials. | National Brands. You get what you pay for. | Free ship to store. Free ship to consumer on orders over $45.00. Standard order handling |
| Lowe’s | Lumber, foams, adhesives and other general building materials. | National Brands. You get what you pay for. | Free ship to store. Free ship to consumer on orders over $49.00. Standard order handling |
| Electronic Parts | |||
| Adafruit Industries | |||
| Digi-Key | Large scale electronics distributor. They have everything an electronics hobbyist could ask for, in quantities from one to thousands. | Virtually every significant electronics manufacturer is represented. Small quantity prices can be stiff, but usually better than other options. Quantity price breaks vary by item, but are often in the range of hobbyist needs. | Standard 1 business day order processing. All kinds of shipping options including cost effective USPS shipping. |
| Radio Shack | Common electronic parts, soldering and other supplies; also robotics kits and supplies. Radio Shack seems to be returning to its hobbyist roots and I’m finding more useful things there. | Primarily the Archer house brand. I’ve been pleased with the quality of recent purchases. My local store has a small but nicely stocked Arduino section (genuine, of course). | 1 – 2 business day processing with standard shipping options. Usually, a local store will have what you want–the online stock check tool has proven accurate so far. |
| Sparkfun | |||