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I've come across a few parts that have ND at the end of their part number on Mouser and DigiKey. I can order the part with the ND at the end or not. What does that mean?

Bob Baddeley
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  • Was searching everywhere for an answer. Looking at Atmega328p-pu & ATTINY85-20PU (@digikey) both default to -ND versions when you attempt to buy them, but no explanation of what ND stands for. Thanks for asking. Now I know I can just ignore it. – raddevus Jul 04 '17 at 14:49

1 Answers1

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I've never seen the ND suffix at Mouser, only at Digi-Key. According to a blog article at Skywired:

In those days, the “-ND” suffix meant No Discount. Prominently displayed on the catalog front cover was a schedule of discount percentages, with better discounts for larger orders. Full reels of parts and certain expensive items had an “-ND” on their part number to mark them as exempt from the discount, but anything without the “-ND” was fair game. Later, Digi-Key started listing price breaks for intermediate quantities (10, 25, 100, etc.), and as that practice spread through the catalog, the “-ND” suffix became ubiquitous. Today, it serves only as Digi-Key’s signature, which is ironic given its origins as an exceptional case.

Source: Farewell, Digi-Key Catalog

In essence, I think it has no significant meaning, and parts with and without that suffix that have otherwise identical part numbers are identical parts.

Shamtam
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    I think of it as "Numero DigiKey" now. :) – Warren Young Dec 30 '12 at 20:00
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    I guess digikey is "No discount" on everything :D – Gustavo Litovsky Dec 30 '12 at 20:10
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    I've often wondered at the hidden cost of the "-ND" legacy. Imagine all of the hours spent typing those three extra characters -- both by engineers maintaining BOMs and by Digi-Key sales staff entering orders. One could argue consistency in part numbering or nostalgia, but it all comes at a cost. – HikeOnPast Dec 30 '12 at 22:17
  • Great. Thank you. Maybe I haven't seen it on Mouser, though I use both so frequently I forget which parts I've seen where. – Bob Baddeley Dec 31 '12 at 05:37
  • I first used Digi-Key around 1990, when few of the parts had the ND suffix, although ironically the parts I ordered (LCD display modules) did have the suffix. I'm not sure when the discount policy was dropped altogether, but adding the ND to all the part numbers avoided the risk that someone who didn't know that the policy was dropped wouldn't submit their order with insufficient payment. As for part numbers with and without the suffix being identical, that is probably true in most cases, but... – supercat Dec 31 '12 at 19:36
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    ...it would be entirely possible that an Acme part whose manufacturer's part number was 1234 might be assigned a Digi-Key part number of 5678-ND, with Digi-Key part number 1234-ND referring to something else entirely. – supercat Dec 31 '12 at 19:38
  • The parts I'm looking at are MAX485CPA-ND and MAX485CPA+-ND. I got the impression the ND could be - or +- but maybe that relates to the MAX485CPA? – Dave Sims Mar 26 '17 at 19:13
  • @DaveGoldsmith The "+" is part of the manufacturer part number (i.e. "MAX485CPA+" is the full part number). – Shamtam Mar 28 '17 at 13:11