[panitaxx]

I buy from AliExpress and eBay not because of the shipping fee but because most of the time digikey/mouser doesn't sell hobbyist friendly form factors (like breakout boards) and some of this ic come in really tiny package (like tssop) which for an amateur are difficult to solder. Sometimes they need a resistor or a capacitor or a transistor easier to buy a board with everything on it that you stick to another board and that's it.

[0x402DF854]

That, or they slap huge markups for these otherwise unpopular products.

Try to find a popular 16-bit ADS1115 ADC on digikey. They offer SMD 10X2QFN chip for $8, 10VSSOP for $10, assembled adafruit board for $22 (!!!) or DFRobot board for $15 (exact same board is half the price on ebay).

In comparison, ADS1115 boards from aliexpress are $2.