Frequently Asked Questions

Short FAQs

1. I have forgotten my password!
2. I have forgotten which email address I used to register with Distrelec!
3. I have forgotten my user-name!
4. I would like to change the address saved in my customer account!
5. I would like to have my items sent to a different address than the billing address!
6. I regularly use various different delivery addresses. Can I save these in my profile?
7. Can I save the contents of my shopping basket?
8. I already have a customer number. How can I link my new account in the Distrelec webshop to this customer number?
9. I keep getting emails from Distrelec!
10. Importing parts lists
11. Lists
12. Managing orders and returns
13. Faceted search


1. I've forgotten my password!

Move the cursor over the "MyAccount" button (to the right of the search box). In the pop-up menu click on the link "Password forgotten". On the next page, enter the email address that you used to register on the Distrelec webshop, and click "Send".

You will receive an email with a link ("Reset password") to reset your password. When you click on this link, you go straight to the page where you can set a new password for your account. As soon as you have entered the new password in both fields, and click on "Update password", the new password is saved.


2. I have forgotten which email address I used to register with Distrelec!

In this case please contact Distrelec Support.


3. I have forgotten my user-name!

If you have registered on the Distrelec webshop as a new user, your user-name is the email address that you provided during registration.

If you already had a user account before the launch of the new Distrelec webshop, which was then migrated across, your user-name may not be the same as your email address. In this case, please contact Distrelec Support.


4. I would like to change the address saved in my customer account!

  • If you already have an online customer account at the Distrelec webshop: log in to your customer account at the Distrelec webshop. Click on the "MyAccount" button to the right of the search box. Now in the navigation bar at the left side go to the "Addresses" link in the "Account details" section. As soon as you click on this, your current billing address and any delivery addresses saved will be shown on the right side. If you click on the arrow to the right of the billing address you can change the address. If there is no arrow available, please contact the customer service.
  • If you do not have an online customer account with Distrelec: scroll down to the end of the Distrelec website. The footer area has four sections: Services, About Us, Manufacturers' Shops, and Quick Links. In the "Quick Links" group, go to "Change Address". Click on this, and on the next page type your customer number into the form, as well the old and new addresses, and finally click on "Send request". A Distrelec employee will now deal with the amending of your address.


5. I would like to have my items sent to a different address than the billing address!

In the shopping basket, after you have checked the contents, click on "Continue". (If you have not yet logged on you will be asked to do so).

On the following page, you have the chance to choose one of the options "Use billing address as delivery address", or "Send my order to a different address".

Select the latter option.

Regardless of what data you have already saved in your profile, the following further options will now be shown under the billing address:

  • a "Delivery Address" Section. If this is already filled out, you can modify the address by clicking on the Change button to the right of the address.
  • By clicking on the button "Add new address", you can specify a new delivery address to be used for this order. The address will also be saved in your user account for later use.
  • Below this, the delivery addresses that you have already saved in the user account are shown. Click on "Choose address", to select the appropriate address as the delivery address for the current order.


6. I regularly use various different delivery addresses. Can I save these in my profile?

Log on to your customer account in the Distrelec webshop. Click on the "MyAccount" button to the right of the search box. Now in the navigation bar at the left side, in the area "Account details", go to the "Addresses" link. As soon as you click on it, your already saved delivery addresses will be shown at the right side, below your current billing address. By clicking on the "Add address" button, you can add another address to the list.

If you want to remove an address from the list, click on the arrow to the right of the address to open the address details panel. You will find the "Delete address" button below the address fields.


7. Can I save the contents of my shopping basket?

Open the shopping basket. Underneath the list of all products in your shopping basket, you will find a button with a downward-pointing arrow. As soon as you click on this button, you have the option of exporting the contents of your shopping basket as an XLS or CSV file.

  • XLS: Microsoft Excel file: you can open and edit this file directly in Excel.
  • CSV: A plain text file that contains the contents of your shopping basket in the form of Comma-Separated Values. Such CSV files can be interpreted and processed by many different programs.

(Files downloaded in the XLS and the CSV formats are both compatible with the parts-lists import tool.)


8. I already have a customer number. How can I link my new account in the Distrelec webshop to this customer number?

If you already have a Distrelec customer number, you can tell us this number when registering for a customer account. We will then link your new customer account to the old account.


9. I keep getting emails from Distrelec!

In your customer account settings, you can unsubscribe from the Distrelec newsletter if you no longer wish to receive it. To do this, click on the "MyAccount" button to the right of the search box. Now on the navigation bar at the left side, go to the link "Login details" in the "Account details" section. As soon as you select this, you will be shown your account details at the right, including the section "Newsletter". Here you can manage your newsletter subscription as required.


10. Importing parts lists

Using the function "Import parts lists", you can quickly and easily import lists of product data in the Distrelec webshop, and place the respective products from the shop into shopping lists or into the shopping basket.

You have to be logged in to use the "Import parts lists" function. If you have not already done so, please register with a user account in the Distrelec webshop and log into it.

This is how to import the parts list

  1. Click on the "Import parts list" link at the top of your browser screen. You can also access this function in the list menu in the meta-navigation area under the name "Import tool".
  2.   On the page that opens, you will see two ways to import your data: by copying and pasting data from the clipboard, or by uploading an Excel worksheet that has been suitably completed.
    • a) Inserting data from the clipboard:
      • insert the data into the text field on the left side of the web-page in the following format:
        aa, nnnnnn, ttttt
        (aa: desired quantity for this article
        nnnnnn: 6- to 8-figure Distrelec article number
        tttt: Designation of item type (optional) )
        Please start a new line for each item.
      •  Finally, click on the button "Continue" on the left side of the browser window.
    • Uploading an Excel file
      • To ensure a smooth operation, please download the "Distrelec Excel template".
      • Fill in the data-sheet with your parts-list data, and save the modified file (important: as an .xls file).
      • Click on the button "Select from hard disk", and in the window that opens, select the file you have filled in.
      • Above the button "Select from hard disk", the name of the file you have uploaded should now appear.
      • Finally, click on the "Continue" button at the left side of the browser window.
  3. On the following page "Check import", products are shown matching the data records you have entered. Here you can still adjust the quantity per product, if required, or delete products from the list.
  4. Any data sets for which no matching product is found are listed separately in a table at the end of the page. These data records were ignored for that reason during the import process.
  5. Using the buttons "Add to shopping list" or "Add to shopping basket", you can edit the product list that you have set up in this way.


11. Lists

At the Distrelec webshop, you can set up various product lists which you can use to arrange and manage your purchases.

In addition to the option of setting up any desired number of product lists, you can quickly and easily mark products as "favourites" and thus add them to your "My favourite products" list.

Favourite products

  • To quickly add a product from a product list, or from an offer teaser to your favourites, move your cursor onto the product and click on the heart symbol that appears. When you move the mouse away from the product again the heart symbol now stays visible. This shows you that the product has been successfully added to the list of favourites.
  • On the details-view page for that particular product, the heart button is shown at the right side below the availability indicator.
  • To view the current contents of your favourites list, move the cursor onto the "Lists" button ( the second button to the right of the search box), and click on "My favourite products" in the menu that opens.
  • On the page that opens, you will see all the products listed that you have added to your favourites. To remove a product from the list, move your cursor onto the product and click on the x-symbol that appears at the right border.

Lists of products or shopping lists

  • To add a product from a product list or from an offer teaser to a shopping list, move your cursor onto the particular product and click on the lists icon that appears.
  • A window then opens where you can specify which shopping list you want to save this product to. Choose one or more of the existing lists, or enter the name for a new list, where the product is to be saved.
  • On the details-view page for the particular product, the appropriate list button is shown at the right side below the availability indicator.
  • To view the contents of a shopping list, move the cursor onto the "Lists" button ( the second button to the right of the search box), and click on the name of the desired list in the menu that opens. (If the name of the list is not shown, click on the link "Show all lists" at the end of the menu.)
  • On the right side of the window, you will now see all products in your shopping list, with the corresponding quantities. To remove a product from the shopping list, move your cursor onto the product and click on the x-symbol that appears next to the quantity.
  • You now have the option of adding the contents of your shopping list to the current contents of your shopping basket, using the button "Add list to shopping basket".
  • Alternatively, you can download the list as a file via the button with the downward-pointing arrow. As soon as you click on this symbol you can choose between downloading as an XLS or a CSV file.
    • XLS: Microsoft Excel file: You can open and edit this file directly in Excel.
    • CSV: A plain text file that contains the contents of your shopping basked in the form of Comma-Separated Values. Such CSV files can be interpreted and processed by many different programs.

(Files downloaded in the XLS and the CSV format are both compatible with the parts-lists import tool.)


12. Managing orders and returns

Via the "MyAccount" area of the Distrelec webshop you can easily and conveniently view the status of past orders and arrange any requests to return an item.

  1. Log into the shop with your user data.
  2. Click on the "MyAccount" button to the right of the search box.
  3. In the navigation bar at the left side, first select "My orders", and then "Order history" below.
  4. Now you will see a list of all the earlier orders. (If you are administrator of the company account in the Distrelec webshop, you will see the orders of all the employees of your company here.) You can filter, sort and print out this list according to your criteria.
  5. Using the arrow next to each order, you come to the details page for that order.
  6. The details page gives you information about the order date, order status, billing address and delivery address, type of payment and delivery, and products ordered. You can also redo these again right here, or add a shopping list.
  7. As soon as your order shows the status "received", you can prepare the request to return certain items. To do this, click on "Return item" below the ordered quantity.
  8. In the "lightbox" that opens, enter the number of products you want to send back, together with a reason for returning them, packaging condition, your comments, and where applicable the serial numbers of the returned products. Additionally, you also have the chance to specify whether to have the returned product replaced by a new one. Finally click on "Send request".
  9. You will receive an email confirming your request to authorise a return.
  10. An employee of Distrelec will contact you.


13. Faceted search

The Distrelec webshop offers a great number of different products. To find the right product easily and conveniently, the shop has a filter function which you can use to refine the list of products and results.

  1. Navigate to the suitable sub-category for the product you are looking for (e.g. "Optoelectronics").
  2. Alternatively, enter a search term in the search box and press Enter.
  3. On the next page all the relevant products will be shown in a list. You can sort this list according to various criteria.
  4. To limit the number of products, the filter bar at the left offers the following methods:

Filtering by another subcategory:
At the top of the bar, sub-categories within the current category are shown (if available). Choose a sub-category to further limit the selection of products.

  • Filtering by manufacturer or product feature: below the categories, you will find the sections for manufacturer or product features. Choose the properties you want here, by clicking on the box next to the manufacturer or the product feature. You can select more than one attribute per section, for example both "Manufacturer A" and "Manufacturer B".
  • Filtering by availability: in the availability section, you can set as a filter criterion the immediate availability of the item.
  • Filtering by price: drag the slider to the left or right until the suitable price range is shown below the scale.
  • For each of the constraints or filtering criteria described above, a label is shown in the "Filter" section which indicates an active filter criterion. Click on the "x" inside the label to remove this filter criterion again.