Hi, misty ( sorry ... Mr E !!! ) and welcome.

Here, I got my 16F628/20 to Conrad's at a bit less than 5 Euros per 10 ... with the 20% Christmas savings !!!

16 F628/04 are much more expensive ... in France.

available at 4.5 Euros in Brussels ... at Mbtronics.com and overall ... They also sell the wonderful and unfindable Picstart plus Upgrade - at a very reasonnable price -

see their very interesting ( refs AND prices ) page ... and note they are very serious guys !!!

Yesssss, I know ... Conrad and MB are for Europe !!!

Ah, last thing, how do you think low price electronic components are possible ???
Simple: you buy a lot without been tested or out of specs ( no garantee from the manufacturer ), and you assume the garantee, hoping the manufacturer is serious ...

so, you get 99.9% good and maybe .1% to keep aside ... good to try for Hobbyists, no ???
I know a lot of pro people doing that for computer components and peripherals ... test is done at their factory.
Might be it creates good benefits !!!

Alain