https://www.ic-components.com/ Has anyone bought from them or similar suppliers? They only put prices on some items, and potential buyers are invited to make offers. The guide prices are sometimes larger than the normal suppliers, sometimes lower. The quantities available are mostly in the 2000...
www.electro-tech-online.com
I decided to risk trying this company, and it seemed have been worthwhile. I had to transfer the money first, and the ICs came through about a week later. The person who I was dealing with always replied by the following day. The ICs work fine.
The only problem is that it's always a risk - just because it works once, or even many times, doesn't mean it always will. There are huge numbers of forged non-working parts coming out of China, it seems to be a major industry there relabelling faulty chips with more expensive numbers, and it might not even be the company you're dealing with who carries out the scam.
Many TV spares, like chips for Plasma XSUS/YSUS boards aren't available, other than from people like these in China - and as you say, you have to order large numbers to get them at all. I know a number of people who have done so, and generally you're only lucky 50% or so of the time - the rest don't work, and are presumably other chips of the same shape relabelled (and you can see it under magnification).
I agree that there are no guarantees. I've had mixed results before. Some ICs that I bought were working but used. Some other ICs that I bought for a repair from ebay were fine.