The reason NooElec gets mentioned so often (aside from having good service and relatively quick shipping) is that the RTL sticks they sell are guaranteed to have the electrostatic protection diode in place on the antenna connection - the "generic" version of these type of RTL sticks that people buy from resellers on eBay and other sources (DealeXtreme, etc) for cheaper prices come with no guarantee of that diode being in place and if that's the situation I myself would rather spend a few more bucks to get the known and verified protected ones.
Besides, I paid $9.75 each for mine from NooElec by purchasing them through their Amazon storefront - I didn't buy from their own website. They routinely vary the pricing on their Amazon storefront, often changes every day or so. I just happened to decide to finally get one at one point in mid December 2013 and it was $9.75 + $2.99 shipping, so I ordered one and two days later when the price was still $9.75 I decided I better grab another one quick.
And I've verified that my particular RTL sticks do have the protection diode in place as well.
Just something people might want to consider since changing out antennas or pigtails with these types of devices could very well lead to potential electrostatic charges being passed on through the antenna connectors, especially for people that travel and use laptops with these sticks and a lot of situations where they hook them up for temporary usage, disconnect, pack, move, unpack, connect, etc many times over.