Price Adjustments starting January 17th

This is never a post I wanted to make. In fact, I tried putting it off for as long as I could.

As you know, the de minimis exemption for small imports ended on August 29th, 2025. De minimis was an import exemption for imports valued under $800. Dating back to the Tariff Act of 1930, the rule simplified imports by exempting small value shipments from duties and taxes. A lot of American small businesses benefitted from this, myself included. To prepare for this, I bought a surplus of hardware before the de minimis exemption ended so that I could delay increasing my prices, and/or have time to find a domestic hardware supplier.

Unfortunately finding a domestic supplier that is just as affordable as what I was buying (AND as versatile in supply) has yet to be found. It turns out that most suppliers in the US buy hardware from overseas (typically China), and then tack on the tariff fee AND a reseller markup. Even with the tariff nearly doubling the price of my hardware by buying direct (and I buy from the Czech) it's still more affordable than buying domestic. 

With how I structure my pricing, I try to keep things affordable by charging practically wholesale to my customers, so unfortunately absorbing the price of the tariff is not something I can do. It would actually eat away at my hourly wage. 

With that being said, you can expect prices on items with hardware to increase on January 17th. If you've been eyeballing something that is a little hardware heavy, please take advantage of my current pricing structure and go buy that thing before January 17th.

-- Ray