Comment by fnordpiglet
7 days ago
Great. AliExpress was the RadioShack of 2025. No way I’m spending $25+ for a strip of SMD resistors, and I expect to never see them available in the US at a price that makes sense as a hobbyist. This isn’t helping anyone, will prevent a lot of prototyping, and just be a bad experience in life. Thanks for ruining the fun of the last 5-10 years of DIY electronics golden age.
I had plans to build some animatronic Halloween decorations for this year over the summer. I’m not going to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on parts that nominally cost less than $50.
My own pain is minor though compared to everyone I know who uses Temu and other things to basically outfit their life. This will be insanely regressive as they have the least to spend on “on brand” products, which themselves are imported too. This is like “super sales tax for the poor.” Me, I’ll just save my money and wait for the next president to undo the mess. My buddies not as successful monetarily as me? Their quality is life is going down the drain.
This is what happened in Sweden about 10 years ago, when they started charging a $7 "administrative fee" on all packages privately imported from China. Prices for resistors went from $1 for a pack of a hundred to $8. As a student at the time, it effectively made the hobby non-viable over night because it got too expensive.
Lately, there have been some domestic actors filling in the gap. But it's still a significant cost increase compared to the glory days.
Since around 2020, you've been able to pay Swedish VAT when you purchase from Ali Express etc. The resistors increase from $1 to $1.25, with the $0.25 going to the Swedish treasury.
Do you not have electronics shops in Sweden? Copenhagen has ElEkstra: https://www.elextra.dk/en-gb/components/modstande/smd-modsta...
People will just ship large quantities and then warehouse them in the US.
Sounds like you have some cool projects planned.... do you have any pics/links you can share?