Shop Price Increases

Hi everyone,

As of today, I will be raising the price of the products in the Zaparoo Shop significantly. I wanted to make a post about it to explain why. This is not a "due to the global economy etc." post, this is a "I misjudged what's involved with international commerce and I need to correct things to make it sustainable" post.

There are a few reasons for this:

1. At the current prices I'm effectively still competing with generic NFC readers from established stores and I simply can't do that much longer at the current volume of orders I receive. The economy of scale is not there for me yet.
2. Events like the US tariffs slashing my order volume temporarily have revealed how important it is to make sure the shop is sustainable during down periods. I now have many required expenses for running the shop which do not care if I received zero orders or a million orders that month.
3. As the shop has matured and established, I've been required to take on more and more legal obligations, which I also haven't been factoring into the current prices. These are things like international tax agents (and back taxes when a country decides I've done enough shipping to them) and expenses for maintaining a legal business entity.

Here's what's changing: The Zap Pad will move from $28 to $50, and starter kits from $56 to $90. Card boosters will go from $16 to $30.

First, thank you to everyone who's ordered so far. You took a chance on a new product from a small shop in Australia, and that early support helped prove this was worth doing. You got in at the ground floor and I genuinely appreciate it.

It's time to call the shop for what it is: a niche boutique hobby store I run in my spare time with my partner, not a global electronics player. I actually really love running the shop and I'm yet to have a single bad experience doing so.

When you buy a Zap Pad or some cards you are supporting the open source project, you are getting tech support from me, you get individual quality assurance from me, you get the best possible packaging and product quality I can find after countless hours speaking with manufacturers, you get all the time it takes to build and assemble and pack every order. Now the prices will reflect that more accurately.

This change means I can keep the shop running long-term, keep improving the products, and keep supporting the Zaparoo project. I hope those who can afford the new prices still see the value in what I'm offering.

- Wizzo