I can understand why Sparkfun is overpriced, I mean you have to make a living, right?
everyone else is making a living without gouging customers, and I bet some of those people actually design their stuff, really look at sparkfun products, the majority of their products are ripped directly off of google, and even sometimes its just the sample application in the datasheets! Which is not neccacarially a bad thing, but they slap "copyright x sparkfun.com" all over everything then charge a extreme premium for it.
The stuff they do design in house often time does not work right out of the box, there is not a single week, sometimes days that we dont see Sparkfun X wont work, If buying this crap means we dont have to "shave the yak" (also meaning you never learn anything and have to continue to go back to sparkfun for any and every need) why should people spend months trying to get it working?
Their phone support is 50/50 I have heard both sides, returns is impossible, the customer is ALWAYS wrong, their forum system is a mess and mostly ignored by staff
Well SparkFun must be doing something well as they seem to have been having tremendous growth over the last couple of years. I especially like the user feedback comments associated with most product listings.
I debate their level of growth, they seem to always be fudging that, for example it was eariler this year they were showing off their google maps representation of the building, as a 5+ story tall complex, and its not
Also big growth out of companies like this is BAD for the hobby market, look at the last 2 that got high and mighty on their prices and selection, radio shack and allied, those 2 with their completely ignorant sales staff and WTF pricing killed hobby electronics in the 90's
Call me a fan, I like their little red boxes
Call me a realist, plain brown boxes cost about 40 cents a unit in moderate bulk, printed boxes cost well over a buck each, least from the supplier (and quantities) I deal with at work, I understand branding but dont try and sell me a 50 cent part for 5 bucks and ship it in a 1.48$ box, and expect me to rave on the value of it all
I much rather see a company doing everything to bring me the best quality product they can at the lowest possible price