Really disappointed in core electronics at the moment. Stock available but locked behind a scummy tactic of forcing extra purchases.
Why force the purchase of unnecessary e-waste?
I agree that forcing users to buy a kit with un-needed accessories is very customer UNfriendly.
I am interested in Pi Zero 2 and saw the suggestion to buy kits … but I previously bought a Pi Zero and running it headless … so spending $99 to get a $22.95 board (I already have a spare RasPi power supply) seems excessive. What other accessories does a headless Pi Zero 2 need ?
I thought … maybe the Statrer kits come pre-packaged from the factory, and Core don’t want to split them up ? Or maybe the thinking is to make it easier for new customers to get started with a Raspberry Pi … and when they get excited and order another, hit them with out-of-stock 
Oooohh ! I haven’t noticed the DIY kits before. I must say that ME choosing which 3 accessories makes it a bit easier to justify buying them all at once 
Hmmm, looks like it’s not a real product, and only RasPi 4 8GB version is available.
Ah well, back to my ESP32 learning curve … and hoping RasPi will be in stock before christmas.
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There is an undersupply of boards and an oversupply of accessories.
During times of extreme supply hardship, we restrict boards to kits as we have a significant investment tied up in accessories. Unlike most other sellers; we also offer flexible options (DIY kits) for popular boards as opposed to only unmodifiable kits. If the flexibility of a DIY Kit still isn’t enough for you, then you’ll need to wait until we have better supply (click the sign-up links on board-only pages) or choose something else (such as a different board variant).
Friendly reminder, 1GB and 2GB boards are available at the time of writing; we are one of the few places on Earth to offer board only stock at the moment (thanks to our purchasing team securing stock for Aussie makers 12+ months ago):
If you have a commercial product built using RPi and require 50+ units then there are instructions on the product pages for how we can assist. Fyi; the lead time will likely be 2-4 months (at least). Not that OEMs using this gear would be surprised with that lead time given the events of the last 18 months.
We are all looking forward to life on the other side of the parts shortage.
PS - Another option that is worth a look in, Pi 400. It has 4GB of RAM and a faster CPU than the RPI 4 (1.8GHz vs 1.5GHz, which translates to about +18% performance):
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The Pi Zero 2 sparked my interest, having a number of Pi Zero’s that work very well.
The supply situation is annoying and frustrating.
At this time I plan to wait it out. Like most who have an investment already, extra accessories are definitely a waste of money. Went down that path once and regret it.
The way Core Electronics chooses to operate is not for me to say. They are a business and need to cover costs and make a profit to keep operating. I will remain a customer due to the excellent service and products they have supplied. I can only hope the world wide shortage of chips improves sometime soon.
regards
Jim
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I see your point, I had a look at the DIY kits, but compared to other options it isn’t too bad, there are a few cases <$20, but then I get a bit stuck, I’ve got powersupplies and micro sd cards.
That said, I’ve seen my local Jaycar and Altronics have stock of the 4GB (altronics had about 12 on sunday) and sometimes the 8GB, but you really pay a premium. The 4GB was $119 at Jaycar and $129 at Altronics, that’s about the same price as the 8GB here. The 8GB was $159 at altronics, so that’s basically a free case and powersupply here. (hope it’s ok to mention other suppliers)
@Graham does includable accessories include HATs? Because that would make it a whole lot easier 
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Hey @Doug27394,
Yeah, DIY Kits can be constructed using accessories from any subcategory of our Raspberry Pi range (along with the price threshold for each).
We did this so that people had more flexibility to purchase their preference of Case, HATs, PSU, uSD, or whatever is RPi related. While those website changes took a bit of time for us to implement, we feel it was worth it and better than just offering unchangeable Starter Kits and the like.
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