‘I honestly prefer this over raising pricing and never coming down again’: Hardware seller adds a RAM tax to some products, but some welcome the transparency

Ubiquiti has added a ‘memory surcharge’ to its products at checkout
This varies, and can be up to 5.8% of the cost of any product
Some folks aren’t happy with the price hikes, but others appreciate the company trying to be transparent

Ubiquiti has added a ‘memory surcharge’ to the products it sells. It’s an additional tax that’s being levied because of the high pricing of RAM and storage, and which is shown at checkout — and the move has been causing quite a stir one way or another.

Ubiquiti is a supplier of networking and Wi-Fi gear, as well as other tech, such as security cameras and video doorbells — mainly to enterprises, but also to consumers — and Tom’s Hardware noticed the appearance of the memory surcharge.

The amount added is up to 5.8% of the cost of any product, and the exact charge varies based on the item being purchased.

Analysis: a sneaky trick — or a move towards transparency?

(Image credit: Ubiquiti)

For some low-cost products, this amounts to just an extra couple of dollars (or the regional equivalent), and no one’s going to bat an eyelid at that kind of rise. However, for more expensive hardware, even a hike of a few percent can come out at a substantial premium.

Some buyers discovering the surcharge for the first time aren’t at all happy. One Redditor complains: “Just added some parts to my cart and saw a surprise €65 ‘Memory Surcharge.’ They claim it’s due to ‘market volatility’ in memory and storage. Is this becoming a new trend? It feels like a sneaky way to hike prices right at checkout.”

Another Ubiquiti customer on Reddit observes: “I have been building this network for my home and keep going back and forth on a few items. This [memory surcharge] just went into effect today… $56 in total added.”

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Granted, that’s added to a total bill of approximately $700, but it’s still quite a sting in the tail, and one that’s left this particular person wishing they’d acted sooner.

However, in that second Reddit thread, some voices are raised in favor of Ubiquiti. Of course, no one is pleased to see prices going up, but some acknowledge that at least the company is being transparent here.

In other words, Ubiquiti could have just jacked up the asking prices on its online store by identical amounts and left it at that — and the odds are that in the case of many purchases, no one would even have noticed.