It’s been a long time since my last post, four years. So I will give you a quick wrap-up.

12 Years Clicks & Clocks

Most important, I am still in business, actually since 12 years. The first order was shipped back in 2012. The procedure is still the same, just ask for the price list, and then request an offer. I have always attached great importance to having direct contact with my customers. Helping and answering your questions around DIY Eurorack cases.

In the beginning I was one of the few sources for all kinds of parts around DIY case building, except for the case. My portfolio more or less stayed the same, except for giving up the power solution. It has always been a side business for me and a welcome change from my regular job. That’s how I want to keep it, and that’s why I always refused to have a webshop, sorry for the inconvenience.

2020 – 2024

Generally it seems that the peak years in Eurorack are behind us, but what do I know. As germans say, you have to “roll the advertising drum”, which I didn’t do at all during the last four years.
As result the orders and revenues declined over time. Not a surprise, but welcome to take a breath. 2020 and 21 have been good years for the business, although Corona has been a hard time for all of us.
In 2022 it started to turn and continued in 2023/24, the prices went up and up. With a good stock keeping I could compensate it for quite some time, but at some point unfortunately I had to react and raise the prices.
Also paper and card boxes went up around 30%, so did the shipping prices.

The Workshop

Beginning of 2024 I had to make a decision to cut the main cost, the workshop.
Sadly for the Berliners and also for me I had to give up my beloved souterrain in Riemannstraße. So much it was needed after the first three years, I had to realize after eight years with the workshop that it was too expensive in relation to the revenue. With a notification period of six month I was processing the move out since summer 2023, and then finally returned the keys end of July 2024 with a sad eye.

Power Supply and Busboards

Actually building my own console case was the trigger for the business back in 2012. Dieter Döpfer was very supportive when I asked for the allowance to build clones of the Doepfer PSU2 for my own case. And he was okay with selling my own version. I also used a similar design for my version of the busboards.
With a few revisions over the years the setup seems to be outdated now. The market situation also changed massively since 2012. There are so many power solutions on the market, that I decided to end my versions. I still have PSU PCBs and most of the parts available, just ask for it.

The new busboard design was in the making, a six layer board with 20 connectors. The prototypes exist but for now I will not continuing. The goal was to source the boards (not the parts) in Germany and get them assembled and soldered in Berlin. I didn’t want to solder them myself anymore. But the investment was/is to big at the moment, and I was wondering if you would pay around 45 EUR for a board. That would have been the price two years back.
I spare you the details about regulations that changed over that past 10 years which makes production and distribution way more complicated, especially for small businesses.

And the DB25 Breakout Panel

There was a small side project which I have worked on since quite some time, nothing Eurorack specific, but for the small studio with outboard equipment. Probably is’t interesting for you. Based on a small PCB which connects 8 XLR connectors with a DB25/DSUB connector on the back. It is DB25/DSUB breakout board. It can be mounted in a 19 inch front panel for two of the boards and 16 connectors in total. I had planned male and female connectors but ended up with inputs/female connectors only for now. Just check out price list or ask for more information.

The donation for 2020 to “Ärzte ohne Grenzen/Médecins Sans Frontières” has been made.

Beginning of April I made the announcement to donate 10% of the EBT/earnings before tax of my business. I wasn’t clear about it myself for how long I would do it. Thanks to all your orders it turned out to be a good year (who can says this?) and so I decided to continue till the end of this weird year.

I am really happy to let you know that I finally donated a total of 1000 EUR to “Médecins Sans Frontières”. This was possible because of your orders.

Below you will find the two receipts of the donation from this summer and this month.

Thanks to you all to make this happen. I am not sure what I will do next year, but I guess I will try to continue my work…

This goes to the more than 7% of my customers and interested people in the United Kingdom. I guess you are all aware of the situation arising by the end of this weird year.

If the hard brexit is going to happen it will massively change trading between the UK and the EU. Generally it means that you will pay net prices, without 19% German VAT. But you will have to pay import VAT to the UK, which means plus 20% on the full price including shipping. And shipping will be more expensive from January 2021 as well. I don’t know the rates DHL will charge from January on, but I guess it will be around 20 EUR for a small package (2kg) and around 30 EUR for a 5kg parcel. It could also be that the UK will charge customs on top of the amount.

This means an order with a net price of 100 EUR will massively increase next year. Germany currently has a lower VAT rate of 16%. This means for an order of 100 EUR you will pay 116 EUR plus shipping. Let’s assume a weight of 5kg, so it will be 116 EUR plus 16 EUR shipping. You pay 132 EUR.
From January 2021 it will be 100 EUR plus shipping of assumed 30 EUR, means 130 EUR, plus 20% UK import VAT, 130 EUR + 26 EUR = 156 EUR plus customs (if applied). You see that this is a massive change of roughly 20%.

If you are planning to build a Eurorack case, and want to buy some parts, you should probably do it this year. So I would kindly ask for you requests till the 20th of December. Otherwise I cannot guarantee that I will be able to ship before the end of this year. My business year will end before Christmas.

Of course I will continue shipping to the UK, but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you 🙂

I was hesitating for a while to post something regarding the current situation we are all facing. Yes, there are more important things to do than thinking of „Eurorack” in a crisis like this. Beloved people, family, and friends first! Then looking after people that might be in the need for help.

Am I in the need for help? A clear NO. Not yet. Things are going quite normal, absolutely no need to complain. I am German, and from Berlin – we are masters in complaining.

So, why a post then?

Simply because I read it from your mails, „are you shipping these days?“. And I think it is the right time to tell you, yes, I still do. I keep the business up and running. No restrictions so far, besides from no pick-up in the workshop for the local peeps. Of course I noticed a decline in the number of orders, and I was taking it as a consequence of the current situation. Usually this time of the year is quite busy. But if there is an uncertainty if the business continues I have to react.

I was also wondering what I can do that could be of any help? In Germany we are in a quite comfortable position. The government has set up plans to reduce the impact of the lockdown. Yes, not everyone is in the focus but overall it feels „okay”. I am aware that if you go more detailed it might not be the case. But there is a group of people that is completely out of focus since the past few weeks: Refugees at the borders of south-east Europe. This is why I decided to donate to “Ärzte ohne Grenzen“, which is the German division “Médecins Sans Frontières“. What does „donate“ mean? Once my monthly costs (workshop), and the material (and additional costs for boxes etc.) are covered I will donate 10% of each order above the break-even. This will not be a huge amount, but it will be some money that will help. Yes, this is a matter of trust, but over the last seven years many of you trusted me when ordering my products, why not now?

By the way, probably you haven’t noticed, the new frame format is available, 28% less weight and aluminium. For black frames even with a significant price drop. Just request the price list.

One more thing, my courier (DHL/Deutsche Post) told me that they work pretty normal, but they depend on the national postal services when shipping international. So far there are only three relevant restrictions that have been announced.

1. The French post “La Poste“ is currently not handling packages with one side exceeding 60 cm. That means I cannot ship sizes over 104HP to France with my courier.
2. Shipping to Canada is not possible at the moment.
3. For the USA an extra fee of 16 EUR for each shipment will apply due to reduced capacities on international flights.

I can use a different courier which may result in higher shipping cost. Please ask.

That’s it for now.
Keep you heads up, stay safe, at home and healthy.
Stefan/Clicks and Clocks