I’ve been mentioning the struggle for yarn as a casual crocheter myself*, but the yarn and all craft supply issue is REAL and affects more than just @HandmadeAmazon Handmade sellers. Small business Sellers in many fields, categories, and industries are facing serious challenges in maintaining business quality without having to raise prices beyond what shoppers can bear–and in December 2025, that is asking a lot.
DISCLOSURE: I do not sell my crochet makes online, and I am not a Handmade Seller on any online venue, including Amazon Handmade, Etsy, Michael’s MakerPlace, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Faire, craigslist(?), literally anywhere at all. I merely sympathize with Handmakers because I see their (somewhat disproportionate) struggle to maintain profitable businesses in the face of cascading economic influences.
Try gemstones and jewelry. Everything from India (where a lot of silver and gems originate) has a 50% tariff. As I like to tell my father in law who voted for all this…You can’t mine tanzanite in Ohio…
Items from earlier this year are more than doubled, even from US suppliers, as they source from overseas. Combined with silver’s historically high price and tariffs, some items I’ve used for over a decade are now discontinued. The main US suppliers are no longer stocking some things because they don’t want to charge 3x the old price (or be stuck with that inventory because buyers like me fold).
My main gem supplier from India has lamented that the slow orders due to tariffs might make him have to shut down.
In 2020-2021 when there was the cargo shipping issue and Covid shutdown issues, we ordered in what we thought would be a 7 to 8 year supply of our items. It was kind of a crazy thing to do and was looking like it wasn’t necessary in 2023-2024. But now in 2025, we are extremely happy we took the risk back then. We were even able to recently help out a neighbor with supplies without hurting ourselves.
Had we not made that decision back then, we too would be thinking of shutting down because of supply issues that exist now.
we’re number one in flustercuck - we are lucky in a way that despite the major flustercuck going on here and around the world - we have a geography which allows us to function a lot better then everywhere else despite our incredible flustercucking. We shall see.
I have accumulated quite a bit yarn and other craft supplies over the years. These were intended for projects that I had planned but never got around to completing (or even starting on). With the current dearth of yarn and craft supplies that you mention, this may be a good time for me to offer them up to crafters who can actually use them. FYI, I had considered listing these items long before the current tariff crisis. This may be just the thing to spur me into action.
Most of my supplies were ordered on a JIT basis before tariffs. Right now I’m just trying to dwindle my existing stock down towards my exit cause that’s looking like where it’s going. I have not drastically changed my prices yet cause I would not be selling ANYTHING if I had to raise them to be profitable. I have no motivation left to continue playing this game.
And many of the people with the power have no clue about this. A few months back, one congress-critte pointed out the rising cost of a banana; a fellow congress-critter responded back with something along the lines of “well, you should buy American grown bananas”.
Totally clueless.
(yes, they grow bananas in Hawaii; but nowhere near the volume to handle anywhere else (I’m not even sure if they ship out a single bunch). Plus much of what they grow there are varieties other than Cavandish).
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