Shopping for Metric Parts in the US

Well, I live in the US but usually, choose metric parts opposed to SAE parts. It annoys me but here are some tips for shopping and finding metric parts in the US.

For some things like ball bearings, your only choice is to import them. If you cannot find the item in question on Amazon or another more convenient online retailer, you may even need to buy from a source like AliExpress. Importing may possibly be the most convenient, cheapest, or only option.

If you need either high quality or faster shipping, companies like McMaster and Grainger are useful for getting metric parts if getting a part at extremely low cost is not a priority. They will usually have metric parts but they may be less available than their SAE counterparts. For example. I had to get a bag of M3 nuts ordered through Grainger shipped from across the country.

Those aforementioned M3 nuts were slated to arrive later than the date I needed the parts for, so I went to Home Depot. They had packs of 5 M3 nuts for 75cents, but I needed them so urgently that I shelled out the $6.75 that I needed to buy 45 of them. Some of these stores may have a limited but adequate selection of these parts and they will charge a premium for them, but if this is your only option, then they will work.

For reference, my local Lowes has M4 to M10 hardware, and my local Home Depot had M3 to M12.