How do some companies get away without certifying their devices?

You may be asking yourself how companies such as Sparkfun, a business based on selling electronics kits and wireless development kit companies continue to sell large numbers of non FCC authorized kits, with seeming impunity. For Sparkfun, the rules that apply in most cases relate to “subassemblies”. This just means that Sparkfun’s customers will most likely use the products to build larger products containing a number of subassemblies. For example, that may include an Arduino™ processor board along with several sensors or peripherals and an LCD. The user may even put all of these parts into an enclosure. If the user sells this product containing multiple subassembly parts in an enclosure, for all intents and purposes they are now a “manufacturer” and their equipment is subject to the normal FCC authorization procedures.