My guess is because a lot of cheaper electronics are genuinely not worth repairing if you have to pay for it, even if the repair takes literally seconds to do, and anything that’s worth paying to repair can already be taken to eg computer repair places.

The world we live in now is absolutely full of cheap electronics. That stuff breaks more often than better built and thus pricier models, so it should be the first stuff to get fixed. And that kinda requires free repair.

I mean how much would you pay to fix a $20 coffee maker/kettle?