I did $17k in 2 years. It can be worse. You either are about the life, or you aren’t. People can rip on the group buy model all they want, but the simple fact is it’s what’s allowed people’s ideas to come to life. Vendors are taking on a ton of risk with stock nowadays. We are now seeing more in stock products than ever before. GMK sets aren’t being “flipped” anymore because most of the sets ran in the last couple years are sitting in inventory as extras. There are growing pains, but the reality is group buys now function on a principle of MOQ and getting a discount. We’ve seen plenty of sets gets cancelled in the last year because no one wanted them. However, geekhack and interest check exist for a reason. If you don’t want to wait, then just wait for the set to be ran as “extras”. You’ll easily be able to snag whatever you want in a year or so’s time. Having a peek behind the curtain of what it actually takes to bring a product to the shelves and getting a significant preorder discount because of it isn’t a reason to say it’s stupid.