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QWERKey-UK t1_ixyv6vu wrote

Reply to comment by mamamarty21 in When you spent 2,000$ over the last year and still haven't seen one GB arrive by CertainlyBright

>The group buy business model is stupid as fuck. If designers don’t believe in their set enough to sell it outright, then maybe it isn’t good enough to sell period.

So I take it if GMK keycaps were in stock, you'd be buying loads of them, right?

> Take a fucking business loan out, run your set, sell it when it’s done.

Another clueless idiot.

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Marvelm t1_ixyxlme wrote

> So I take it if GMK keycaps were in stock, you'd be buying loads of them, right?

Well duh? I'd rather buy something when it's on the shelf rather than wait 2 years for that? Must be crazy!

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QWERKey-UK t1_ixyybos wrote

You miss my point. Would you actually buy them? Are you actually in the market for a $100+ keycap set?

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Marvelm t1_ixyzibn wrote

Well, yeah, I bought KAT Eternal, totally lost interest in it before it arrived 1,5 years later and sold it immediately and now I'm waiting for JTK Sora since April 2021. Likely won't join another GB for that exact reason, it's just fuckin absurd. And then another option is buying from scalpers who sell 130$ sets for 300$, great.

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QWERKey-UK t1_ixz0062 wrote

Why not just buy extras? Most vendors will order extras. I just picked up Striker for only slightly more than the GB price.

Get rid of group buys though, and you won't see the variety of keycaps and keyboards we have now. Most interesting stuff, especially keycaps, are designed by community members like you and I, and we can't afford to finance the production of thousands of sets of keycaps. If you rely on big business, they are risk averse. You will definitely see a reduction in variety. They will just do what can be easily demonstrated to be popular... so they copy one another.... which is why all gaming boards are the same.

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Marvelm t1_ixz07n5 wrote

I mean sure, if stars align and you come across extras for exactly the set you like, then you're golden but that's not something you can bank on.

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QWERKey-UK t1_ixzf8b9 wrote

Maybe not, but if you know when a set will drop, or is expected to drop, you can be ready to pounce as most vendors will have extras. Some even have planners and calendars showing expected dates for each set, and most will have a mailing list you can sign up to. This is how I knew Striker was up as an extra set at Prototypist. I'd forgotten all about it until I got an e-mail telling me. It's not a cast iron guarantee, no, but you can get most things this way if you plan it well.

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RegaliaKeyboards t1_iy184ss wrote

>Why not just buy extras?

Extras have only recently started being priced decently at SOME vendors. Extras pricing for a lot of sets earlier to mid this year was always at $185+, and now some vendors they are finally starting to run a little lower. This is one of the reasons some people were staying away from extras and waiting on sales etc on these higher priced sets. And then there are a few vendors where extras prices are just a bit insane IMO

Extras also only recently have been more available due to vendors starting to purchase enough to not have extras sales sell out within a minute or two

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QWERKey-UK t1_iy2n7g6 wrote

I can only go off what vendors in the UK charge, as if I'm buying extras, then I will obviously use a UK vendor. They've always been reasonable. You expect a mark up, as after all, the vendor has taken a risk in ordering extras... for all they knew at the time, the set may not sell well. I've not seen them as expensive as that though. If you missed a GB and really want the set though, paying another $40 or so is still better than being gouged on the aftermarket. I do see your point though, yes.

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RegaliaKeyboards t1_iy3kb2k wrote

>paying another $40

That is the problem, at least with US vendors it didn't used to be only a $40 mark up. Its been anywhere from $65 to $80 mark ups for GMK sets on a lot of US vendors until just more recently (I have seen a particular vendor that had higher markups than that even).

I totally get there is going to be some mark up for extras, after all extras are just the vendor saying "we want x amount of sets, so that we can sell some more in case people didn't get a chance to join the GB". So they are paying for those extra sets out of their pockets, so of course there needs to be some sort of return on those sets on top of what they would already be making at GB price. Totally reasonable, its just when they are getting marked up $65 to $80 above what they sold at GB for, that is just a little bit too much. Again, not sure what the markups are over on the UK vendors, but glad that they don't seem to have been as bad as some US vendors.

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