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inhumantsar t1_j14vf7e wrote

Reply to comment by gantork in Ordered the SA Espresso (Alphas + Novelties) from Kono. Turns out the modifiers are a separate set for TKL that's 100 bucks extra for the 5 keys that I'm missing :( by Space_Floof

I get what you're saying and as an ortho-ergo user, I appreciate it.

That said, the flip side is that nearly everyone needs Enter, Tab, 2 Shift keys and Backspace.

Those core keys in their standard sizes are only available as part of a huge set containing multiple sizes for modifiers, capslock, backspace, and even Up, in addition to F-keys and everything else. IMHO this runs directly counter to your argument.

By not offering a basic set of core keys at a modest price, most customers have no choice but to pay a substantial amount for a lot of keys that they won't ever need.

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gantork t1_j14z4yc wrote

The TKL kit is rather slim to be honest, I split out numpad, specialties and iso from it. Buying alphas + tkl is simple to understand (maybe not?) and it provides good coverage without wasting a lot of keys.

As you can see in this post and the comments simply splitting the alphas already got people confused, you have to find a balance between flexibility and not confusing people with a ton of options.

In any case I'm not saying the kitting couldn't be improved, but I think it's good enough and it's not anti consumer.

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inhumantsar t1_j15sn60 wrote

I totally get you. It's definitely a balancing act. Not sure if you've gone thru an exercise of configuring a few keyboard types to see what the pricing looks like.

From my perspective it definitely starts to feel like a bit of a cash grab after adding 3+ different kits at $50-70+ USD each.

Eg: I've got a Moonlander and a separate numpad, so bare minimum I'd need the alpha, numpad, ergo, and ortho kits just to provide complete (actually, not quite co.plete but close enough) coverage for a total of $270USD before shipping and taxes. Kono recommends getting their 3rd party insurance for an extra $5 USD and shipping would cost $35 USD. That's $310USD before tax, which is perilously close to what I paid for the keyboard itself shipped, taxes in, nevermind the numpad.

I'm not saying you should simply lower your prices or that you don't deserve fair compensation for your (excellent) work, but I have to wonder how much opportunity cost you're eating with that kitting setup.

Is there efficiencies lost in the low volumes? Are retailers taking a big markup? What would make your life easier?

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gantork t1_j15xua4 wrote

Yes I definitely know how much it costs to cover different layouts. You're looking at extras prices which are a lot more expensive than buying during GB.

I don't know what your example shows, apart from that yeah SP SA is really expensive. You're trying to cover a pretty rare layout, not sure what I could change there.

I think kitting is good, I accepted a ton of feedback from the community and some members that are very knowledgeable about kitting before I ran the GB, not sure what else I can say.

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Tweetydabirdie t1_j1501ma wrote

As a Nordic language user, all I can say is nee-nee-nee-naw.

For once, I can actually buy the alphas, and an ISO or NorDe kit and use the damned key set without having to buy ridiculous kits I’ll never need.

The standard way of kitting only benefits US ANSI users, and nobody else. For once, you’re not getting benefits, so your complaining. sigh

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inhumantsar t1_j154jdi wrote

> For once, I can actually buy the alphas, and an ISO or NorDe kit and use the damned key set without having to buy ridiculous kits I’ll never need.

you would also have to buy the TKL set too, with all of its duplicates and ANSI Enter key, unless Nordic keyboards don't use Tab, Backspace, or modifiers.

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