inhumantsar

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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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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inhumantsar t1_j14vf7e wrote

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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