Welcome to my second blank keycap group buy. Last year I ran a buy for Signature Plastics blanks through mechmarket, and the order ended up being over 28000 caps. This time the buy will be with GMK. For those that participated in the buy last year, this one will be similar, but there are a few key differences.
Please read all this before submitting the form (link is at the bottom). I know it’s a lot of information, but this buy is a bit more complicated than many others.
Here’s how the buy works:
Everything is tracked using a Google spreadsheet. You will need a Google account in order to edit it. When you request access, you will be given a block of rows where you can fill in what you would like to order. Here's an example of what the sheet looks like:
The options for you to fill in are:
Quantity -
MOQ is 150 caps for each row/size/color combination. The sheet allows you to put lower quantities than 150, but the price per cap is scaled so that 150 can be ordered.
Size -
Available row+size combinations are all listed in the select box. There are a few other sizes available that I didn’t include, such as the LED windowed caps, R3 1.75u stepped key, and ISO enter. If you want to order a lot of one of these types send me a pm.
Color -
Only GMK standard colors are available, but there are a lot of those. Here’s an image of all of them except for WS2, though that color is also an option. This image is also in the Google sheet on the “Reference Sheet” tab.
Other information on the sheet that you won’t need to edit:
Location - This will show USA, EU, or Other. mykeyboard.eu will be handling EU fulfillment, and I will be handling fulfillment for everybody else. Pricing will be displayed in Euros for EU fulfillment and in USD otherwise.
Pricing - And now for the important part. Here is pricing per combination based on the quantity we order (this can also be viewed on the “Reference Sheet” tab in the document). As mentioned, the MOQ per row/size combination is 150, so the 150 line is for quantities from 150 to 249, etc.
Shipping is not included in the above prices. Caps are pretty light (about 1kg for 1000u of keys), so shipments within the USA and within the EU will not be too expensive. Shipping outside of the USA/EU will be $15-25 unless you order >1000 caps.
EU prices include VAT; sales tax will need to be collected for shipments to California addresses.Payment will be in euros for those getting EU fulfillment, and you will be invoiced by mykeyboard.eu. Payment for everyone else will be in dollars, and invoiced by me.
Timing - The GB will be open until
April 26 (4 weeks), and I’ll post a reminder on r/mechmarket and GH once a week or so. Invoicing will be completed 1-2 days after the buy ends.
Non-payment of invoices has the potential to screw up pricing for everybody, so please be sure you will be able to pay for what you order immediately after the buy ends.GMK has said that production will take 8-10 weeks after payment is submitted.
And finally, here’s the Google form to fill out:
https://forms.gle/HseFiSqspKX6616L7I will plan to give people access to the order sheet at least once per day, starting tomorrow morning.
March 30 Update:Everyone who has filled out the form as of 12pm PDT today should have access to the sheet now. Yesterday it seemed like gmail wasn't delivering some of the emails that said I had shared the document (I guess they thought I was spamming), so if you didn't get an email check out
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/ and it should be there. If you have any issues/questions you can post here or pm me. GH post is up now at
https://geekhack.org/index.php?reportsent;topic=100031 which might be easier to follow. To answer a few questions that have come up:
I have inquired about whether the fullsize spacebars are the same cost as the other >1u keys. My GMK contact is out of the office until April 1, and I'll update the sheet when I hear back from her.
/u/shinmai posted a link to an alternative photo of the standard color keycaps:
I'm allocating space on the sheet in 20-row blocks. If you use all 20 rows and want more, send me a pm and I'll allocate another block for you.
To confirm the row numbering, the top of the keyboard is row 0/1, and the bottom of the keyboard is row 4/5. The only keyset I know of thus far that has used the 0/5 molds is R2 Carbon.
New keys that I add will be at the bottom of the dropdown list. Thus far I added stepped caps lock keys, 1u LED-window keys for each row (also LED stepped and unstepped caps lock), and ISO enter.
March 30 Update 2:I'm changing the price per piece that's displayed for quantities that are lower than MOQ. Initially I scaled the price so that the MOQ would be reached. Now I'm going to display the price it will be if it gets to MOQ, and also highlight in light red the quantity for the combination for those that are <150. When the buy get to about a week left, I will change the pricing back to the original method so people can make a decision about whether or not they'd like to pay the higher price to push certain keys to reach 150.
April 1 Update:I heard back about spacebars, and those have now been added as options. They're at the bottom of the dropdown list, and they have different pricing compared to the other keys. Pricing can be viewed on the "Reference Sheet" tab in the document. The four spacebar options (6u c, 6u oc, 6.25u, 7u) are all priced the same. Everybody that has filled out the form now has access to the sheet, so if you think you filled it out and don't have access let me know so I can investigate.
April 8 Update:Since I haven't been able to do as much work while on vacation as I was planning to, I've decided to extend the buy for another week. New end date is
April 26. I'm traveling tomorrow, and will plan to post another update on Wednesday with some new information.
April 13 UpdateThe buy has now been going for 2 weeks (and 2 days), and we’re at about 23,500 caps on the order form. There are a quite a few combinations that are already past the MOQ mark, mainly in CR, WS1, TU2, and DY colors. Quite a few more are within 50 caps of making MOQ as well. If you have any questions feel free to post/pm.
The buy is running until April 26, so there are 2 weeks left. Next week I’ll switch pricing on the below-MOQ combinations so that they show how much it would cost to get to MOQ.
A brand new cap is now available. Several people expressed interest in getting a 1.25u spacebar (Row 4), and after asking my GMK contact about it I was surprised that their MOQ for such a key isn’t nearly as high as I would have expected. In order for them to make it, at least 1000 keys will need to be purchased, with each color having an MOQ of 150 like the rest of the caps. This will not add much, if any, time to the manufacturing process. The bad news is that the pricing for these is higher than the other small caps. It’s priced the same as the big spacebars, which I suppose is what has to happen to build the cost of the mold-making into it. But, if this is something you’ve been waiting for, here’s a chance to get the mold made and available for all future GMK sets. It’s at the bottom of the drop-down for size.
April 21 Update:There are now 5 days left in the buy, and as of this morning there were 59 different types of keys already above MOQ. Sorry about the sheet being so slow ... the "Current Quantities" tab updates on each change which can bog it down. Hopefully it's not too much of a pain.
Important pricing info: I have now updated the pricing formula on the sheet, so that the price displayed is what you will have to pay for the keys to reach MOQ. Now is the time to decide whether or not you want to keep these keys in your order. If you do not,
you must delete them. Check back a few times, because as people delete or add more keys the pricing will change for all keys that are below MOQ.
Here’s an example. Say that you want 4 1u keys in a combination that currently has a total of 50 on the sheet. The price per key will now show $3.78 per key. If the buy finishes at this level, then each person would pay $3.78 per key listed in their order, but would actually receive 3 times that number, so for that line you would pay $11.34 and receive 12 keys. If you want 4 1u keys and there are only 15 on the sheet, then you’d pay $12.60 per key ($50.40 total) and receive 40 keys.
All quantities that remain on the order sheet will be invoiced at the prices listed next weekend. I will stop adding new people to the sheet on Tuesday, and post another update on Thursday to remind you once again to double-check your section of the sheet.
Any unpaid invoices have the potential to mess up pricing for many other people. So please, don’t be a ****.
April 24 Update:I'm no longer adding new people to the sheet, as mentioned in the last update, so now is the time to evaluate your rows to decide if you need to delete anything. For low quantity types, it's pretty unlikely that others will be adding more at this point if that's what you've been waiting for.
The buy won't be extended again. Quantities took a small hit at the beginning of the week, but there are still close to 18000 in types that are above MOQ (about 3500 below its highest point). Maybe offering kits would improve things, but it would mean *way* more work for me. I'd either have to input all the quantities myself or code up a website/database to do it, which is above my level of interest at this time. I'll revisit the possibility later, and if somebody else would want to work with me on that let me know. The SP buy was much smoother because their minimum was effectively ~$60/type as opposed to ~$200/type with GMK, and there wasn't ever any "will this make MOQ" anxiety ... it was just "will this get cheap enough to be worth it".
I'll lock the sheet to edits before I go to bed Friday (10-11pm PDT). At that point I'll deal with issues, such as people on low quantity things that couldn't be bothered to remove their quantities, or last minute changes that affect others. Check your rows on Saturday and send me an email (@gmail.com) if something changed significantly that affects what you want to order. I imagine most/all of the above MOQ types are fine. I will optimistically have all the individual issues worked out this weekend so that invoices can go out starting on Monday.
As always, if you have questions send me a pm either on here/Reddit/Discord. You can also post, though that's harder for me to keep track of whether I've responded.
May 1 UpdateI've done all the updates to the sheet that I think are correct. Please check your rows on the "Order Form updates" tab of the sheet to make sure everything looks ok to you. I removed all keys that had 10 or fewer total requested. Also, there are 22 people whose orders are for 10 or fewer caps, and a few of these might raise prices slightly if they end up not paying. If it's only a couple of people I'll just cover their orders myself. I can still add caps if you need some added, in which case you should email me at
[email protected], but please no reductions unless prices have changed significantly.
I'll give everybody until Friday morning my time to check and see if it all looks good, and then I'll plan to begin invoicing on Friday evening unless further changes require checking in with people. Thanks for your patience!
Also, a quick plug for my next project. After this order has been placed and paid for with GMK I'm going to do a small GB for a DCS Ergodox/Planck mod set in Camping colors. DCS is close enough to Cherry that it should look fine. It'll be a bit over $50 (for 50 caps) if I can get 25 sets ordered. If you don't have GMK Camping, then an additional 40-key double-shot alphanumerics kit (0-9, A-Z, 4 punctuation) will be available starting at about $30. No regular mods/novelties/numpad/etc will be offered. If you'd be interested in that send me a pm and I can let you know when I launch it.
