pricing seems unreasonable for buying/selling keycaps and keyboards (Geekhack in

[lamxuyen]

It seems like people selling their keycaps or keyboards on Geekhack (and perhaps other forums) are trying to basically get back what they originally paid for what they're selling.

Is this pretty much how it is in this community? I just don't understand the logic of trying to recoup all your money on something used (even if only used once or twice)..

When I sell used things myself I usually price 50 - 80% depending on various factors.

Is this just how this community operates? Are there better places to look for keycaps / mechanical keyboards?

A few examples (not posting links)

Someone was -selling keycaps from a recently closed groupbuy for a 30% price premium and asking buyer to pay shipping costs -selling a realforce keyboard for $10 less you could buy it for online -HHKB w/ some keycaps for $400 something dollars

[nmur]

yeah it's pretty normal

for group buys, which are limited in time and sometimes items, it's not uncommon for the item or set to be sought after to the point where people will pay 20% more than the original price

for off-the-shelf things that only appear to have a tiny discount, cheaper ones do appear, but because the prices of these things are so constant, people don't usually mind only getting a %10 discount for a 9/10 item

[Jacob4341]

Someone else could give you a better economics lesson than me but from what I understand from USA's Supply and Demand, when the Supply of a product is small and the demand for the product is large, the product's price will increase to match the demand.

See in the community when a keycap GB is over, there is very slim chance that set will ever be run again. This means the Supply of these keycaps is limited and if anyone wants this set in the future, they're going to expect to pay more to get their hands on a set. On sets that have high demand aftermarket (like Nautilus, Muted, Nantucket Selectric, Retro, etc) then they should be evaluated at a higher price of match the demand.

The supply of Nobatouches/Realforces/other Topre boards is decreasing (I think) and is thus increasing their value.

[noisyturtle]

It's always been that way. Not saying it's right or sane to expect a 100% return on something used, but it has been the standard for... well, forever.

But I don't expect modern sets to hold anywhere near the value of older ACTUALLY hard to find caps. All those GMK sets people are hording likely won't see much gain anytime soon.

[Leslieann]

It's normal for any enthusiast site.
Besides supply and demand, people expect to be offered less than the asking price. There is also the idea that by buying from a fellow enthusiast you are more likely to get something good and less likely to be ripped off since they too are into maintaining and keeping these things as well as a desire to maintain their reputation.

[tp4tissue]

The only way to Win in this situation is to NOT play

[ideus]

It seems like people selling their keycaps or keyboards on Geekhack (and perhaps other forums) are trying to basically get back what they originally paid for what they're selling.

Is this pretty much how it is in this community? I just don't understand the logic of trying to recoup all your money on something used (even if only used once or twice)..

When I sell used things myself I usually price 50 - 80% depending on various factors.

Is this just how this community operates? Are there better places to look for keycaps / mechanical keyboards?

A few examples (not posting links)

Someone was -selling keycaps from a recently closed groupbuy for a 30% price premium and asking buyer to pay shipping costs -selling a realforce keyboard for $10 less you could buy it for online -HHKB w/ some keycaps for $400 something dollars

Mechanical keyboard stuff is not a commodity. Either, some pieces are vintage original items that cannot be sourced anywhere else, or they are custom made in GBs. Those are the main reason for high prices. You can go for some lower priced items from China. It comes to my mind ThaiHao keycaps, but those are lower quality and you will not be able to fit but standard TKL and Full size keyboards. You can always buy rubber domes for cheap. But if you want to get a custom mechanical keyboard you shall pay the price.


For balance, I am not agreable with the over-priced artisan's stuff; but, that is an entirely different story. When someone consider a piece of plastic an artistic item, pricing could be at any point, without even the minimun logic or reason.

[9999hp]

Like other have said, it's pretty normal. Unless it's "shine", for the most part our use is not too damaging to an item. So I can get behind the logic for some used boards; especially customs. You'll rarely find a custom that sells for anything less than the retail, if not with a premium.

[Waateva]

It seems like people selling their keycaps or keyboards on Geekhack (and perhaps other forums) are trying to basically get back what they originally paid for what they're selling.

Is this pretty much how it is in this community? I just don't understand the logic of trying to recoup all your money on something used (even if only used once or twice)..

When I sell used things myself I usually price 50 - 80% depending on various factors.

Is this just how this community operates? Are there better places to look for keycaps / mechanical keyboards?

A few examples (not posting links)

Someone was -selling keycaps from a recently closed groupbuy for a 30% price premium and asking buyer to pay shipping costs -selling a realforce keyboard for $10 less you could buy it for online -HHKB w/ some keycaps for $400 something dollars

Just because people list items at these prices, does NOT mean they will sell for them.  For the keycap example, it would greatly depend on which keyset was being sold as to if the 30% premium would actually sell or not.  For the Realforce, I imagine it would need to drop to probably $30ish off to actually sell, and for the HHKB, it would absolutely not sell at $400+ if it really is just a stock HHKB with keycaps.  Now, say it's an HHKB BT with sliders and a keyset, that sounds potentially reasonable, but it really depends on each situation and item.

[9999hp]

It seems like people selling their keycaps or keyboards on Geekhack (and perhaps other forums) are trying to basically get back what they originally paid for what they're selling.

Is this pretty much how it is in this community? I just don't understand the logic of trying to recoup all your money on something used (even if only used once or twice)..

When I sell used things myself I usually price 50 - 80% depending on various factors.

Is this just how this community operates? Are there better places to look for keycaps / mechanical keyboards?

A few examples (not posting links)

Someone was -selling keycaps from a recently closed groupbuy for a 30% price premium and asking buyer to pay shipping costs -selling a realforce keyboard for $10 less you could buy it for online -HHKB w/ some keycaps for $400 something dollars

Just because people list items at these prices, does NOT mean they will sell for them.  For the keycap example, it would greatly depend on which keyset was being sold as to if the 30% premium would actually sell or not.  For the Realforce, I imagine it would need to drop to probably $30ish off to actually sell, and for the HHKB, it would absolutely not sell at $400+ if it really is just a stock HHKB with keycaps.  Now, say it's an HHKB BT with sliders and a keyset, that sounds potentially reasonable, but it really depends on each situation and item.

yea, that's actually the truth right there. There's a ton of variables that make a a blanket statement difficult. Best thing is to know your own stuff, or at least have friends you can verify prices with before you agree to pay something.

[tp4tissue]

The fact that You Guysuz are buying USED KEYBOARD materials AT ALL,, is extremely Brave..

Knowing what all them peeps are doing on dat PC these days...

Soap and water is not enuff