GB for
http://instagram.com/honeybunzcreations adorable custom wrist rests will be opening at 5pm pst today and will last for 2 weeks from May 27th - June 10th or until the cap is met (which is 20)!
Also
https://www.instagram.com/balloondogcaps/ Raffle for Kidnap and Blop will also commence soon too!
I'm sorry I'm posting this here instead of the GB post thread (
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=113012 is still pending mod approval), but I wanted to officially announce we've past MOQ (minmum order quantity, where a 7u spacebar = 7 units)!
In regards to estimated delivery date/time, no-one's exactly sure: to be transparent, the manufacturer Keyreative gave us an estimate of 8-10 months, and zFrontier is in direct contact with their team and they've set their date a lot earlier, but based on previous timelines of other sets, most vendors (and us the designers) are reluctant to change conservative estimates unless there's clear evidence they've increased their production capacity/speed. Believe us, we all want nothing more than this set to get into people's hands sooner, but we're not a manufacturer, and we simply have to join the production queue behind existing sets that are still being manufactured. A combination of COVID and significant rise in demand has led to wide-ranging delays across most popular manufacturer/profiles (GMK, Signature Plastics SA, and KAT/KAM) taking around 12 months which obviously sucks.
Earlier in the year, Keyreative did promise installing new machines to increase their capacity/speed (like GMK), but we will have to see if this results in faster turnaround. We're hopeful that it does get delivered earlier, but the vendors are trying to not overpromise on delivery dates and set false expectations so they've set dates further out. It is better that people are prepared mentally for the long purchase period wait. I've personally been waiting for other KAT, GMK, and SA sets that all have been taking their sweet time being made.
Unfortunately the groupbuy model isn't the best, but unless you have the leverage of Drop/Mitos, smaller time vendors/designers don't have the capital leverage to provide instock keycap sales. Though there has been a recent attempt and shift in this area with some other vendors offering in stock PBT keycap sets. There isn't really a great system of addressing the MOQ system demanded by manufacturers. Sets aren't always guaranteed to be successful too with recent examples of GMK Alchemy and ePBT Pomelo groupbuys being recently cancelled. It's idealistic, but more sets made in other manufacturers (existing or new ones) may address this uncomfortably long gap in waiting times, however people are reluctant to try new manufacturers too. I totally understand reluctance with participating in a groupbuy model and having to wait ages for it as a fellow consumer, however the prices to obtain instock purchases for extras when they arrive, or aftermarket prices isn't something that's pleasant to stomache, and can be quite difficult to do if there are limited numbers of extras in the kits you want (Demand > supply). Ultimately, in the current market, you either pay less money and wait a long time, or you pay lots and lots more money to obtain something that is in-stock and potentially will go OOS rapidly (it's a dog's race trying to get extras on popular sets).
