Typical revenue share between GMK, online shop and designer?

[thocks]

I couldn't find any similar question and I assume that they're no straight numbers but just to get some feeling into the financial side of group buys.

Let's assume following parties:

• A designer who created a successful IC
• An online shop with good reputation and outreach
• The manufacturer, for the sake of simplicity, let's just take GMK

How much percent do get 1,2 and 3 from the retail price with VAT deducted?

Or to make it simple: How much would 1, 2 or 3 get from a $100 base kit (already the retail price with VAT deducted) on average?

[noisyturtle]

Do designers even make money off them? I thought usually people wound up owing money for their groupbuys, more of a labor of love than an income option.

[thocks]

Do designers even make money off them? I thought usually people wound up owing money for their groupbuys, more of a labor of love than an income option.

Yeah, this is what I also thought. The designer gets between zero and something. Maybe more than zero if his IC was insanely successful. But then again: Even if he did a successful IC, there are just few retailers, usually one or two per continent and hence, the designer doesn't have any negotiation power. Also the retailer is the gatekeeper to the manufacturer (GMK only deals with resellers).

Moreover: If you look at the pages for creators at Drop, it's more like, yeah send us something but they don't try to actively win designers and promise some commission.

So let's just assume that the designer gets 0%. But then again, why all the hassle? Designing a full set, doing marketing, ICs and so on is a ton of work. Is it... karma?

[thocks]

Ok, let's move on and assume the designer get's barely anything. Let's say 2.5%, otherwise the designer wouldn't have any motivation to keep going and push the GB.

What about the retailer? This is tricky. Depending on the industry retailers can get between 10-30%. But this market isn't really liquid. There are not many manufacturers. And the few have longer lead times than a car manufacturer. So the retailer doesn't have any negotiation power.

However, they are just few retailers/per continent with a loyal customer base with a strong collector mentality. Hence, a company like GMK is also quite dependent on the resellers. And the biggest advantage for the manufacturer: It's a group buy! No risk, no inventory, no working capital, so let's go to the top: 30%.(to go further, they don't even need product designers, marketing, anything).

Then, we end up with (again from the retail price without VAT!):

• GB Designer: 2.5%
• GB Online shop/distributor, eg Candykeys, NK or Drop: 30%
• Key cap manufacturer, eg. GMK: 67.5%%

Does this make sense?

[Pylon]

Do designers even make money off them? I thought usually people wound up owing money for their groupbuys, more of a labor of love than an income option.

I thought those were usually keyboard group buys. There's a lot more things that could go wrong that are outside the control of the GB runner in a keyboard GB than a keycaps GB.