A lot of the problem is that when GMK ships their keysets there is basically nothing they can do to prevent scratching unless they were to wrap each key individually. The keys are presorted into bags and placed into giant boxes. There is foam packaging to protect the keys as they are tossed around during shipping. Scratched keys suck but unless we have GMK presort the keys directly into trays for shipping, scratched keys are inevitable.
How much extra is it for the tray and sorting? Seems like it would be worth it to avoid a damaged product. I haven't checked m set for any scratches yet so this has me worried that others have some. Is there any way to get replacements if we need them or are we SOL?
It is not the price of trays sorting that is prohibitive. It is the fact that trays are huge, have not proven to stop scratches (Triumph Adler came in trays, and they were all scratched up because the individual keys inside the trays are free-floating and not secured).
It's not a solution at the moment, unless the design has been changed.
Also, on top of using trays, we run into the problem of the sheer size of trays. Having to ship 250 trays from Germany to the US, then re-distribute them to individual buyers in large boxes will greatly increase the prices, due to the extra weight and much larger box.
We did our best to pad the keys in the ziplock bags and boxes to prevent too much movement, but it will be inevitable (and has always been) that some keys may be scratched. I am sad to hear it nevertheless, but it's how it is. Hopefully most people will have good luck and avoid it.
