geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Eviscerae on Mon, 24 February 2020, 09:42:55
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I realize our community is rather niche, and businesses likely won't find much return on investment when dealing in a market such as this, but it has struck me as odd that kbdfans is one (if not the) only business that works in selling a large quantity of DIY kits, pcbs, and cases for the builders among us.
Sure, there are others that have product, but they are routinely sold out across all of their stock, or are so small that they have to use raffles/auctions to secure spots to buy their products.
Are there any other sites out there that are like kbdfans that have sufficiently large enough stock and variety of DIY cases, PCBs, and other things for the builders, out there?
my apologies if this post comes off naive. I'm only a few months into the hobby, and am starting down the road of building my own kits. It just struck me as odd that kbdfans seems to be the only site with enough regular stock to support a community such as this.
And this is not a knock at kbdfans. I have had only positive dealings with them, and I would love to see the new things they have planned for 2020. My curiosity is mainly piqued due to the apparent singular nature kbdfans holds as being a reputable retailer for quality DIY kits with enough stock that their shop isn't completely full of sold out items.
Thanks in advance for your replies!
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KBDfans is relatively recent, and enabled by the recent boom in popularity of mechanical keyboards globally. They offered a new niche, custom quality keyboards slightly worse than group but premium customs but much cheaper, while being slightly more expensive but much better than stock. Remember that they’re a Chinese company; their low prices are helped by easy access to production. Most other companies in the same boat chose to sell cheap generic boards, while they took a big leap in designing their own stuff and having it produced for them.
It’s certainly possible that another company could try to step in and compete, but at the moment it’s very hard to question with their price for quality. I was shocked, for instance, that I could get a full-metal 60% RGB with custom layouts on par for quality with a Duck Lightsaver from a few years back with any MX switch (I chose Trues) shipped from China for something like $180; a group buy would be at least $400 and take months or a year plus have to be hand assembled.
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Kprepublic is the closest thing i can think of compared to KBDFans.
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Kprepublic is the closest thing i can think of compared to KBDFans.
Yep, I just don't think they have the same appeal. They're meant for someone who knows exactly what they're getting. Kprepublic sells a lot of products, so it is easy to get lost in what goes with what.
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Thanks for the reply, all.
I checked out KPRepublic and instantly got sucked down the rabbit hole of HHKB customizations (i have a pro 2 that i'd like to mod).
you guys rock!