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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: samuel on Sat, 10 May 2008, 18:57:14

Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: samuel on Sat, 10 May 2008, 18:57:14
Hey all,

I've read through this forum and I've been convinced that the brown cherry Filco FKB104M/EB is the keyboard to grab.

Now my question is, where is the cheapest place to purchase it?

Thanks! :)
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: Ulysses31 on Sat, 10 May 2008, 19:33:24
I'd say direct from Diatec.  They've given me the cheapest quote so far.  Someone here was selling one recently so you may be able to grab that instead.
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: Korbin on Sat, 10 May 2008, 20:21:16
It says on diatec's website that they don't ship outside of japan. I sent an order request to http://www.fdjp.com/ to try to get this board and they emailed me back today and said that item was sold out.
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: Ulysses31 on Sat, 10 May 2008, 20:37:21
They do ship outside of Japan, you just have to email Mr. Shikano via their contact email address.  They only don't ship outside Japan for online orders - you have to deal directly with them.
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: djones on Thu, 15 May 2008, 17:48:10
I ordred my hhkbproII from benippon and their service was excellent. They have the exact keyboard you're lloking for for $118, which I'll probably be getting from them once Iget my $600 economic stimulus check from the IRS. (Hey, they didn't mention *which* economy to stimulate, did they!? :-)

http://benippon.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=12735

Direct from diatech is 9400 yen but I don't know how much they'd charge for oversea shipping

http://www.diatec.co.jp/shop/det.php?prod_c=371

fdjp is way too expensive, they charge 30% commission on top of the domestic shipping from the retailer to fdjp and internation alshipping to you.
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: bigpook on Thu, 15 May 2008, 18:55:04
I am emailing  S. Shikano at Diatec. The FKB104M/EB  is $86 with $45 for shipping. For a total of $131.
They want to do some kind of bank wire transfer which I need to pay for, haven't found out yet what that will run.
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: Korbin on Thu, 15 May 2008, 20:47:01
Quote from: djones;4671
I ordred my hhkbproII from benippon and their service was excellent. They have the exact keyboard you're lloking for for $118, which I'll probably be getting from them once Iget my $600 economic stimulus check from the IRS. (Hey, they didn't mention *which* economy to stimulate, did they!? :-)

http://benippon.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=12735

Direct from diatech is 9400 yen but I don't know how much they'd charge for oversea shipping

http://www.diatec.co.jp/shop/det.php?prod_c=371

fdjp is way too expensive, they charge 30% commission on top of the domestic shipping from the retailer to fdjp and internation alshipping to you.


Hey thanks for the link. I just ordered mine from there (benippon).... You guys rock!
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: bigpook on Thu, 15 May 2008, 21:07:34
I went to the benippon site, and priced out the Filco FKB104M/EB
Right now it is priced at $113.74, with shipping and the paypal charge the price comes to $177.65.

Are these close to the same numbers you are getting?
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: zillidot on Thu, 15 May 2008, 22:31:52
Quote from: djones;4671
fdjp is way too expensive, they charge 30% commission on top of the domestic shipping from the retailer to fdjp and internation alshipping to you.

I used a different shopping service, Crescent shop (http://www.crescent-shop.com/). Their commission rates are closer to 20%. When I did the numbers, it worked out to be about the same as benippon's markup.

But I think buying direct from the manufacturer is the way to go, if the bank wire transfer fees aren't too high.
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: djones on Thu, 15 May 2008, 23:18:28
Quote from: bigpook;4675
I went to the benippon site, and priced out the Filco FKB104M/EB
Right now it is priced at $113.74, with shipping and the paypal charge the price comes to $177.65.

Are these close to the same numbers you are getting?

why not just pay with a credit card? when i ordered my HHKB proII I only paid $20 for fully insured shipping & no other fees. And also, the prices are different on BeNippon because of the exchange rate. A good strategy might be to hope for, say, 110Yen/dollar... thouigh with the dollar going down the toilet it may go the other way :-P

Quote from: bigpook;4672
I am emailing  S. Shikano at Diatec. The FKB104M/EB  is $86 with $45 for shipping. For a total of $131.
They want to do some kind of bank wire transfer which I need to pay for, haven't found out yet what that will run.


international wires are $20 at least, sometimes much higher.
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: bigpook on Sat, 17 May 2008, 20:58:41
I am at benippon now, the HHKB pro 2 with shipping to Florida is 27598 yen with a 4.5% credit card surcharge. They use paypal only, it seems.  

On the benippon web site,the yen conversion works out to $287.19. With the 4.5% surcharge I am at $300.11.

Man, that seems like a lot of money to lay down on a keyboard, needless to say my finger hovers over the submit button. I need help, lol.

Can someone talk me down?

All this is typed on a model m space saver that I absolutely love and have no reason to replace.....
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: iMav on Sat, 17 May 2008, 21:23:44
That's still not a bad deal considering the HHKB Pro (v.1) is available from the PFU yahoo store (for US consumers) for $260 (BEFORE shipping).  

So, $30-35 more buys you the Pro 2 with the built-in USB hub.  I think it is worth it.  I use a USB Logitech Trackman Wheel and being able to plug it into my keyboard makes it just as portable as the HHKB Pro itself.
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: bigpook on Sat, 17 May 2008, 21:39:01
Yeah, I can see where you are coming from. I am at crescent-shop and they sent me this link.
http://www.tokka.com/goods/search.aspx?keyword=PD-KB400&tree=&nam

Hit the orange button when/if you hit this link to see the keyboards.

The price works out to 206.74, am waiting to hear back from them on the shipping costs.
Title: Cheapest place to buy a Filco?
Post by: Korbin on Sun, 18 May 2008, 20:41:14
Quote from: bigpook;4718

Man, that seems like a lot of money to lay down on a keyboard, needless to say my finger hovers over the submit button. I need help, lol.

Can someone talk me down?


Don't fight it man... you can only resist for so long. You might as well given in and order it.