Colorway and how it will go with the boards I have.
That’s what goes through my mind, I saw some rather plain looking sets for rather high prices and people seem to love them so it got me thinking.
The plain stuff, im assuming youre referring to GMK 9009/classic retro, or the beige colorways?
Those generally fetch high prices due to being a generally classic/timeless colorway that fits on any neutral colored board.
Also, it tends to hit a low amount of orders, so when people DO decide they want em, not many people are selling them, so the value kinda shoots high. the original run of GMK 9009 went up to like $2-350 or so IIRC.
Then there are the even more rare variants like BSP keysets (tulip/peacock). Those are pretty to look at
That was one of the ones i saw and said holy cow to lol. It piqued my interest. As the weeks go by and the more i browse on IC i find myself more drawn to the colorways primarily and then i look at the novelties second. I guess i have the same interest towards a lot of the artisans, some look really good and really well made and the price is understandable and some look rather poorly (painted?) colored and people go crazy for them but im still pretty fresh into the hobby so maybe i just dont have an eye for everything yet
For sure, on the topic of artisans. There are a lot of factors that go into the value of keycaps.
1. Maker
2. Detail of the sculpt
3. Colorway
4. Quantity (how many of these caps/colorways exist?)
5. Meme (literally some caps just shoot up in price for no crazy reason)
Among the top producers, there are a few notable makers whose keycap values almost always shoot up above retail (For good reason, too). Clack (the first, if not at least one of the first, artisan), Bro Caps, Keyforge, ETF/Nightcaps, GAF Caps, Booper, etc.
The more you dive into the community, the more you'll get a feel for what things are valued at, and WHY they are valued that way.
Enjoy your time here