Double shot replacements ROUND THREE: Vote for Kits & Quantities!

[British]

Then you might want to check again what I quoted.
First three columns are price/quantity/pieces, and for GREYBLANKFUN, which is ONE key, I get 7/8/128.

So if 8 * 1 = 128 (for very large value of 1), then there's indeed no problem.

[Ekaros]

Then you might want to check again what I quoted.
First three columns are price/quantity/pieces, and for GREYBLANKFUN, which is ONE key, I get 7/8/128.

So if 8 * 1 = 128 (for very large value of 1), then there's indeed no problem.

No, fun is all function keys...

[7bit]

Then you might want to check again what I quoted.
First three columns are price/quantity/pieces, and for GREYBLANKFUN, which is ONE key, I get 7/8/128.

So if 8 * 1 = 128 (for very large value of 1), then there's indeed no problem.

8*$7 == $56
8*16 == 128

There are 16 keys in the kit!

If you take only one (after the deadline!), the price will be a bit higher ...

OK, say $14 if 2 are produced.

[Findecanor]

I'm not happy. I have been part of several bulk orders on other collecting forums before, and they have been handled much better than this. On a bulk order, the price should not be going down after I have paid. If anyone should be getting a discount, it should be those who pay early, not those who come in late!
How this works (if it does work, at all) has all been unclear and confusing for too many people. A large portion of the posts in this thread have been questions on what to do, and how to order ... and then later one we get a surprise! If this price drop is what was going to happen, then it should have been written in the first post, not come as a total surprise later on.

I demand that you cancel my order and refund all the money that I have paid. ($92.81 USD including PP fees)

[Evil_Spork]

I'm not happy. I have been part of several bulk orders on other collecting forums before, and they have been handled much better than this. On a bulk order, the price should not be going down after I have paid. If anyone should be getting a discount, it should be those who pay early, not those who come in late!
How this works (if it does work, at all) has all been unclear and confusing for too many people. A large portion of the posts in this thread have been questions on what to do, and how to order ... and then later one we get a surprise! If this price drop is what was going to happen, then it should have been written in the first post, not come as a total surprise later on.

I demand that you cancel my order and refund all the money that I have paid. ($92.81 USD including PP fees)

PMs dude.. use them.

[heedpantsnow]

I'm not happy. I have been part of several bulk orders on other collecting forums before, and they have been handled much better than this. On a bulk order, the price should not be going down after I have paid. If anyone should be getting a discount, it should be those who pay early, not those who come in late!
How this works (if it does work, at all) has all been unclear and confusing for too many people. A large portion of the posts in this thread have been questions on what to do, and how to order ... and then later one we get a surprise! If this price drop is what was going to happen, then it should have been written in the first post, not come as a total surprise later on.

I demand that you cancel my order and refund all the money that I have paid. ($92.81 USD including PP fees)

I hear what you're saying, but there are also people with no special skills who have understood from the beginning...I'm one of them.  And most of them have been happy to help out; that's what a forum is.   But maybe there's some kind of communication issue that I don't understand (language, American assumptions vs. European assumptions, etc.) that's causing the problem.

I don't think it's been that bad, regardless.  Just trying to please everyone gets messy.

Just my $.02.

[7bit]

I'm not happy. I have been part of several bulk orders on other collecting forums before, and they have been handled much better than this. On a bulk order, the price should not be going down after I have paid. If anyone should be getting a discount, it should be those who pay early, not those who come in late!
How this works (if it does work, at all) has all been unclear and confusing for too many people. A large portion of the posts in this thread have been questions on what to do, and how to order ... and then later one we get a surprise! If this price drop is what was going to happen, then it should have been written in the first post, not come as a total surprise later on.

I demand that you cancel my order and refund all the money that I have paid. ($92.81 USD including PP fees)

Feel free to pay that higher price instead to have some money refunded!

Whan we started money collection we had 90 standard kits, now these will be around 170!

Also other kits got more and more support. It would be unfair not to lower the prices, once thse kits got more orders.

[Ekaros]

If prices drop as more people come in, who should pocket the change? Or start with unrealistic amount and then cancel the order for everyone?

[woody]

If prices drop as more people come in, who should pocket the change?

If any - the people who handle this.

[British]

8*$7 == $56
8*16 == 128

There are 16 keys in the kit!

If you take only one (after the deadline!), the price will be a bit higher ...

OK, say $14 if 2 are produced.

It was not the case in the previous invoices.
I was hovering between 300 and 400 keys as of late, and now I'm at 500+.

What I understood from your answers here and there is that the *FUN are for the function row, regarding profile.
Not that this set would contain the whole row...
That wasn't crystal-clear for me.

Now, since I need only 8 keys (and not 8 sets of 16 keys) for function row, I guess I'll have to figure out what to take.
Since the GREYBLANKFUN will all of a sudden go down to one set, I suppose the price will skyrocket and then it won't be interesting to take that 16-keys set instead of 8 single keys...
I could probably take 8 BLANKUNIT100 (if I understand that correctly this time), but then I would have to choose the color, and maybe the profile ?
Or I can take CLEARBLANKFUN, which is $5 for the time being... right ?

[Ekaros]

It was not the case in the previous invoices.
I was hovering between 300 and 400 keys as of late, and now I'm at 500+.

What I understood from your answers here and there is that the *FUN are for the function row, regarding profile.
Not that this set would contain the whole row...
That wasn't crystal-clear for me.

Now, since I need only 8 keys (and not 8 sets of 16 keys) for function row, I guess I'll have to figure out what to take.
Since the GREYBLANKFUN will all of a sudden go down to one set, I suppose the price will skyrocket and then it won't be interesting to take that 16-keys set instead of 8 single keys...
I could probably take 8 BLANKUNIT100 (if I understand that correctly this time), but then I would have to choose the color, and maybe the profile ?
Or I can take CLEARBLANKFUN, which is $5 for the time being... right ?

I think you could get those keys for 10$ or less. As 10 text-caps cost 1$ each...

[n12]

Full payment sent.

Thanks

[hottrout]

Although this group buy has been complicated at times and also very complex in terms of the number of key caps in question, I do have to say that I have found the help and support from 7-bit and the rest of the crew outstanding.

I have also enjoyed the process (this is my first group buy) and enjoyed the humor from the other members.  There have been a lot of off-topics but to be honest this has added to the community spirit of the forum.  I certainly know that there is no other way that I could have purchased such a diverse range of keycaps.  

By reducing the costs as the order qty's go up, the organisers are being very fair to everyone envolved.  They have given themselves a lot more work to save you this money and I think that is very honerable.

I just want to say THANKS to everyone involved with organising this and I am looking forward to receiving my order sometime in the future.

[Infernsaint]

I just payed the rest, as I added a full CLEARBLANK set. If things get cheaper, I'd rather you keep the rest. I really appreciate the work you have put in to this

[explicit]

Hm. I have recieved 3 mails with my invoice so far, could you please check if you have recieved the payment from me?

[montanyes]

Full payment sent

[Findecanor]

Feel free to pay that higher price instead to have some money refunded!

The phrase "feel free" does not apply to this context. I can not say with absolute certainty what you mean by that sentence. Because -- I suspect -- you are not a native English speaker, I can not say whether you have used prepositions correctly, etc. Anyway, that is irrelevant.

I HAVE ALREADY PAID!

If the price goes down with more orders then you should not ask for payment until ordering is closed! Then what else are deadlines for!?

I want my refund. Please initiate it within three days.

BTW. I will not take this by PM only. I believe in openness.

[Ekaros]

I HAVE ALREADY PAID!

If the price goes down with more orders then you should not ask for payment until ordering is closed! Then what else are deadlines for!?

I want my refund. Please initiate it within three days.

Wasn't it quite clear prices were estimates on current order amount? No one was forced to pay before tomorrow...

[tozz]

Wasn't it quite clear prices were estimates on current order amount? No one was forced to pay before tomorrow...

This was my first group buy and I don't find it all weird, it's kind of a given that prices that are affected by amount of items purchased will vary depending on the amount purchased (logic, doh).
It's a stretch expecting the organizer to predict the future in terms of volume, that's what the deadlines are for (which as I understand have been pushed, but pushing the order deadline also pushes the payment deadline...)

[Findecanor]

Wasn't it quite clear prices were estimates on current order amount? No one was forced to pay before tomorrow...

It was yesterday that I received an email with instructions on how to pay. That is what I followed.

You can not expect me to hold my payment for two days if the instructions don't say that I should ...

[Adhesive_X]

I've already made my payment and I've received a couple more duplicate invoices requesting payment again. Is this typical and are the invoices are just automated messeges?

I've sent a PM and haven't heard back yet. Anyone else experience this?

[Ekaros]

I've already made my payment and I've received a couple more duplicate invoices requesting payment again. Is this typical and are the invoices are just automated messeges?

I've sent a PM and haven't heard back yet. Anyone else experience this?

Payments are updated separately, so it takes a while, and everytime there is non-zero balance invoice gets send out, atleast I think so...

[phuzion]

It was yesterday that I received an email with instructions on how to pay. That is what I followed.

You can not expect me to hold my payment for two days if the instructions don't say that I should ...

But no form of payment is due until the deadline.  It's a fairly simple concept, if people order more keys between you making your partial payment, and the final payment, you should have the option of making the full payment and ordering more keys, or only making up the difference that you owe since the price drop.  Hence the reason for the two payment dates.  The OP clearly states the policy.  If you didn't read it, it's your own fault for sending money without knowing how things worked.

[7bit]

The phrase "feel free" does not apply to this context. I can not say with absolute certainty what you mean by that sentence. Because -- I suspect -- you are not a native English speaker, I can not say whether you have used prepositions correctly, etc. Anyway, that is irrelevant.

I HAVE ALREADY PAID!

If the price goes down with more orders then you should not ask for payment until ordering is closed! Then what else are deadlines for!?

I want my refund. Please initiate it within three days.

BTW. I will not take this by PM only. I believe in openness.

You did complain that there are lower prices now.

But for sure, if you don't want to get more stuff, the overpaid $$$ will be refunded.

BTW: If I wait with the money collection until we get the final invoice from SP, I have absolutely no security about how much really gets ordered.

I don't want to order and then tell SP that we are so sorry, but will order less. Then, prices will be higher and instead of refunding here and there a bit, I need to ask for more to be paid. Then more people will jump off, becuase everything got so expansive ...

[Findecanor]

The OP clearly states the policy.

I disagree with you. I do not see it. If you think that you can see it, then please enlighten me with quotes from the OP and explain this to me.

But for sure, if you don't want to get more stuff, the overpaid $$$ will be refunded.

Then say so when I ask the first time!

[7bit]

I've already made my payment and I've received a couple more duplicate invoices requesting payment again. Is this typical and are the invoices are just automated messeges?

I've sent a PM and haven't heard back yet. Anyone else experience this?

You have got $10.00 in your account.

ps: Sorry for lowering the prices!

[Ekaros]

BTW, is 75% a must or will 74% do?

[phuzion]

I disagree with you. I do not see it. If you think that you can see it, then please enlighten me with quotes from the OP and explain this to me.

Ok, let me just copy/paste exactly what the deadlines are straight out of the OP:

Deadline to submit add-ons:
Monday, 21st March 2011, 24:00:00 GMT! <------ passed!

Deadline to get your votes into the system,
such that you get your ordered stuff:
Wednesday, 23rd March 2011, 20:00:00 GMT! <------ passed!

Deadline for 75% payment of all your stuff:
Friday, 25th March 2011 09:00:00 GMT!

Deadline for 100% payment of all your stuff:
Somewhere by the end of March!

If you vote after the 23rd 20:00:00 GMT,
you might get what you voted for,
but maybe some kits will be sold out by then!

It's pretty simple.  If you paid 100% of your invoice before the 75% date occurred, it's your own fault, because there are multiple payment dates for this exact purpose.  If the price of your keycaps changes, you have the opportunity to make any necessary changes to your order to keep you happy.

I don't know if you understand the concept of supply and demand, but it's present in this group buy.  As people order more of a key, the price of said key drops due to the reduced cost of manufacturing.  It's cheaper per unit to make 100 keys than it is to make 10, because there is less manufacturing cost.  The manufacturer has a cost associated with the engineering (converting the SVG image we as a customer provide to them into something that they can use for manufacturing), obtaining the raw material, designing and manufacturing any necessary tooling, the actual manufacturing process, quality assurance, and shipping.  It costs less to have an operator run the same key 100 times because it can be done in less time, because it is doing the same thing over and over again.  This is why the cost of the keys goes down as we get more and more people ordering them.  Which is why your price went down.  We're not trying to screw people that get in on the ordering earlier.  We're doing exactly the opposite of that with the multiple payment dates.  If your prices goes down, you can say "Oh, alright, cool.  I still want the same quantity of keys, I'm just going to pay the remaining $3.25 rather than the $14 that I used to owe," or you can say "Ok, I want to use up the remaining balance to order more keys."  You have either option.

[7bit]

BTW, is 75% a must or will 74% do?

No, I just want to make sure we got at least 75% payment in avarage so I can be confident that most of the stuff we order, could also be paid.

Before I get the final invoice from SP. I can't know anyway how much it will be in the end. The only thing I know for certain is that there will be a price drop again, but I don't know how much.

So please wait until I know the final prices (hopefully on Monday or Tuesday next week)!

[manfaux]

iMav did not yet update the payments list.

Sorry for that!

Just wait a bit for the update ...

good to know!

[CeeSA]

this is the criticpoint - ok.

but if you got your overpaid money back and you get the caps you wanted,
whats the problem?

i think, this mo is special. there are many many sort of caps and kits.
other mo have 1 until 5 items.
the qly of this mo is that the itemlist grow the whole time.
that made  some confusing. but give the most of the members many possibilities.

i am still very happy with this mo and thankfull for all the work that have been done from 7bit.

I can understand the criticism but  do not see any reason for this withdrawal, that's an exaggeration.
hope you change your mind....

[Kacee]

man I can't believe he's complaining about price being lowered...

[noodles256]

man I can't believe he's complaining about price being lowered...

i hate sales too. when I shop, I demand full price or I threaten to go to more expensive store

[digitalleftovers]

It is too bad that this system upset someone.  I can understand the confusion, but the success of these group buys requires that everyone understand that the system is imperfect and to just roll with it.

[shoto1699]

7bit can you check if i got my stuff paid? because i sent my money.

also anyone know of the warranty for filco keyboards at keyboard co?

im considering asking ek for a refund on my leopold

[7bit]

It is too bad that this system upset someone.  I can understand the confusion, but the success of these group buys requires that everyone understand that the system is imperfect and to just roll with it.

Next time I will charge everybody full price and give them credit points later.

With those credit points they can buy exclusive limited sets ...

[muchadoaboutnothing]

ITT:

[shoto1699]

Question: how can you confirm if your money is paid for your invoice?

[Culinia]

Next time I will charge everybody full price and give them credit points later.

With those credit points they can buy exclusive limited sets ...

Credit points? This sounds confusing already!

[muchadoaboutnothing]

Next time I will charge everybody full price and give them credit points later.

With those credit points they can buy exclusive limited sets ...

Or generate "carts" or something and say "DON'T PAY UNTIL YOU GET AN INVOICE EMAIL".

Don't call it an invoice until the prices are finalized. Or at least instruct people that they aren't to pay yet many, many times.

[duq]

Question: how can you confirm if your money is paid for your invoice?

Your Paypal should basically give you a reciept of payment. Make sure to include all the necessary information requested by the invoice in the paypal message field so you can document what you are paying for and the invoice number.

[digitalleftovers]

I think that geekhack would benefit from some formalization to the group buy process.  I think 7bit has done a fantastic job keeping it together, I'm just thinking that some structure would provide more protection for everyone involved in the future.  Some simple things might be standardized instructions and email templates (in multiple lanugages) and some sort of ordering system built into the site for tallying and tracking orders (no perl scripts necessary).

Using it may require authorization, like getting higher priviliges on Wikipedia.  We could dub it "open commerce."  I think Mr. Interface would approve =).

[7bit]

I think that geekhack would benefit from some formalization to the group buy process.  I think 7bit has done a fantastic job keeping it together, I'm just thinking that some structure would provide more protection for everyone involved in the future.  Some simple things might be standardized instructions and email templates (in multiple lanugages) and some sort of ordering system built into the site for tallying and tracking orders (no perl scripts necessary).

Using it may require authorization, like getting higher priviliges on Wikipedia.  We could dub it "open commerce."  I think Mr. Interface would approve =).

Perl scripts are OK for the job. What language would you like to use instead? PHP?

The choice of programming language is not important.

It would be better to have the whole system web-based. I had no time to do this, so for Round 3 we must live with what we've got.

[muchadoaboutnothing]

Perl scripts are OK for the job. What language would you like to use instead? PHP?

The choice of programming language is not important.

It would be better to have the whole system web-based. I had no time to do this, so for Round 3 we must live with what we've got.

Is there an existing system that would meet our needs? I'd think that a traditional shopping cart wouldn't cope well with repricing.

[BababooeyHTJ]

No matter what you do not everyone will be happy.

[digitalleftovers]

Perl scripts are OK for the job. What language would you like to use instead? PHP?

The choice of programming language is not important.

It would be better to have the whole system web-based. I had no time to do this, so for Round 3 we must live with what we've got.

Web based is what I meant.  It would be quite a project, but it would give geekhack a very unique tool.  Just food for thought.

[kidchunks]

Hey 7bit and iMav, I'm done ordering so any money left over from here on out is a donation for the hard work.

Thanks again guys!

[7bit]

We will need at least need 100 Filco key pullers.

Can please someone ask around for a price reduction (elitekeyboards have these for $5)?

Thanks!

[noodles256]

We will need at least need 100 Filco key pullers.

Can please someone ask around for a price reduction (elitekeyboards have these for $5)?

Thanks!

These were TOOL correct? I thought there was close to 100 orders on it already. I know I ordered one

[Ekaros]

These were TOOL correct? I thought there was close to 100 orders on it already. I know I ordered one

19 more, of course there is those TOY-buyers...


Need to convince some of them, to get this one...