[SHIPPED] Hua-Jie AK-CN2 Alps clones (ROUND 2)

[zrrion]

In the future a GB like this with a smaller moq would be nice since it would be easier to hit

[Hak Foo]

I feel like it makes sense to partner with a retailer. Maybe put together a program like "order during the GB and they're 50 cents per, but the retailer will be buying a big block and be selling them at 75 cents each afterwards."

This could work out well in a lot of ways:

* A retailer would probably buy 2000-5000 for stock, so you've hit MOQ on day 1-- they may also be good for absorbing "just 300 more to the next price break" situations.
* There's no fear-of-missing-out/resentment if they turn out to be all that-- just buy them at a markup from the retail partner
* I suspect after the success of some of the meme switches (Zeal, Pandas) out there, there are plenty of shops eager to get in on the ground floor of something big.

[abrahamstechnology]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. In the future I may just buy these on my own (they sound very good in a 60% case)

[Polecat]

All orders are now shipped out.

13 days and not here yet. Tracking?

[abrahamstechnology]

All orders are now shipped out.

13 days and not here yet. Tracking?

I'll look into it.

[Polecat]

13 days and not here yet. Tracking?

I'll look into it.

Ok, we're at 26 days now. Am I the only one who didn't get their switches? What a total waste of time and money. First and last time I ever participate in a group buy.

[//gainsborough]

Dang, man =/

I was part of the kira80 group buy that started in June 2018. To my knowledge, Zfrontier has yet to ship any of the boards from that GB out and it's almost June 2019. I did end up getting my money back, but I know when they finally do get shipped I'll regret having dropped out...

Bad GBs do happen, unfortunately. There are definitely very reputable people within the community that run them very well, though! Hopefully, you can get your issue worked out with abraham!

[Polecat]

Dang, man =/

I was part of the kira80 group buy that started in June 2018. To my knowledge, Zfrontier has yet to ship any of the boards from that GB out and it's almost June 2019. I did end up getting my money back, but I know when they finally do get shipped I'll regret having dropped out...

Bad GBs do happen, unfortunately. There are definitely very reputable people within the community that run them very well, though! Hopefully, you can get your issue worked out with abraham!

It isn't even the money. 40 bucks isn't going to finish me. First I was going to get a set of switches in exchange for reviewing them. When that deal fell through I paid for a set through the group buy. Before that closed he dropped the price in half, but only for those who hadn't bought in yet. Then the switches were supposedly shipped, but no tracking. After 13 days nothing, he promised me a refund if they didn't show up in another week. 26 days now, and still nothing. Never again.

[abrahamstechnology]

Next time I'm weighing all the packages myself and buying the labels online. I didn't know UPS would just throw all the numbers on a single receipt with no indication of who's who. If anyone else experienced shipping issues please let me know.

[swampangel]

Next time I'm weighing all the packages myself and buying the labels online. I didn't know UPS would just throw all the numbers on a single receipt with no indication of who's who. If anyone else experienced shipping issues please let me know.

If you enter a tracking number on UPS's site, it doesn't show you the destination address?

[abrahamstechnology]

That's what I thought but it didn't work.

[Hak Foo]

FWIW, I finally began to assemble my Hua-Jie board. I put it in one of BlindAssassin111s Omnikey compatible PCBs, stuffed in the carcass of a third-generation 102.

The switches have a satisfying snap, but I notice a lot of inconsistency-- 10% or so of the switches didn't click at first until repeatedly mashed, and the click seemed to come in erratically. Turning the board over seems like it mightt help too... I wonder if there's a design flaw there where the click leaf falls out of alignment and needs reseating. The mounting pins seemed bent far more frequently than Matias switches, but that could be shipping trouble.

[abrahamstechnology]

There's some inconsistencies with the sizes of the base. Snap off the mounting clips on the switches that don't click properly.

[Polecat]

Next time I'm weighing all the packages myself and buying the labels online. I didn't know UPS would just throw all the numbers on a single receipt with no indication of who's who. If anyone else experienced shipping issues please let me know.

I guess everyone else got theirs. I checked some other UPS tracking items, and they at least show a city and zip code. I related this to the OP and he informed me he didn't even keep the shipping receipt. So I have no way to know if it was stolen off my front porch, or never even shipped in the first place. What a bunch of stupid millennial bullshit. I voted for the giant meteor, but unfortunately nobody listened.

[abrahamstechnology]

Ok, I learned my lesson. No more group buys for me.

[snacksthecat]

Selling a single item to a single person is ez pz. But when you have a bunch of people in the mix, stuff gets wild. Someone is bound to have a bad “customer experience”.

That’s why I hate selling shit. It’s way more trouble than it’s worth IMO.

But yeah, don’t get discouraged. If you enjoyed doing it then cool, learn from the experience.

Edit: probably worth mentioning you should make things right with polecat

[abrahamstechnology]

Edit: probably worth mentioning you should make things right with polecat

Being taken care of right now.

[Polecat]

Edit: probably worth mentioning you should make things right with polecat

Thanks, snacks, but I can't prove it wasn't stolen off my porch (although that would be a first...) so I guess it's a lesson learned--stick with vendors with the rules spelled out beforehand and tracked shipping, and no more group buys. I bought a couple things from abrahams before with no problems, and everyone else seems to have gotten their switches, so I'm going to eat the 40 bucks and get on with my other projects.

[Polecat]

I've been thinking about this for several days now, and I think I've finally figured out why the whole group buy thing bugs me so much. I've eaten 40 bucks on this deal, so I feel that I'm entitled to state my opinion. It's remotely possible that my switches were lost or stolen during shipping, but regardless that's only part of the problem.

When abrahams first found these switches I got excited and wanted to try a set. When he turned it into a group buy a red flag went up, because I had never participated in one before. I wrote abrahams to ask how this actually worked, because I didn't know the "rules". And here's the problem, as I see it. I spent a big part of my life buying and selling surplus electronic parts. There were times that we didn't have the cash to pull off a large purchase, and when that happened you did one of two things. You either took out a loan and paid it back (with interest), or you found an investor and split the profit when you resold the merchandise. In no case did we ever collect money from the buyer first. Well now this seemingly clever bunch of millennials comes on the scene with the idea of setting up a deal where they can't possibly lose. They get to use the buyer's money to set up the deal, they get to change the rules as they go, and if something goes wrong the buyer loses and they just move on down the road to the next deal with no consequences. That would never have flown in the days of responsibility and handshakes; they would have been out of business the first time a deal went bad. But now we're just supposed to accept this irresponsible, self-serving, and mostly anonymous way of doing business? As I said before, never again.

A few days ago I decided to get on the phone and rattle a few cages from my parts biz days. Turns out a couple of my old contacts have some NOS Alps switches on the shelf, and I've got samples on the way. It may turn out to be nothing, but there's a chance that something good will turn up. No promises, other than that this will NOT end up being a group buy, and that if something goes wrong it will be on me, not the buyer(s).

[Hak Foo]

I think one aspect is overlooked in your argument: unknown, potentially variable demand.

If we knew the demand was for 15,000 switches, fine. Finance or partner it up, make a storefront, do that all up front.

But part of the group buy model is usually about trying to gauge the market itself. Can we sell 2,000 or 20,000? If we get commitments for 20,000, how many actually pay? Does the demand change if different pricing tiers become available?

This is especially important for on-demand purchased products. These were supposedly made to order, rather than just pulling switches that already existed from a distributor's warehouse. If the market is misjudged, either a lot of people leave unsatisfied or someone has to eat a lot of unsold goods.

I was a little miffed when I saw the pricing structure switch too. But I consider it a hail-mary attempt to meet MOQ because it seems like ALPS-oriented products always have a hard time.

FWIW, the switches are okay-- the sound and feel fit the part, but they seem to be more crunchy/pingy than Matias, and possibly some mild problems with repeating that could probably be fixed with more aggressive debouncing in software.

[Polecat]

That's a good point, and it's also the very reason our old company existed in the first place. We bought surplus components from companies that for whatever reason no longer needed the parts. And of course one of the reasons was their misjudging the demand for their product. Since we were (in theory) better able to find a market (and here's the critical concept...), we took a chance, and we made the money if we judged correctly. If not, we sat on the parts until a buyer came along, or we retailed the parts out of our storefront a few at a time until they were gone. Either way we took the chance, since we were making the money on the deal, rather than expecting someone else to pay for our mistakes.

Thanks for the feedback on the switches, by the way! I'm pretty sure I have the same clones in a couple of my keyboards, having read up on them more since.