I feel compelled to share my experience with the community regarding MyKeyboard.eu. I am Manoli Visuals/CallMeManoli, the creator of the keycap set GMK Evil Eye. MyKeyboard.eu was my EU vendor for the set, and despite several emails and discord messages over the last four months, mykeyboard.eu owes me several hundred dollars in payment. Initially, communication was sporadic, but now they have gone completely silent for over two months, ignoring my emails and Discord messages.
To add on to this, mykeyboard.eu sponsored a prize on my twitch stream featuring a Evil Eye hibi keycap, but they have failed to send the prize to the winner, despite multiple requests. At this point, it seems unlikely that I will ever receive the owed payment and the winner will not be receiving their prize.
Consider this a cautionary tale for people who are considering collaborating or giving them service. I am happy to answer any questions on this matter to make sure no one else is taken advantage of in the future.
Is it just me or had the mech keyboard scene gotten shadier lately?
No, it’s not shadier. It just became clear to everyone that many vendors ran their business like a ponzi scheme and used new money to pay for old orders… The issue is that the hobby contracted quite a bit and new orders are much smaller than old orders, so now those vendors can’t pay their invoices any more. Like any ponzi scheme, the houses of cards are collapsing.
I was wondering if it got shadier lately or simply people outing them and coming here to (rightfully) point and shame, as there’s been several similar new posts the last few days.
I was always lukewarm when it came to GBs but the more I read the less I could trust any of them no matter who is behind.
Not really. Some vendors and independent makers are just struggling because business has slowed down substantially since covid, during which they bought/produced ridiculous amount of products that shipped to them after most short-time hobbyists have already moved on.
Reliable vendors and makers are still around. You just can’t trust someone you’ve never heard of with hundreds of dollars with a promise of delivering your product in 2 or so years, this was never the case and the community has only recently seen the consequences of it.
I think the rapid improvement of in stock options has hit some vendors who didnt forsee the impact a lot harder than expected. The big ticket group buys just arent having the same reach they once did. This sucks for designers in particular both from them now taking extra risks and potential sets not selling as well
You mean the hobby where you pay one year in advance in a group buy to get anything maybe in the next millennium?
It always was, but now especially in Europe all of the shops are collapsing making it even worse.
Group buys are a tricky thing to get right, and I say that as a vendor. Much respect to the companies who are able to do it right, but personally, I’ll try to keep them to a minimum. Much easier to sell from stock!