Hi, my name is Manuel. I have loved everything related with peripherals since I was a kid. Now that I am older and have my own money I can spend it as my mom says on “nonsenses”. I love keyboards and I have owned differente types of them, however I never had the time or money to be buying and trying different switches, stabs, cases… Now that I am looking forward to build my very own custom keyboard (ck) I am realizing of some stuff that really makes me feel uneasy.
While surfing through the reddit, some of the well known keyboard websites I realised that building your ck is very very expensive. Because of that I went straight to aliexpress, bought myself a hotswap keyboard which had a case that I liked. Looked for some switches, I bought Silent Tactile TOMs, and a set of keycaps of PBT, which as far I know is the best between PBT and ABS, the most common plastics keycaps are made of. Also I bought a coiled cable that costed me only 5$, compared to other sites where the price of a simple coiled cable are more than 20$. And a foam.
I build a “custom keyboard” for only 53$, which leads me to lots of questions. Why simple 60% whiteout cases from etsy or kbd, and similar shops sell them for nearly 50 or 60$. Yes, there are better materials, but is it not overpriced? Why sets of keycaps you could buy in aliexpress for 20$ less are sold way pricier in these shops, I am aware of dropshippers but it is way overpriced and sadly and surprisingly very concurred by people looking to buy their custom keyboard.
Is the keyboard market way overpriced? I see pcb plates listing for 60$ and I do not see a very critical difference. The only thing I am okay on spending money are switches and stabs, but why I should spend nearly a 100$ on a wooden case? Or 60$ on “artisan keycap” which is probably dropshipped or made for less than 5$? Why is etsy so used if there are lots of dropshippers? Even shops as kbd and someothers sell way overpriced keycaps sets that I do not think are very different to the ones I could buy on aliexpress?.
Am I too pinchpenny? Are there heavy arguments of why I should spend lots of money on a simple case? Or even on a set of keycaps?. A build as Wooting 60HE could be done with the plate and the same switches, and maybe using some config firmware programs?
If anyone is wondering about the keyboard I built, here it is…
Most of the expensive items are focused around either a specific experience, a specific aesthetic, or a more “premium” manufacturing process with higher quality control standards.
For example, my main keyboard, a Bisoromi RS60, was over $400. I bought it because I like the design, the history behind it, and the attention to detail that this keyboard has. It’s a beautiful shape, it feels good to typeon, and it has everything I need in a keyboard. I definitely paid more than what the materials and manufacturing cost alone warrant, but I paid a premium for a great design from a designer whose work I appreciate. (and as another note, since it was made as a smaller run, each unit cost far more than something mass-produced in the tens of thousands.) To me, that was worth it.
Or look at Geon’s keyboards. Those are made with specific design intentions and quality control standards, they look beautiful, and Geon is incredibly transparent with designing, manufacturing, and selling processes. They pioneer new mounting and assembly techniques, and have innovations that spread across the entire keyboard lanscape. Many people buy Geon boards to be near the cutting edge, or to get something groundbreaking compared to everyday keyboards.
GMK keycaps, as another example, cost a lot more than a regular set of ABS keycaps. But in buying GMK, you’re probably: 1) supporting a specific designer who created the colors and novelties, instead of buying a stolen design. 2) buying a keyset made in Germany, from a well-known manufacturer that has a decades-long legacy in keycap manufacturing, and 3) getting a (relative) quality guarantee, instead of taking a gamble on what could potentially be thin, inconsistent, or otherwise unsatisfactory keycaps from a random factory in China. (And yes, I know, GMK has issues with spacebars and duplicate keys sometimes. You don’t have to tell me. This is just s general example.)
Typically, buying something more expensive isn’t going to net you an equal improvement in quality. Buying premium components will have incredibly diminishing returns. However, there are aspects of premium components that you can’t get from “budget” ones, and those usually involve greater quality control and artistry, along with new or novel designs that take a risk to try something different. And while those things may not command a premium for you, they do for a lot of other people, hence why there is an entire market for premium components that most people will simply see as overpriced compared to the cheapest “good” item possible.
Compare it to cars: Sure, you can get a Toyota for half the price of a BMW, and it will get you from point A to point B just as well, but a lot of people prefer the BMW because of its improved user experience (through both performance and tactile feel) and the brand’s legacy. It’s definitely not twice as much car, but a lot of people would gladly pay twice as much for the improvements, especially if they know a good amount about cars and what they specifically like.