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Pricing niche products

kevinlynagh.com

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Re: Pricing niche products

#71

Post by kragen »

Filligree wrote: post #60
pilsetnieks wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not forged in a forge, it's just called that. It's just molded carbon fiber in resin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forged_composite

I would be concerned about that. Carbon fiber isn't much better than asbestos, and while both are fine if sealed in a wall, we're talking about a keyboard taking daily wear and tear with the fibers sealed under a thin layer of glue. A keyboard cannot possibly need the tensile strength, so why not just use plastic?

People break keyboards all the time. Reinforcing them with carbon fiber seems reasonable to me. You seem to be confusing carbon fiber, which is a mild irritant like fiberglass, with carbon nanotubes. It's goofy that the keyboard enthusiasts got taken in by the marketroid term “forged carbon”, though.

Re: Pricing niche products

#73

Post by guidoism »

terrellm wrote: post #46

I so want to get into mechnical keyboards but most of my work is done on a 2015 MacBook Pro and I'm so efficient with the large trackpad - I rest my palms on the laptop and can reach everything with just a pivot of the wrist. I tried the Magic Trackpad, but I kept having to move my forearm and it just slowed me down too much. What kind of mouse or trackpad is everyone using with these $xxx - $xxxx keyboards?

I too love the large trackpads. I use an Apple Magic Trackpad 2 in front of my Planck 47-key ortholinear keyboard.

Re: Pricing niche products

#74

Post by reaperducer »

Seich wrote: post #69
EDevil wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are those box jade switches some kind of special version? I can't find them here: https://www.pcgamingrace.com/products/kailh-mx-switches

You can try here https://novelkeys.xyz/products/novelkeys-x-kailh-box-thick-c...

These I find humorous.

https://novelkeys.xyz/collections/keycaps/products/oopskey-a...

If only they had "RUB" or "RUBOUT" written on them like the old timey keyboards did.

Re: Pricing niche products

#75

Post by kragen »

sova wrote: post #61

Really fantastic write-up and, "why the hell not get a flushed out demand curve?" duh! Brilliant! We sell an online digital product that is subscription based. Do you think such a mechanism makes sense there, too?

It might be harder to convince your subscribers that your servers can only support 10 subscribers. They might band together to buy an account for a proxy server.

Maybe if you're selling something inherently limited, like sponsorship banner space, or indulgences in inter-user conflicts (“we guarantee to ban any non-core-supporter who reports your account as abusive”).

Re: Pricing niche products

#76

Post by guidoism »

in_hindsight wrote: post #48

Wow, so the author basically suggested to use the auction to sell the keyboard at $1668 instead of $500 because it’s not market clearing price? That’s borderline evil

If this was medicine, or tampons, or something people really needed, then yes. But extremely high-end mechanical keyboards? Not really evil. It's a Veblen good.

Re: Pricing niche products

#77

Post by balfirevic »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #65
dwoozle wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A vendor doesn’t have to offer the socially optimal package. Other vendors can fill in other gaps.

The GP said: > The hobby intentionally does nothing to try to improve [the drawbacks of the small scale] because the exclusivity drives prices up to an insane point. [...] There is nothing wrong with any of this. If it's still worth it for you, that's fine. Or if you figure that selling a few blinged-out "designer" models at ultra-premium prices helps support the main product, or if you don't care either way because…

> But describing that situation I quoted above, and saying "there is nothing wrong with this," is pretty debatable!

"There is nothing wrong with this" in contexts like these usually means "nothing morally wrong".

Re: Pricing niche products

#78

Post by d7gibo »

leksak wrote: post #52

Not related to the content but kudos on the site styling. Haven't opened it on anything that is not a mobile device (yet) but it was very pleasant to read.

Agreed - I'd like to use the theme if it's available.

Re: Pricing niche products

#79

Post by alyandon »

For those that would like to try a mechanical keyboard without necessarily investing $$$$$ in one, I'm quite happy with my ~$60USD 104 key Tecware Phantom with Outemu brown switches.

Much better than any membrane based keyboard I've used in the past and not so expensive that if you end up not liking it you feel like you have wasted a ton of cash.

Re: Pricing niche products

#80

Post by _jal »

Palomides wrote: post #16

I think the author underestimates how amateurish many people selling keyboard parts are (i.e. rarely fully or never committed to the work as their employment, and without any experience in sales, manufacturing, marketing, distribution). Optimizing pricing or marketing strategies is not, afaict, deeply considered. Money is consistently left on the table. Look into the madness of first-party 'artisan' keycap sales, for…

As you say, this is not a massive commodity market. A lot of the folks, if they've been involved for a while, know each other. People gift each other things all the time.

It is a market, but a lot of the participants have motivations other than profit-maximization.

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