Pricing niche products • Hacker News Board

Re: Pricing niche products

#331

Post by closetohome » Fri, Oct 04, 2019, 11:39 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #4

With respect to the high price, it seems pretty simple really. Some people have a fair bit of money that they're willing to spend on their enthusiasms. This wouldn't even be a notable question if, instead of mechanical keyboards, we were talking "designer" handbags, shoes, custom-made suits, etc. The auction question is more interesting. Auctions are well accepted when there's clear scarcity or uniqueness in what's b…

Well I guess that's sort of the answer to the author's question about why auctions aren't used more often. The same way we (most of us anyway) wouldn't trust a company that begins with a crowdfunding campaign, selling your items at auction makes it look like you've done no market research and have no business plan. And I'm reluctant to back a company without business sense or a plan.

Re: Pricing niche products

#332

Post by cestith » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 12:41 AM UTC

dmix wrote: post #321

cestith wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Keyboard.io Model 1s are still my two favorite keyboards. I backed them on KickStarter and I'm glad I did. I'll still point out this article to Jesse and Kaia to make sure they're mindful of the option for future models.

The example on https://keyboard.io using RGB looks so tacky. Why mix light coloured wood with a rainbow RGB look? A simple vintage or black keyset would be more than sufficient. A big part of mech keyboards are they designs and sadly both keyboard.io and Ergodox aren't the prettiest. I'm curious why there's no companies producing economic split keyboards at scale and with a clean look. Edit: the link above to https:/…

The lights have several preset modes. That picture is just one of them. Some of them are single color. Some "breathe".

The board is also microcontroller powered and runs an open source OS that takes modular plugins. You could set your own static or dynamic lighting pattern. I goes you could also paint or stain the case if you wanted.

Re: Pricing niche products

#333

Post by AmericanChopper » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 1:27 AM UTC

specialist wrote: post #318

catherd wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of decision fatigue and needing to know the market, losing auctions gets expensive fast if you value your time.

aka transaction costs Book I read about market design estimated that only 30% of commerce was done in an open market. Relationships, fulfillment, quality, service, returns, etc are all factors too. All those non-price intangibles that the Freedom Markets™ zealots ignore.

How are markets that aren’t open not free?

Re: Pricing niche products

#334

Post by Bluecobra » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 2:01 AM UTC

whack wrote: post #91

When eBay first started, I loved the idea of auctions as a way to set market prices. From an economic and game-theory perspective, it is so optimal! Clearly as later examples like Amazon have shown, auctions don't make sense for most product categories. I believe this is mainly due to psychological reasons. Decision-fatigue is a real thing. People dislike having to think hard. In a fixed-price sale, the buyer just ha…

To expand on this, Amazon’s Subscribe and Save is decision-fatigue on steroids. Maybe one day (with A.I.) Amazon can figure out how to order everything I need, when I need it. It’s already really handy for Tide to come once a month for a good price without thinking.

Re: Pricing niche products

#335

Post by PhasmaFelis » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 2:33 AM UTC

phaus wrote: post #196

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I upvoted because I did poorly word what I meant by the latter part of that statement, see above.

Thanks for clarifying!

Re: Pricing niche products

#336

Post by m3kw9 » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 2:44 AM UTC

It is not used often because most times people want things to be deterministic. If I press buy, I own it, not I may or may not get it and have to wait to see with a fear that it may constantly lose out.

Re: Pricing niche products

#337

Post by starky » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 3:06 AM UTC

CommieBobDole wrote: post #114

These things have become so esoteric and expensive because the mechanical keyboard hobby is undergoing a more intense version of what happens to most hobbies/pastimes; the purpose of the hobby has transitioned from primarily "making/using the thing" to "obtaining and displaying ever more extreme versions of the thing to impress other people who know about the thing". I feel like this is an outgrowth of the basic huma…

I just don't see how someone can possibly charge that much for a keyboard that would be significantly cheaper to make yourself even as a one off. It isn't like there is anything particularly special about the keyboard in the link, there isn't any specially skilled craftsmanship, it is just a couple anodized CNC machined pieces, a PCBA, and purchased switches and keycaps.

Re: Pricing niche products

#338

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 4:20 AM UTC

criley2 wrote: post #189

SuperPaintMan wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry I wasn't clear! What I'm getting at is when you're flexing in Discord/GeekHack/Reddit using a Alice is a very strong signal. Just using it as your personal keyboard in normal day-to-day settings isn't nearly the same. Because you're not actively showing it off.

I would disagree strongly, and I would go so far as to claim that signalling isn't done for the in-group, it's done for the out group. Apple users don't wear white ear buds to signal to one another, they do it exclusively to signal to people who don't have it that the apple user can afford product and symbol greatly in excess of the person. Same with mechanical keyboards. The signal there is to people using shitty 20…

I use my earbuds all of the time. Why? They were free and are pretty good. I paid $1 for my subsidized phone.

Try buying earbuds. They are either $40-60 or shit.

Re: Pricing niche products

#339

Post by kragen » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 4:34 AM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #155

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d say it’s more about status signalling, even if it’s kept within that small group of keyboard aficionados.

"More"? I understood CommieBobDole to be saying it was entirely about status signaling: > the purpose of the hobby has transitioned from primarily "making/using the thing" to "obtaining and displaying ever more extreme versions of the thing to impress other people who know about the thing" What do you think the difference is between "status signaling" and "impressing other people"?

Status signaling is a specific way of impressing other people: it's impressing them with your status, sometimes called more precisely prestige (as opposed to, for example, your money, your strength, your talent, or your character), in a way that's difficult to fake because it's costly. So, for example, Donald Trump bragging on a talk show about sexually assaulting strange women counts as "status signaling", because it cost him some prestige, and if he hadn't had a lot of prestige to begin with, he would have ended up in jail. (Hopefully he will anyway, but so far he's not.)

Buying more extreme custom keyboards, by contrast, demonstrates knowledge and wealth, and it's a difficult-to-fake and costly signal of wealth — though much less so than, say, a Honda Accord or a Learjet. But wealth isn't the same thing as status, and attempting to signal wealth with something that costs US$500 or US$1000 is pretty much going to backfire unless you're in like Nigeria or something. It's like a hacker equivalent of putting spinners and tinted windows on your car — these are not features that distinguish Bugattis and Lamborghinis from quotidian BMWs.

Anyway, so I think that if it's impressing anybody, they're either poor or they're keyboard aficionados who are impressed with the refined taste that demonstrates your profound knowledge, not your elevated social standing or your wealth.

As for the guy who misread "signaling" as "virtue signalling", honey, bless your heart.

Re: Pricing niche products

#340

Post by cromulent » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 5:05 AM UTC

vojta_letal wrote: post #165

kazinator wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's disappointing how a $100,000 watch still has a big and little hand going around a conventional 12 hour dial ...

That's not accurate. There are ergonomic variants of keyboards on the market. There is no viable alternative to the way how we measure time.

I think they are posting about how time is displayed, not measured. Digital watches seem fairly viable.