I'm out of the loop but when you say rigged, do you mean he set the raffle so that his friend(s)/family would win? Or something else like "winner X" (didn't exist).
Yeah, a few raffle winners were so his friends/family and active server members "won"
There were a few legit winners though
And for rerolled ones, they went to raffle answers that he liked
This is after stating that buying a gmk tiramisu base set would give you an extra raffle ticket
Yeah I been entering these raffles since day 1 for 2 years, not won a single one. never. I had better luck in the fcfs sale to just buy a single unit. Something dodgy is going on for sure.
Sad to say that orders for MW Voynich that were placed through KanataKeys seem to be in a rough spot. As far as I can tell (and have confirmed with MilkyWay directly) the sets were delivered to KanataKeys. Working on figuring out how to salvage that fulfillment.
Want to say, though, that MilkyWay has been unbelievably helpful through all of this. I’m hopeful we can find a solution. I imagine Voynich is not the only set gathering dust at KanataKeys right now.
Ooof dang. I've been eyeballing the Voynich extras on their site, but kept talking myself out of it... 😬 Bless my indecisiveness for once! From someone who doesn't use Discord, many thanks for the heads-up.
(edit: typo)
Please don’t let my GMK Tiramisu look like GMK ChocoBanana. And hopefully gets delivered before the next pandemic (seems to me that we’re in a cycle, War > Financial Crisis > Global Pandemic).
How did Feb 2022 Ukraine line up with the 2024 election cycle?
Or Dec hostage situation?
Or the Feb 2023 balloons?
Hell dude you think maybe stuff just happens and elections also happen?
C’mon isn’t it obvious, that’s what the government wants you to think. Little did you know they actually held a secret election during both events and now Joe Biden is our supreme ruler for life.
/s
Disclaimer: we simply think that these are some interesting details that are worth knowing. Vendors are usually more focused on the marketing side and they seldomly mention the internal order fulfillment aspect.
Yeah vala supply is shit. They wouldn’t respond to any of my emails or discord messages. Took filing a credit card chargeback for them to ship my stuff
Customer service is also hard since hired employees will not carefully deal with complicated orders while there is no stock in the warehouse. This is why I hired my mom for customer service, family members are more serious with user claims since they know that their attitude affects the performance of the business.
Be prepared for volatility: orders will flow in very fast if you have great products, while sales will dramatically come down for various reasons, think of how to structure a fulfillment framework if there are a lot of orders while stock-in reasonably and always be prepared for recessions.
I've heard this and I'm not sure if there is a way to really be prepared, is there? From what friends have said, the first year or two is really, really hard and it's really difficult to predict how things will go. I'm in the process of writing my business plan and hope to get some retail folks to look at it to get feedback. We shall see...
Totally agree with this sentiment. Anyone who can take a decent picture of a product and post it thinks they can then run a business. So much more goes into it then just marketing and getting orders to flow in.
We are now using a Warehouse management system that costs 3500 USD per year, and things are just running slightly above the level of our minimum requirements. The system also requires an extended learning curve and operators.
However, we think that the system is worth the cost of using it:
* We are able to have more accurate stock levels. (Which leads to a more accurate fulfillment timeframe)
* It eliminates the wrong items in a parcel. (A shipping label is printed based on the item that is scanned, while normal ERPs work the opposite: labels are printed with product details and require the packaging guy to pick the correct items)
* It lowers the wrong item rate when there are changes in human resources, we are able to get a new packaging guy working and packing the correct items in only around an hour.
It is really hard to send over the correct items just by picking are packing the orders manually, and this is why we are willing to spend money on a expensive management system.
Canadian shops have been dicey for me, lately. Shockport sketched me out and never responded to a question, for example.
Had a very good experience with Omega Keys, tho.
Ashkeebs and Deskhero are a couple orher Canadian vendors I've gone through with 0 issue... mind you that's been mostly in stock / extras, so your mileage may vary
I'd give Shockport the benefit of the doubt on that one, everyone misses an email sometimes. Shockport has always been prompt, professional and nice to deal with, speaking as both as a fellow vendor and customer.
I got my order eventually. Reached out a couple times to ask about other items I was looking at and got ghosted. YMMV and I don’t expect them to scam you, just to deliver the bare minimum,
From my experience buying from shockport, it was always keep questions / requests as simple as possible.
I ordered something and regretted it. "Hey I don't want this anymore. I changed my mind." Jeremy refunded me within an hour. Didn't even deduct those 'refund fees'.
Had another issue previously with some switches where I wrote a wall of text explaining and he pretty much ghosted me until I asked if he was going to do anything. He just asked what I wanted. I said replacements and I got replacements.
I think he's just very busy with everything.
>Had another issue previously with some switches where I wrote a wall of text explaining and he pretty much ghosted me until I asked if he was going to do anything. He just asked what I wanted. I said replacements and I got replacements.
That's fair. Walls of text are hard for me to read as I have ADHD. I have a ticket queue system now and set aside time each day to respond to each and makes sure each one gets handled.
A quick email, I can respond to on the spot. A wall of text will have to wait, but I try to respond to each one.
similar thing happened with alphakeys where they had inaccurate renders of SA polyclear. Everyone wanted a refund and they shut down all their discord channels. They rarely respond to support requests. I and many others ordered the ciel65 that was set to ship out months ago. They haven’t given an update since.
Oh shoot that's two Canadian vendors im locked in now with these issues! I didn't know Kanata keys was having issues too, the other being alphakeys.. ugh so many disappointing vendors and people ghosting such a headache.
Lately it's because the SA polyclear sets were botched and they were offering refunds, and then basically took everyone's response and no one has heard back. I'm also waiting on some other items but seems like they've gone completely mia now, can't reach email and not responding to discord support tickets so quite frustrating..
Damn that's unfortunate, I've bought from him a couple years ago for one set, I can't remember at the top of my head (definitely not a GMK since I don't believe in them).
It's unfortunate to see KanataKeys going the route of Charue Designs though.
***
No clue why I'm getting downvoted for just stating that I've ordered in the past. I'm not defending him. Unless it's just people doing the usual downvote people who don't buy GMK, then you do you.
If it helps I have like a ton of keycaps sets, 75 or more artisans and like 8 boards from all kinds of different designers/vendors and I’ve never had 1 issue with delivery of the product. Worst is GMK Nord which after 3 years is actually starting to move along lol but there’s a least a dozen solid bigger vendors that you’ll never have trouble with and most of the smaller ones value their customers to the fullest. So I’d just say do your research but don’t be fearful.
Eh best laid plans, look at all of us that got burnt on Rukia R2. No amount of due diligence would've prevented anyone from entering if the vetted before joining the GB. Jaxx had a few fulfilled GBs, was very active in the community, & had a great reputation all the way up till excuses started. You're advice is solid, don't get me wrong, but as long as we continue to follow the OG GB model there will always be failed GBs people can burnt on.
tbf, this is still like a 1% kind of thing. Despite the long wait times for GBs, 99% of them do get fulfilled. This guy John that's ghosting everyone has run GBs before. His earliest GBs he ran didn't have any major problems afaik.
Js, it makes more sense to say you stay away from GB keycaps because of long waits than it does say its because of possibly getting ripped off imo.
There are a lot of issues with smaller vendors. I've had great experiences with places like KNC keys, but had terrible ones at many others including kono store etc.
I've been in the server for a bit asking as I ordered some in-stock keys and received the wrong set right around the time John stopped messaging in the discord. I'm looking into charging the purchase back on my card, hoping it goes through. Ordered through prototypist and got the right set really fast and am happy with my purchase!
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Knew this guy was untrustworthy as soon as he rigged his own Tiramisuit raffle and was pumping out keycap set ICs way too quickly
I'm out of the loop but when you say rigged, do you mean he set the raffle so that his friend(s)/family would win? Or something else like "winner X" (didn't exist).
Yeah, a few raffle winners were so his friends/family and active server members "won" There were a few legit winners though And for rerolled ones, they went to raffle answers that he liked This is after stating that buying a gmk tiramisu base set would give you an extra raffle ticket
every single privately drawn raffle in this hobby works like this. and it’s bs.
same people winning keycult raffles over and over, not suspicious at all
ever noticed how people from certain circles end up with a bunch of unikorns and jane MEs every single raffle lol
It's an investment opportunity if you get to know the right person, at the right server, and at the right time.
Ikr. this is how I got my Unikorn.
Yeah I been entering these raffles since day 1 for 2 years, not won a single one. never. I had better luck in the fcfs sale to just buy a single unit. Something dodgy is going on for sure.
Sad to say that orders for MW Voynich that were placed through KanataKeys seem to be in a rough spot. As far as I can tell (and have confirmed with MilkyWay directly) the sets were delivered to KanataKeys. Working on figuring out how to salvage that fulfillment. Want to say, though, that MilkyWay has been unbelievably helpful through all of this. I’m hopeful we can find a solution. I imagine Voynich is not the only set gathering dust at KanataKeys right now.
I received my order months ago, bought through gb though.
I didn't :( hoping this can get resolved bc i put around 250 CAD in this
you can always ask for refund and charge back lol
Ooof dang. I've been eyeballing the Voynich extras on their site, but kept talking myself out of it... 😬 Bless my indecisiveness for once! From someone who doesn't use Discord, many thanks for the heads-up. (edit: typo)
FYI, CannonKeys also has Voynich extras up right now
Ahhh also good to know, thanks!
Please don’t let my GMK Tiramisu look like GMK ChocoBanana. And hopefully gets delivered before the next pandemic (seems to me that we’re in a cycle, War > Financial Crisis > Global Pandemic).
What, you mean holding up the keycap to a computer screen isn't good enough color matching for you??? Picky, picky! /s just in case
And that was an established and "respected" designer. Don't put anyone on a pedestal folks, very few people in this hobby are competent and reliable.
Gmk moomin or gmk colorblind? 👀☠️
> we’re in a cycle, War > Financial Crisis > Global Pandemic Weird how the Current Crisis^^TM so often lines up with the Election cycle...
How did Feb 2022 Ukraine line up with the 2024 election cycle? Or Dec hostage situation? Or the Feb 2023 balloons? Hell dude you think maybe stuff just happens and elections also happen?
Isn't it weird how stuff always lines up with the 24hr news cycle?
Isn’t it weird how stuff always happens on a day?
can't be a coincidence that things happen at times
No coincidences No survivors
Not only on a day. But specifically on days that have the word 'day' at the end of them.
C’mon isn’t it obvious, that’s what the government wants you to think. Little did you know they actually held a secret election during both events and now Joe Biden is our supreme ruler for life. /s
Isn’t it weird how the current crisis often comes before or after another crisis?
"Pretty suspicious when events occur..."
Americans recognize the existence of the rest of the world challenge
Lmfao I've never seen a comment get down voted so hard in this sub. Get wrecked nerd.
Which Election cycle?
Brain rot
Weird how your balls can so easily be obliterated by a shotgun
No sh*t sherlock, events and elections happen.
Ma'am, this is Wendy's.
This was the perfect way to close this thread! Underrated comment.
Your lack of response after ample time to retort should remind you that your conspiracy ideology is wrong.
Fulfilling systems are the hardest technical parts of running a small business. We’ve learnt some lessons as well.
Disclaimer: we simply think that these are some interesting details that are worth knowing. Vendors are usually more focused on the marketing side and they seldomly mention the internal order fulfillment aspect.
Wish Vala Supply could use something like this. Hell it would nice if they just fulfilled stuff
Yeah vala supply is shit. They wouldn’t respond to any of my emails or discord messages. Took filing a credit card chargeback for them to ship my stuff
Customer service is also hard since hired employees will not carefully deal with complicated orders while there is no stock in the warehouse. This is why I hired my mom for customer service, family members are more serious with user claims since they know that their attitude affects the performance of the business.
I mean thats why family business exist because who can you trust but family.
Wish Vala supply replied to anyone with a 10th of the sense of urgency or was even REMOTELY as transparent as the company above lol
Happy to hear more about your experience, I'm thinking of starting my own business and it helps to hear what others have been going through.
Be prepared for volatility: orders will flow in very fast if you have great products, while sales will dramatically come down for various reasons, think of how to structure a fulfillment framework if there are a lot of orders while stock-in reasonably and always be prepared for recessions.
I've heard this and I'm not sure if there is a way to really be prepared, is there? From what friends have said, the first year or two is really, really hard and it's really difficult to predict how things will go. I'm in the process of writing my business plan and hope to get some retail folks to look at it to get feedback. We shall see...
Totally agree with this sentiment. Anyone who can take a decent picture of a product and post it thinks they can then run a business. So much more goes into it then just marketing and getting orders to flow in.
We are now using a Warehouse management system that costs 3500 USD per year, and things are just running slightly above the level of our minimum requirements. The system also requires an extended learning curve and operators. However, we think that the system is worth the cost of using it: * We are able to have more accurate stock levels. (Which leads to a more accurate fulfillment timeframe) * It eliminates the wrong items in a parcel. (A shipping label is printed based on the item that is scanned, while normal ERPs work the opposite: labels are printed with product details and require the packaging guy to pick the correct items) * It lowers the wrong item rate when there are changes in human resources, we are able to get a new packaging guy working and packing the correct items in only around an hour. It is really hard to send over the correct items just by picking are packing the orders manually, and this is why we are willing to spend money on a expensive management system.
Canadian shops have been dicey for me, lately. Shockport sketched me out and never responded to a question, for example. Had a very good experience with Omega Keys, tho.
Ashkeebs and Deskhero are a couple orher Canadian vendors I've gone through with 0 issue... mind you that's been mostly in stock / extras, so your mileage may vary
Yea Deskhero is good to go. I've gotten several GMK pre-orders through him. Ashkeebs is also very good.
Oh no, i was considering ordering switches from Shockport. Did they completely ghost you?
I'd give Shockport the benefit of the doubt on that one, everyone misses an email sometimes. Shockport has always been prompt, professional and nice to deal with, speaking as both as a fellow vendor and customer.
I wouldn't bring that up over a single email, more a pattern.
Hey! I'm not sure what happened there. I'll DM you on reddit if that's alright and see what's going on.
I really appreciate the kind words Andy. Always a pleasure working with you.
As I mentioned above, RNDKBD is a really good Canadian based option for switches.
I’ve had good experiences with shockport. Bought mx blacks and came next day
I got my order eventually. Reached out a couple times to ask about other items I was looking at and got ghosted. YMMV and I don’t expect them to scam you, just to deliver the bare minimum,
From my experience buying from shockport, it was always keep questions / requests as simple as possible. I ordered something and regretted it. "Hey I don't want this anymore. I changed my mind." Jeremy refunded me within an hour. Didn't even deduct those 'refund fees'. Had another issue previously with some switches where I wrote a wall of text explaining and he pretty much ghosted me until I asked if he was going to do anything. He just asked what I wanted. I said replacements and I got replacements. I think he's just very busy with everything.
>Had another issue previously with some switches where I wrote a wall of text explaining and he pretty much ghosted me until I asked if he was going to do anything. He just asked what I wanted. I said replacements and I got replacements. That's fair. Walls of text are hard for me to read as I have ADHD. I have a ticket queue system now and set aside time each day to respond to each and makes sure each one gets handled. A quick email, I can respond to on the spot. A wall of text will have to wait, but I try to respond to each one.
RNDKBD is good I’ve found, they are based out of Calgary but ship worldwide; they mostly do switches, springs, and cases though
I second RNDKBD, great service, and prompt replies if there are any issues.
Had a good experience with shockport, prompty shipped my item and they offer freeshipping
dude has been sketchy since the tiramisuit rigged raffle. sad to see shit like this still happening.
similar thing happened with alphakeys where they had inaccurate renders of SA polyclear. Everyone wanted a refund and they shut down all their discord channels. They rarely respond to support requests. I and many others ordered the ciel65 that was set to ship out months ago. They haven’t given an update since.
Same bro waiting on a few things and just a response but nothing
Oh shoot that's two Canadian vendors im locked in now with these issues! I didn't know Kanata keys was having issues too, the other being alphakeys.. ugh so many disappointing vendors and people ghosting such a headache.
Who is the other Canadian vendor
Alphakeys. I have some items with them and they have been ghosting everyone and muted and closed channels on their discord
Alphakeys. I have some items with them and they have been ghosting everyone and muted and closed channels on their discord
Oh damn, is there any news or reason as to why, if the whole servers closed then how can people even discuss lol
Lately it's because the SA polyclear sets were botched and they were offering refunds, and then basically took everyone's response and no one has heard back. I'm also waiting on some other items but seems like they've gone completely mia now, can't reach email and not responding to discord support tickets so quite frustrating..
Oh man, just realized I ordered alpenglow through them. I hope an arrangement can be made.
Did PolarType rebrand again to Kanatakeys LOL
Damn that's unfortunate, I've bought from him a couple years ago for one set, I can't remember at the top of my head (definitely not a GMK since I don't believe in them). It's unfortunate to see KanataKeys going the route of Charue Designs though. *** No clue why I'm getting downvoted for just stating that I've ordered in the past. I'm not defending him. Unless it's just people doing the usual downvote people who don't buy GMK, then you do you.
Dude I’m STILL seeing stuff about Charue Designs 😭 everyone was so cool until Sunsetter R2. I wonder what happened to Dot, truly.
Shit.
"You're not a Kanata!"
Yeah, FUCK that guy honestly. Like, take ANY responsibility… Really hope alpenglow gets pushed through.
This is why I'm hesitant to buy these esoteric unique artesian keys that y'all like so much! *THIS!*
If it helps I have like a ton of keycaps sets, 75 or more artisans and like 8 boards from all kinds of different designers/vendors and I’ve never had 1 issue with delivery of the product. Worst is GMK Nord which after 3 years is actually starting to move along lol but there’s a least a dozen solid bigger vendors that you’ll never have trouble with and most of the smaller ones value their customers to the fullest. So I’d just say do your research but don’t be fearful.
Eh best laid plans, look at all of us that got burnt on Rukia R2. No amount of due diligence would've prevented anyone from entering if the vetted before joining the GB. Jaxx had a few fulfilled GBs, was very active in the community, & had a great reputation all the way up till excuses started. You're advice is solid, don't get me wrong, but as long as we continue to follow the OG GB model there will always be failed GBs people can burnt on.
Then just buy instock products from major established vendors like Novelkeys and CannonKeys?
ok gd tip
mechmarket is your friend, you can find GMK sets under GB price. I personally like to buy shined sets since I shine them up in a week anyway
tbf, this is still like a 1% kind of thing. Despite the long wait times for GBs, 99% of them do get fulfilled. This guy John that's ghosting everyone has run GBs before. His earliest GBs he ran didn't have any major problems afaik. Js, it makes more sense to say you stay away from GB keycaps because of long waits than it does say its because of possibly getting ripped off imo.
There are a lot of issues with smaller vendors. I've had great experiences with places like KNC keys, but had terrible ones at many others including kono store etc.
Knckeys is great, the owner works his ass off to make sure his orders get out, is designing switches, and active in his discord
Agreed, Kanata isn’t even a real place! Really sketchy way to type Canada
Not sure if you're serious, but Kanata is a suburb of Ottawa.
Quebec Separatism propaganda , no thank you Edit: I'm obviously fucking around, whoever downvoted me, you are small brain
Does anybody know why John left? Is he stupid?
never heard of exit scam?
Could have died and no one took over. No one knows.
I’ve been digging to try and find an answer but no luck
He just popped in the MW server an hour ago, replied to someone then left again.
Sounds like yet another RAMA situation.
Did he say limbo 🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑
Is GMK Tiramisu affected by this? I believe John is the designer & the distributor for Canadian orders.
Yes, but they're looking at getting another vendor to do the colormatching.
I've been in the server for a bit asking as I ordered some in-stock keys and received the wrong set right around the time John stopped messaging in the discord. I'm looking into charging the purchase back on my card, hoping it goes through. Ordered through prototypist and got the right set really fast and am happy with my purchase!
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FWIW, I purchased a couple voynich kits last week, and it shipped in a day and arrived as expected.