Group Buy FAQ

Group Buys and Preorders

What is a group buy?

Group buys are purchases of an item in large quantities by many people.Most group buys are run with small groups of people, like us. When you join a group buy, you are helping our community bring designs to life. It's very much like a Kickstarter.

Before a group buy starts, a designer usually creates an interest check to see if there are enough people in the community interested in purchasing the product. To do that, we need to meet minimum order quantities (MOQs). 

Our community relies on vendors like us all over the world to help facilitate group buy purchases worldwide and meet MOQs. Once MOQs are met and the campaign period is over, we submit the order to the manufacturer. Your order is locked in at this point and the wait begins for the special product you helped bring to life.

Group Buy Stages

  1. Product designer develops product concept and seeks interest and feedback in the product

  2. Product team (runners) shares final product design and announces a group buy date

  3. Group buy details such as participating vendor proxies and pricing is shared with the public. At this point, the runners should have received quotes and MOQ requirements from the manufacturer 
  4. The group buy launches and vendors accept orders for the products. These periods usually last 2 weeks to 1 month.
  5. Orders are monitored and participants determine next actions needed to boost interest in the group buy (increase orders to meet MOQ). If it isn’t looking good, the group buy may be cancelled.
  6. Orders are closed. The runners and participants tally up the number of orders and place the order with the manufacturer. Note manufacturing typically does not begin right away.
  7. The manufacturer begins production.
  8. Manufacturing concludes. Quality checks are performed to ensure the product is not defective at a first glance.
  9. Products get packaged
  10. Shipments are sent to each vendor proxy. They must clear each proxy’s country’s customs and then continue their journey to the vendor proxy.
  11. Vendors receive their shipments and perform additional QC. Additional packaging may be needed. If QC presents issues, vendors will discuss next actions to take to ensure customers receive quality products. This wwill result in additional delays.
  12. Orders are picked and packed by vendors to ship to customers.

Insurance

Do not purchase Route Insurance for Group Buy purchases! Route will not honour claims for Group Buys and preorders due to the time gap between when it is purchased, and when these orders are shipped out. Route's coverage is 60 days from the order date and the majority of group buys have a lead time longer than 60 days.

Timing and Estimates

Group buy fulfillment estimates are subject to change. Your product(s) may experience delays in production and fulfillment. By participating in a group buy, you accept that there may be manufacturing or shipping delays on your order.

Should major delays, events, or changes be made, we will do our best to contact you and provide appropriate support regarding such situations.

Updates to group buys are now posted to: https://keyspresso.ca/pages/group-buy-status-updates

Cancellations

If you would like to cancel an ongoing group buy order (ie the group buy is in the campaign period and we are accepting orders) please contact us. Please note that cancellations will incur a 3.5% processing fee. See our cancellation policy for more details.

Group buy orders cannot be cancelled after the group buy campaign period ends since the items are in production.

Product Accuracy

All images are for reference purposes only and may not be representative of the final product. Images may also be unavailable for product variants.

Should major delays, events, or changes be made, we will do our best to contact you and provide appropriate support regarding such situations.

Combining Group Buys With Other Products

  • Scenario A: Ordering switch S1 (GB) and switch S2 (GB) together, given that S1 and S2 are separate group buys running at the same time.
  • Scenario B: Ordering switch S1(GB) and keycap set K1(GB) together, given that S1 and K1 are separate group buys running at the same time.
  • Scenario C: Ordering keycap K1 (GB) and in-stock stabilizers together.
  • Scenario D: Ordering keyboard KB1 (GB) and keyboard extras KB1-Extra (GB) together. 

    We will only accommodate orders under scenario A and scenario D. We reserve the right to cancel group buy orders that do not follow it.

    We advise that you place group buy orders separate from other products. Please do not order any in-stock products or other group buy products with your order. This is because you will not receive your other items until the group buy items arrive.

    Please also note that production times in concurrent group buys may vary, which will delay the fulfillment of your order.

    Deskmats

    Please do not combine deskmat group buy orders with other products. This is due to the timing in which deskmat products arrive, and due to packaging size limitations.

    Some group buys offer deskmats in addition to keycap sets or switches. Deskmats may arrive earlier or later than associated keycap sets or switches. If your order includes the associated group buy product, we will ship it when all of the items are available. Note that shipping may not be much cheaper if you combine deskmats and other items due to packaging sizes.

    If your order includes only the deskmat, we will ship it when it arrives. This is advised for customers that would like to receive their deskmats earlier.