Tweetydabirdie t1_iy0qcts wrote on November 27, 2022 at 9:37 PM

Reply to comment by hiszpanskiinkwizytor in Problem with group buys by hiszpanskiinkwizytor

Well, call it something else if you prefer, and can find the ‘right’ word. What you a purchasing is a part of a production slot.

Yes, you are effectively taking part in the profit. Most things in a GB would have a much higher price unles it met a MOQ which requires either the GB or a full financing from a single backer taking all the risk and all the profit. Then it would still likely cost more, as that would in-fact be the profit for that backer.

Sure the designer/runner takes more of the profit on paper, but most of them do not accurately count their actual worked hours and if they did, the GB would in many cases be a net loss for them.

hiszpanskiinkwizytor OP t1_iy0raxx wrote on November 27, 2022 at 9:43 PM

I would still like to know what's the percentage of the profit. What is the average income from a group buy, per keyboard? Do you know if any runner gave any post-mortem or post-success summary with values? I have a feeling that the only way of knowing how much you can profit is to run a GB by your own.

Tweetydabirdie t1_iy2jewf wrote on November 28, 2022 at 6:35 AM

Well, I haven’t run any GB’s since I myself have a few bad experiences participating. And don’t worry I will participate again, I just don’t want that responsibility that way.

I am however considering kickstarter/indiegogo for some projects as it’s a bit more ‘regulated’ and have done so for other unrelated projects, and I can tell you from that experience trying to make a budget, guess at half the costs, and get the price of the end product to a sane level that people can accept, set a timeline that won’t kill you from overworking yourself, that the overall profit if you actually count your hours as an employee or as a business owner would, it’s 100% guaranteed to be a loosing endeavor.

The ‘real’ profit is in you yourself getting whatever it is you funding most of the time. And I think that applies to a lot of GB runners.

There have been a few GB runners posting numbers in the past, and without remembering any specifics, the over all image is the same. At best they got the profit to cover their hours and perhaps a little on the top, most often not. Feel free to find the numbers and dispute me though, as it was a while back.