Massdrop x MiTo SA Pulse Custom Keycap Set Discussions | Drop

Apr 26, 2018

dvorcolIs there any chance you can add your graph that shows how we compare with other drops?
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/pulse-sa-keycap-set/talk/2046690

Apr 26, 2018

Apr 26, 2018

fer.realAs you wish.

Apr 26, 2018

Apr 26, 2018

dvorcolThis type of visualization is purely amazing.

Apr 26, 2018

Apr 26, 2018

dvorcolMuch obliged!

Apr 26, 2018

Apr 27, 2018

dvorcolCan we have daily graph updates in the last 3 days so people on the fence for some sets can make an informed decision? Thank you so much for doing this !

Apr 27, 2018

Apr 27, 2018

OldCatI am just graphing the data that Massdrop shares with us - the spreadsheet in the overview. :(

Apr 27, 2018

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Apr 27, 2018

OldCatThanks! Maybe I should ask @YanboWu

Apr 27, 2018

Apr 27, 2018

OldCatI don't know why Massdrop doesn't do daily updates. Seeing the price drops and progress toward price drops encourages people to join the drop.

Apr 27, 2018

Apr 27, 2018

fer.realExactly, this can be easily automated too. Should be a few lines of codes

Apr 27, 2018

Apr 27, 2018

OldCatI agree that live numbers would be nice. But then I’d have to find a new hobby...

Apr 27, 2018

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Apr 27, 2018

dvorcolhaha!

Apr 27, 2018

Apr 27, 2018

dvorcolEven if they could manage live data, we'd still need someone to clean up their tragic spreadsheets.

Apr 27, 2018

Apr 28, 2018

dvorcolBased on your trends, you had about 4750 total kits 3 days ago. Now we're at 7,133 sold a day before the end. Based on the fact that text mods are pretty damn linear growth, we could do a nice ratio of 600/4750 and then solve for X/7133 to get about 900 text mods ordered.
The problem I see with this, that's pretty close to the $10 drop for 1000 orders. Looking back at GMK Laser, we had Gaijin get updated with the last update to have 921/1000 for the $14 price drop. If you do the math on it, Massdrop could have easily bought those last 79 sets to get the $46 price @ $3,634. Then, that means everybody else should get the $46 price but Massdrop keeps the charge at $60. So $14 in their pocket on 921 sets means $12,894 back, subtract out the $3,634 from the 79 set purchase and Massdrop makes a heft $9,260 profit by buying up to the price drop and not giving that back to the customers and then have 79 Gaijin sets to sell for a price bump on a keycap recap so they're basically making $13,000+ on that.
If my assumption above on Pulse Text Mods is the same and we're roughly at 900 kits to the 1000 price drop of $10. That's Massdrop paying $5,000 to buy 100 kits @ $50. Pocket the $10 price drop from 900 kits and that's $9,000. Take out the $5,000 to get the 1000 kits price drop and that's another $4,000 profit AND they still get to sell those spares on a recap so really you get back the $5,000 investment if you sell them all and stick with about $9,000 profit.

Apr 28, 2018

Apr 28, 2018

HerpDerpenbergYour calculations make sense assuming Massdrop didn't already account for these options in their drop points and pricing. But they probably have (I sure would, wouldn't you?). We'll probably never know the details of how it really works, and why would we? It would be like a car dealership laying out their lowest acceptable profit margin and their actual price paid to the OEM so all their customers could buy at the lowest possible price.

Apr 28, 2018

Apr 28, 2018

dvorcolYeah, each one of these drops still has a profit margin per set built into it. But ideally, they want to get as close as they can do a price drop without ever actually going over it. Perfect case would be Gaijin on GMK Laser. Some of the price drop points don't make sense either where you have 100, then 200 quantity price drop points going from $68 to $60 and then it takes 800 more kits to get another $10 bump? To me, behind the scenes they're still getting 300, 400, 500, etc quantity price drops but they just roll things up into whatever they want.
I know this because I've done bulk buy orders where you need to factor in things like initial up front costs (in the case of these sets the tooling to make the keycaps) and then the production price is the same regardless of how many items you make. Sometimes, they will give discounts on item price based on quantity of order as well.
Either way, we just get this lazy updated spreadsheet when behind the scenes Massdrop knows the true numbers. Although, with some good math, you might be able to figure out the actual tooling costs, or at least a rough idea of the true "per set" cost.

Apr 28, 2018

Apr 28, 2018

HerpDerpenbergMinimum Order Quantities and tapering price drops make perfect sense. For example:

[1] Tooling cost might be lower because tooling will be used in future drops too. [2] Or it might be much higher, because only this drop will use these tools (novelties).

Apr 28, 2018

Apr 29, 2018

dvorcolI think they spread the new tooling across the sets. So alphas/mods get a slight boost in price to cover new tooling. It wouldn't make sense for any of the sets that are small quantity orders and unique to have some crazy cost.

Apr 29, 2018

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Apr 29, 2018

HerpDerpenberg "I think they spread the new tooling across the sets."
I mentioned that in [1].

Apr 29, 2018

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Apr 29, 2018

dvorcolOh I meant spreading the tooling across all sets in the same drop. So if there's some new novelty cap, they're not going to charge only that new novelty set. They'll just increase the price of each set by $5 to offset that initial cost. You'd probably do that to the standard alphas and text mods. Every time these drops get a re-drop, people always notice that the price keeps going up.

Apr 29, 2018