For enthusiasts, the economies of scale make getting a particular colour theme of keycaps an expensive business. The group buy system is a kind of pre-order, a little like backing a Kickstarter, where customers pay up front to join a large order for keycaps which are then manufactured and shipped later (usually in the region of 12-18 months later, be warned!). Orders are usually placed with one of a small number of vendors, with one vendor taking orders for their entire geographic region (e.g. US, Canada or the EU), and once the manufacturer ships to the vendor, that vendor takes care of delivery to your door.

Whenever a designer has an idea for a project, they will usually want to find out if there is sufficient interest to commit to trying to get it made beforehand. An Interest Check is a way of polling the community to find out if that interest exists, and getting feedback on the proposed design before anything is set in stone. This is often a useful time for you as a buyer to let the designer know if you have any specific changes in mind that might encourage you to buy it!

At least on this site, concepts are a way for me to share experiments and ideas for upcoming, future projects. There’s no guarantee any of these will ever see the light of day, but an encouraging response to any given design is a useful barometer for whether I should take the idea further.