Are those Gateron Banana switches? ;-)
this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025
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Mechanical Keyboards
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What's this about?
Trying to get as much Chinese keyboard parts as possible before the tariffs ends the party.
Edit: autocorrupt
I’ve already noticed many electronics are “not available” anymore already…
This is so funny to me, I'm imagining a bunch of people going to China for the pure purpose of grabbing keyboard parts.
That's Alibaba for me, essentially.
Does Alibaba work well for you? How many weeks does shipping usually take? Are the goods fine on arrival?
Works fine, just takes a while. It's like a surprise gift for yourself.
Is shipping a lot of money? do you end up paying close to Amazon prices when you factor in the price of shipping?
No, used to be cheaper. And you can buy samples of switches (singles, 5-packs) easily there, while usually not available on amazon. Keycaps are less expensive too. The biggest downside really is the time it takes to arrive, but if you adjust your expectations accordingly, it's not an issue.
I must clarify. I use only Aliexpress, the retail side of Alibaba.
Ah okay, I'll consider trying in the future.
Did the same yesterday, bought myself a Epomaker Ajazz ak820 from Amazon, hoping it ships from the US Warehouse before EU retaliates with even more tariffs
You've got about 3 days for them to get processed by customs. Even if they arrive tomorrow, if customs is delayed and they don't process until Friday you'll get to pay a processing fee and a big pile of tariffs.