I have been away for the last three weeks vising family and was not able to fulfill any orders during the time. Hopefully those of you who ordered saw the banner at the top of the home page. I'm catching up on things at the moment and should have orders out by next week. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to shoot me an email at contact@switchplate.co
I posted this in Geekhack a few weeks ago before I left on vacation and wasn't able to find the time to copy it here.
As many of you read in the last update, some of the cases that came out have aluminum grain on them. The only way to fix this is to remake cases from scratch, and unless the supplier is willing to test the aluminum (which the current one is not at the current quantity), there's no guarantee that they will be completely free of grain.
They're going to reblast and reanodize some of the cases that have issues that can be lessened or removed by refinishing. I've gotten some better pictures from my rep and some of the cases have extremely minimal grain that appears at certain angles and will not be reworked as reanodizing aluminum multiple times deteriorates the surface (as seen from my lunar GB) and leads to more defects from handling.
As the situation stands, the factory is unwilling to remake the cases as this is the "second run" from them as many from the first had major CNC inconsistencies around the chamfers and standoffs and were tossed. Remaking again would run another few months (given this past experience with them) and is just not feasible at this point. For units that I receive and QC that do not meet my quality expectations, I will issue out partial refunds and organize cerakoating if desired.
I'm truly sorry if I've disappointed some of you as everyone in the GB has certainly waited long enough for their boards. My vision from the beginning has always been to deliver boards that do not disappoint and it is something I've tried my best to do with this GB. As it stands today though, I simply do not have the money left after the fiasco with KP and the round 1 Lunar manufacturing situation to remake a third run of cases at the factory that manufactured the second run of Lunar. I would much rather get these delivered to everyone as soon as possible without any further delays.
TL;DR
Some cases at the moment still show some grain. Manufacturer of the remade aluminum cases has stopped cooperating as remaking aluminum cases is costing them more than what I've paid them due to remanufacturing and remaking cases that had issues. They are not willing to remake/fix any more cases. I will be shipping what I receive and issuing partial refunds for cases that have grain (which, I understand from my rep, not many). If you happen to be allocated a case with serious grain, I will help with certificating if desired.
Foam packing has been ordered and shipped to the factory. They'll be bolting tops and bottoms together. Plates and PCBs will be packed separately. If there are issues with these cases on the anodizing/finishing side, I'll be issuing partial refunds as I do not want to spend more time and money with the current factory that is working on these due to how they've handled the issues on the Southpaw 65 boards.
Last run of PCBs ordered and are being produced right now. B and C stock product listings will be updated to include a PCB which will be reflected in prices. About 10 PCBs should be available for purchase separately.
Prototype cases and plates arrived. Waiting on proto PCBs and parts. GH Interest check live next week.
]]>Still discussing with the factory on what they are able to do with the keyboards with grain. Will update as soon as I get to a resolution.
The situation on the grey 7075 units have changed. My factory rep discussed the situation with the owner and they're sending people to the anodizing supplier to discuss the issue since they produced the grey prototype without a problem.
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Anodizing was recently completed and I've been sent some pictures. There are a handful that look spectacular and some that have grain. I'm working with the rep now on discussing what can be done to mitigate that.
The angled feet came out great in terms of CNC work. Some of them have etch marks and will be reanodized.
Anodizing has been complete for all units save for those that are 7075 aluminum. The factory has been trying the grey 7075 units with little luck on color matching so if worst comes to worst, I will be emailing those who have grey 7075 units on a color switch to black or silver. This does not affect those with 6061 units in grey.
100% complete. Extras available. Huge thanks to everyone in the GB for being patient with all the delays and issues encountered along the way.
The factory being used for lunar is the one handling boards that are being made in the future. Fit and finish on the A-stock lunar units is a good representation on what they are capable of.
Budget bottom mounted 65%. More details to come soon.
]]>Had a long talk with the factory over these two projects and it seems that the reason they're not being done at an adequate pace is that they've pushed other things ahead of it due to order volume. This factory is a larger one and also handles orders that are many times larger than what we are doing. It's understandable that they prioritize those orders but I have cleared the issue up with them and will try to get things made as soon as possible. I am still discussing with the rep to see when the boards will be completed so I can give everyone a concrete ETA.
Southpaw Fullsize is being hand finished right now. They've found some issues I've pointed out during my visit and are remaking some parts such as the tops due to inconsistencies in the chamfers. The remaining units that do not have this issue are being serialized and hand finished in order to achieve the 'seamless' look. I will see what the situation on the remade tops are and decide on how anodizing will progress once I know.
Pantone colors for Southpaw 65 have been sent to the manufacturer. They should be starting shortly. I'll request pictures as they finish up.
Everything is packed into boxes and numbered. Extras PCBs arrived yesterday but didn't come with ESD bags. Those will arrive on Friday and be packed in with the cases over the weekend. GB should be 100% complete by Monday. Please test PCBs and look over cases when they arrive as I will hold extras for about one week in case any lemons slipped through QC on my end. After, they will be sold as a-stock extras.
This factory is looking quite promising on quality as well as communication and flexibility. They have managed to deliver all the cases in about 45 days with a near 100% QC pass rate and 100% order accuracy. Future GBs will be run through them unless a major change occurs.
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Anodization samples didn't seem to have made it to China. This is just further delaying things so will be matching the items I have on hand to pantone codes then sending them over tomorrow. Will update once anodization starts.
According to my factory contact during the last update, only the CNC was completed and not hand finishing. Will update soon as I get a clear answer from the rep on what the status of the boards are.
Now shipping. The quality from this factory is top notch and will be where future GBs are run. Clear and quick communication from start to finish of manufacturing process.
Nearly all orders up through #1323 are packed and shipped out as of last Thursday. A little behind due to work and school but predict to have remaining orders packed and shipped by the middle of this coming week.
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Aluminum cases are now completed and waiting to be anodized. The anodizing supplier misplaced the anodizing samples that was given to them during the visit last August and new ones have been sent to them and are awaiting delivery.
Raw aluminum cases will be shipped to the US first in order to minimize wait time. They should be here in about two weeks time or less.
CNC and hand finishing is 100% complete. Cases are in the anodization queue. They will be inspected and assembled by the factory to ensure that there are no issues with the cases before they are shipped here to the US. The project is currently running slightly behind schedule. Revised ETA at this moment is about 2 months out.
New cases have just arrived but not yet completed QC. Resin shifts are all here and orders that are outstanding due to missing shifts will be fulfilled first before orders containing remanufactured cases.
Expect orders with only outstanding resin shifts to be fulfilled by the start of next week. Orders containing manufactured cases should be shipped by the end of next week.
Due to a stock miscalculation, there is a small shortage of PCBs. Additional ones are being manufactured at the moment and are set to arrive sometime early in April. About 5-10 orders that were placed later in the Group Buy will be affected. Orders will be fulfilled per order number.
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To clear things up a little, Southpaw 65+ and Southpaw FS are being made at the same factory. The factory that produced the first production run of Lunar has been abandoned and the second production run has been moved to a new factory which was referred to us through another maker in the community.
Aluminum cases were finished around week 3 of January and went through QC but there were a handful of rejected cases and quite a few rejected sets of angled feet that had been over-processed in the hand finishing stage. Those units have been re-machined, hand finished and sandblasted and are now awaiting QC and then Anodizing. They will be completed after Chinese New year.
If you are a customer from Candy Keys, the situation as it stands is that the bent plates and alloy plates have arrived at them. The PCBs are still at KPrepublic due to a paperwork issue on their end. I will be working with them to clear out the paperwork and get it to the courier as soon as their CNY break ends.
The GH thread was updated with the previous delay which was an issue with the machining of the bottom halves of the case. The side cuts are machined top down and a mistake was made in the machining process which resulted in more material being removed than needed. The bottom halves need to be re-machined. They were put in the machining queue early last week but the factory was not able to get to them before many of the staff left for the Chinese New Year break. They will be machined, hand finished, then sandblasted and anodized after the factory starts back up again after the break.
All brass parts and aluminum plates have completed CNC. They will be sandblasted when it is time to anodize to avoid the parts being affected by oxidization.
Acrylic plates were cut stateside and are finished and QC'd.
PCBs were produced in the same factory at the same time as lunar and have been QC'd and spot checked for quality.
Prototype from the new factory arrived 99% perfect. Quality and tolerances are overall greater than the last factory. The new place has a near perfect track record according to other vendors in terms of quality.
The production run has been paid for and the aluminum has been purchased. The second new production run will start after Chinese New Year.
Resin shifts were finished this week but had some minor issues with fitment of the stem. The mold for the shifts are being remade and is waiting on a 3d printed stem to cast the mold off of. ETA of these is about two weeks out.
]]>Bent plates are all shipped out. If you have not received yours, please send an email.
Aluminum cases are being anodized shortly and should be shipped by the end of this month if not earlier.
Bottoms are still being re machined. Everything should be wrapped up shortly and sent to anodizing sometime closer to the end of this month.
PCBs have arrived and are being spot checked and tested.
Cases have arrived in the US and are being QC'd. Some of them have pretty serious issues while others have very light anodizing imperfections. They will be documented and put up for those in the GB by the beginning of next week. Extras will be live sometime in the middle of this month.
PCBs have arrived and are being spot checked and tested.
Second production run is being organized at the moment with the new factory. Will update as soon as all details are solidified.
Extra A and B stock from the current factory will be available on a first come, first serve basis. If you would like a notification for these, please fill out the form below.
https://goo.gl/forms/LxlISk1kQ2KXVRT02
]]>Plates have been completed and have arrived in the US. For those in the EU, the order for those should have been picked up from the factory by Candykeys last week and should arrive shortly.
A quick count and QC was completed yesterday for all laser cut plates and bent plates. Quality is greatly improved over the last batch. Orders will be packed throughout this week and next week so look out for a shipping confirmation in your email if you have ordered a kit with a bent plate.
Plates have started CNC. Cases are being re-machined as the cutout on the sides were incorrect for the first batch. This should not impact the delivery schedule set for Q4'18/ Q1'19.
PCBs are in mass production along with the Lunar PCBs and should be here shortly.
All cases were completed last week and during QC, the factory found some issues with the anodization which have arisen as a result of the material. It's quite a mystery to us since the prototype came out flawless and according to the factory, the same material supplier and anodizing factory was used for both the prototype and production run. Nearly all units have uneven anodization around the sides as a band that goes around the entire case. Some units have minor streaking from acid etch. We are hesitant on having the factory fix these so we will be paying for these and offering them as B stock at heavily discounted prices.
For the 50 original customers who are in the group buy, we will be manufacturing new cases for everyone. We have another factory which has been used to manufacture custom keyboards before and will organize another batch of cases to be produced. As the 7 series alloy has proven to be difficult to anodize, both by the factories that have been used before and by other makers who have used it in their products, we will switch to either a 6 series or 5 series alloy depending on price, quality and availability.
As with manufacturing, we will be running the new factory through the paces as with a brand new product being manufactured in a brand new factory. Although they have made other high end custom keyboard kits before, we will still be doing a handful of pre-production pieces for quality assurance and will be discussing expectations with them. We believe that this will take a significant amount of time, but we are still on track for the original Q1/Q2 2019 ship date as we were quite far ahead of schedule with the current (now b-stock) units.
Assembly has started for the PCBs and should wrap up shortly. They should arrive close to the end of this month and made available with b-stock cases. Extra A and B stock from the current factory will be available on a first come, first serve basis. If you would like a notification for these, please fill out the form below.
https://goo.gl/forms/LxlISk1kQ2KXVRT02
]]>All plates inclusive of bent plates are done and are ready to be shipped to the US and EU which should happen at the end of this week or early next week. The CNC work for the aluminum cases were finished last week, but some had issues with tolerances which will be addressed this week. The factory that is handling these has a backlog of things that need to be hand-finished so it's going to be a week or so before these move onto the hand finishing stage. After that, those are off to sandblasting and anodizing.
All parts have been made, hand finished, and sandblasted. They'll be coming back from anodizing this week. PCB fabrication started last week and should wrap up at the end of this month if there are no issues with sourcing components.
Acrylic plates have been cut and have arrived but the wrong files were sent to the fab. These will be recut which should not take long. The old acrylic plates have the reset cutout off center and the left shift missing the ISO spec cutout so those will be sold later on as b-stock on the website. The aluminum and brass plates haven't been cut yet (thankfully) so the new files will be sent to manu and those will be made later this month. The cases are still awaiting hand finishing which should be started sometime this week or next week.
We will be stocking some GMK screw in stabilizers towards the end of this month or the beginning of next month.
]]>At the moment we are still organizing logistics for remanufacturing. After talking with KP, terms have changed and we are shipping all the remaining items back for a full refund from them as they have organized the manufacturing for this Group Buy. We have gotten an estimate of 5-10 days for the factories to process the items and issue a refund. We should be shipping the items out this Monday and they should arrive sometime next week, so as it stands, the tentative timeline for delivery should be sometime around September.
Production with the new factories have been completely organized and talked over. They do not have a backlog of any sort and have given us an estimate of 20-35 days from date of payment to completion of manufacturing. The factory that will be manufacturing the aluminum cases is the same one being used for Southpaw FS. We have prototyped with them and the quality looks top notch. The factory that will be doing laser work for plates and bent plates is a new one though a sample is on its way here at the moment and the pictures look very promising in terms of cut quality and tolerances.
We will to continue to issue updates as the situation progresses and appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding.
]]>Shipping to those who have opted to stay with the items that are on hand is wrapping up and I'm preparing to ship everything else back to the original manufacturer. Please double check the spreadsheet used to manage orders. If yours is marked incorrectly or if there is any issue, contact me ASAP as the items will be shipped back next week.
I've discussed production with the new factory and at the moment, it just depends on when I can send the money to them which I have not received yet. As soon as I have the money, I will submit the new order to the new manufacture and get things going.
As far as extras are concerned, there are a lot of people looking for extras. Extras will be made available this Wednesday and will be FCFS. I am unable to sort orders out and email out individual invoices as it is very time consuming. Those who have submitted an extras request form will be able to view the kits that are allocated for extras before they are made available to purchase.
There has been a major issue with the group buy that I was only aware of when I received the items on Friday of last week. These issues were a result of too many parties being involved with too little transparency in between. There’s a real lack of accountability in the situation internally so at this point, I’m willing to dig into my own pockets to make things right since I want everyone to be happy with the product that they receive. I've listed issues and resolutions below for everyone to take a look at and decide if you haven't yet gotten around to it.
Now for the more important part. Read this bit carefully. As some of you have been waiting for a very long while, I will offer a few solutions that allow you to take the items as is or to wait for them to be remanufactured. Decisions are final as items will be allocated to the “extras” stock once email is received if you choose not to take the items. Email your choices to mill@switchplate.co and I will have them handled in the order that they are recieved in.
PCBs are missing only one crucial aspect and that is the vertical alps iso enter. If you are affected by this, please email me so we can work something out.
As far as the reset switches are concerned, they can be resoldered or removed. If removed, you can use the pads as a jumper to reset the board from the top side. If you would still like the magnetic reset and are not capable of desoldering and resoldering yourself, I can do that for you. Just make a note of it in the email.
These have anodization issues that I do not believe can be solved by using the same factory. We will be moving these over to a different place that has been used before to manufacture other keyboards. A stock will be free of blemishes. B stock will have either scratches or anodization inconsistencies.
These have issues with cut consistency and I do not believe that this can be solved by using the same factory. Will be moving these to a different place that also has been used for keyboard manufacturing before. Note that A-stock plates WILL NOT be 100% straight. This is normal as plates straighten out as switches are soldered onto the board. A stock will have straight cuts and be mostly straight. They will still have the compatibility issue. B stock will have slightly rougher cuts and may require you to bend some parts of the plate straight yourself. They may also have very minor cosmetic blemishes on the show side.
Main issue here was that the design file that was sent to mfg was incorrect. As I don’t have manufacturing resources for the bent plates and integrated cases readily available, these will be done by the same place. There were not manufacturing issues defects with these so all units are considered a-stock.
QC Pass rate for these is less than 20%. The nature of the design and tolerances from the factory just don’t work. These items will not be reworked. Customers will have the option to exchange the case for something of a different style or a full refund.
Again, for those asking for refunds, I have to say that I'm unable to issue refunds due to the nature of the group buy format and due to the fact that I am a relatively small vendor. I will do my best to ensure that everyone is happy with what they receive the boards and kits.
B-stock kits for those that choose to wait will be allocated to extras once a decision is made. Emails will be sent out in the order in which forms were filled.
The master spreadsheet for order changes contain your order number and is filled with a color. Orders will be shipped all at once and will not be broken up into multiple shipments. As all orders are affected, orders will not be shipped until I have a response. Orders in green will be shipped with items that are on hand. Orders in orange are set for items that will be remanufactured with a ship estimate of 2 months after production starts. Note that if you’ve emailed me prior to this email, some things have changed and the color coding for order still applies. This spreadsheet is manually updated by me. It is linked at the very bottom of the email.
If you have already emailed me for an order change, note that the issue with the plate hadn’t been covered in the preliminary posts on reddit and geekhack and I will need another response from you. The column marked “PTE” indicates your decision prior to this email and is primarily for my purposes.
Again, I am very sorry that this has been further delayed. All of these delays have been, to an extent, out of my control, but I will make sure that this does not happen in the future as I will be using my own manufacturing and logistics resources and will not be working through a middleman of any sorts. As for response times, this issue has come at a really bad time as I am finishing up school this week and am loaded with finals and AP exams. I’m also going to be expecting a LOT of emails in the next few days. Expect your email to be answered within 24-48 hours, but feel free to resend it if it has not been answered by then as it might have fallen through though I will try my best to respond to every single one.
Logistics Delay
The bulk shipment is now moving. Because of paperwork issues, we ended up processing the whole shipment through a freight forwarder rather than doing it directly. It is being shipped by FedEx with an estimated Delivery Date of May 4th. It will take us approximately a week to QC and sort items and then about 1-2 weeks to fulfill orders that do not require assembly. Those who have the assembly service listed on their order should receive an email this week for assembly options. Again, thank you for everyone who has been patiently waiting for the boards to ship.
Updated Timeline
If you would like to receive these updates by email, please fill out the form in this link.
]]>Logistics Delay
We have run into an unexpected delay in shipping the bulk orders from China to the US. We are waiting on the export customs agent to complete the paperwork at the moment so we can move the shipment from the warehouse. DHL will be handling freight which will take 5-8 days from the date of departure. It will take us a handful of days to QC and count all the items once they are in our hands. The master schedule will be updated once all the items are tendered to DHL.
If you would like to receive these updates by email, please fill out the form in this link.
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PCB SMD Delay
We were just notified of a delay with PCB production and would like to let everyone know that we will not be able to fulfill orders in the Feb 12 to Mar 3 time frame that we were shooting for. The factory that is completing SMD work will be closing earlier than expected on the 5th of February due to an inspection and will not able to finish the PCBs until they resta rt production after their Lunar New Year break. We are looking to get the PCBs completed and shipped to the United States sometime around early/mid March. The updated ship date for all orders is now sometime around mid March.
Production Update
We have finished production on the CNC cases, laser cut plates, bent plates and integrated cases as scheduled. They are currently being counted and quickly checked over at the warehouse and will be shipped here around the middle of February for quality inspection before orders are packed as PCBs arrive in March. We will provide another update with more exact dates as we continue to receive information from the factory. We are very sorry about the delay and if there are any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at contact@switchplate.co
UPDATE - Please Check the bottom of the GB page for further updates as updating articles, the project page, and the GH thread is redundant.
]]>Production
We are still on track for the Mid February / Early March Ship date for all orders. Laser cut plates, bent plates, integrated cases and PCBs will be finished sometime later this month and should be packed and ready to ship to the US by the last week of this month. Aluminum cases are due a little later on the week before Lunar New Year and will be shipping mid-February if everything goes to plan and no delays are encountered.
Design Updates
The risers for the aluminum cases have undergone a small change that will not affect functionality. The front and rear edges that meet the case will be slightly rounded with a .2mm fillet as to retain the anodization during handling. We've worked with the factory to produce a small batch of these updated cases before the production time that was secured so there will be a small run of these shipped to us later this month to check everything over and if there aren't any issues, we'll continue with production and complete the cases as scheduled.
Extras
We will have extras and most likely one or two factroy seconds left for sale after fufullment has completed. Subscribe to the main mailing list if you would like to be notified when they go on sale. These units are first come first serve.
First of all a huge thanks to the community for making this happen. We have around 150 orders across North America, Europe, and Asia.
We've now finished sorting orders and have sent out all emails for order changes that need to be made. There were a handful of items that did not meet MOQ, but were close enough so extras were purchased so they could be made. For those who need to change their orders, the GB page has been updated to reflect the items that are being produced and the items that have been canceled. Those changes are due on or before Monday the 10th so we can stay on schedule.
We have a production slot organized and reserved with factories and will be doing a quick pilot run on black Anodized plates and cases in order to check over quality one final time before producing the 60+ cases that are scheduled for February. The first 4 people who ordered black anodized aluminum cases will have the option of taking one of the cases from the pilot run which will run ahead of the schedule. These will be laser-marked on the inside of the cases and otherwise, will be identical to the other cases.
We will be shortly be sending out an email to everyone that is part of the GB for a mailing list that will include all updates for the GB. You will have to subscribe to the list to receive updates directly. Otherwise they will be available on this website.
For those who missed out on the GB, there will possibly be extras of the aluminum cases, bent plates, and integrated cases. Those will be available sometime in the spring on this website.
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Cyber Monday is a few hours away and since we weren't able to stock up in time for Black Friday, we'll just have promotions starting on Monday. With every order containing an XD60 or XD84 kit and switches, we'll be including a free PCB ruler to help with your keyboard build. We have a limited number of these kits on hand and ready to ship, but we have more on the way which will arrive in two week's time. The kits that are pre-ordered will receive an additional 5% discount on the kit on top of the PCB ruler. Just keep in mind that across the pre-ordered and in stock XD60 and XD84 kits, there are only a limited number of units so order fast before they're sold out! Just add the rulers to your cart on checkout and put the code in upon checkout. Codes are below and start working at 12:00am Monday! Rulers available while supplies last.
Discount Codes
Kits
For the beginning of November, we will be testing the waters for some new products and see how well they will do. These will be items that are in stock and ready to ship but we will only have limited quantities as we are trying to see what products will do well in the market. Listed below are the items that will be brought in next week.
All but 5 orders have been shipped. Waiting on aluminum cases which arive on tuesday. All orders are packed and ready to ship. Just waiting on the cases which will be wrapped and sent out.
GB running. Accepting orders till December 1st. A little more than halfway to MOQ. A handful of revisions have been made to the aluminum case. Rev 1 prototype will be at the California meetup tomorrow (11/11) at Nest Labs in Palo Alto for anyone who would like to take a look. Alps needs a little more support. Interest check yielded around 300 interested people but have less than half the orders at the moment. Lets spread the word and get this done!
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All but 7 orders have been shipped and fulfilled. We are still waiting on the aluminum cases from the factory but they're stuck at a logistics hub at the moment in Bejing because of the 19th national congress. They should be out and shipped to the vendor who will do a final QC before they're sent over here.
Everything has been finalized. Waiting on color samples and pictures of the alps plate. Should launch on monday.
]]>We're on the final leg of prototyping for the Southpaw Extended 65% and the final revision of the CNC aluminum case samples are expected to arrive at our partner, KP, in China later this week. Both the standard and bent ALPS and MX plates are about a week or less out from our CN partners. Everything will be shipped to the US in less than a month when all the samples are finished. After a through QC and F&F inspection, the design, production, and distribution will be finalized before the GB starts at the end of this year.
]]>The switches that were ordered are arriving tomorrow and I'll be getting the rest of the boards that need assembly out the door on monday or tuesday. I talked to the vendor who has said that the factory is finishing up the risers for the aluminum cases and will be shipping them out to the vendor after the holiday is over which should be this monday. The cases have been really delayed but are coming soon so I encourage everyone to wait it out a little longer because they're almost here. For further group buys, I'll definitely be going to a different factory for cases and anodization so that this doesn't happen again. I'll try and provide another update on Monday after everyone gets back from vacation and see when exactly the cases will get here.
The long awaited round 1 of samples for QC and feasibility are arriving today. GB will start shortly after prices, MOQs and production times are discussed with factories and vendors. GB is projected to run for around a month and have a production time of 4-8 weeks with a 4 week shipping a sorting period.
]]>Finally decided it was time for an actual storefront. Finishing up the website and am starting to gather business permits and licenses. Once those are done, I'll start sales and such for the website. At the moment, all available products will be listed up, but not currently available for purchase. Soft launch scheduled for mid to late october and will have everything finished early next year.
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