Guys, we need to talk about your pricing.

What's with the sudden price hike?

I've been tracking the stock of the Vengeance K70 RGB Red/Brown UK Layout keyboards for the past couple of months on the Corsair.com/en-gb/ site. They've sat at a steady £103 since I've been watching them. Today, they've jumped up to £140. No stock, just a price change.

Let me clear things up. Last week I had the fortune to grab a K70 RGB MX Red for £103 from Corsair. They had stock for about two days, and I jumped on one as soon as I saw it, despite being initially after MX Browns. I love the keyboard. Corsair have done a great job with the hardware, and we're all aware that the software is under development. All-in-all, I feel that it was money well spent; so much so, that I was still watching the stock of K70 RGB MX Browns, as I intended to still get one.

The following post isn't a selfish rant about not being able to get a second K70 RGB for £103. It's not for my benefit, but for the benefit of people who didn't manage to pick one up when I did. It's a light-hearted critique on the situation as a whole, so please take it with a pinch of salt.

Up to today, the K70 RGBs had been one of the cheapest keyboards on the Corsair EN-GB store, only being £1 more expensive than standard K70s. It seemed ridiculous that anybody would want to chose a standard K70 over a K70 RGB for the £1 difference. The K70 RGB MX Red ANSI however, was priced at £140. It would be (semi)rational for the ANSI layout to be more expensive than the ISO layout to UK customers, but not by that extent. It was fairly obvious that the pricing structure had been miscalculated somewhere.

Look to today and all of the K70 RGBs have jumped up to £140, regardless of switch or layout. I'm all up for having all of the layouts and switches at the same price, but it was quite a jump to make. People who've been monitoring the stock levels for months, waiting for their chance to get a K70 RGB for £103 have now just been told that they have to pay £37 more...eventually...when there's stock.

But supply and demand right? The Vengeance RGBs have been selling unpredictably well, due to the unexpected hate towards the new brand. Corsair listened to their customers and produced more 'sails' boards, and now they're increasing the price as the demand, and pressure to produce more stock, increases.

But please reader, if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further.

What's with the crazy pricing?

I suppose my next point would be, what's with the pricing? Firstly, although out of stock, you still have an ISO K95 for £115, despite the ANSI being £190. Standard ISO K70 Reds are available for £134 or £116 for the ANSI. Blue or Brown ANSI are available for £102, and let's not get started on the silver boards.

At least the Corsair Gaming site shows some consistency on the new branded boards. But just like in your favourite slasher flicks, you're not safe yet. The CG branded ANSI K70s are £102 for Blue or Red, despite Vengeance K70 Reds being £116. It's only worse with the K70 RGB, being £156, £16 more expensive than the Vengeance now, and £54 more expensive than the original £103 price.

The CG K95 RBG? £180. £10 less than the Vengeance K95 RGB.

So we can't write the Vengeance RGB off as being a 'premium = more expensive' product now, since the pricing jumps quite erratically regardless of brand. I know I'm making some comparisons between ANSI and ISO boards that really can't be made due to the differences, but please note that the ANSI Vengeance K70 RGB was more expensive than the ISO, yet the opposite is true for the non-RGB or Corsair Gaming boards. On the US store however, both the Vengeance K70 RGB and the CG K70 RGB are $170, an equal product with a different logo.

Show us some love!

I know international things don't always work out how we want them to, but the difference in pricing for the UK and US site is quite phenomenal. I can't speak for other countries, but I imagine the results are similar.

US - ANSI K70 Vengeance MX Brown - $130/£86

UK - ANSI K70 Vengeance MX Brown - £102/$155

US - ANSI K70 Vengeance RGB MX Red - $170/£112

UK - ANSI K70 Vengeance RGB MX Red - £140/$212

US - ANSI K70 CG RGB MX Red - $170/£112

UK - ANSI K70 CG RGB MX Red - £156/$236

US - ANSI K95 Vengeance RGB MX Red - $190/£125

UK - ANSI K95 Vengeance RGB MX Red - £190/$288

I can spend all day going through them, but you get the idea. And notice that that's the comparison between ANSI versions, rather than ISO/ANSI. The only difference is where you're buying it from.

Obviously, I appreciate that Corsair is a US company. I also know that it very rarely works that products are available in another country in direct correlation with the exchange rate. That said, the difference is alarming, especially the last figures. £125 in the US could buy me (from only the contents of the above table) a K70, K70 RGB, K70 CG RGB or a K95 RGB. In the UK, it can get me a Vengeance K70.

Summary.

The pricing structure on the EN-US store is fine, tiered and organised how it should be. It's fairly obvious that the EN-GB pricing is a result of erroneous currency conversions and the addition of an extra layout.

The above is intentionally pedantic, but I wouldn't consider it an irrational observation. You need to take a look at the pricing on your international store guys. It's off-putting to potential customers to see so many contradictions on the same site. Please, for the sake of your international customers, consider the price of the keyboard in their currency compared to the US site. Finally, please think of the customers who've been waiting patiently for stock when you increase the price of a product that hasn't been stocked in months.

Corsair, this isn't supposed to be a criticism of your business practices or your company. As I've mentioned, I'm more than happy with the keyboard that I purchased, and with the community and customer support. I'll still be buying a K70 in Browns when they're in stock direct from Corsair, and I'd advise anyone else who wants one to do so. This 'rant' was intended to draw some attention to a few things, and was in no way intended to sound like a 'first world problems' post.

I patiently await the furious wrath of people who only read select excerpts of the above. I asked for it with such a long post.

So, from what you're saying, only UK is affected, not so much the US.

I can only assume that the prices on the EN-US side of the site are the intended RRPs for the products. They do seem to be scaled in price accordingly (i.e. K65 < K70 < K70 RGB < K95 RGB). The UK side is a complete mix of prices, and are definitely higher prices when you convert the USD prices to their GBP counterparts.

Check the REAL seller. I glanced at Amazon.co.uk, and all of the higher priced ones are 3rd party sellers, NOT Amazon. They're just people taking advantage of the market demand. When Amazon gets it back in stock (no, I don't have access to that info) you should see the standard pricing.

 

P00P34 - I've seen people mention the same thing in regards to Amazon.com or NewEgg - anywhere where a 3rd party can sell on a big retailer's site.

I'm referring explicitly to the Corsair webstore, and have taken no prices from external retailers for my above post. The prices on Amazon etc are a completely different story with, as you said, people taking advantage of the demand. I've been keeping an eye on the prices for the Corsair.com/EN-GB/ side of the site, and have taken the USD prices from the Corsair.com/EN-US/ side.

I have noticed now, however, that there seems to be some changes on the EN-GB site this evening. I'm assuming that the webstore has had a bit of a re-price and re-shuffle.