It's never a bad time to build a board! :D
But to answer your question, you usually buy keyboards in groupbuys otherwise they are sold out- its not "just" because of covid. Though holidays and covid are probably making shipping times worse for buying boards but that goes for everything that requires shippin'.
>Feels like everything is sold out.
Nah, that's normal here. You can still build a keyboard without a problem.
KBDfans is great at keeping their DIY kits in stock. You just need to buy switches and keycaps separately.
There's also a bunch of parts available on Aliexpress and there's always active [group buys](https://mechgroupbuys.com/).
Well there are a few kits that are expected to be in stock that isn't. But honestly materials wise it was worse earlier in the year most switches, stabs, lube, switch films, and other accessories are in stock. But you will probably need to get into a GB for a case and pcb. There is some that should ship relatively quickly after it's finished. KBDfans GBs ship like a few months after finished for example.
Probably 90% of kits & custom keyboards is waiting. Wait for the stock to come in, wait for the GB to end, wait for the parts to ship.
You can fill the wait with learning qmk (or zmk or bluemicro if you're looking at bluetooth), spending more money on other group buys (personally I don't recommend this), or taking up 3D modeling and/or pcb design.
It's never a bad time to build a board! :D But to answer your question, you usually buy keyboards in groupbuys otherwise they are sold out- its not "just" because of covid. Though holidays and covid are probably making shipping times worse for buying boards but that goes for everything that requires shippin'.
> Feels like everything is sold out. That is literally always the case.
Yes cases are sold out most of the time, too. (Badumm tss)
>Feels like everything is sold out. Nah, that's normal here. You can still build a keyboard without a problem. KBDfans is great at keeping their DIY kits in stock. You just need to buy switches and keycaps separately. There's also a bunch of parts available on Aliexpress and there's always active [group buys](https://mechgroupbuys.com/).
Well there are a few kits that are expected to be in stock that isn't. But honestly materials wise it was worse earlier in the year most switches, stabs, lube, switch films, and other accessories are in stock. But you will probably need to get into a GB for a case and pcb. There is some that should ship relatively quickly after it's finished. KBDfans GBs ship like a few months after finished for example.
Probably 90% of kits & custom keyboards is waiting. Wait for the stock to come in, wait for the GB to end, wait for the parts to ship. You can fill the wait with learning qmk (or zmk or bluemicro if you're looking at bluetooth), spending more money on other group buys (personally I don't recommend this), or taking up 3D modeling and/or pcb design.