You can go even deeper on Taobao!
They do all the meme colourways too!
This article is an effort to catalogue all the decent or better keycaps you can find on Chinese shopping sites. Whether the keycaps are Chinese in origin or not, if you can buy it from China, it belongs here. If you want to contribute, consider having a quick look at Template:Keycaps and familiarising yourself with it (not necessary though).
For general Chinese mechanical keyboard shopping advice, see Chink shit general/Electronic and computer goods#Mechanical Keyboards.
Buying
Generally, most of the keycaps you find across the different stores on AliExpress all come from the same manufacturer, so that shouldn't be anything to worry about. Most of the the 20-40 USD PBT keycaps you find from Chinese stores can be assumed to be made by NPKC, which is extremely reasonable quality for the price you're paying.
Stores to keep an eye on are Shenzhen YMD, KBDFans, Shenzhen E Sali and EZ MANDARIN SHOPPERS. The guy from Shenzhen YMD speaks better English than most Ali sellers and is pretty quick to respond in comparison. KBDFans is helpful in customer service too.
Single Color
NPKC
A Dolch PBT keycap set from AliExpress on a 60% keyboard. Presumably manufactured by NPKC.
| Type
|
PBT
|
| Legends
|
Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
|
| Profile
|
OEM
|
| Stem type
|
MX
|
| Thickness
|
1.5mm
|
| Legend backlight support
|
No
|
| Backlight bleed
|
On lighter colours only. Black/grey are completely fine.
|
| In production
|
Yes
|
Purchasing
Mixed Color
White Alphanumeric
Dolch
A Dolch PBT keycap set from AliExpress on a 60% keyboard. Presumably manufactured by NPKC.
| Type
|
PBT
|
| Legends
|
Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
|
| Profile
|
OEM
|
| Stem type
|
MX
|
| Thickness
|
1.5mm
|
| Legend backlight support
|
No
|
| Backlight bleed
|
Only on red Esc key; can be fixed with electrical tape
|
| In production
|
Yes
|
Purchasing
Olivette
Olivette keycaps on a KBParadise V60
| Type
|
Doubleshot ABS
|
| Legends
|
Top-printed
|
| Profile
|
Unknown
|
| Stem type
|
MX
|
| Thickness
|
Unknown
|
| Legend backlight support
|
No
|
| Backlight bleed
|
Unknown
|
| In production
|
Yes
|
Purchasing
- KeyboardParadise (Taiwanese, expensive boards, sells Tai-hao Double-shot ABS sets through Massdrop, otherwise on boards only)
Miami
NPKC Miami keycaps in blank.
| Type
|
PBT
|
| Legends
|
Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
|
| Profile
|
OEM
|
| Stem type
|
MX
|
| Thickness
|
1.5mm
|
| Legend backlight support
|
No
|
| Backlight bleed
|
Lighter NPKC keys tend to bleed, so presumably, there is
|
| In production
|
Yes
|
Purchasing
1976
NPKC 1976 keycaps with top-printed legends.
| Type
|
PBT
|
| Legends
|
Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
|
| Profile
|
OEM
|
| Stem type
|
MX
|
| Thickness
|
1.5mm
|
| Legend backlight support
|
No
|
| Backlight bleed
|
Lighter NPKC keys tend to bleed, so presumably, there is on the cyan keys. Possible quick fix is electrical tape.
|
| In production
|
Yes
|
Purchasing
Rainbow
NPKC rainbow keycaps in blank from AliExpress.
| Type
|
PBT
|
| Legends
|
Top-printed, Side-printed, Blank
|
| Profile
|
OEM
|
| Stem type
|
MX
|
| Thickness
|
1.5mm
|
| Legend backlight support
|
No
|
| Backlight bleed
|
Lighter NPKC keys tend to bleed, so presumably.
|
| In production
|
Yes
|
Purchasing
EnjoyPBT
Gateron Blanks
Individual caps
RGBY Modifiers
CMYW Modifiers
Single caps
Accessories
Topre-to-MX Stem Adapters
Keycap pullers
Dusters/Air-compressors
- Metro Vacuum DataVac (Comes with different attachments, easiest solution for cleaning keyboards, browse your preferred non-chink website and purchase)
- Chink compressors and blowers are expensive and have high shipping fees, it's probably better to buy local.
