Kickstarter Will Alert Backers When a Project Has Failed (theverge.com) 27
Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter will start notifying supporters when a fundraising campaign faces "significant fulfillment failures" and breaks the platform's rules. From a report: The notification will also inform supporters how it's addressing the issue, including by "restricting the creator from launching future projects."
The update comes as part of a series of changes Kickstarter plans to make this year that are aimed at "enhancing the backer experience and building trust in our community." Kickstarter has long faced challenges with scams and projects shutting down after raising thousands (or sometimes millions) of dollars, but this change should at least provide more transparency to backers.
The update comes as part of a series of changes Kickstarter plans to make this year that are aimed at "enhancing the backer experience and building trust in our community." Kickstarter has long faced challenges with scams and projects shutting down after raising thousands (or sometimes millions) of dollars, but this change should at least provide more transparency to backers.
Contentious definitions, dubious outcomes (Score:4, Insightful)
How well can they even identify and block previous bad actors anyway? Sure Fly By Night Enterprises, a previous venture a scammer was involved with has since folded, but does Kickstarter realize that Real Deal Inc. is the same snake in a new skin? Their users don't have any more recourse than they did before.
Re: Contentious definitions, dubious outcomes (Score:3)
Yes Star Citizen is a failure. Or rather it's a failure for the marks who fell for this perpetual scam expecting an immersive sim and ending up with busted vertical slices. I'm sure the people operating this company can't believe their luck that people still throw money into this bottomless pit.
I stopped trusting Kickstarter entirely (Score:5, Interesting)
After backing multiple projects where I lost hundreds of dollars, I now refuse to use this platform. It is just too untrustworthy.
Kickstarter really should implement some kind of escrow system, where funds get released according to agreed upon milestones that the backers accept.
That's how you build trust.
Re:I stopped trusting Kickstarter entirely (Score:4, Informative)
That doesn't work though, because the funds that are crowd-sourced are what pay for the startup to operate.
You're asking for the startup to operate and then be funded after having achieved success. You're very unlikely to see much in the way of success unless people are paid for their time unless you're basically only funding their hobby-projects that they can do in their spare time when they aren't working a paid job.
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You're very unlikely to see much in the way of success unless people are paid for their time unless you're basically only funding their hobby-projects that they can do in their spare time when they aren't working a paid job.
To be fair - there are plenty of companies that are "established" and have been using crowdfunding platforms (not just Kickstarter mind you) as little more than a preorder system. Hasbro comes immediately to mind; Steve Jackson Games as well. In fact, SJG has been one of the better on
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Fail to meet the funding target, then funds get returned as before, but if th
Re: I stopped trusting Kickstarter entirely (Score:2)
This system works for countless high risk projects in the business world. You NEVER pay a contract out up front.... you pay it over time as deliverables are met.
The payout can be structured to align with costs. IE they need a lot of cash for the fulfillment - so hold the cash until that phase, only releasing when factory contracts are in hand. Etc. It's not as hard as you say. In fact, this kind of setup is extremely routine in business, and even for consumers - for example, this is how one finances a hous
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That only works once a business is established and can self-fund in-between payment deadlines.
That doesn't work for small companies trying to get off the ground, which is why the old traditional route has been vulture capitalists where they buy a certain portion of the company for an immediate payment. That money can then be used to buy office space so you're not working out of someone's house, equipment and other things needed to take the project to the next level.
Kickstarter is effectively the same sort o
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That doesn't work though, because the funds that are crowd-sourced are what pay for the startup to operate.
You're asking for the startup to operate and then be funded after having achieved success.
So, let Kickstarter parker with Wells Fargo or J.P. Morgan and turn it into a loan/escrow/funding option.
Once a project is announced, Kickstarter holds a 'pledge' round, where people can offer funding, but money only changes hands if the pledge level is met.
Once the pledge level is met, Kickstarter holds the money in escrow, and gives the project a loan, for whatever money is in the escrow account, as well as a series of milestone dates. A project may ask for an extension, but the kickstarters must vote to
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Same at Indiegogo. Of the 12 projects I backed in short succession 5 of them failed to deliver. Two were an outright scam. The others were disappointing. One of them is now in bankruptcy after 9 years of promises to deliver "soon". I thought it would be fun to help these inventors but instead it only annoyed me because of the extremely poor communication.
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Kickstarter users should really not back any projects that don't offer them anything in the case in which the project fails.
For example, they might never make a product, they might not even complete the design, but the backers should get whatever designs and documentation they DO produce (finished or not) if the project does not produce its deliverables by a specific date.
You should not back any project which doesn't offer you something even if it fails, which is what it sounds like you're doing now, but hu
Re: I stopped trusting Kickstarter entirely (Score:2)
Designs of a consumer product are worth less than the paper they are not printed on.
An escrow system would be easier and more foolproof. Kickstart can release 25% of funds upfront, 25% when first prototype is released, 25% more after first 50% of orders fulfilled, and the final 25% after 100% are fulfilled. This would protect everyone involved. It's a standard practice and how most finance high risk projects.
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A lot of people up above seem to not comprehend your first step and think you want to hold the money until the first milestone is completed. You put it right, they get funds to start operating, then it's milestone dependent. The exact percentages may be different, and different categories of projects may have a different release rate, but I'd bet a lot of these will fail to meet the first milestone, and instead of then creatively wasting the rest of the money, it will get returned back to the users. It's be
NOT real project management (Score:2)
Oh, so NOW Kickstarter is thinking about success criteria? ROFLMAO.
Does anyone know of a crowdfunding website that vets the ideas properly? I've described my version of the idea with the tag CSB (Charity Share Brokerage) because I think it should be fundamentally a charity and because TLAs are convenient. The basic idea is that the CSB would help with management of the project, starting with the proposal. Make sure it's complete with a viable schedule and a realistic budget and stuff like success criteria.
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Refund Kickstarter's Share (Score:3)
Kickstarter would have to change (Score:4, Interesting)
Creators are very, very often, overly optimistic about the turnout they can expect for their project. They will count on 5000 backers when 1500 is the more likely outcome. This means their cost/unit is way higher than anticipated. Shipping and fulfillment are also often deeply miscalculated, and/or could change dramatically between campaign end and fulfillment to the customer.
Successfully delivering on a campaign isn't difficult, but it's really not for people who lack experience or understanding it what it takes to run a business. It's a lot of very careful planning and knowing how to set reasonable minimal expectations. It's about knowing what can go wrong and how much that will cost when it does...because it will. Projects are often run by the creative types who are very good at coming up with a brilliant idea, but awful at running a business.
The most difficult part though, is building your audience before you even think about launch a project on KS. If you want a successful KS campaign, start a YouTube channel 3-4 years beforehand. If nobody sub's to your channel, no one is backing your project.
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They will count on 5000 backers when 1500 is the more likely outcome. This means their cost/unit is way higher than anticipated.
Or if a project goes viral, sometimes it's the reverse. Kickstarter encourages "stretch goals" crap, FOMO dark-patterns, and continually expanding the scope of a project. That far too often extends development times or causes problems down the line that weren't fully anticipated, especially for companies new to the model.
A great example: Steve Jackson Games got much more restr
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Stretch goals aren't usually the problem per se, the problem is promising the stretch goals at the same time as the rest of the project. You need a well-defined initial project that you will stick to. It can have add-ons or revisions which come later.
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Not quite. The more experienced companies bake the stretch goals into the product. They know what the "goals" will be ahead of time, and they based the estimated production cost on a full-with-the-goals product.
Inexperienced companies often feel compelled to keep "adding stretch goals" that then increase the cost of the product beyond original spec, or that cause development delays they can't handle.
Video game companies... well, that's a whole other issue. I've funded a few that tanked, or that had unfo
Too little too late. (Score:1)
I backed four Kickstarter campaigns, only one of which actually delivered on their project (Tangible Waves AEmodular, which is awesome and still very successful).
One delivered junk that in no way represented what was "promised" by the campaign, and two actually disappeared off the face of the earth with a VERY large amount of money. Last I checked, one of those two was even still collecting money through a parallel IndieGogo campaign and also was running a separate website.
Kickstarter, despite repeated atte
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Serves people right (Score:3)
If a product or service is That Good (TM), investors will fund the thing in return for a stake of the profits. All the garbage ideas and scams end up on Kickstarter where the service acts like a matchmaker between grifters and rubes for a cut. Yes there are occasional successes and some legit products. But I suppose there needs to be since even the shadiest gambling den has to pay out occasionally or people would stop coming.
I've stopped using them (Score:4, Insightful)
One was an obvious scam, ended with no communication and ran away ( don't back knives, they seem to be scam central)
One was at the time a radio host I followed who promised a book, but then nothing came out of it. Still can't figure that one out, I'm pretty sure it wasn't someone imitating him as he wasn't THAT famous at all.
Third was a heartbreaker, company in England making a small machined device and using the money to buy a CNC machine. They documented EVERY step of the process, bi weekly updates, underestimated how difficult the setup and production would become, made some errors along the way and eventually ran out of money and sold they machine. It was, however, a fascinating look into a production process.
Of the remaining 9 that delivered, about 3 of them were meh, didn't work that great, or had limited functionality. So about 1/2 were as promised and I actually use. Surprisingly, two of those were watches. I would have expected that to fail miserably, but they were actually quite well made ( one from a watchmaker in France)
Some of the successes relied on app store software, and I realized that their item would become a non usable device once they stopped supporting their own software.
Because of the uncertainty, I've essentially stopped backing anything except if it's by a company I previously backed who produced product. I also don't back anything that requires software/apps to function: no guarantee of future availability.
After how many years of taking the money (Score:1)