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This seems like an opportunity for Kickstarter to provide leverage: one project doesn't have any, but if Kickstarter acted as an intermediary for hardware contr

This seems like an opportunity for Kickstarter to provide leverage: one project doesn't have any, but if Kickstarter acted as an intermediary for hardware contracting, they could help prevent and mediate situations like this, making the whole process much more trustworthy.

huhtenberg 10y ago
This makes no sense whatsoever. If I were Kickstarter, I wouldn't touch any part of a project fulfillment process with a long pole. Precisely because of situations like one described in a linked update.
- TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
  Yep, exactly. There's a lesson to be learned here, something like "production fulfilment isn't Kickstarter's area of expertise, and it isn't mine either." I don't call on Kickstarter if I need my hot water system replaced or a suspicious looking mole removed, I call a subject matter expert.
jacques_chester 10y ago
They could, but it'd be an expensive choice. They'd need to stump up for inhouse supply chain experts and a bunch of insurance (production, shipping, lawsuits lawsuits lawsuits). The whole model for Kickstarter is to push all the risk out to the fringes and collect a percentage. They've already become a verb. Adding high overheads and installing a lawsuit magnet doesn't see like the most effective decision.
- ubercore 10y ago
  I wonder if there's room for an Ebay/Paypal-esque situation. A third party that focuses on _just_ becoming that lawsuit magnet and using expertise to help shepherd projects through production issues like this. Not easy for sure, but maybe possible if focused enough?
  - jacques_chester 10y ago
    Something like this exists in the movie industry -- completion bonds/guarantees. Specialist insurance companies take a budget percentage. In exchange they guarantee that a film, once financed, will be driven through production. To ensure success they get intimate powers of scrutiny and review. In extreme scenarios they can take over a production entirely. Fire the director, change the script, the works.
- ivraatiems 10y ago
  There's a question - why didn't THIS project have insurance?
  - wmf 10y ago
    Many Kickstarter hardware projects are run by people who have no prior experience designing/manufacturing hardware and they often reach their "disruptive" low prices by cutting corners.
dsr_ 10y ago
Becoming an intermediary would be a lot of risk... but maintaining a list of factories that have had problems, alternate names that they go by, and another list of factories that have successfully completed projects... that sort of reputation list might be very valuable.

huhtenberg 10y ago

This makes no sense whatsoever. If I were Kickstarter, I wouldn't touch any part of a project fulfillment process with a long pole. Precisely because of situations like one described in a linked update.

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
Yep, exactly. There's a lesson to be learned here, something like "production fulfilment isn't Kickstarter's area of expertise, and it isn't mine either." I don't call on Kickstarter if I need my hot water system replaced or a suspicious looking mole removed, I call a subject matter expert.

jacques_chester 10y ago

They could, but it'd be an expensive choice. They'd need to stump up for inhouse supply chain experts and a bunch of insurance (production, shipping, lawsuits lawsuits lawsuits). The whole model for Kickstarter is to push all the risk out to the fringes and collect a percentage. They've already become a verb. Adding high overheads and installing a lawsuit magnet doesn't see like the most effective decision.

ubercore 10y ago
I wonder if there's room for an Ebay/Paypal-esque situation. A third party that focuses on _just_ becoming that lawsuit magnet and using expertise to help shepherd projects through production issues like this. Not easy for sure, but maybe possible if focused enough?
- jacques_chester 10y ago
  Something like this exists in the movie industry -- completion bonds/guarantees. Specialist insurance companies take a budget percentage. In exchange they guarantee that a film, once financed, will be driven through production. To ensure success they get intimate powers of scrutiny and review. In extreme scenarios they can take over a production entirely. Fire the director, change the script, the works.
ivraatiems 10y ago
There's a question - why didn't THIS project have insurance?
- wmf 10y ago
  Many Kickstarter hardware projects are run by people who have no prior experience designing/manufacturing hardware and they often reach their "disruptive" low prices by cutting corners.

dsr_ 10y ago

Becoming an intermediary would be a lot of risk... but maintaining a list of factories that have had problems, alternate names that they go by, and another list of factories that have successfully completed projects... that sort of reputation list might be very valuable.