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Sadly, Kickstarter isn't an option for most people outside the US, as you need a US bank account to draw the funds into. A limitation with their Amazon payments
by scraplab 15y ago
Sadly, Kickstarter isn't an option for most people outside the US, as you need a US bank account to draw the funds into. A limitation with their Amazon payments system I believe.
- bigiain 15y agoTrue, but I'd bet a person-on-the-ground in the US would have been a fair bit less organisation that the deals they did with RS/Farnell. (See NinjaBlocks for an example - they're a bunch of local-to-me-in-Sydney-Australia guys who got a contact/partner in the US to manage their Kickstarter rego for them)
- emilis_info 15y agoTrue, but why bother? US is only 10% of Internet users and 2x smaller than EU.
- rmc 15y agoSo all your money goes through some random guy in USA? Sounds a bit dodgy and unprofessional…
- arkx 15y agoIndiegogo offers a very similar service without that limitation.
- vidarh 15y agoSetting up a US bank account for a non-US resident isn't all that hard. Worst case for most major US banks is that you might need to get a notarized copy of your passport and the application form, which can cost you a bit (first time I did it, years ago, the local US consulate charged me $65 for it).
- StavrosK 15y agoReally? Don't they need proof of address in the US or anything? I might get me one, then. What's a good bank?
- cperciva 15y agoI'm very happy with Harris Bank -- but it's possible that being Canadian helped me there, since Harris is owned by a Canadian bank.
- StavrosK 15y agoHmm, apparently they don't have branches in NYC or LA/SF, which are the places I'm going... Thanks for the help, though!
- cperciva 15y agoWhy do you care where they have branches? I've never been to one.
- StavrosK 15y agoHmm, how can you open an account without going to a branch? Don't you have to sign forms, etc?
- cperciva 15y agoThey sent me all the forms by courier (with a prepaid courier envelope to send them back in, too).
- StavrosK 15y agoVery nice, I'll send them an email then, thank you. I guess I don't even have to be in the US for that!
- vidarh 15y agoYou likely have to have identity documents certified, that's about it. A visit to a US consulate (check first if the provide the required services) or notary public should be able to help get the right stamps and/or seals to satisfy them.
- foxylad 15y agoHave you tried this recently? It's practically impossible, thanks to money-laundering paranoia. The closest I got was Western Union, but they said the account couldn't be used for any kind of internet commerce. I'd love to be proved wrong on this.
- vidarh 15y agoYes, I have, with TD Bank. Didn't run into any problems at all. If you run into problems, buy an off the shelf Delaware corporation online, with a registered agent, and create the account for that. Bonus, depending on where you do business you can potentially save quite a bit of tax by structuring things properly that way.
- rmc 15y agoWorst case is that your legal product runs afoul of some USA law and all your money gets confiscated, cf. http://cphpost.dk/news/international/us-snubs-out-legal-cigar-transaction http://cphpost.dk/news/international/us-snubs-out-legal-ciga...