FTC goes after board game campaign gone wrong in first crowdfunding case
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I know it pissed him off no end when Kickstarter decided to send his name out to the backers saying "[he's going to get you your stuff]" while still refusing to tell him who the backers were. Not a fine moment there.
The comic: http://www.goblinscomic.org/
I believe this is the latest update: http://www.goblinscomic.org/kickstarter-making-the-mafia-loo... in which Kickstarter sent out that promise while linking all those unknown-to-Tarol backers to a page with Tarol's home address.
Updates: added detail link, plus a bit more detail on it.
Wow, that Goblinscomic guy fails at web design 101.
There's a huge black graphical bar in the background with black text that males the left inch of that paragraph unreadable.
I'm not going to dig into it, but I suspect that it's a case of floated divs and Adblock Plus is removing not just the ad or its iframe but the entire div that it's in, thus allowing everything else to move left.
So, he only has to promise not to do it again as long as he actually spent all of the money? Surely there is something else they can do to recover these funds.
2. If the money is gone, it is gone. The (bad) loophole seems to be that there is no recovery lien against his future earnings.
I may be naive here, but isn't this already illegal? Like, isn't this stuff that you should be doing already?
I would think a more fitting punishment would be to ban him from having anything to do with a crowdfunding campaign, ever.
That said, "misrepresentations about crowdfunding campaings" and "failing to honor refund policies" might often be either fraud (in the former case) or breach of contract (in the latter case), but things might fall into either of the first two categories without necessarily meeting the legal standard of either of the last two.
I'm always amazed by how quickly some of the popular Kickstarters are overfunded- like the one recently that was basically a complete rip off of Google's Project Ara. Why would someone invest in that? Why would anyone even begin to think that a small no-name company could possibly pull off something like that? Why would someone give them money?
Kickstarter knows people do this but they don't care because they still get their cut.
I wonder when someone will start curatig stats to build risk profiles for kickstarter investments.
I wish KS would go back to the days of "we have built something, but we need to do a production run of 10,000 to make the per unit cost low". Everything else is a scam
ie. if we're funded between a to b we'll deliver a prototype unit, but over b we won't deliver any more until we hit c. Hitting the initial funding goal opens up a stretch goal that is independent (backers are backing the stretch goal, not the initial campaign and won't get rewarded unless it's also hit)
I've stopped funding Kickstarters once they're significantly over their goal; I don't think it helps, and I can just buy their product later anyway.
The latest thing on my list is the Marbel skateboard. Looks great on paper, all the tech exists, other [small] companies are doing it, but they've had tons of delays and I don't trust that their first products sent out won't have some kinks. I'm not really willing to pay the early adopter fee for a vehicle which could cause me great bodily harm if it malfunctions (e.g. Bluetooth has interference problems or randomly disconnects, which would definitely not be unprecedented in the world of e-skateboards).
This was the last message from them.
Unless the KS was for a performance art project about gullibility on the Internet.
There was one posted for a bluetooth controller - looked pretty nice and I believe they even had a prototype. When the due date came - excuses start flowing in such as some company in China wanted to charge more than the initial quote for the cases. The owner even claimed it would be too expensive to 3D print them (which I think is a lie - the printer itself is expensive but the amount of filament needed per case wouldn't have been that much). Granted, using a 3D printer probably would have taken another year.
http://kicksucker2013.blogspot.com/2014/09/be-maker-smartmak...
"A fool and his money are soon parted"
Example: I once invested in a small Indiegogo art project. The creator was supposed to produce and ship a small book of comic strips to the backers. This was a very doable project but the creator never delivered and has to this day never refunded the backers. I haven't funded anything since and probably never will.
Crowdcube and others like it, they're investment platforms. Kickstarter is ... something else. It's not a shop, because there are no guarantees. It's not investment because there's no profit sharing or part ownership, or even interest.
So it's... what exactly?
I don't know, but I am wary about it.
"4. Creators keep 100% ownership of their work.
Backers are supporting projects to help them come to life, not to profit financially. Instead, project creators offer rewards to thank backers for their support. Backers of an effort to make a book or film, for example, often get a copy of the finished work. A bigger pledge to a film project might get you into the premiere — or land you a private screening for you and your friends. One artist raised funds to create a wall installation, then gave pieces of it to her backers when the exhibit end."
https://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter+basics?ref=...
"What do backers get in return?
Backers that support a project on Kickstarter get an inside look at the creative process, and help that project come to life. They also get to choose from a variety of unique rewards offered by the project creator. Rewards vary from project to project, but often include a copy of what is being produced (CD, DVD, book, etc.) or an experience unique to the project.
Project creators keep 100% ownership of their work, and Kickstarter cannot be used to offer equity, financial returns, or to solicit loans."
https://www.kickstarter.com/rules?ref=footer
"Projects can’t fundraise for charity, offer financial incentives, or involve prohibited items.
We’re all in favor of charity and investment, but they’re not permitted on Kickstarter. Projects can’t promise to donate funds raised to a charity or cause, and they can’t offer financial incentives like equity or repayment. We also can’t allow any of these prohibited things."
They are incredibly clear about this. Backing a project on Kickstarter is not an investment.
Well, maybe they're both not a store and not an investment platform?
Look, you really don't know what you're talking about here. I'm not saying that to make you feel bad, but to point out that some of your beliefs about how these things work have no basis in fact and you could end up making expensive mistakes if you act on those beliefs.
Try this simple overview of the issue and follow some of the links within to learn about the legal realities of crowdfunding-as-an-investment: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mraneri/2015/04/16/who-needs-equ...
I understand that it may seem like a distinction without a difference to you, but if you were ever to set up a crowdfunding campaign of your own based on this viewpoint you could run into all sorts of problems.
If it were an investment site, you'd be getting shares for your money.
KS used to be a preorder system to fund bulk orders of pre-production invented hardware. Then it became a scam platform.
If you don't like this, don't back Kickstarter projects. It doesn't matter that you believe Kickstarter is a shop - you are wrong and the expectations you invent and project onto an organization do not and should not give it legal obligations.