| Who is responsible for making sure project creators deliver what they promise? Every creator is responsible for fulfilling the promises of their project. Because projects are usually funded by the friends, fans, and communities around its creator, there are powerful social forces that keep creators accountable. Creators are also encouraged to post regular updates about the progress of their project post-funding — communication goes a long way. -- Yes, I'm quite familiar with the Kickstarter FAQ and TOS. As a project owner, you are not legally obliged to provide anything. It's entirely up to you. You earn negative karma and never-allowed-on-kickstarter-again status if you mess it up, but that's about it. Kickstarter is not an ecommerce site. If you're selling things, you should use a shop. Wordpress and paypal will get you off the ground in about 20 minutes. If you're doing a startup that needs funding to get off the ground, awesome, use kickstarter... ...but not as a shop. The only point I'm making is that it's deceptive practice to pretend that Kickstarter is a shop, when none of the normal legal provisions apply. Of course, what you do it entirely up to you, but people should be aware. |
For some reason I feel more comfortable with pledging money to a small business on kickstarter than through an online store having them say "we'll get it to you in four months time". I realise it's just a slight mental shift, but it really changes the way I look at things.
Perhaps it's time for KickStarter to adapt to the growth in this area, by spinning of a products and projects site (still kickstarted branded and hosted) which does help folks bootstrap small companies that actually need to buy stuff in quantities to make something viable.