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A comment on They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they want their money back. Parent comment

Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by toomuchtodo on Sunday December 30, 2018 @07:32PM (#18792205)
"Kickstarter rage" seems to be a pejorative, but perhaps you're not intending it in such a way? The funds should've been held in escrow, and while not investors, evidence of fraud would allow customers to take legal action piercing the corporate veil and pursuing company officers directly to be made whole.

Don't sell something you can't deliver, most especially to bypass accredited investor laws (by selling tickets versus securities). Don't misappropriate your customers' escrow accounts (the article specifically mentions these funds were to be held in escrow). This applies whether it's a $100k ticket to space or a $200 piece of electronic kit on Kickstarter.

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Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by gruez on Sunday December 30, 2018 @08:35PM (#18792485)
>The funds should've been held in escrow

I'm guessing that won't be acceptable to Xcor because they intended to spend the pre-sale money on R&D.

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Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by shakna on Sunday December 30, 2018 @08:41PM (#18792505)
Xcor promised 35% of the ticket would be held in escrow.
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Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by StavrosK on Sunday December 30, 2018 @07:57PM (#18792310)
Kickstarter isn't selling, though. It's giving a company some money in the hopes that they'll be able to make the thing they want to make and give you one of them for free in return.
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Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by toomuchtodo on Sunday December 30, 2018 @07:59PM (#18792317)
That's one interpretation. Another is a company is selling a product they don't have yet, but they will sell it to you when they have it. It's not your problem if they can't make or deliver what they sold, it's their problem. Up to a court depending on the amount at stake.
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Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by ghaff on Sunday December 30, 2018 @08:16PM (#18792405)
If Kickstarter were purely about pre-payments for guaranteed products it wouldn’t exist. Outside of deliberate fraud, lots of companies try to deliver things that they end up being unable to do so.
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Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by adambyrtek on Monday December 31, 2018 @05:53AM (#18794015)
Kickstarter goes into great lengths to communicate that it's not a store and there are risks involved: https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store
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Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by toomuchtodo on Monday December 31, 2018 @11:33AM (#18795291)
A disclaimer doesn’t prevent civil legal action by customers.
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Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by poslathian on Sunday December 30, 2018 @08:48PM (#18792530)
Right or wrong, pretty clearly your problem when you give money to someone and they lose it and are too broke to make you whole.
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Re:They paid $100k to ride on Xcor's space plane. Now they w... by Ensorceled on Monday December 31, 2018 @06:08AM (#18794045)
You really have to stretch for that interpretation since the risk is explicitly explained in every kickstarter I’ve backed.
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