Ask HN: Alternatives to Kickstarter?
Unfortunately, the time it's taken me to design this has meant that I haven't had a full-time job in over a year. So, I don't really have the $40k or so it'd take to build 1000 first-run units.
As such, my first thought turns to kickstarter. But they charge 5% fees on the project, plus the 3.5% credit card fees, plus I may have to pay Philips patent royalties (probably not since these are prizes, not sales), plus I may have to do FCC certification tests (probably not since these are prizes, not sales), the list of "incidental" expenses goes on and on.
I think I might be able to do better if I could do something equivalent to kickstarter pre-orders on my own website, but how does one go about managing an eskrow of this kind? Is it possible, or is the only reason it works because kickstarter is there to manage it and make sure that the eskrow works properly? It may not sound like much, but that 5% overhead fee is a noticeable chunk of my revenue; enough that I have to remove components from the light to accommodate it.
If anyone is curious also, here is a link to the schematic: http://db.tt/ResLCCbY
It started with a lot more stuff, then got pared down to almost nothing, then had a lot more stuff added again, and then got pared down again... I think that everything that's left is going to be legitimately useful and cool to have available.
http://led-artwork.com/
and
http://saikoled.com
Neither website is very good, just some html I threw together to get something online. Naturally I would significantly improve those sites when I'm shifting from "show and tell" to "trying to sell stuff for realz".
built by the guys behind Lockitron (https://lockitron.com/) because there were issues with kickstarter.
but don't forget: having a donation/payment setup all wired up does not ring the cash register just yet. it's 90% promotion, 10% collecting payments.
If I raise that to $80, I know that I personally start going from "that sounds reasonable" to "that's almost $100". And since I've been trying to get a product off the ground for five years, I feel like I have a reasonable sense of what "too expensive" looks like for what will largely be considered a toy.
I am curious as to thoughts of whether the 5% kickstarter tax is worth the possible additional exposure from going through the big crowdfunding site. I've seen Rock the Post, and now indiegogo, but since I had never heard of either before a few weeks ago I feel like they can't possibly be as popular.
Indiegogo is also hugely popular. They charge 4%.
I realize 5% isn't that much, and I have seen enough projects fail due to penny pinching that I want to allocate value as value deserves. But for my margins, 5% of $70 is $3.50 -- the same cost as my entire case... I'm just nervous about it being quite tight while feeling like I'm already at the ceiling of what I can ask for in price.
been using indiegogo after kickstarter seems to be very cocky about identify validation (bunch of great e-mails).
Feel free to copy anything you like from my schematic if it'd be helpful!