Kickstarter

[Slugger]

Right now I'm 0-2 on getting hammock items via Kickstarter on time. Both items are delayed by at least a month. Think I'll change the way I buy hammock stuff...direct buy only....no Kickstarter projects. I like the idea of Kickstarter, and thought it is a great way to support the cottage vendors here. But it just seems too unstable and draws the acquisition part of the purchase out too long. I know the delays are usually out of the control of the vendor and are related to raw material delivery. Maybe that just whets my appetite for getting my hands on the items!

Sigh...

[2nd Breakfast]

which kickstarters did you order from?

[OutandBack]

Right now I'm 0-2 on getting hammock items via Kickstarter on time. Both items are delayed by at least a month. Think I'll change the way I buy hammock stuff...direct buy only....no Kickstarter projects. I like the idea of Kickstarter, and thought it is a great way to support the cottage vendors here. But it just seems too unstable and draws the acquisition part of the purchase out too long. I know the delays are usually out of the control of the vendor and are related to raw material delivery. Maybe that just whets my appetite for getting my hands on the items!

Sigh...

I would have thought most cottage vendors that post here on a regular basis were established businesses and not startups. I don't really follow the kickstarter program.

[Gqgeek81]

I'm kind of under the impression any kickstarter campaign that delivers on time is an extreme rarity.

[massis]

I've backed multiple kickstarters so far, and backed out of 2 before the campaign closed.

Total results:

- Monkeymat: backed half december and received before Xmas, superb delivery
- Blink home automation: 1 received 1.5y late with some of the reward still not delivered. Product functions smoothly though and they've kept backers in the loop
- Norlan whisky glass: backed and due to be delivered any day now (thousands have been delivered so far), 2 months later than planned but already rescheduled during campaign due to overwhelming response
- Geizeer: backed and due in September, looking good so far
- Xpand laces: backed & received neatly on time in a reasonable timeframe, great product which works as designed

- Lightman: backed, pulled out before end of campaign. Some products were delivered eventually but were total crap, most backers never got anything
- Survivalbelt by Slidebelts: backed and requested a refund around delivery time. (1y+ for a belt, from an existing company!!!). After 3 phonecalls to the US (from Europe), I finally got my refund. Backers are still waiting for their belts, now due over 1 year past the original 1 year waiting time.

All in all: be careful what you back, check for updates, but even more so for a creator who is active in the comments and responds fully to any and all questions asked.

[akaCat]

I'm kind of under the impression any kickstarter campaign that delivers on time is an extreme rarity.

Yup. Anything that's delivered the month originally predicted, or even the month after, is pretty rare.

[Zilla]

I hate to wait as well and won't purchase from any vender with a long wait time unless i know the vender.
The recent hammock stand from Tato on kickstarter is taking a very long time but Tato gear has a great reputation and is not one of the ones that i would worry about, thier deal was good and worth the wait.but that's only because i know they can be trusted..

[pgibson]

I have backed a bunch of Kickstarter projects. Very few are delivered on time. There are some projects that are years late as of right now...and there have been some that have gone belly up. I have luckily avoided those ones. I have also backed a few that shipped the same week they funded, also a bit of an oddity.

For the most part when backing a project you need to think of it not as a product but helping a business get something new up off the drawing board. Keeping in mind that most of the time there will be delays that they did not think of and or volume that they did not plan for.

More and more I see businesses looking to grow their audience base with a Kickstarter rather than using it for funding. Many seem to just want to get the word out that they and their product exist not help really launch a product....certainly the case with the ones that fulfill the order immediately.

I have a few long term projects that I have backed but anything under 6 months turn around time is pretty minimal. I rarely back projects that have a timeline over a year to expected delivery and I pretty much in my head add 2-3 months to any big project that has a lot of moving parts to production.

[naticen]

Interested to hear what the other item was. I've definitely heard that the kick-starters seem to be late more often than not. Communication is all I care about so I know that it's still happening. My buddy helped fund a Bluetooth door lock that opens automatically from your phone in your pocket and was waiting for a couple years I do believe. Then other people got similar products to the market before it ever even finished. That sucks.

[SilvrSurfr]

I like the idea of Kickstarter, and thought it is a great way to support the cottage vendors here.

Very few of our cottage vendors participate in Kickstarter. About the only ones that come to mind are Tato Hammock stand and Emberlit. The only one I've ever backed is Emberlit.

I'm generally not interested in any hammocks offered on Kickstarter. They usually aren't my cup of tea.