Does Kickstarter offer any protection for scams?

**Hairlocks** · 27 March 2017, 10:36

The cost of $99 seems very convient. I don't think it is a scam, but it is very early stages. They do not have the software ready yet. I would want them to have a fully working protoype and just be on kickstarter really ready to start a production run. I have backed the peeble time and other similer products where the kickstarter campain was more to just estimate the inital production run numbers.

The superscreen in not going to be ready until Decemeber, I bet that gets delayed as well. If it really does get made it I would order it then.

Persoanlly it is not for me, I would just buy a £109 tablet, but I do think the $99 price tag is a little navie on the creators part, seeing as it still has the CPU, 4GB RAM and a 16GB ROM (doubt he means ROM), so has everthing a table needs.

I also share the feelings that apples walled garden will not all this. Which puts me in the category I need to see it to believe it.

**SueEllen** · 27 March 2017, 10:38

You can ask for your money back if it is a scam. Remember the project doesn't get the money until the end of the funding period.

**d000hg** · 27 March 2017, 10:52

But the end of the funding period is often long before they have to ship anything... in fact it's reasonable they can't start production without the money.

But the comments accuse them of faking the prototype using a tablet paired to a phone i..e no trustworthy prototype.

$99 including shipping seems a total steal although I suppose that might be the production cost, just.

**DaveB** · 27 March 2017, 10:55

Unless it can be proved it was deliberate fraud then you are pretty much on your own.

Kickstarter's T&C's make it clear you are not buying a product nor guaranteeing that you will get anything out of it. You are gambling that the project will deliver. You back something now in the hopes that it will be delivered and you get it for less than you would had you bought it retail.

**TheFaQQer** · 27 March 2017, 11:08

Once you pay, KS will do very little about projects that don't deliver, and technology is probably the easiest area to not deliver.

For example, look at the Agent Smart Watch (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...?ref=discovery) - over $1 million in pledges, delivery date December 2013. Last update from the creator was May 2016, no sign of the watch, no sign of a refund, Kickstarter do nothing. There's talk of a class action against the guy who created the project but I can't see there being much to come from that. Then look at the CST-01 watch (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ref=nav_search) - over $1 million in pledges, due September 2013, last update May 2016 with details of "Assignment for the Benefit of Collectors". Or the Vachen smart watch - no sign of anything delivering ever.

You can cancel your pledge up until the project closes - I've done that a few times because I just got that sinking feeling. One project I cut my pledge from $150 to $1 just so I could still comment and see if it was a success (it wasn't). Some projects I've backed have given a refund after the close - one was something for my phone that didn't work on my OPT, one was a charger that only came with a huge American plug so I sent it back, one was a cloud storage hard drive that didn't run properly on Linux etc, one was a fancy pen that just didn't arrive etc.

I would look carefully at any of the projects and think about whether they have the ability to scale and deliver - Exploding Kittens was an easy one to expand (just print more), the original Pebble watch less so because they had to manufacture complex bits that weren't scaleable (they got there in the end, delivered a success, more success with the Pebble Time, then went effectively bankrupt and had to see the IPR to Fitbit and refund their last campaign).

There are some great projects on there, and some creators have a good track history which makes them a slightly safer bet, and I doubt there are many real scams (though there was that one about beef jerky - no doubt NF will provide a link!) but there are plenty of projects where the creator was naive and thought they could deliver more than they could.

My KS history:

1 suspended (backed through Indiegogo instead and I got that no problem)
4 cancelled either by me or the creator
4 refunded
8 projects unsuccessful

52 projects delivered
12 overdue
6 I'll never see
3 not overdue yet

But some of the experiences have been great to go through - I've helped bring films to the cinema and DVD, I've sat on the sound stage at Elstree which doubled as the inside of the Millennium Falcon, I've helped launch a small book publishing company, I've helped keep an internet radio station online, I've read some amazing books, and I've been part of the developer / creator experience watching the highs and lows. I've learned about the intricacies of contract law and film distribution - and the affect that can have on the people who make films only to see their work exploited by others while they are literally risking everything.

If you want to buy from a shop, go buy from a shop.

**TheFaQQer** · 27 March 2017, 11:30

Looking at their timeline, my inclination would be that it won't be out until August next year at the earliest.

Software isn't ready, they have no prototype made yet to their final specs, they have only allowed a month for the certifications (it will take longer than that to get all the international certifications that they need), then they are going to do the whole production run in October. They were asking for $50k and have over $1million - how many additional units are they going to have to deliver over the original guesstimate, and have they got the manufacturing priority to get into the factory when they need that much more time?

Pushing manufacturing into January through February means that they will have to close down for at least two weeks for Chinese New Year 2018, then they have to go through test and QA - again, given the increased volume to produce, that's going to take longer. Then shipping, customs, checking the certification (I had a project delayed because they hadn't labelled it that a light on it meant standby and not that the device was "on" so they couldn't ship it) - more delays likely.

If it arrives summer 2018 I'd be surprised, more likely Christmas 2018 - and by then you have the possibility that it's obsolete before it even arrives.

I'm not even clear on how it works - is it BT? Shared WiFi? Phone hotspot?

How does Superscreen function technically?
Superscreen uses high performance hardware communications circuitry and layouts with a specialized Wi-Fi/BT mesh along with proprietary software (all patents pending), on IEEE 802.11 protocols to transmit and receive data between the Superscreen and your smartphone.

Transmission includes all standard touch events, while reception includes any and all reception inbound or stored on the phone, regardless of how the phone is retrieving the information (LTE carrier, Wi-Fi, connected to a 3rd device, in storage, or otherwise).

Avoid.

Does Kickstarter offer any protection for scams?