Reply To: Large Kickstarters should be more open about shipping costs

[slayerofworldsParticipant 3449xp 0]

@limburger

Sorry that isn’t exactly true.   At least not any more.  SFG just launched and finished their kickstarter for Monster Hunter.  It did not have stretch goals at all, it had daily unlocks (six or eight?)… and they where stupid and pretty shitty.   The KS made like 4 million dollars.  Also they are not the only ones to do it that way, and profit.

Stretch goals are much more of a choice now then ever before.  Most companies still use them, cause they work, but it is not a must do anymore.  Which is only going to become more and more normal.

Also, stretch goals are now a very much and understood “science” these days.  In the early days, yeah they screwed a few of the smaller companies that got in over their head.  However, today they are pretty much down to exactness that isn’t surprising considering how effective they are.

Honestly I think, in the early days, it was the idea of the company paying shipping costs for the backers that caused far more KSers to fail then over doing stretch goals did.  But that’s only my theory.

I didn’t back SFG Monster Hunter because it lacked real stretch goals, and the KS exclusive stuff wasn’t enough to warrant paying the price.  You almost always will need incentives to get people to give up hundreds of dollars and wait for years to get their stuff.  Monster Hunter has a huge fanbase, it was able to jump over that need.  Nearly everyone else has to pay the toll.

Make no mistake,  stretch goals are not “free” by any means.  You pay higher pledge prices.  You usually pay higher shipping costs.  You have to wait for a year, or usually more.   You may have to pay custom fees.   Online shopping can have better discounts.  The money adds up.   So yes, companies have to make sure that it is worth it.  Backers deserve to be realistically rewarded for those higher “costs”.

Big companies are trying to skip distribution and sell direct, that is why they use KS.  They can make two or three times the money selling direct to backers over selling to traditional distributors/stores.  That is a big deal.

Kickstarter was never forced into doing stretch goals.  It embraced them eagerly.  Stretch goals are the single biggest reason KS is what it is today.  With out them it would never have been anything but a foot note in history.  I would never have drawn in the backer base it has today.   With out that backer base then there wouldn’t be the vast ocean of potential backers for all those tiny niche KSers to draw backers from.