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

[blinky465 17028xp 1]

@jamescutts – rant away. I pretty much agree with everything you’ve said; it’s like companies are using shipping as a way to obfusicate the final price to pay. And as you say, once your pledge has been taken, you’re “pot committed” (a fallacy many poker players know only too well, but still fall for).

In an ideal world, Kickstarter would be a kick-starting platform (the clue is kind of in the name) for people looking to get off the ground, but the way “larger” companies use it as a no-risk pre-order system is disingenuous. I mean, I understand why they might do it, but it’s not really in the spirit of kickstarting. But the current fashion of using Kickstarter as a pre-order system, but hiding shipping costs (or, possibly even worse, inflating the final price, recouping more in shipping than it reasonably costs) really stinks. When buying anything online, you take shipping into consideration as the final “pay now” price. If people are going to use Kickstarter as a pre-order system, it should be only fair that they allow customers (not supporters or investors, but customers) to see the full final price before committing.