EEVblog #581 - How To Do Kickstarter Surveys & Project Management

[EEVblog]

Dave takes you behind the scenes on his Kickstarter campaign to show how easy it is to use the dreaded "Survey" feature to get backers address details.
Also an insight into the project stats available and database CSV export functions.
This is a video for those curious to know how Kickstarter works from the point of view of a project creator.

[electronics man]

Nice video dave very helpfully thanks

[Noize]

        Thank you Dave for that video, which is very informative, as I want to do my own Kickstarter project eventually.

         I was wondering if you are/could do a video about costing and the mark up to take account of overheads for small projects or kits like that? Or for like a more complex but still niche project such as for example what I want to do, which is an analogue/digital hybrid drum machine?

[kaushleshchandel]

Nice video... I didn't know that ~8% is charged by Kickstarter & credit card company.

Also, your other videos were great, wherein you mentioned that you cleared planets inventory on some items.

Dave, how difficult / easy was it for you to get all the parts you needed? Whats the best way to ensure that parts that we use on a project are available if the KS campaign becomes as successful as yours? Or even if we want to mass product a prototype. Can you do a video on careful selection of parts while building/designing a product. Or you can just explain how you selected parts for uCurrent Gold.

[JoannaK]

Nice video... I didn't know that ~8% is charged by Kickstarter & credit card company.

Yeah.. Kickstarter makes nice money on these projects. Of course the hosting and administration will cost and the software had to be written, but those aren't nowhere near 5% ...

[Luciano2572]

Dave that black bar to cover the names at 5:40 didn't move with the scroll at 5:47, thus showing some names
Dunno if its crucial, but just a heads up

[BartManInNZ]

Dave that black bar to cover the names at 5:40 didn't move with the scroll at 5:47, thus showing some names
Dunno if its crucial, but just a heads up

Expect the video to be pulled by YT sooner rather than later... especially since KS's security breach last week!

[Smokey]

The backer list is on the front page of the kickstarter, already lists all the backers.  Not sure why to black out (or try to black out.. heh) the list in the dashboard.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eevblog/current-gold-precision-multimeter-current-adapter/backers

[EEVblog]

The backer list is on the front page of the kickstarter, already lists all the backers.  Not sure why to black out (or try to black out.. heh) the list in the dashboard.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eevblog/current-gold-precision-multimeter-current-adapter/backers

I think there is an option to make your backing info private, so I at least tried to hide them just in case, but ultimately goofed.

[gxti]

Yeah.. Kickstarter makes nice money on these projects. Of course the hosting and administration will cost and the software had to be written, but those aren't nowhere near 5% ...

5% is pretty reasonable when you consider that you have parties on both sides trying to scam each other constantly and KS is stuck in the middle while dealing with byzantine credit card processors and financial regulations. It's hard enough just selling things, but when you can't trust the seller either you're really in a rough spot.

[hikariuk]

Nice video... I didn't know that ~8% is charged by Kickstarter & credit card company.

Yeah.. Kickstarter makes nice money on these projects. Of course the hosting and administration will cost and the software had to be written, but those aren't nowhere near 5% ...

They're also a business who need to make a profit.

[steve_w]

Dave,

Loved this video, I don't think I'll be doing a kickstarter myself but it is just good to see the detail involved in getting a project off the ground.

Keep up the good work

Steve W

[geppa.dee]

Dave kept referring to "sales" at the beginning of the video. Am I the only one thinking that's not the correct term?
According to Kickstarter, those are backers, not buyers and those are contributions not sales... the theory goes.
The distinction might seem pedantic but... sales have a huge legal corpus attached to them by default (and sometimes some extra contractual clauses added). Some... "organs" of that legal corpus differ from country to country... of course. Contributions... are different (as the backers of some failed projects found out). What you get (or not) in return... are "rewards".
Even technically, those would be pre-sales and besides... what would the object of a (pre)sale of the lowest tiers ($1-5 and similar) be ?
Like I said... these distinctions might seem pedantic but I think they are central to how and why KS (and forks) work.

Aside from that... thank a lot for the video. Quite informative. 

[hikariuk]

People bought them through other channels as well.  The vast majority of people, in fact if you look at the graph shown in the video.  Assuming I was interpreting what was going on properly.

[wigman27]

Hi all,

I was considering doing a kickstarter for my next project but it's a power cost meter application and obviously has 240v built in.

Do you know if you need it to have an approval number to sell on kickstarter like you would to sell on the Australian market as a retail product??

Thanks Lee

[steve_w]

If you want to sell electrical goods in NSW (all states have similar requirements) then you product must conform to http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/Businesses/Product_safety/Electrical_articles.page?  if it doesn't fall into the declared article category electrical equipment must conform to Australian and New Zealand standard AS/NZ 3820: 1998 Essential safety requirements for low voltage electrical equipment.

regards

steve w