
Kickstarter is now accepting Canadian projects - darxius
http://www.kickstarter.com/canada
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wikiburner
Does anyone know the back story on why Kickstarter is so restrictive?

Kickstarter can't be used to raise money for causes, whether it’s the Red
Cross or a scholarship, or for “fund my life” projects, like tuition or bills.

Indiegogo has no problem with it though.

Kickstarter also requires each project team to sign up for their own Amazon
payments account. Why wouldn't Kickstarter just collect the money and then
wire it / cut a check to the funding recipient?

Also, why does Indiegogo charge upfront while Kickstarter waits until the
campaign is successful?

The whole crowdfunding space seems to operate pretty illogically. Are there
legal complexities that aren't apparent to an outsider that force their hand?

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YanceyKSR
We're not "so restrictive." Our guidelines ask projects to be on-topic exactly
like Hacker News' guidelines for comments do. We're a funding platform for
creative projects. We built Kickstarter because we believed that there should
be a space for creative ideas to be shared and find support. Every single
guideline is there to support and strengthen that mission.

~~~
Ecio78
Hi YanceyKSR, a question for you:

Kickstarter's FAQ clearly states that you need to be a US, UK (or now
Canadian) citizen/business and you should prove it (SSN/government-issued IDs,
address etc..) in order to launch a project.

So, can I ask you how this project has been published (and funded)
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1054394377/idae-the-
book...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1054394377/idae-the-booklet-for-
extreme-situations) given the fact that the company is Italian, the team
members seems to be all Italian judging from their names, the location
indicated was "Milan, Italy" and the product was going to be made in / shipped
from Italy?

Maybe it's just "ok" to have somebody in the US/UK/CAN that acts as a
middleman for the project?

N.B. the above project is just an example, I'm Italian and I've searched from
something that seemed to be founded from Italy

~~~
lgeek
> Kickstarter's FAQ clearly states that you need to be a US, UK (or now
> Canadian) citizen

I thought the citizen part sounded strange so I did a quick check. According
to [0] you only need to be a permanent resident.

[0]
[http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines](http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines)

~~~
Ecio78
Sorry for my poor/wrong usage of the word "citizen", I meant resident with
SSN, US address, bank account, ID card, US credit/debit card etc.. as stated
in the FAQ [1]. So definitely you shouldn't be able to launch a project by
residing in another country and just "faking" a US address using something
like those shipping forwarding services used to buy stuff in the USA

[1]
[http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/creator+questions](http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/creator+questions)

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xanido
They've also announced their intent to launch in Australia:
[http://www.kickstarter.com/australia](http://www.kickstarter.com/australia)

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freejack
Oh, that's awesome eh! I can't wait to put up my "Brew in a Canoe" project!

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xkiwi
Kickstarter is so restrictive is because they wanted to maximized profit &
also result of their taste. Put restriction on hackers who really innovate and
create real products? well good luck with that, I am with freedom.

~~~
shinratdr
Crowdfunding with no restrictions, rules or protections is just an anonymous
PayPal account or a shoebox with a hole cut in the top.

Nobody is stopping you from doing that if your desire is absolute freedom in
how you collect donations and what you do with them. The point of Kickstarter
is to find a balance between allowing creators to do whatever they want and
helping them end up successfully funded.

You sarcastically say good luck with that as if this isn't a proven method
that leads to far more success, but it is. While it's always been possible to
solicit donations for a project, it's really only been successful and
widespread since the the existence of projects like Kickstarter that put
pressure on the creator to actually deliver.

The pretty website and the name aren't what makes Kickstarter successful. The
rules are. Nobody was waiting all this time with a project they wanted
crowdfunded just hoping for someone to launch a website to make putting that
up easier. They were waiting for a platform that users trust and are
interested in. They wanted a chance to actually be funded if they chose to put
themselves out there. If they thought they could get that "with freedom" they
would have done so already.

So good luck finding people that want to throw money at your ideas with no
rules, restrictions or protections in place. I think you'll find it's a pretty
shallow pool. Keep in mind that absolute freedom from the perspective of a
creator equals absolutely no accountability from the perspective of backers
and crowdfunding requires both to be successful.

