
Ask HN: Are there any 'honest' crowd funding sites? - krisgenre
By &#x27;honest&#x27; I mean those that would do &#x27;proper&#x27; background checks and ensure there is a refund process in place. Just heard about the Dragonfly laptop - https:&#x2F;&#x2F;igg.me&#x2F;at&#x2F;dragonflyfuturefon&#x2F;x&#x2F;9192747 and am beginning to think that Indiegogo doesn&#x27;t give a damn about the backers. Kickstarter too seems to be having its fair share of scams.<p>So are there any other good crowdfunding sites that I can confidently contribute on?
======
minsight
I was burned by a hardware vendor on Indiegogo. All that it took for the
person running the campaign to remain (indifinitely) in compliance was to
regularly keep us updated on project progress. Of which there was none. So
we'd regularly receive updates, which never contained any information about
project progress.

I'd be very cautious about hardware on these sites. Don't donate money that
you can't stand to lose.

------
jeffmould
I've contributed to several campaigns on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe
without an issue, so to say you can't "confidently contribute" is a slight
exaggeration to me. With that said, you absolutely do need to do your due
diligence before contributing. Yes there are plenty of scam products/campaigns
on all the sites, but that is not the site's fault. That's like saying it is
eBay, Craigslist, Freelancer.com, or your local newspapers fault for having
scam listings associated with them. Simple due diligence is, if it sounds too
good to be true, it probably is. Also, if a hardware company is trying to
raise funds for the engineering and development of a product, and their ask is
relatively low, most likely there are going to be issues.

I don't agree that refunds should be required in all cases. If a company
legitimately raises money to produce a product and in the end that product
fails to be delivered, that is a risk you made as an "early investor" to
contribute. Like the stock exchange, or any investment product, there is no
guarantee you will get your money back or see a return on that money.

In the end it doesn't take but 5-10 minutes of your time to do some basic due
diligence and make a determination if you want to invest or not. Look at who
is behind the project, are they open about who they are and their backgrounds.
Look at the product itself, is it to good to be true. Look at the time and
updates, are they updating regularly and have they described the product in
detail. Look at the rewards, are they legitimate and doable, or are they too
good to be true as well. That all falls on you, and you can't expect the site
to know whether a product will succeed or not ahead of time.

With that said, I do think the sites could offer an additional level of
"identity verification" to potential investors. Where campaign could agree to
a slightly higher fee to undergo a background check or verified identity. That
itself would be useful and I think would instill trust. However, there's a
fine line there in that it could push people to not invest in campaigns where
the identity has not been verified. Maybe have different levels of
verification at different price points.

~~~
krisgenre
The only contribution I have ever made was for the Jolla tablet and thankfully
they are issuing a refund.

Not everybody does their research, a 'honest' site has a moral obligation to
protect its users. In the age when even free browsers give out warnings
against phishing sites to protect their users, is it too much to ask them to
block far fetched projects like the dragon fly?

~~~
jeffmould
I get what you are saying, but I still think your expectation is misplaced.
The question becomes who makes a determination as to what is "far fetched".
Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers had people telling them they were crazy
with their ideas. Kickstarter and those sites are about innovating. Many
people said Pebble and the cooler were far-fetched Kickstarter ideas.

It really comes down to what risk you are willing to take. Because someone
doesn't want to do their research, that is not the site's fault at all. In
fact the site is very clear that you should do your own research and that
there is risk
([https://www.kickstarter.com/trust](https://www.kickstarter.com/trust)).
There is an enormous difference between a browser determining a site is a
phishing site vs whether a product that has yet to be made will be a success.
Maybe these sites aren't for you and the risk level you are willing to take,
there is nothing wrong with that and I am not knocking you for it, but that's
not the site's fault.

