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Ask HN: How ethical are pre-sales? Have you ever pre-sold a product?

3 points by hackerpain ↗ HN
Pre-sales are becoming a popular funding strategy for companies, and its effectively 0 interest loans from your prospective users. I am considering to do one.

But Fake Door testing isn't quite ethical. You are selling a product you haven't made yet. Someone might steal your idea before it takes off. You need an audience.

What is your opinion on pre-selling products and the new paid waitlists trend?

2 comments

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ironmagma
Pre-sales are insulting to your potential customers. You never get a product before you pay for it somehow, why should they give you money for a product they don’t have? Whenever someone is advertising a product that is being “pre-sold” I immediately discard it and never look back.
aurizon
A lot depends on the product. A custom object often requires an advance raw material deposit and even progress payments as the item is made. On the other hand a mass production widget by a start-up can legit use a fund me campaign. That said, there have been some fund-me fails - some were frauds, some were mangled management - each case differs. Then there are the stock frauds via booked sales counted as true sales. There is also the copy risk = you debag the cat, and someone else with $$ makes it and Amazons it = you are cooked. Sometimes you have some protective IP to prevent this. In many cases you both need to know each other to form a basis of trust you are both happy with. So you see the many shades of gray.