Initial thoughts is you might run into issues using the exact "kickstarter" name. Maybe change it to a more generic "crowdfunding" or something similar.
Not "might" run into issues, rather "definitely". This is blatant trademark violation. "Kickstarter" is a registered mark[1]. Given that trademark law requires the holder to defend the mark or risk losing it, this is like painting a target on your back.
If you give 'em your email they show you a price list for t-shirts, and say "Contact us for 3D prints, postcards, stickers, posters, hats, …". They're not a one-stop fulfillment shop.
Interesting, this is like the second Kickstarter support company I've heard of in as many days - a KS I supported is using BackerKit[1] to help manage their fulfillment.
There's also Topatoco's Make That Thing[2], though that's currently invite-only, mostly to people who're already part of the Topatoco empire.
This is definitely a new flavor of B2B service opening up. If I wasn't so busy working on the content for my next comic-book kickstarter, I'd be trying to see if I can come up with a spin on it myself...
As I understand it: Project creators log in to Kickstarter and utilize a Chrome bookmarklet provided by BackerKit, which then reads/scrapes the backer infomation from Kickstarter and sends it to BackerKit.[1]
It's kind of messy, but frankly ingenious considering there's no alternatives.
One of BackerKit's founders is/was involved with Diaspora, which was a Kickstarter project. Having the Kickstarter project admin interface (with actual backers) handy to develop and test the bookmarklet against was probably quite a boon. I could be wrong, though.
They ship the t-shirts directly to my backers. That's a huge weight off my shoulders and lets me focus on writing the code instead of stuffing envelopes.
Anyone else getting tired of this general trend with KS? If I've giving money because I want to see something magic happen. not to get ancillary crap. I've seen some where there's gotta be 30%+ of the budget going in to the "rewards".
For many Kickstarters whose main goal is not to deliver physical products and even for those that do, offering tangible rewards is still essential to getting backers. I don't see that changing.
Although I agree with you 100% on "hey, I have enough junk!"....
I think there's a great (ok, obvious) reason to ship t-shirts to early backers. It's essentially marketing, as you figure a good portion of those early backers are proud, & will wear it around publicly, & then your company gets talked about in new places.
This is a nice niche to cater to. Now, what I would like to see is someone go to conventional businesses (banks, pizzerias, etc) and sell them on the idea of giving their customers "rewards" like these. There is a huge industry for this sort of thing, but everything seems to be centered about Pens, and mouse pads. Hell, I wish I could upload a t-shirt design to you, then through an API tell you to print them on demand and ship them off to my clients.
Gildan shirts are the worst, I am growing really tired of T-Shirt companies using them just because they are clearly the cheapest stock they can get hold of.
industry standard to use gildan/jerseez/hanes. hanes is cheapest, followed by jerseez, followed by gildan. we offer other brands as well. some people don't need AA.
There are some price points where it is less expensive to buy more quantity. For example, buying 23 1-color shirts would cost us$249.09. Buying 34 1-color shirts will cost us$247.52.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 101 ms ] threadInitial thoughts is you might run into issues using the exact "kickstarter" name. Maybe change it to a more generic "crowdfunding" or something similar.
Anyway, this has been an obvious opportunity. Good to see someone jumping in on it.
[1] http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4808:va...
There's also Topatoco's Make That Thing[2], though that's currently invite-only, mostly to people who're already part of the Topatoco empire.
This is definitely a new flavor of B2B service opening up. If I wasn't so busy working on the content for my next comic-book kickstarter, I'd be trying to see if I can come up with a spin on it myself...
[1]: https://www.backerkit.com [2]: http://makethatthing.com
It's kind of messy, but frankly ingenious considering there's no alternatives.
One of BackerKit's founders is/was involved with Diaspora, which was a Kickstarter project. Having the Kickstarter project admin interface (with actual backers) handy to develop and test the bookmarklet against was probably quite a boon. I could be wrong, though.
tl;dr Kickstarter really needs an API.
[1] https://www.backerkit.com/faq
Now you're on good tracks. The idea is great as well as the potential. What's the best way to advertize to KickStarter users though?
They ship the t-shirts directly to my backers. That's a huge weight off my shoulders and lets me focus on writing the code instead of stuffing envelopes.
I think there's a great (ok, obvious) reason to ship t-shirts to early backers. It's essentially marketing, as you figure a good portion of those early backers are proud, & will wear it around publicly, & then your company gets talked about in new places.
(I am not asking idly. I am contemplating doing a kickstarter and I need to research how, etc.)
The site states
http://cdn.teelaun.ch/pricelist.pdf
Thus, I prepared this data: http://pastebin.ca/raw/2379519 - also http://filebin.ca/htp59WvLcjl
nick@teelaunch.com