Kickstarter campaigns are all the rage these days with lots of new inventions, especially in technology, that are spiking the interest of people all over the world. Unfortunately, many of them, as great as they may seem, never get to their rightful owner. The same thing is happening now with the most successful European Kickstarter campaign: the Zano drone. In other words, this Kickstarter drone falls after flying high.
The Zano drone was created to allow people to take selfies from the air. So, obviously, everyone wanted it. Everyone, in this case, translates to more than 12,000 backers who contributed with about $3.6 million to the project. Torquing Group, the ones who are in charge for the project announced on November 18 that they are shutting it down.
It seems that the company has been only through trouble lately, with many delays after missing their original shipping date for Zano and to top it all off the CEO of the company, Ivan Reedman resigned last week. They also announced that not only the project will be shut down but also the company will go into liquidation and the creditors, including Kickstarter backers, could recover part of their investment.
Of course, the backers are furious for losing their money and blame not only Torquing but also Kickstarter, feeling they were cheated and that the project was in fact a scam. But why would Kickstarter be to blame? Well, Kickstarter takes a 5% fee on campaigns regardless of their success or failure. So, while the 12,000 people lost money, Kickstarter still gained some.
On the other hand, Kickstarter is not responsible for the projects or their delivery, so the backers have to pick a bone only with the companies that develop the projects. Moreover, Kickstarter representatives say there cannot guarantee for a project to work out and they try to educate the backers about the risk of losing their investment, because they are not necessarily buying that certain product, but investing in its manufacturing.
Although Kickstarter may not be responsible for the projects, the fact that many of them are abandoned makes backers feel unsatisfied or even deceived, which causes Kickstarter to lose credibility and this means people are less likely to support other project in the future.
Image source: www.bing.com
