Crowdfunding

TheMike

New Member
Region
USA
Has anyone on here went the Indiegogo route? I’m new to the crowdfunding site and am not sure I understand how it all works. Any feedback would be appreciated.
 
I dont think it is worth it the bikes I have seen are overpriced and I have seen some serious scams Plus you may wait a long time. I have been seeing just repeats of bikes already available.
 
With Indiegogo once you give them any money, refunds and charge backs are not allowed. Even if the project is not fully funded. Kickstarter does allow you to pull out until the project reaches its funding goal.

Backers are not purchasing anything. You are backing a project that may or may not be real and often a stranger you know nothing about. If you are lucky you will receive a dividend in the way of a perk. Technically it is capital gains and is taxable, if you worry about that sort of thing.

Five years ago I backed an ebike Kickstarter by Neal Saiki, founder and inventor of Zero electric motorcycles. At the time he invented, what appeared to be a high tech system. He pulled out, along with his inventions. His partner kept the campaign going with a completely different, and poorly conceived bike. Luckily it was before the project was fully funded. I pulled out, along with many other members here. I got lucky. Never again.
 
Sure, if you like to donate your money away and never expect anything back.

Since you asked, this is my answer:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_fool_and_his_money_are_soon_parted
Yes, I understand why its a great idea for people trying to raise funds, but so illogical for consumers to do.

Usually to attract an investor you have to show them a tremendous amount of detail about your product and business plan and history and financials to show that you are worth the risk, but when it comes to crowd funding because each individual has such a relatively small amount to lose many are sold by a simple three minute commercial that seems cool at the moment. This contributes to vapor-ware or half-assed products being released.
 
Crowdfunding is one of the most common ways to get the ebike company going.

Rad Power Bikes, Juiced, and many other well known ebike companies have gone this route.

but things are changing everyone and their dog is getting into it. it's such a easy way to scam people.
 
There are legit businesses like WattWagons that take US$12000 from folks with no delivery since 14 months and counting.

And THAT'S acceptable :)
 
I thought Court had dropped the crowdfunding section of the forum. In the old days, there were way too much scams being posted like this one. I still think he should drop it, unless his mods are going to vet each new posting. Good thing there aren't many.

 
Sure, some cool bikes have gotten to market through crowd-funding, but I think the odds of getting scammed are insanely high. And even when it works-- for example, with the Nireeka Homie-- often full-price customers get their bikes before the insider-price crowd-funders.

I've been following the Avarax-e, which is supposed to be a $700 35-pound bike with front suspension and 250 or 500 watt hub drive, because I almost bought one... until I discovered this website, and realized that this is very likely not possible with an aluminum frame.

We'll see what happens, but so far I'm really glad I made some compromises, and got a $2500 bike (after mods) that's a less powerful than I thought wanted, but turned out to be exactly what I needed.
 
I'm definitely more hesitant to back any costly campaign nowadays. But, I did get my Super73 bike from Kickstarter 5 years ago and have gotten 3 models of the Lumos helmets.

BTW, @TheMike, check out this relevant sub-forum:
 
I find that, historically, many crowdfunded products or companies have rushed into huge campaigns without taking the time to set up detailed business plans or consider production, distribution, etc. and find themselves in a pickle once orders pile up. Or they have an idea, but no actual design or employees or follow-through. I'm not an early adopter in general anyway, but the dubious nature of crowdfunded stuff makes me stay far away. That said, of course I'm happy for the ones that succeed, smartly keeping their goals realistic and limiting the scope of their project.

I do enjoy reading chronicles about failed campaigns, though. A dark part of me laughs at the thought of Park and Diamond helmets. I can't believe they're still making updates.
 
The Lumos Ultra was my object lesson in avoiding crowdfunded projects. What a rolling disaster that turned out to be. Mine—ordered May 2020—might arrive today (10/20/21). It was shipped to my old address rather than the address I entered into the Backer Kit in June (when I moved).

Lumos was professional as far as advertising and marketing went, but amateur in production and shipping. Pretty sure that’s a recurring theme with crowdfunded operations. Tuition paid; lesson learned.
 
The Lumos Ultra was my object lesson in avoiding crowdfunded projects. What a rolling disaster that turned out to be. Mine—ordered May 2020—might arrive today (10/20/21). It was shipped to my old address rather than the address I entered into the Backer Kit in June (when I moved).

Lumos was professional as far as advertising and marketing went, but amateur in production and shipping. Pretty sure that’s a recurring theme with crowdfunded operations. Tuition paid; lesson learned.
yep finally got ours a month ago. not worth the hassle for sure.
 
Crowdfunding with a popular 'founders club' seems volatile yet saves the business by managing the refunds with contact terms.
 
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