To anyone thinking of throwing money at a product on a crowdfunding app, make sure you know what you are doing. There are some (maybe many) successful campaigns that actually end up delivering product to their investors. Yes… those of you funding these campaigns are investors getting a potential perk of the product as your “return on investment.” Realize not all investments payoff. Be prepared to accept that you may be putting in your money and get nothing in return.

Crowdfunded companies fail for lots of reasons. Poor campaign response tells the company the product might not succeed in the marketplace or generate enough volume to cover costs. Early claims for products might not be realizable (there’s a reason major innovation can be called the “bleeding edge”) or manufacturable at a cost that makes the company a profit. Sometimes, they have a poor understanding of what it will cost or how long take will take to create and deliver product and so they do not have enough capital to go the distance. I don’t know the statistics but a lot of companies using crowdfunding do not succeed. When they fail, you do not get your money back (and they owners may ghost you). Buyer, or should I say investor, beware.

As for me, I would rather pay a little more and wait for the products to have a commercial release before laying down my money. You have recourse with Amazon or other retailers for product that does not arrive.