[Arm-netbook] "zombie" campaign

[Sam Pablo Kuper]

On 09/09/16 19:37, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
> certainly, pledges are "gifts" - there's no
> warranty, there's no contract of sale, they're *definitely* not
> "orders".  that's very very important even in light of the fact that
> i'm here on a 90-day visa waiver!  customs declaration *specifically*
> asked, "are you bringing in product for the solicitation of orders"
> and the *only* reason i was able to say *NO* to that was precisely
> because this is a gift-economy-based crowd-funding campaign.

I don't know anything about visa waivers, but it seems worth pointing
out that Crowd Supply pledges do not appear to be gifts. They are
covered by a contract: https://www.crowdsupply.com/terms-of-use

It says, among other things:



"Creator: a User responsible for running a Campaign, filling Pre-orders,
or otherwise supplying products for commercial sale. [...]

A Creator is required to fulfill all Premiums of a Creator’s successful
Campaign or refund Pledges to any Backer whose Premium the Creator does
not or cannot fulfill.

A Creator may cancel and refund a Backer’s Pledge at any time and for
any reason, and, in so doing, is not required to fulfill the Premium."



IANAL, but that looks quite a lot like a contract of sale to me.


Also, Crowd Supply definitely promotes itself as a store:

https://blog.crowdsupply.com/2013/03/04/crowd-supply-is-a-store/

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/12/09/crowd-supply-is-succeeding-where-kickstarter-and-indiegogo-are-failing-miserably/


>> I follow another crowd-funding campaign where manufacturing may have been done
>> at levels to fulfil both pledges and orders from retailers, but then I start
>> to wonder about things like warranties (and such): a "pledger" is getting a
>> reward, but a customer through a retailer is getting a purchase that is
>> presumably regulated rather differently.
> 
>  yeahyeah.  the moment that for example chris, my sponsor, starts
> *selling* through *his* web site (which he can now do as the contract
> period with crowdsupply is over), that *definitely* qualifies as
> "sales"

Now that the crowd-funding period is over, Crowd Supply has switched to
offering pre-orders, which are distinct from pledges under the terms
linked above. I have no idea what regulatory implications that has, if any.

Oddly, the wording around pre-orders seems to be more lax than the
wording around pledges. Perhaps an oversight on the part of Crowd Supply
or whoever drafted their terms of use.


- spk