One of the projects which have gathered the most funding in Kickstarter history, around $13 million, has asked its backers for more money to fulfil the shipment of the product, while simultaneously is selling it on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) for twice the price.
Coolest Cooler is “considering” asking to some of their 36,000 Kickstarter backers to pay an additional $97 for an expedited delivery, even though they have waited for months to obtain the product.
The sensational product promise is a 55-quart cooler that has several ground-breaking options such as a built-in blender, a waterproof Bluetooth speaker, a USB charger and a bottle opener, as reported by Motherboard.
The project became far bigger and more complex than his creator ever expected, wrote creator Ryan Grepper in an email to the backers. And even though the team has succeeded in making the product a reality for more than 20,000 backers, now they need more help to get to the remaining ones, Grepper added.
For completing the orders the team has come with at least two options, one of which is the expedited one, that they assured was due to some backers request, and the other that which is basically just sit and wait that they sell some of the units for its full price of $399.
The sit and wait option depends in how quickly retail sales happen in stores, online or through their website, which the Coolest Cooler team estimated that for every two to four sales they can make a ship for a backer’s unit, according to the email.
A challenging journey
Coolest Cooler’s creator assured that every new project has its ups and down, and that he did not imagine how complex it would be. He added that there are not guarantees about the process and it has been “certainly been more difficult” than he had ever imaged.
“The reality of funding an idea versus buying an existing product is that there is an element of risk we all accept,” Grepper said. “Somewhere near 10 percent of all Kickstarter projects fail, and that is why the Kickstarter Terms of Service spell out there is no promised delivery dates, only estimates,” he added.
Source: Motherboard
Ryan,
This whole Coolest pay more to get it sooner is BEYOND A JOKE.
I paid $285USD almost two years ago to have the item between 1-2 years ago, and now you are suggesting I pay more to get it sooner? You have to be $%^&ing kidding me.
Backer number: 52754
Amount Pledged: $285USD
I want that refunded NOW….Not a week or two before an imaginary shipment date that will never happen, NOW!
Regards,
Pissed off backer!