Don't mind me asking, what are the red flags?
Basically I don't know how to do due dilligence on stuff like this. Anybody can cook up a fake profile. Anyone can get an electrical engineering or related degree from a degree mill. Anyone can become CEO of his own company for just a few hundred bucks to register your company and a mailbox. Even if this guy has an active facebook profile and lots of friends, there are lots of people who would be happy to get a bad rep in exchange for a few hundred thousand bucks in quick hard cash.
what I don't understand is, if you paid via paypal, surely you could get money back? And surely paypal could ban this guy permanently as a scammer? Yet the comments show him starting up another dubious project. Stop his money collection and there will be no more scams.
Great question, and great answers above. No amount of due diligence will completely remove risk, I just want to say that first. But, for me, I go through a few points.
1. Identity. Are the facebook, instagram, ect linked? What is the age of these? How many friends do they have? What activity did they have before the campaign? Speaks to preparation for the project, and thoroughness. Does the project have a dedicated website? You can find out a lot backtracking that, including the level of preparation. If they don't, it's not an immediate red flag, but with them being so easy to set up if you're going to prepare a project, that's a sign. Is this a person that you're putting your money and trust in? Or a company? That's a good consideration also, as single person projects have a single point of failure.
2. Prior Projects. How many projects have they created? (first project is not necessarily a red flag, but is a cause for concern). How did those other projects proceed and complete? Look at the comments sections- they can't hide that. You have to look between true problems and disgruntled (for one reason or another) backers. Are there are lot of cancelled projects? Some people throw projects at the wall to see what sticks, and I don't back that. In my opinion this shows their understanding of Kickstarter as a community- you do things differently here (communication especially) than in other markets, so knowledge of how this is done and what to do when things go bad is key.
3. Copyediting and Layout. Is the project clear and well designed? Are their grammatical errors or spelling errors? How bad are they? Speaks to preparation for the project, and thoroughness.
4. Community. How many other projects have been backed? This isn't a red flag for some, and is harder to accurately gauge in some cases, as people use personal and professional accounts now. But I use it to gauge that important bit about how well they understand kickstarter, the things that might go wrong, how to (and not to) communicate with backers when things go wrong, and things like that.
5. Video. This is a bit more ephemeral to me. If you have one, it should be well done. I'd prefer no video on some projects to a hastily done, badly shot one (books, especially). Many disagree on this point, so this is rather personal. They say you need one, and need to spend significant effort on it.
6. Product. Are the rewards well described? Do you understand what you're getting? How many non-essentials are being offered (t-shirts if not a t-shirt kickstarter for example). I've seen projects fail for this point. Is the product well represented and prototyped or have a demo or sample? Again, not a red flag, but it does raise concerns.
7. Stretch Goals. There are several different opinions on Stretch Goals, but my personal estimation on this is that if Stretch Goals are being added as you go along and have not been costed based on possible project numbers already, they're a point of contention. Stretch Goals can kill a project in post implementation. This is not something I check once... I look as it's going along. If it gets out of control, I'll pull out.
8. Scheduling and Risks. Are the risks adequately brought forward, explained, and accounted for? For example, if this is a manufactured project, and the kickstarter is in November, and delivery is in June, and no mention is made of CNY, it's a flag for me. What kind of preparation has already been done, especially for a manufacturing project, though this applies to all non-creative projects for me (and many creative projects).
9. Communication. How are they communicating during the project? If you have few backer updates as you go along, don't expect it to get better post project.
I'm sure there are a lot of other things that people use, and there are more that I use that aren't as easily specified and personal, which points to the fact that even above, all of this is from my experience. Just take a look at it, temper your excitement for the project, use the tools that are out there (don't immediately back, for instance, but flag it to take a look later), be willing to pull out if you see anything dodgy.
