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Kickstarter Suspends Crowdfunding Campaign For Electronics 3D Printer (3dprintingindustry.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the wisdom-of-the-crowd dept.

Kickstarter has suspended a crowdfunding campaign that promised its backers "a high-end multi-material 3D liquid jet printer" that could print circuit boards. Slashdot reader PrintBetter writes: With just three days to go, backers were pulling out of Next Dynamics' NexD1 Kickstarter amidst fears the creator exaggerated progress on their prototype and tried to pass off prints purchased from Shapeways as their own... [T]he Berlin company's campaign was a darling of Kickstarter, carrying their "Projects We Love" endorsement and receiving praise from publications like TechCrunch, 3DPrint.com and Make magazine for its purported ability to mix up to six plastic and conductive resins in a single print.

But as pledges grew to over half a million euros, backers started to sense things didn't add up. Kevin Holmes commented "Wow, I'm stunned -- I cancelled my pledge already ... Did they really buy parts from Shapeways and pass them off as their own?" while Anthony Webb remarked "I've backed over 100 projects on Kickstarter ... but this one takes the cake for a complete scam." The company was a no-show at events it scheduled this week, including a demonstration Monday and a live stream Tuesday.

5 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Pastebin link - adblocker by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 2

    Here's 2 PDF mirrors of the pastebin:

    https://www.docdroid.net/2MEWa...
    https://www.scribd.com/documen...

    And an Archive.is mirror:

    http://archive.is/q9E44

  2. Re: The difference being? by Yosho · · Score: 2, Informative

    91% of Kickstarter projects that get funded deliver their products, so there's that.

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    Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
  3. Re: According to Kickstarter? Your imagination? by Yosho · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm citing a study done by the University of Pennsylvania . Do you have anything more reliable?

    --
    Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
  4. Why does their web page lack an Impressum? by ffkom · · Score: 2

    I would never invest into a company that does not even have an Impressum containing a postal address at their web page - and I could not find one at http://next-dynamics.com/

    At least the "Handelsregister" knows their postal address - Prenzlauer Allee 242, 10405 Berlin - so I guess those who still consider investing into them might want to take a look at what they invest into, there, first.

  5. Re:According to Kickstarter? Your imagination? by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    Just curious where you got that number. From Kickstarter? Does Kickstarter say that Kickstarter is often good?

    Of course on Slashdot, 83% of statistics come directly from the poster's imagination*, so that's a possibility too.

    * Including this one

    Not every kickstarter is some "we'll make you a perpetual motion machine for $20" offer. The vast majority of them are easily funded mini projects often no different than group buy adventures from back in the day. There's a very wide variety of projects that are "finished" and just need funding to get shipped, e.g. pretty much most of the books and art sections, where the funding is going to the minimum production run required from a printer for example.

    I myself ran a kickstarter ages ago for a project which had a minimum order quantity for an electronics part. Nothing much to see. I had the entire design finished I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to end up with a box of 50 of the things and no way to get rid of them.

    So really the 91% figure is not at all surprising in the least.