Crowdfunding: Kickstarter or ReadyFundGo ?
Crowdfunding: Should You Choose Kickstarter Or ReadyFundGo ?
When it comes to crowdfunding, the name – Kickstarter is almost synonymous with the word “crowdfunding” itself.
People interested in starting a crowdfunding campaign sometimes say, “I am going to do a Kickstarter” whether or not they choose to run their campaign on the American platform or from the choice of other platforms based around the world.
Kickstarter and the Australian platform ReadyFundGo both offer “reward” based crowdfunding. When a campaign creator starts a campaign, they are required to offer their backers a reward – which can be a product, service, experience or other type of incentive in return for a backer’s pledge of money towards their campaign’s financial goal.
We often hear the question, “how do you choose which platform to use for your campaign?”.
Many Australians choose to start a campaign with ReadyFundGo because supporting an Australian platform is important to them. However, it is important to realise that not all crowdfunding platforms are the same.
So, what are the differences in terms of how the platforms operate and your experience as a campaign creator?
- More funding options “All or nothing” or “flexible” campaigns?
This is probably one of the biggest differences between platforms. Most platforms only offer ‘all or nothing’ campaigns.
An ‘all or nothing campaign’ goal is a great option when you need to hit a certain amount of funding for your project to come to life, or to be able to offer your rewards to your backers. What this means for you is that you only get to keep the funds you raise once you hit your funding target.
Here’s an example, say you want to raise money to launch a new product, and you need to order a minimum number of your product for a production run in order to be able to manufacture at a reasonable price.. If your target is $30,000 and you raise $28,000 on an “all or nothing” campaign you get nothing.
Kickstarter only offers ‘all or nothing’ campaigns. Here is the difference, ReadyFundGo offers more than just ‘all or nothing campaigns’, ReadyFundGo also offer the option of ‘Flexible’ campaigns
With a ‘Flexible’ campaign you get to keep all funds you have raised during the campaign regardless of the total amount earned. So, if you have raised $28,000 with a target of $30,000 you keep the $28,000. The ‘flexible’ funding options works well when your project or idea just needs some immediate cashflow to get it going. ReadyFundGo allows campaign creators to choose the ‘flexible’ funding option where a campaign creator can deliver the rewards they offer even if they do not hit their campaign funding goal.
2. Longer Campaign Timeframes Available
At the start of your crowdfunding campaign with both Kickstarter and ReadyFundGo you need to set the length of time your campaign will run.
With Kickstarter you have the choice of a period from 1 to 60 days. With ReadyFundGo you may set a campaign for a period of up to 120 days. This is because ReadyFundGo understands that not all campaigns are the same.
In some circumstances a campaign that fails in within say 60 days may be able to succeed given a little more time, as it can take time to get a campaign going if there is insufficient traction generated before launch
ReadyFundGo works closely with their campaign creators and have a flexible, case by case approach to extending a campaign’s length where it is in the interest of both the campaign creator and the campaign supporters or backers to do so.
3. Lower Campaign Fees
There are two costs to budget for when you create a crowdfunding campaign, the platform fees and the payment mechanism provider fees.
Both Kickstarter and ReadyFundGo charge a platform fee of 5% of the funds raised on their platforms Kickstarter and ReadyFundGo use Stripe as their payment provider.
In Australia, Kickstarter’s payment processing fees are 3% + AU$ 0.20 per transaction.
ReadyFundGo’s payment processing fees are 1.75% plus AU$ 0.30 per transaction for domestic cards and 2.9% plus AU$ 0.30 per transaction for international cards.
For a $100 pledge on Kickstarter in Australia made with an Australian card the Kickstarter payment processing fee is AU$ 3.20.
For a $100 pledge on ReadyFundGo in Australia made with an Australian card the ReadyFundGo payment processing fee is AU$ 2.05.
For a $500 pledge on an Australian card, the payment processing fee saving with ReadyFundGo is $6.15.
4. Where are your backers ?– The importance of an audience.
One of the biggest myths about crowdfunding is that crowdfunding platforms come with ‘a crowd of eager backers’ and that if you create your campaign page, the crowd will come to you. Each campaign is different and needs to build interest before the campaign goes live. Campaigns that do well, are usually those that where the creator already have fans, followers, customers, a simple contact list or are part of a network or community that they can announce and promote the campaign to.
Once the campaign has created some interest and is generating traction then the platforms audience can make a difference and start to engage. An important consideration as a campaign creator will be whether you want to run a campaign which just targets an Australian audience or if your campaign can reach a global audience.
Kickstarter does have a much larger global audience than ReadyFundGo and if you can become a featured project on Kickstarter platform then you will likely gain a lot of traction with the platform’s own audience.
If you are looking to get traction for your campaign in the US from a platform rather than from your own pre-campaign work or advertising, then Kickstarter may give you a better result, however, be aware that competition to get noticed on Kickstarter can be fierce.
If your primary focus is Australia, it’s good to know that the majority of ReadyFundGo platform’s audience are based in Australia.
ReadyFundGo may have a smaller audience but you have a better chance of being included in their newsletter or social media post.
The ReadyFundGo platform can also take pledges for your campaign from a global audience.
5. More Campaign Types Accepted
Kickstarter is heavily focused on creative projects in the following categories::
Art, Comics, Crafts, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film & Video, Food, Games, Journalism, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology, and Theatre.
Kickstarter does not allow projects that offer alcohol; that fundraise for charity or offer financial incentives or items claiming to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent an illness or condition; contests, coupons, gambling, and raffles; energy food and drinks; resale of goods not produced by the project creator, drugs or weapons.
ReadyFundGo accepts creative projects just like Kickstarter but also accepts:
- Projects from Australian winemakers and brewers offering alcohol as a reward either directly or as part of a tasting experience where they comply with local legislation,
- Projects that fundraise for a charity,
- Medical research projects,
- Contests and raffles where Australian state regulations have been complied with,
- Energy food and drinks that have received regulatory approval.
The ReadyFundGo platform has been used successfully by several Australian companies in the alcoholic beverage sector.
6. Get Paid Quicker with ReadyFundGo
If you reach your campaign goal with Kickstarter there will be a window of 14 days after your campaign has ended before funds will transferred to your bank account.
With ReadyFundGo when you get paid depends upon the type of campaign you have created.
If you have been approved for a ’flexible’ campaign your share of the campaign funds (i.e. minus the platform fee and payment processing fee) go directly into your Stripe account. When you start processing live payments you will receive your first payment from Stripe 7-14 days after the first successful payment. After the first payment the processing occurs then payments are paid out by Stripe in 2 business days.
This means that if you have a Flexible campaign with ReadyFundGo you can start receiving payments during the actual campaign period. You do not need to wait until the campaign is finished.
Where you hit your target on an ‘all or nothing’ campaign with ReadyFundGo you may also get paid before the end of the campaign period depending upon when in the campaign you hit your target. Once your target has been hit the funds will be processed by Stripe, even if your campaign has not yet ended. In 7-14 days, you will receive the payment and then after this all subsequent pledges that come through will be paid out in 2 business days.
With both Kickstarter and ReadyFundGo you should be aware that with ‘all or nothing’ campaigns there can be a delay between the customer adding their card details and the time of processing. During that period some cards may expire.
With ‘flexible’ campaigns the cards are processed immediately.
7. Providing support and feedback
As an Australian platform, the team at ReadyFundGo call all of our campaign creators after the submit their campaign for approval to go live to ensure they are ready to launch and offer friendly feedback and tips.
Many international platforms operate more of a transactional model and don’t offer all campaign creators personal assistance.
In Summary: Kickstarter v ReadyFundGo
So, if you are looking for a platform that cares about your success, contact ReadyFundGo today and let’s get started!
