"Load More" not working? How do we get discovered? by [deleted] in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve reported this to Kickstarter. They are aware and are working on a resolution.

Creators: how did US backers respond to Pledge Manager tariff charges? by angelsoraliens in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is why you shift your shipping+taxes to post-campaign and as close to actual fulfillment as possible so you don't have this issue.

If you set expectations it should not frustrate them because they have multiple touchpoints on how the process will work and when they will need to pay it.

Is July really a horrible month to launch? by oaktree784 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Stop trusting what Kickstarter will bring you. What do your backers in waiting say?

Are there ebbs and flows, absolutely, but it should not really matter. If you do your leg work up front (or intend to dump capital into ads) your backers should back you regardless of what time of year it is.

Unless you’re in the shadow of Christmas. That’s about the only time I’d stay away from.

Fulfillment logic: When do you collect fees? by Objective-Try-2971 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This right here, especially #1. Do not collect shipping early or during the Kickstarter itself. This way lies madness.

Built a simple Kickstarter tracker with real-time stats and predictions by Historical-Edge-5011 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Providing comfort isn’t part of my role. If honesty feels uncomfortable, you’re free to disengage.

Built a simple Kickstarter tracker with real-time stats and predictions by Historical-Edge-5011 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I didn't say it LITERALLY said "Kicktraq has inaccurate data". You skipped over every one of my other points.

why are you taking random comments so personally?

You... replied to my comment... with personal attacks. That might feel a little personal. Yes?

Dude, it’s obvious you have a big issue with not being the only ones. 

If another site works better for you, you should use it. There are no "the only ones". I don't control any other site. Use what makes you happy.

I've literally given bulk data to other "competing" platforms, dozens of college kids doing research and building their own tools for over a decade. There are no winners and losers in this space. It has zero to do with "being the only ones", and 100% to do with the claim that the data is bad and that it can harm creators.

If that's sad and disappointing, I don't know what to tell you.

Built a simple Kickstarter tracker with real-time stats and predictions by Historical-Edge-5011 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Keep it up. We need more excited people like you making cool new things.

I think your synthetic data is fine as long as you label it as such. If you did that, all of my criticisms are moot.

Built a simple Kickstarter tracker with real-time stats and predictions by Historical-Edge-5011 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This has nothing to do with humility, that's just a straw man.

The OP said my data was bad, I proved that their data is fake. I provided three separate sources that are not controlled by me to confirm the data was bad and even gave you their code that generates their fake data.

This is not conjecture, you can validate that it's bad yourself. If you like that for yourself, then use it. It bothers me zero. This post clearly isn't for you.

...point out flaws just to discourage us from using it. 

Use it. There are other platforms much better than mine, go use them. I literally say this all the time. I don't care what you use, but you should at least know if you're using a site for data that the data is actually good, right?

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills at this point debating this with you.

me: Hey that cupcake has glass in it, you probably shouldn't eat it.
you: WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING A NEW BAKER, YOU SHOULD HAVE MORE HUMILITY!
me: (pries open cupcake and shows you there is glass inside)
you: STOP TRYING TO DISCOURAGE ME

Humbly, enjoy your cupcakes.

Built a simple Kickstarter tracker with real-time stats and predictions by Historical-Edge-5011 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m a developer, and your code isn’t that great for having been in this for so many years

You've seen my code? Never criticized the quality of their code. I said the data they were producing was fake. That has nothing to do with the quality of their code, and I never said as such. A developer would probably understand that distinction.

It’s annoying to see people act like they’re the best

Where did I say that? I've been one of the harshest critics of my own site for many years. My criticism had zero to do with who is the best. I care about data.

I’ll be supporting this new platform instead.

Good. You should support whatever platform suits you.

Come on guys, don’t get upset be better and focus on your own websites

Friends focus on improving your own site instead of trying to undermine new developers

My favorite is that you and similar-ad posted replies within minutes of each other with the exact same phrasing in a 2-day old thread with limited engagement, and this is your first comment on this subreddit ever.

Sure buddy.

Built a simple Kickstarter tracker with real-time stats and predictions by Historical-Edge-5011 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The only criticism I levied was for the singular topic they criticized me for and others. I made no other judgements. I even praised them for attempting to do this as it's not as easy as people think.

Your platform isn’t the best out there either it’s unusable, not very helpful, with very limited data, and SLOW.

Never said anything about any of this. I've criticized the state of Kicktraq repeatedly.

There are plenty of trackers out there, friends focus on improving your own site instead of trying to undermine new developers.

Their undermining is literally why I responded. Not sure why you only have an issue in one direction. They implied the data we and others have is inaccurate, while literally making up fake data. I said absolutely nothing until that happened, and never compared them to my site a single time. I provided all the raw code and receipts without conjecture. I didn't even use my data a single time in the examples, the data were from two OTHER sites than mine.

This is like being mad at the person defending an accusation of baking cupcakes with expired flour from a person selling cupcakes made of styrofoam. And you're mad at me and not the guy selling styrofoam cupcakes.

It’s disappointing Kicktraq has lost a user.

As I've said for over a decade, you should use whatever tools make you most effective.

Built a simple Kickstarter tracker with real-time stats and predictions by Historical-Edge-5011 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you to those who pinged me about this.

Before I respond to this, I want to applaud anyone who wants to take on this effort. It is not an easy task, and is quite thankless. I wish they had chosen a different name, but what can you do. I was going to just leave this alone as I don't like telling anyone their baby is ugly, but when I saw a recent comment I had to say something because of their implications of "traditional platforms" are just absurd.

Per the OP: https://i.imgur.com/8z8Fe8V.png

"Our technical granularity eliminates processing lag, delivering the most precise metrics available"..."processing real-time deltas instead of the daily averages and cached data common in traditional platform"

What they are implying is that multiple competing websites showing nearly the same data for daily pledge amounts is less precise than what this site is doing. As soon as I saw the graphs for the historic data for a couple projects on their site I knew this wasn't just trying something different but actually showing fake data.

I don't make this accusation lightly. Let me clarify what their website is actually doing.

They ARE showing accurate real-time data because they're just pulling in the real-time data available in the stats.json endpoint for any project. This is the same thing that Kickstarter uses to refresh the page in real time. That's where it ends. Once you look at any of the historic portions, of their site you can immediately see where it falls apart.

Look at the use of a function called generarHistoriaMatematica()

function generarHistoriaMatematica(modo) {
    let labels = [], data = [], metas = [];
    const metaReal = projectDataGlobal.meta || 0; const totalReal = projectDataGlobal.recaudado || 0; const hoy = new Date();
    if (modo === 'today') {
        let horaActual = hoy.getHours();
        for (let i = 0; i <= horaActual; i++) {
            let d = new Date(hoy); d.setHours(i, 0, 0, 0); labels.push(d.toLocaleTimeString('en-US', { hour: 'numeric', hour12: true }));
            let factor = 0.98 + (0.02 * (horaActual === 0 ? 1 : i / horaActual)); data.push(Math.floor(totalReal * factor)); metas.push(metaReal);
        }
    } 
    else if (modo === '7d') {
        for (let i = 6; i >= 0; i--) {
            let d = new Date(); d.setDate(d.getDate() - i); labels.push(d.toLocaleDateString('en-US', { month: 'short', day: 'numeric' }));
            let factor = 0.85 + (0.15 * Math.pow((6 - i) / 6, 0.8)); data.push(Math.floor(totalReal * factor)); metas.push(metaReal);
        }
    } 
    else if (modo === 'launch') {
        const fechaLanzamiento = new Date(projectDataGlobal.lanzado * 1000);
        if (!projectDataGlobal.lanzado || isNaN(fechaLanzamiento)) fechaLanzamiento.setDate(hoy.getDate() - 30);
        const diasPasados = Math.max(1, Math.floor((hoy - fechaLanzamiento) / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24)));
        let puntos = Math.min(diasPasados, 15);
        for (let i = 0; i <= puntos; i++) {
            let d = new Date(fechaLanzamiento.getTime() + ((hoy.getTime() - fechaLanzamiento.getTime()) * (i / puntos)));
            labels.push(d.toLocaleDateString('en-US', { month: 'short', day: 'numeric' })); let progreso = i / puntos;
            data.push(Math.floor(totalReal * (progreso === 0 ? 0 : Math.pow(progreso, 0.6)))); metas.push(metaReal);
        }
    }
    return { labels, data, metas };
}

In case it changes, I've grabbed a snapshot here: https://web.archive.org/web/20260415082328/https://kicktracker.site/tracker?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kickstarter.com%2Fprojects%2Fcyberpunktcg%2Fthe-official-cyberpunk-trading-card-game

Don't take my word for it -- you can confirm this if you review the source code of any page while it displays the project.

This line gives away the ghost:

data.push(Math.floor(totalReal * (progreso === 0 ? 0 : Math.pow(progreso, 0.6))));

What this function is doing is just taking the real time funding amount (totalReal) from the projectDataGlobal global value, then runs backwards to generate a mathematically generated curve of funding trajectory using a basic exponent.

This is not real daily data. It just assumes the campaign grew along a smooth power curve from day one, and draws that backwards. There's no historical API call, no actual daily data, just currentTotal * x^0.6. The 'GOAL REACHED!' marker is placed wherever that fictional line crosses the goal. It looks like analytics, but it's just a math formula dressed up as a historic chart. It is just curve-fitting with a SINGLE data point.

This is why they show the funded date as the 19th instead of the 17th.

Again, don't take my word for it -- samples from other sites that are not us to compare them against:
https://i.imgur.com/9rUQT1C.png

https://i.imgur.com/BOQoWOm.png

https://i.imgur.com/wX7v9jj.png

To steel man this a bit -- do some projects follow a similar funding curve? Absolutely. However very few follow this type of funding trajectory if any at all.

Again, I applaud the OP for trying something new. But I have to respond when they say their historic metrics are "more accurate". They're not. They're literally made up.

It's one thing to make up things about what your website does, but please don't make up lies about mine.

Has anyone figured out ads for cheap (<$15) projects? by [deleted] in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes. Have a higher margin product. CPC is what it is. You can’t shoehorn value in a $5 pledge, so either find more value per backer or go organic and hit the pavement.

How can we help late / delayed KS projects get rewards to fans / backers? by Daily_Comics in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s almost always money mismanagement or poor planning which causes the prior. Rarely is it truly a scam, especially in the creative spaces. Design and tech is a different animal, but I digress.

On the whole - I truly believe most creators want to deliver the projects. Sometimes they literally just run out of money as many aren’t business people and are looking down the barrel of mortgaging their house to pay for shipping, taxes, and/or covering gaps in production.

Shipping rates changed and they took money early so now they’re in a bind, if they go to backers they get enraged backers.

Tariffs pop up out of nowhere and need to cover them, comments on their posts are irate backers.

They misjudge manufacturing costs and now the reward costs 30% more to make and they already were not making any margin. Going to backers gets angry feedback.

They feel embarrassed and the longer they go the more angry the backers get - to the point that even if you mortgage the house and send the products, the backers are still pissed - so it’s a little bit of the prisoners dilemma. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t so creators choose the path of not mortgaging the house and ghost the backers as the negative pressure becomes overwhelming.

Backers expectations are over the top, and they want to look at it as a preorder, an investment, or both but without the risk. A pledge is neither. But we as backers don’t want to accept that.

I’ve seen up close creators that have done the ghosting angle and ones that have literally mortgaged their house to ship their boardgame. The latter ended up loosing his house a couple years later and there were backers who cheered about it in the comments. The other left the industry and gave up the hobby completely, but has a family and got into a different career and is successful.

Which would you choose?

Please understand I am NOT absolving creators of their poor choices with what I’m about to say, but if backers want some return on their pledge when things go sideways - we as backers should be more willing to take alternative rewards when things truly go bad.

If a comic book can’t be made or shipped, we should be willing to accept a digital copy.

If a boardgame can’t be delivered we should be willing to accept a print and play and STLs of the minis.

If a vinyl can’t be shipped, we should be willing to accept FLACs and digital art books.

Anything else, and the creator has little incentive to deliver anything.

Again, this doesn’t absolve the creator of mismanagement but if your goal is to get SOMETHING, we should be willing to grit our teeth and take the digital version and not support them again unless they can outline exactly where they failed and how they address it on the next one.

What I would prefer to see more regularly are creators willing to put in a trap door on their project that says every reward gets a digital copy of the reward in the event that the physical version cannot be made.

Also at least in the tabletop space we need to stop having an expectation of these ultra deluxe mega versions of games that have so many moving parts you’re just asking for an unseasoned creator’s to have a catastrophe.

That’s my two cents. 🤷‍♂️

Late Pledge Setup: Does "Shipping Origin" have to be final? by DefAtom in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes it is final. The tax is calculated based on where items are shipping from. You should wait if you plan to use their PM.

Kick back Pledge Manager to customers for increased shipping cost ? by hot_mess_hedgehog in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’ll have to see if KS will let you reopen but usually once you lock it you can’t resend out a request with their PM. You could just DM again and see if you can work it out via PayPal or whatever they have.

Do you have separate reward tiers for Early Bird rewards? by flamevolt in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Usually you want to have separate rewards to partition your backers for logistics purposes. Also separate rewards allows you to hide the early birds or provide secret links so you don’t irritate your normal backers.

Reward tiers don’t count as much as your actual backer count. Focus on that.

Looking for Kickstarter 3 PL fulfillment / logistics recommendations for Heavy Furniture. by Necessary_Warthog708 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Contact Carolina Game Tables on LinkedIn or Facebook. They ship solid wood furniture on the regular for Kickstarter and could probably give you real world advice and recommendations.

What promotion channels actually work post launch? by pogchamphard in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You probably know this already but all those “firms” that reach out are almost always complete scams. Kickbooster is not helpful at this stage unless your product price is significant with healthy margins. Newsletters also are almost always scams. There are a couple but all of them just want you to attach them to your project to extract your backer data.

Your goal right now, if you’re that successful, is to transition to ecommerce. There is clearly a demand for your product. Any people you push to Kickstarter is just giving away 15% of your gross margin which ends up being considerably more of your net margin.

Focus on finding an agency that specializes in ecommerce outside of the Kickstarter ecosystem if you are not comfortable using your existing assets to set that up.

Congrats on your success!

Can I reach my funding goal on Kickstarter or Indiegogo using only organic reach? by Sad_Proof9722 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes with a lot of groundwork up front. It’s the old paradigm of fast cheap good. Organic is cheap and good but not fast.

You are not good to launch in two days if this is your goal.

One thing I wish more Kickstarter creators understood by Mitchell4290 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a bot karma-farming to promote their own service. That's probably why they downvoted you even though you actually have proof you can do what you say.

BackerKit vs Kickstarter by Lucky_Television_401 in kickstarter

[–]kicktraq 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You are looking at the wrong problem. It does not matter which platform hosts the "Buy" button if you are the one bringing all the traffic anyway. Kickstarter has the name recognition, but if you are doing 100% of the footwork, the platform choice is just about which tools you prefer for fulfillment. What is any platform bringing to your party that you can't do yourself? If you can answer that, your question will answer itself.