Kickstarter has responded to the outcry that resulted from its new policy banning retailer rewards (see “Kickstarter Bans Retailer Rewards“) by specifying that it will now allow rewards up to 10 copies of an item as a reward for retailers.  In a blog post yesterday, the company said,  “We feel that a limit of ten will prevent bulk commercial transactions while still allowing independent stores (the most frequent backers of these rewards) to back projects and share them with their communities.”

 

Kickstarter’s new policy on bulk rewards, which took effect July 10th, had aroused little reaction until ICv2 reported an enforcement action against Playroom Entertainment for its Killer Bunnies Quest Deluxe which forced the company to remove its retailer reward.  But the reaction to our article on Thursday was immediate and dramatic.  Retailers and creators both took action, communicating directly with Kickstarter and petitioning the company to reconsider its policy.

 

Kickstarter responded almost immediately after the publicity surrounding its new policy with this change allowing small quantity retailer rewards.  But the new refinement to its policy, which is based on quantity, not a dollar amount, seems to allow for considerable variability in retailer participation depending on the value of the Kickstarter project.  A retailer reward of 10 copies of a $100 item would be allowed (for $1000 total), but a reward of 100 copies of a $10 item would not, even though the dollars are equivalent.  Still, there’s a palpable sense of relief among creators and retailers that there’s been at least some movement on this policy that was such a dramatic change to how Kickstarter was being used. 

--Milton Griepp