On 10/09/16 00:13, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
On Sat, Sep 10, 2016 at 12:04 AM, Sam Pablo Kuper sampablokuper@posteo.net wrote:
"Creator: a User responsible for running a Campaign, filling Pre-orders, or otherwise supplying products for commercial sale. [...]
A Creator is required to fulfill all Premiums of a Creator’s successful Campaign or refund Pledges to any Backer whose Premium the Creator does not or cannot fulfill.
looks reasonable to me... so that people don't "run away" with the money, basically!
Right. It's a basic contract of sale: the seller must provide the goods that have been paid for, or return the payment.
IANAL, but that looks quite a lot like a contract of sale to me.
a contract of sale has very very specific terms which involve things like "warranties", "WEEE Directives" and so on.
IIUC, statutes may impose such requirements on sellers, depending upon the jurisdiction, nature of the product, etc. But such statutory requirements do not form part of the contract of sale: they simply apply to specified parties to contracts of sale.
Also, Crowd Supply definitely promotes itself as a store:
https://blog.crowdsupply.com/2013/03/04/crowd-supply-is-a-store/
that's *after* the crowdfunding campaign... and it's run *by crowdsupply* - not by the backers and not by the campaign creators.
The idea of Crowd Supply as a store includes the crowd-funding aspect of Crowd Supply, as the other article I linked makes clear:
"In late 2012, Kickstarter began its 'this is not a store' rhetoric. ... It was that very blog post that encouraged Crowd Supply to make its move. Six months later, it had its first blog post titled 'Crowd Supply is a Store.'
In an instant, Crowd Supply knew what it was, and had to be. It was clear then, just as it is now, that people who backed projects wanted products, not promises. [Crowd Supply] manages how products are delivered to backers."
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/12/09/crowd-supply-is-succeeding-where-ki...
Now that the crowd-funding period is over, Crowd Supply has switched to offering pre-orders, which are distinct from pledges under the terms linked above. I have no idea what regulatory implications that has, if any.
they're sold by crowdsupply - not by me. crowdsupply will be ordering a batch of units (from me). i will be *crowdsupply's* supplier (for fulfilling *their* preorders). any "contracts of sale"
- for the preorders and for the preorders only - will be with
*crowdsupply* (not me).
The terms state that pre-orders *are* contracts between Creators and Users, and that they are *not* contracts with Crowd Supply:
"By using the Service to accept Pre-orders, you as the Creator are offering Users the opportunity to enter into an agreement with you. By using the Service to place a Pre-order, you as the Customer accept that offer and the agreement between Customer and Creator is formed. Crowd Supply is not a party to the agreement between the Customer and Creator. All dealings related to Pre-orders are solely between Users, regardless of the Company’s role as an intermediary."
Seems pretty clear to me :)
You might have been thinking of Crowd Supply's third option under the "Summary of Service" heading:
"Customers can purchase a Creator’s in-stock products via an online retail transaction."
IIUC, that option would only arise if at some point - and for any reason - Crowd Supply has more units in stock than have been accounted for by pledges or pre-orders. As the units haven't yet been manufactured, this option cannot yet have arisen.
- spk