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Non-US Kickstarters in USD

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eddybox
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Howdy folks,

I've been lurking for a while, reading and learning. As we gradually approach running our first Kickstarter campaign, I realized that we won't be able to list it in USD because we live in Canada. I suspect many other non-US creators would like to be able to do this as well, so I'm trying to "rally the troops" to let KS know we'd like to see this feature. Willing to take a few minutes to add your voice to the call? If so, you can find the details here:

http://www.hemispheregames.com/2015/02/10/u-s-d-u-s-d-a-kickstarter-requ...

Also, if you live outside the US and are part of a local creator's group/community, it'd be awesome if you could spread the word in your group.

Thanks!
Eddy

Soulfinger
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Joined: 01/06/2015
I'll start the equally

I'll start the equally successful petition to get you to move to the United States.

anonymousmagic
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Joined: 11/06/2013
You can list your project in

You can list your project in American dollars but do you really want to? It poses an additional risk due to exchange rates. Do you really want to lose money every time a certain amount is converted during payment?

eddybox
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Joined: 03/18/2014
It (still) isn't currently

It (still) isn't currently possible to list a project connected to a non-US-resident account in USD, anonymousmagic. Though yes, I would really want to. Our costs (manufacturing, shipping, etc.) will almost entirely be in USD, so it's less risky for us to operate in that currency.

As for conversion, we have a USD bank account at a Canadian bank in which we receive payments from Apple (App Store), Valve (Steam), etc. I don't see why Kickstarter couldn't do the same. This would allow us to avoid conversion to CAD, though I'd be willing to have KS send us the converted amount in CAD at the time of payment if that's all they could offer. We could convert right back to USD at that time, taking the (relatively small) hit of converting back and forth. I think any friction on that front would be (much) more than made up for by the increased engagement of US backers.

I don't really expect US creators to really care about this issue though. Are there any non-US folks around here?

richdurham
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all kinds of monies

I'll say there are plenty of non-US based folk on BGDF, even if they don't come on to this thread.

That said, I feel your pain.

The most difficult part is reminding U.S. based buyers that the actual price is different than the number printed on their screen, even if the $ symbol is the same. It's easier for the euro and the British pound, but not for other "dollar" countries.

That said, if your petition doesn't work, you could use the exchange rate as a selling point. If you're selling a $44 CAD game, you can make it known in every pledge-level box that in US that's $33 dollars. The comparison kind of works in your favour.

In other words, you might not be able to list in USD, but you can at least make lemonade from the lemons.

eddybox
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Joined: 03/18/2014
Thanks for the advice,

Thanks for the advice, Rich.

We'll do our best to made lemonade, but I have found some interesting data. Check out this graph:
http://boardgamedata.com/Kickstarters/Reports/0644e89a-7857-4fd1-b3c8-8b...

As of Jan 1, 2014 (Kickstarter started allowing Canadian projects as of Fall 2013), US-based projects have averaged $33.8K USD while Canadian projects averaged $18.7K CAD. During this period the CAD was worth roughly 85% the USD, so the difference is even larger. (The numbers on the graph are in local currency.) So USD campaigns average over double CAD campaigns. I realize there are other factors - US projects may have other advantages - but my gut (in concert with the data) says currency is a significant factor.

fayinsky
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Joined: 08/02/2014
eddybox wrote:Thanks for the

eddybox wrote:
Thanks for the advice, Rich.

We'll do our best to made lemonade, but I have found some interesting data. Check out this graph:
http://boardgamedata.com/Kickstarters/Reports/0644e89a-7857-4fd1-b3c8-8b...

As of Jan 1, 2014 (Kickstarter started allowing Canadian projects as of Fall 2013), US-based projects have averaged $33.8K USD while Canadian projects averaged $18.7K CAD. During this period the CAD was worth roughly 85% the USD, so the difference is even larger. (The numbers on the graph are in local currency.) So USD campaigns average over double CAD campaigns. I realize there are other factors - US projects may have other advantages - but my gut (in concert with the data) says currency is a significant factor.


Nice website. Don't know how I could miss it before. Well, I think using the option "Average Pledge Per Backer" is more convincing than "Average Funding" because it reduces the influence of project quality in my opinion. And when doing so, it seems that currency is not that a big deal after all.

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