Is this one to cheap? Usb Protector

[newbadboy]

I did a similar product a while ago and found this one.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/842187609/smart-protektor?ref=nav_search

My main question is how they can sell this product for 12usd. Am i missing something? The pricing should be at least twice the amount to cover the production cost . I don't get it.

[ferrix]

You mean their BOM would be $24 in volume, or that in order to make a profit they'd need to charge more?  They may be using this to launch the business and become well-known with a robust product, even if it's at a slight loss.  The kickstarter price is basically an introductory offer.

But if they are selling for less than BOM cost, that seems a bit nuts.

[newbadboy]

I meant they should charge around 24usd. 

[trophosphere]

A 30 second Google search suggests they could have just purchased something from China and are re-branding it: Aliexpress Link.

[Terrius]

A 30 second Google search suggests they could have just purchased something from China and are re-branding it: Aliexpress Link.

Wow... that is literally identical. I am kind of sickened by the fact that they raised 4x their goal for a usb voltage/current sensor that some how magically prevents phones from exploding..?

The FAQ section also confuses me on that kickstarter. The product is a usb charging cable and yet the FAQ is talking about a wearable camera?

How can I get a Smart Protektor?
You can reserve your Smart Protektor during the forty five (45) days of the Kickstarter campaign at a lower price in comparison to the full retail price. Once the campaign is over and production starts in full, we will start pre-selling our camera through our Smart Protektor website (www.smartprotektor.com)

What is going to happen after Kickstarter campaign ends?
Immediately after we finish our campaign we will start production of our Flagship model... Smart Protektor! The most advanced wearable camera in the market today.

[sleemanj]

Wow... that is literally identical.

Certainly looks identical.

Didn't Kickstarter make a rule about that sort of thing, that you were not allowed to kickstart for products you were just going to buy and rebrand or something?  I'm sure they did.

As for the "camera", somebody obviously didn't proof-read their copy-paste-search-replace.

[trophosphere]

Didn't Kickstarter make a rule about that sort of thing, that you were not allowed to kickstart for products you were just going to buy and rebrand or something?  I'm sure they did.

It would be on their list of prohibited items page. Specifically:

...

• Projects that share things that already exist, or repackage a previously-created product, without adding anything new or aiming to iterate on the idea in any way.
• Resale. All rewards must have been produced or designed by the project or one of its creators — no reselling things from elsewhere.

...

There have been many others who have attempted to resell products and got shutdown by Kickstarter. Kind of makes me laugh that people accuse China of "stealing" people's ideas off of Kickstarter when there are people on Kickstarter doing the same thing to China. In the end I don't really care much for it as it's the choice of the backers to spend more money on an already available product. I personally think that if you are going to back/purchase something, you should at least spend a couple minutes doing some research about it.

On the finding of the weird FAQ section, yeah, that is very suspicious. If they are indeed copy-pasting stuff then at least do the bare minimum of actually checking things over. It's the equivalent of stealing a classmate's homework and not erasing his name before writing yours on it.

[Kean]

Thanks trophosphere for the Aliexpress link - I've reported them to KS for reselling product

[newbadboy]

Holy shit. it's the same. Well then my gut feeling wasn't to bad. Now i know how they can "produce" so cheap . And so many backers. Incredible!  I also reported the campaign.

[newbadboy]

Maybe it's also a camera

[Kean]

Yeah, it is mass produced in China so the parts and labour are cheap, and the overall component quality is probably not that great compared to your UsbSafe.
Will be interested in seeing if Kickstarter do anything - I've backed it for now 

But in any case, Kickstarter "rewards" are often way under-priced due to inexperienced creators - which is why they often burn through the funds and don't deliver, or just end up in debt.

[newbadboy]

Hehe. Evil. But they deserve it.

Actually i could add the function regarding "overcharging phone" to my fuse. It's only a small SW update
I'll se if i can manage my time. I'm rebuilding my lab and that needs to be done until i get the shipment with my produced units arrive.

[Kean]

The thing is these smart charger cables really have limited use cases.  Most modern high-value devices already have very good internal charging management - in fact these may even interfere with built in protection or smart charging.
Sure for technical guys we might want to use them in a lab (assuming they aren't crap) to protect gear during product development and testing.  For the average user, they should just stop buying the cheap noname chargers and cables on ebay or the $2 store ($1 in the USA I guess!).

[ar__systems]

The thing is these smart charger cables really have limited use cases.

Let me rephrase, they are useless, period.

[RGB255_0_0]

Thanks trophosphere for the Aliexpress link - I've reported them to KS for reselling product

Hopefully you get some luck with Kickstarter. I reported https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/asap-connect-the-future-of-usb-cables-apple-iphone#/ and it seems it's still running, even though it's a rebranded product from Wsken.

[Kean]

The creator has started replying to recent comments... but not yet to mine... 

[newbadboy]

Yea they seem to ignore those comments

[Kean]

They actually replied, but I'm not sure I believe them as it shows 400-500+ in stock for each colour... and there has been 4 orders starting a month ago.
So I'm checking with AliExpress!

@Kean

Thank you very much for your concern. The AliExpress listing you mention is a pre-sale with a local broker in order to reach the production quantity, the cable is not available for deliver now.

Cheers,
The SP Team

[newbadboy]

:-)  lets se if it's true. Seems like a fabricated answer

[sleemanj]

They actually replied, but I'm not sure I believe them as it shows 400-500+ in stock for each colour..

Oh dear they really are idiots,  they just admitted it's the same product, so now everybody can just go there and buy it for less that thier lowest reward tier, with full protection from Aliexpress, no delivery, full refund.

[sleemanj]

Another seller, with a review.
here

[Kean]

Another seller, with a review.
here

Great, but it is actually the same seller but an additional listing.  I'm surprised I didn't spot that myself.  Why they have two listing with different prices is beyond me, but it seems quite common.

I've left another comment on the Kickstarter - unfortunately I can't report the project again with the additional evidence.  Hopefully KS have flagged it for review and will see the comments.

Also, the KS creator has said "Right now we only have the white color option available." - which doesn't make much sense when the AliExpress has 4 colour choices.

[timothyaag]

Only branded the white ones?

[Kean]

Only branded the white ones?

OK, that would make sense.  Pretty cheap if so 

[Kean]

The AliExpress seller has confirmed to me that these are in stock.  Another Kickstarter backer also contacted the seller and got the same confirmation, and also confirmed he didn't know the project creator.