Kickstarter Automatic Sphericator (Early Bird Still Available)

[freek007]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spherificator/imperial-spherificator/description

 

Let me know what you guys think.  I am not associated with it.

[cdh]

looks cool!

[freek007]

Yea, I am backing it.  looking forward to trying some stuff out, I can think of alot of different pearls that would be good on oysters!  Also will likely make some fun mixed drinks...  My excitement is clouding my creativity right now...

 

What would you do first?

[rotuts]

interesting

 

what's the planned retail price ?

[cdh]

One thing I'm not clear on is whether this thing automatically disperses the alginate into the proposed-sphere-solution, or if the hard work of figuring out and measuring down to the .1g just how much alginate to add is still in the user's domain.  If this is just a squirt bottle attached to a fan, it is significantly less compelling.

Edited July 27, 2015 by cdh (log)

[Tri2Cook]

A cool idea that came too late. If it works as advertised, they could have sold this like crazy 8 - 10 years ago. The rewards are a bit underwhelming and made worse by not knowing what kind of value they bring to the party. "Pledge $100 and get one for 75% off". I mean, if the thing retails for $60 why would I want to pay $115 for it? If it retails for much more than that... it won't for long. I wish them the best with it, I just think it's an idea whose time has passed.

[rotuts]

They don't tell you the expected retail price, should they meet their goal.

 

for me that's a big no-no.

[FauxPas]

rotuts, they say that the Early Bird price of $100 is 75% or 3/4 off retail. That would mean:

 

Rp = Retail price

 

Rp - 3/4 Rp = 100 

 

1/4 Rp = 100 

 

Rp = 400 

 

And working back, 400 * .75 = 300. $400 less $300 would be $100, giving a reduction of a full 75% off the Retail price. 

 

But i doubt very much if this is what they actually meant. I suspect the retail price is $175 and they mistakenly said 75% instead of $75 off retail. That's giving them credit that they know how percentages work, because people screw them up all the time! I know I do! 

 

So they may have said 75% off Retail price, thinking that $75 is 75% of $100. But an item that is discounted from $175 to $100 is actually being discounted by 43% or so. 

 

My head is starting to hurt. Can anyone tell me if I am wrong here? 

[rotuts]

its more like 133.33 or so.

 

anyway, they do themselves a disservice by not stating the expected retail price.

 

ie X ( retail price ) * 0.75 = 100

 

and who prices stuff at 133.33, if Im correct.  

 

And Id admit my arithmetic might be spotty 

 

but their arithmetic better be spot on.

 

just saying ...

Edited July 27, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[FauxPas]

If $100 represented 75% of the retail price, then yes $133 or so would be the retail price.

 

They said if you pledge $100, you will get one for "75% off retail price."  

 

So they said off, not of, so I calculated based on $100 being the retail price after a 75% reduction (ie retail price - 75% of retail price = $100).

 

Also they say if you pledge $150, it is still below the retail price. So we know the price is higher than $150. 

 

You are right, it is silly not to just say what the retail price will be. And annoying as hell that they probably didn't give the correct info to calculate it. 

 

Even though the actual selling price may vary from the original retail price, I'd still like to know what they think the number should be. 

[Tri2Cook]

I translated that as "your reward for pledging $100 is that you will get one for 75% off of retail". So 25% of whatever retail turns out to be. I'm entirely open to being incorrect about that... but there is no way that thing is going to retail for $400. At least, not if they actually plan to sell any.

[cdh]

Hope that some of these questions actually get answered.  The comments thread at Kickstarter indicates that somebody over there thought to  post this thread here... hope the same person goes back over there and prods for answers.

[Deryn]

They may have been a bit sloppy on how they wrote much of that kickstarter site, but, it is also possible they just didn't translate (at least some of it) correctly. Seems to me the first language of the person who wrote everything there is French, not English.

 

I am sure that Mr. Kelp Caviar is competent at what he does (making kelp caviar and, one would hope, designing systems to do that, both commercial and 'personal' size), but, whether he is a good businessperson or marketer is not evident enough right now. He should have at least had the 'copy' proofread, preferably by a native English speaker, before listing it on kickstarter.

 

I think the system is very interesting - but frankly didn't really get a sense of 'how it works' well enough to have the confidence to plonk down a $100 right now. I too would be interested in what the eventual market price is intended to be.

Edited July 27, 2015 by Deryn (log)

[FauxPas]

I translated that as "your reward for pledging $100 is that you will get one for 75% off of retail". So 25% of whatever retail turns out to be. I'm entirely open to being incorrect about that... but there is no way that thing is going to retail for $400. At least, not if they actually plan to sell any.

 

That's my point exactly. It is poorly (and possibly, incorrectly) written. I am sure they would never ask $400. 

 

Minnesota State explains how to calculate a percentage off here. However, this is only valid if $100 is indeed 75% off retail. Which I 'm sure it isn't, but it seems like the best way to calculate, based on the info they give. Again, I am sure the info is poorly worded, at best. 

Edited July 28, 2015 by FauxPas (log)

[Shalmanese]

From the creators:

"Hello All,

There was a typo in the perk descriptions. It should read "$75 off retail price" and not 75% off retail price."

[rotuts]

why give them 100 to get 75 off ?

[cdh]

why give them 100 to get 75 off ?

yeah

[Tri2Cook]

why give them 100 to get 75 off ?

Never mind that... this means it's going to sell for more than $75.

 

[Deryn]

I am willing to bet they anticipate the retail price will be $175 as that is the first pledge level where the description does not say 'get it below retail'.

 

Their funding seems to be coming along fairly well now - seems to have doubled in the past couple of days. I guess though it will be more and more difficult to get the last x # of dollars when the only benefit is 'get it by the holidays' at no dollars off. Good luck to them though. I hope they are successful.

[Tri2Cook]

I am willing to bet they anticipate the retail price will be $175 as that is the first pledge level where the description does not say 'get it below retail'.

 

Their funding seems to be coming along fairly well now - seems to have doubled in the past couple of days. I guess though it will be more and more difficult to get the last x # of dollars when the only benefit is 'get it by the holidays' at no dollars off. Good luck to them though. I hope they are successful.

Yeah, I hope it works out for them. It's doing better than I would have guessed with the kickstarter. I had it pegged as already having missed the peak for restaurants doing that sort of thing and overkill for most people doing it at home. My mistake may be in underestimating the home market for gadgets. I should know better than to do that... I'm very often guilty of gadget envy myself.

 

[weedy]

if it helped with the mixing, measuring, settling for bubbles, etc. I might be interested.

 

But all it essentially does is replace using a syringe to make the spheres...

that's not the hard part