Editing The Pen Addict 77/transcript (section)

== Polar Pen Kickstarter ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' One thing that came out was pretty much right after we recorded last week, if not the next day. The Polar Pen Kickstarter wrapped. Did you see the final numbers on this thing?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm looking at it now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' $817,164 Canadian style.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Incredible.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's a lot of money. I know his goal was only $14,000. I'm wondering, you know, the guy's name is Andrew Gardner.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I wonder how bad he's freaking out or what. Because being on having my own Kickstarter live right now, I know how stressful it's been just for the small amount that we've done comparatively to him. I think we've done a lot for, we've done way more than we thought we would do. And to see something like this is pretty nuts. One of the things I mentioned about it last week, though, was the first thing that came to mind was the Buckyballs desk magnets. And sure enough, it came out in Canada. I saw an article on CBC Canada. Someone on Twitter sent it to me and said, hey, Canada may not allow him to sell these in Canada.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Wow.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because of the magnetic hazard, which was the reason Buckyballs got taken off the market. Which I'll go on record and say, and I think that whole thing's bogus anyway. It's not a children's toy. You know, children can get a hold of a lot of things that aren't meant for them. It's not marketed as a children's toy. So I don't see any reason why this gentleman with the polar pin or Buckyballs or any of that should be removed from the market.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But I don't get to make the rules, unfortunately.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You should get to make all of the rules.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I should get to make all of the rules. I should. But anyway, we'll put a link in the show notes to this story that y'all can go read. And it's the Buckyballs story all over again. And I just wonder what's going to happen if the U.S. chimes in or anyone else makes a comment on this. So we'll see. It's going to be interesting to follow.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That would be really rough for him because he won't have enough money to refund everyone. Right. Because after, like, the tax and Kickstarter's cut, so people would lose money.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So he can't just terminate the Kickstarter and the money just gets reverted back into people's accounts. So this one's funded. Kickstarter fees are removed and Amazon payments fees are removed. That adds up to probably around the 9% range. So he's 9% in the hole right now. 9% of $817,000 is a lot of money. And that's like... If it had to all go back.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And he may have already spent some money.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, absolutely. Because he has like... On getting production ready. Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' He has like 15,000 of these things to make. Yeah. Oh, this could be a dangerous time for him. I wish him the best of luck.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I know. I totally wish him luck, too. I think it's bogus.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Anyone trying to stop a manufacturer from making a pin like this or a toy in the case of Buckyballs.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But it's going to be interesting to follow just because it's kind of become high profile now. So we will wait and see. Unfortunately, I was right in my statement last week saying that this could happen and it looks like it might. So we'll see.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You say you know everything.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, no. I mean, it just kind of... Ever since I first saw that pin, that's all I could think of. It's just one of those things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I feel bad for the guy.