Crowdfund your product in China

Each crowdfunding platform in China works differently, but the main difference with Chinese platforms compared to Kickstarter, is that they usually won't let you launch a campaign without a pre-existing, product. To protect Chinese consumers, platforms expect your product to be ready to ship. Besides that the way you market your campaign should be different. This blog post provides a more detailed answer.

Due to internet restrictions in China, we work mostly work with consumer products, including tech, design, homeware, and other physical product categories that can be sold through online shopping websites. If you have a digital product or something else, feel free to contact us. We may still be able to help. At the very least, we will try to give you some free advice.

Yes, absolutely. If you've already done a campaign on one of these platforms, that's perfect. We can localize/translate your existing assets to fit your campaign in China.

The short answer is: approximately three months including fulfillment. We divide our workflow into four steps. The first two steps (strategy and setup usually take 2-4 weeks. The launch step (i.e., the actual selling bit) usually runs for 30 or 60 days. After that, fulfillment can be completed in around two weeks, not including return management.

Chinable was founded by an Australian Founder with 8+ years of on-the-ground, tech, and marketing experience in China. The Chinable team works remotely - mostly out of Australia, United States, Mainland China, and Hong Kong. The company itself (Slingshot Limited) is headquartered in Hong Kong.

Yes, if you already have a fulfilment provider in Hong Kong or Mainland China, you can usually use them if that's what you want. Otherwise, you can leave it to us and we will engage a suitable fulfilment provider to work on behalf of your campaign. Either way your fulfilment costs will probably be similar.

It depends on your product and budget. For most campaigns, it's best to focus all efforts around one single platform. However, sometimes 2 or 3 platforms make more sense. We'll do our research and give you our recommendations during the first phase of our workflow. In general, we need to ensure we are getting you the best bang for your buck and not spreading ourselves too thin.

If your product is solely an app with no physical product, then crowdfunding in China is probably not going to be a good fit for you. However, if you have a physical product that connects to an app, we can still do crowdfunding for you. We may need to work with your developers to translate and localise a version of your app that would make sense in China. If you would like to get your app listed on Chinese app stores, we can help you with that for a small one time fee.

To ensure the best results for your campaign, we spend a big chunk of your package fee on 3rd party marketing expenses. For most campaigns, marketing includes a little PR and a lot of influencer marketing. We can involve you in the marketing decisions. You will get a chance to review and provide your feedback during the strategy phase of our workflow.

When we say proceeds, we mean the full amount of money paid by your backers/customers minus commissions paid to the crowdfunding platform, fulfillment centers, and payment processors (if any). As a rule of thumb, you can expect that around 10-15% of the full amount collected will go to these services.

Currently, no. There are three types of crowdfunding: donation-based, rewards-based, and equity crowdfunding. Chinable focuses solely on rewards-based crowdfunding as popularised by US websites such as IndieGogo and Kickstarter.

Yes, we do! If you need something other than crowdfunding management, send us an email with some details about your requirements, and we'll let you know if we can help. We are hard at work building out workflows for a range of other services that will help you be successful in China.

The rules and requirements for crowdfunding in China are much stricter than they are in the US. For one thing, most platforms require a local company registration. Marketing is also a completely different ballgame here in China. So to do it effectively requires some local expertise. If you have a Chinese speaker on your team, you may be able to manage your own crowdfunding campaign in China. To help you get started, we created this blog post.

Yes, we aim to make your China campaign as profitable as possible. Chances are you already have some great marketing assets and can share some valuable lessons from your previous crowdfunding. Our package prices take this into account. We provide a similar level of quality to our US counterparts but at a cheaper price. And since your product will be ready made. you should be able to sell your products on Chinese crowdfunding platforms at closer to recommended retail price (RRP). Also keep in mind that Chinese consumers are used to paying a premium for international brands. We will research and propose a pricing strategy during the first phase of our workflow.

We have arrangements with partner companies on the China mainland that we can use to apply for and list your campaigns. When your campaign is finished, we can send the proceeds to any international company and bank account in the US, EU or elsewhere. All we need from you is an invoice with company and bank details.