How much profit from KS campaign?

[MattSteiner]

Does anyone have any idea how much profit Peachy Printer is making off of each $100 backing? I can't imagine it costs them $100. I'm just wondering how much they are making off of this kickstarter project, and how much will actually be used to make the Peachy Printer the best it can be. Do you think the owners are taking a cut off of the KS funds?

[DerekPeterson]

Honestly I don't think it really matters. As long as they provide the product that they promise, I don't see any reason anyone should care if they are taking some money for themselves. Afterall, they are putting a ton of work into this project.

[Slatye]

I doubt that anyone (even the project starters) can accurately answer that until it's actually shipping. The software might just work the first time, or it might take six months of development with ten developers working full-time on it. The hardware might turn out to be $10/piece in large quantities, or they might find that to get it reasonably consistent every single one has to be hand-built and calibrated at a cost of $80.

There's almost certainly a substantial 'breathing room' margin built into the price; it wouldn't surprise me if the (current) expected production price per unit is well under $50. However, the actual profit is likely to be much lower, since quite a lot of that money will end up being spent on things that were not accurately known at the start of the project. It's very possible that the "initial" Kickstarter (ie the first hundred or so orders) will actually make a loss, given the small quantities and the software costs; that'll be recouped later as the startup costs are spread over a larger number of printers.