Kickstarter Lesson #207: What Should You Do If Someone Won’t Pay? – Stonemaier Games

Kickstarter Lesson #207: What Should You Do If Someone Won’t Pay?

making-lots-of-moneyThis is a somewhat sensitive subject, and I’ve debated whether or not I should write about it. The reason I’ve decided to proceed is the reason I’ve written many of these articles: If you can learn from my mistakes, you don’t have to make them yourself.

I need to start with a big disclaimer: I’m going to tell a story in this post, but I’m specifically not naming names or pointing fingers. This is a private matter between Stonemaier Games and another company (we’ll call them Company X), and I’m going to have to obfuscate and simplify some details to keep their identity anonymous. I hope you’ll respect that privacy in the comments.

Crowdfunding and Accounts Receivable

Why does this subject apply to crowdfunders? After all, one of the great things about crowdfunding is that you’re paid up front through whichever platform you’re using (Kickstarter, Indiegogo, etc.)

Yet, as any creator can attest to, it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes you have opportunities to sell large quantities of a product or even share a print run with another company. Those payments aren’t always made up front.

Or perhaps you’re a little bit like Stonemaier Games: You’ve used Kickstarter, but you’ve also become a company outside of crowdfunding. You have orders with distributors, retailers, international partners, manufacturers, etc. Or perhaps you’re a different type of entrepreneur. Freelancers have to deal with this all the time, unfortunately. That’s why I prioritize paying them.

The point is, if this doesn’t apply to you today, it will probably apply to you someday. Bookmark this article for that day.

The Story

Company X is, at least in part, a distributor. That means they buy games from us through our broker and then sell them to retailers.

About a year ago, we noticed that Company X hadn’t paid for anything in a while. You would think this would have been more apparent, but sometimes we work with companies in such a way that the balance on our account can swing from red to black depending on what we’re doing. They provide us some services, and we provide them some services, so instead of issuing a constant stream of invoices back and forth, we just keep a balance.

The reason we noticed was that the end of the year was approaching, and the balance had grown to a sizable amount. So I asked Company X to pay off the amount.

They responded to say that it would be really helpful for them to wait until early January to pay. They had a list of reasons, but overall, they just asked for a little more time.

Of course that should have been a red flag. But they hadn’t ever not paid an invoice before, and they were a key partner for us, so I gave them some extra time.

Then January came around, and they still had some reasons to wait a little longer. Then February.

By this point, it was starting to get pretty annoying. But I wasn’t concerned that they’d never pay, and we had something coming up that would result in us owing them a lot of money, so we kept pushing it back.

Here’s where the the tricky part comes in, the reason that this topic is even still on my mind: In mid-February, Company X ordered some of our games from our distribution broker. I wasn’t involved in the transaction, and I hadn’t communicated to my broker that this company owed us quite a bit of money.

The transaction went through, and our broker shipped a bunch of games to this company. Distributors typically don’t pay until they receive the games, so no money was exchanged. Super obvious spoiler alert: It’s now 9 months later, and they still haven’t paid for those games. (They did, however, resolve most of their other balance with us.)

The lessons are clear:

  • Don’t retain long-term balances.
  • Act on red flags.
  • Don’t accept more than one excuse.
  • Communicate with other partners who might be affected.

Basically, don’t do anything I did.

How Do You Get Your Money?

Well, here’s the tough part: If someone is adamant about not paying you, it’s going to be really hard to resolve the problem without going to court. Litigation will likely cost you way more than the amount you’re owed.

Despite this being the title of this article, I don’t have a good solution for you. I’ve talked to Company X face to face, on the phone, and over a series of increasingly firm e-mails. I’ve talked to our lawyer. I’ve e-mailed a branch of the government that I can’t remember, as they never replied. It doesn’t help that Company X isn’t based in the US.

So at a certain point, I just had to ask myself: Is it worth continuing to let $23,000 weigh on me and Stonemaier Games? Or should I move on?

For the most part, I decided to move on. I hope that Company X someday decides to do the right thing and pay their bill. That is my hope.

Two Other Things You Can Do to Prevent This Issue

My experience with company X has made me restructure the way I work with many partners, particularly when we’re talking about sums of $10k+. The structure is all about risk mitigation.

For example, we have a number of international partners who buy into print runs of our games. We might be making 6,000 copies of English Scythe, and they’ll join the print run for 1,000 copies of, say, German Scythe. Right before we start the print run, the company must pay us 50% of their costs. If they don’t, we cut them from the print run. Then, right before the games ship out of China to the company, they must pay us the second 50%. If they don’t, we’ll pay back the original 50%, take ownership of the games, and sell them to someone else.

These can be construed as harsh measures, and they require the other companies to trust us and our manufacturer. Some companies aren’t comfortable with this, and that’s okay. Part of this type of risk mitigation means that we may miss out on some contracts. To me, that’s better than putting ourselves in the same position as we did with Company X.

The other thing you can do–something we haven’t tried–is to use an escrow account. Basically, if you issue an invoice to a company for $20,000 and they’re hesitant to pay it while you still have the inventory, they can put that money in escrow. The bank will hold those funds until the company has received the inventory. If anyone has done this, I’d love to hear about this in the comments.

***

Like I said at the beginning, writing about this topic is not something I relish. I’m not trying to air dirty laundry, as they say. Rather, I really hope my mistakes can help you avoid situations like this, whether it’s for $100 or $100,000.

If you’ve been through something similar and have any suggestions or insights I haven’t covered, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Addendum: If you are a game publisher looking for partners in Europe and you want to avoid Company X, feel free to contact me privately at contact@stonemaiergames.com.

16 Comments on “Kickstarter Lesson #207: What Should You Do If Someone Won’t Pay?

Leave a Reply to 2016 Behind-the-Scenes Stakeholder Report for Stonemaier Games – Stonemaier GamesCancel reply

If you ask a question about a specific card or ability, please type the exact text in your comment to help facilitate a speedy and precise answer.

Your comment may take a few minutes to publish. Antagonistic, rude, or degrading comments will be removed. Thank you.

  1. […] Partnership: As detailed here, I should have seen the red flags of a partner that simply stopped paying […]

  2. I work for a large company that has similar policies in place. Sometimes the risk is just the cost of doing business. We’ve been around for 97 years and are an established leader in our field, but some people are still hesitant to pay partial costs up front for fear we’ll stiff them or go out of business or something.

  3. Its definitely smart and professional not to blow up that company’s spot, but at the same time sunlightt and accountability can help mitigate issues like this. I’m wondering if there’s an Angies List situation out there for game developers/distributors etc. Seems like something BGG might have.

    1. It’s a really fine line to walk, but I understand where you’re coming from. If I read this point, I’d want to know too. I’m really not hesitant to share who this company is, but I’d prefer to do so in private, not in public. So if anyone is going through the process of looking at partners, feel free to ask me about Company X at contact@stonemaiergames.com.

  4. Jamey, I totally understand your point. And if I’m ever looking for a distributor, I’ll check with you first. I’m curious what process, if any, you use to vet potential business partners such as manufacturers and distributors? I’d love to see a blog post just on vetting and choosing partners.

    1. I’ll think about that, Denny. I’m not sure if I really have a great process to detail, but I’ll think about it to see if I have any stories or insights. :)

  5. Jamey, I’m sorry to hear about your situation. It’s upsetting to think of a company not honoring their commitments. Hopefully, they’ll come around and pay their debt. I agree that not sending anymore games their way is a good start. I understand you may think it’s not your place to point fingers and bring to light company X’s identity. I’m not one to call names or point fingers either. But I wonder, if by bringing such companies to light, it will bring about accountability. If others knew of company’s X’s business untrustworthiness, X would be forced to change their practices. It would also safeguard others, like myself, as I could avoid such companies and thus not falling into your circumstances.

    1. Thanks, Denny. I definitely hear what you’re saying, and I’m willing to share this company’s identity in private if someone is in the process of vetting partners. I just didn’t want this post to be about airing dirty laundry, as it may have detracted from the main point (and the fact that I should have caught on to the red flags far earlier than I did). Also, Even though Company X made some big mistakes doesn’t mean they’ll continue to make the same mistakes with others in the future.

  6. The company I used to work for did this all the time. They’d buy the product from the company to sell it and then avoid paying the end of month invoice for as long as they could get away with.

    The result was that the company would refuse to send them more product until they paid the invoice. Maybe that’s worth exploring?

  7. Jamey,

    I’m stunned that this type of practice would take place. However, as I used to work in the real estate industry for about a decade, I can tell you that using an escrow account is a great way to keep everything above board and completely transparent through the process. They’re easy to set-up and manage, as well.

    Cheers,
    Joe

  8. It’s not a fun thing. We’ve been on the receiving end of this too with commissioned goods. Pay 50% up front, they never deliver… and there goes $3500.
    It’s rare. All we can do is pray for those people. And hope for the best in the future.

    It really is critically important that we be honest and dignified with our payments. Maybe it will encourage others to do so.

    I commend you for not sharing the company’s name. I’m probably not the only publisher that would like to tell my distributing arms about avoiding them ourselves though. ; )

    1. John: Man, that’s rough. I agree, it is rare, but it sucks when it happens. :) I like your idea of leading by example in the way we pay each other.

  9. Having / have that problem ourselves with some of our Kickstarter projects. I don’t really have any good advice, beyond potentially making sure with the deposits you get paid are sufficient to cover the vast majority of your costs. That’s what we try to do, so out of pocket cost if someone doesn’t pay isn’t huge.

    1. Starlit: I’m sorry to hear you’ve had that happen, and I’m glad you’ve found a way with the deposits to mitigate most of that risk.

See All Comments

Discover more from Stonemaier Games

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading