Is it just me, or are most hardware projects on kickstarter easily replaceable by cheap standard hardware like a mobile phone or a raspberry pi, and the right software?
It seems strange then, that shipping is such a big problem.
Most of the ones I've seen are. However, all the Kickstarters I've seen are targetting consumers. If your product is based on something like an RPi, then your parts costs are already much higher that they should be and your profit will be close to zero because B2C prices are typically very low.
If you are targetting commercial/industrial customers, then the added cost of standard hardware is generally not a deterrent IME.
It seems strange then, that shipping is such a big problem.