Sadly, this is not uncommon; I've prefunded several Kickstarter projects that didn't pan out; and Kickstarters in general remind me of the early days of microcomputers (early 80s), when engineers would get a great idea, start a (thinly funded) company to realize the idea, and get people to preorder the items.
The problem was (and is) that small companies are limited by cashflow. So new orders provide new cashflow, and so get serviced *before* preorders (since the company already has that cash, and has likely spent it already on things like rent, parts, and salaries).
Beyond all that, though, it definitely does look like Arevo is either extremely cash-poor and trying to chisel extra money for "shipping" or is an outright scam.
Which was also not uncommon in the early days of microcomputers.
Sadly, this is not uncommon; I've prefunded several Kickstarter projects that didn't pan out; and Kickstarters in general remind me of the early days of microcomputers (early 80s), when engineers would get a great idea, start a (thinly funded) company to realize the idea, and get people to preorder the items.
The problem was (and is) that small companies are limited by cashflow. So new orders provide new cashflow, and so get serviced *before* preorders (since the company already has that cash, and has likely spent it already on things like rent, parts, and salaries).
Beyond all that, though, it definitely does look like Arevo is either extremely cash-poor and trying to chisel extra money for "shipping" or is an outright scam.
Which was also not uncommon in the early days of microcomputers.