So far I’ve backed almost 100 projects on Kickstarter. For many of these campaigns, I’ve mainly wanted to support a particular creator who I discovered on one of our forums or who left a comment/sent an email. For others, I really wanted the product the campaign was pitching!
Initially, when I backed my first few projects, I expected the promised product right away. I didn’t understand why a creator might disappear for a month or not update their campaign page. Often times, I just wanted to know whether or not my rewards was in the process of being fulfilled, or if I had been ripped off in some way.
However, over time, I came to better understand the reward fulfillment process for Kickstarter campaigns and have since changed my expectations. It’s true, scammers do exist. However, if you’re like me, and are worried about receiving your reward or what the creator is up to, first consider a few of the points below before lodging a complaint or, at the worst, taking some form of legal action.
1. Delays Are Common
It’s very common that Kickstarter projects experience delays when it comes to reward fulfillment. Likely, that delay would take the form of a month or two, but in some cases it can be months and months.
For example, I backed the 100 Character Designs Kickstarter project, which promised a “cartoon drawing of yourself.” After the campaign had finished, I filled out the surveys, but due to life interruptions, the creator was not able to fulfill the rewards for a month or two after she had initially planned. Since the creator had communicated with me, I was completely okay with the delay and was more concerned with receiving a quality reward.
Eventually, the reward did come, which I’ve included to the left of this paragraph, and it’s exactly what I wanted! The key takeaway here is that the creator was communicating throughout the process, which set my mind at ease. If your creator has fallen off the grid completely, that is cause for concern.
P.S. You can check out more of Erin’s artwork here.
2. Manufacturing errors do happen.
Unlike a traditional ecommerce store, a Kickstarter creator does not have a massive amount of inventory that they only need to ship out to backers. Usually, they have a few prototypes of the said widget, whether that’s a gadget or fiction novel. Just because you liked these prototypes doesn’t mean that you will receive a 100% exact copy in the mail.
Since manufacturing is a process, there is some room for errors, which can set back delivery times or make delivery in possible all together. I spoke with one creator in the past who, due to a manufacturing error, was unable to deliver his rewards because he would have had to make a very sizable investment to re-do the order with a better manufacturer.
This is why Kickstarter reminds backers that problems do arise, saying “If the problems are severe enough that the creator can’t fulfill their project, creators need to find a resolution. Steps should include offering refunds, detailing exactly how funds were used, and other actions to satisfy backers.”
In this case, I would recommend that the creator ship out the defected rewards anyway to show backers that they tried their best. Who knows, that could become some kind of limited edition nostalgic product if they are wildly successful down the road.
3. Costs are not always estimated correctly.
Although it’s unfortunate for backers, sometimes, creators do not estimate their costs correctly and end up needing more than they thought to finish their project. This is more common when human resources costs are involved, like having to pay a developer to work on a computer game that was meant to be released to the backers.
Of course, the next actions on the part of the creator will vary on case by case basis. In the game example, it seems appropriate that the creator would try to raise angel investment or some other form of funding and then make the game free for the backers. Unfortunately, in other cases, the backers might not ever see that game.
As a backer, it’s always important to do due diligence on any project that you pledge to and try to nail down expectations to a tee. One creator on Quora said it best:
“I’ve backed over 130 projects on Kickstarter. Kickstarter is NOT a store… Out of all the projects I’ve supported only ONE failed to deliver or send word out. It’s possible the guy died? I don’t know. I don’t really care because I expect a certain small percentage to not be able to deliver.
It is MY responsibility to protect myself in how I choose a potential pledge. It is MY responsibility to do the research and make the decision on who I will support. A person has to use some discernment – because there ARE ripoff artists.” – Source.
Should you be worried?
If, after reading this post, you still have some misgivings, I would recommend trying to reach out to the creator through various social media channels. If they are unresponsive to all of their backers and are not active on any social channel, I think that this is cause for alarm.
Keep in mind that you can always create a thread on our forum to warn other creators if you are scammed in some way by project. Sometimes, public discussion can put enough pressure on a creator to make them explain the reason for their non-communication. However, first and foremost, I would try to be understanding and not rush to conclusions.
