KickStarter reviews

Approximately FIVE years waiting for an item I invested in. I have notified Kickstarter that I have NEVER received item. The first 2 request were greeted with a call they made to the "group" conducting it. The guys called me back with apologies and said they have a special run made for supporters.... TWICE!!!!! Never recieved Anything.
Get back a response together that they NOW they don't have any record of the transaction. Again that is after THEY notified the merchant TWICE.
NOW they are lying because they don't want to follow through looking for transaction. But they have MY money. No accountability!!!! Stall!!!! Lies!!!!.
Their brilliant technique is to lie/delay and than to punish you with requesting ALL necessary documentation.
I do think they are criminals. NEVER AGAIN! Its all bull$#*!!

I backed six projects and three of them never delivered the product. Only two comic book projects delved a solid product. A USB cable immediately broke and the lifetime guarantee doesn't mean anything. The other two products never delivered anything, they just took the money and that was that.

I have been making soft plastic baits for a few years when I decided to go on kickstarter to try to expand and hire a disabled vet to help the response I got was o.oo money pledges. 1 guy that would get my message out there for a price. I am a vet trying to get by and thought if I could help a disabled vet along the way that would be a worthy cause. I guess people don't care about vets or disabled vets. Don't waist your time here.

I am shocked by the amount of reviewers complaining that the project they backed was delayed. Get real. Kickstarter is not a store, you know. You are not buying a product, you are investing in a project. You are taking a risk. Some projects can be delayed or even fail, because their founders failed to predict all the complexities of bringing an innovative product to the market - and there are many. It may or may not be the fault of the project creators, but in any case it's not Kickstarter's fault. Kickstarter is a great place to fund great ideas, just understand what you are doing.

I tried to raise money for a memorial for my family who lost their lives in a family house fire. The set-up for the campaign looked to be going great. Great feedback from everyone, too. Until Kickstarter reviewed it and accused me of raising money for "food, personal expenses and pleasure travel"?? I appealed. Their answer was the same. Then I asked around, all across the Internet. EVERYONE informed me that Kickstarter will ONLY help finance leftwing media concerns, projects to "better life" in communist nations and industrial idea theft for mass-producers in communist nations. I never would have dreamed this. BUYER BEWARE AND BE WARNED TO ALL WHO ATTEMPT KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGNS!! Kickstarter is a leftwing idea-theft scam front site for communist nation concerns and communist nation silent-partner owners. DO NOT EVER SPEND YOUR MONEY ON KICKSTARTER!! BUYER BEWARE!!

Buyer beware! I joined the Kickstarter campaign for the Coolest Cooler July, 2014. After numerous email explaining that they were re-engineering, over engineering the original product, manufacturing problems, and delays, and now hitting us up for extra money to expedite our rewards because they've run out of money and need to find more, and on and on, and on! I still do not have my reward TWO years later, and there is no end in sight because they're not sure where the money's going to come from. They've even suggested they will sell them retail before I get mine!

Per emails from Kickstart to me about this situation, there is no support or protection offered by them, no accountability for project initiators to be their word to their backers. Projects and commitments *could* never be fulfilled, or worse yet completely bogus, and we are on our own. Nice out for Kickstarter, but bad for backers.

I have done smaller projects, and they've turned out fine, but this one is a blow-out bummer, and there's no help for it.

Like most people out there, I thought Kickstarter had such a noble agenda and what a cool platform that helps making ideas happen. Last August I found two campaigns and I really liked their products. So I pledged. I spent $268 to buy two jackets from Baubax and $40 on 4 small devices from AwareCar. They both claimed to arrive in November. Guess what? Both projects delayed their production and shipment time. Ok, I get it, those are entrepreneurs who make their products for the first time. So I was being very patient. I waited and waited, received a series of announcement and emails from the project owners that the products were coming together. Last month I finally received the 4 devices from AwareCar with joy, and immediately tried it. Whoops, it only worked for 3 days. Two devices died, simply didn't get turned on. With great disappointment I reached out to the project owner, he asked me to replace the battery. I'm like what?? I need to buy new battery for a product I barely used. I won't spend a dime on this stupid product. And so for the Baubax jackets, it's been 6 months now, PRODUCTS NEVER ARRIVE. My patience has it limit. Here I am, wasted $300+ on Kickstarter where they absolutely do nothing to help backers.

Besides being a victim myself, I also heard so many bad experiences from other people. The site is full of crappy products/projects, or campaigns that seem so cool but product delays or never arrive. You end up losing money and Kickstarter takes their commission. Stay away folks!

you contribute and are told you will get the product at a certain time frame...but then there are issues...months go by. communications are lacking....nothing. contact kickstarter to complain about the product being late, no comm and then you find out the product is being sold online for the same price you contributed.. promised incentives of being a contributor is zilch. except the waste of time of writing and waiting to get your promised product. kickstarter responded with an email for me to rate the service...yep. that is all i got from them. they don't care. another product i got broke when i tried to use, and promised a replacement...never came. and the final one i contributed, has not shipped yet although others have the product. communications are poor. i feel why bother with this, the incentives are not worth it. save your money, purchase the item when it is really available.

SUCK - DON'T WAST YOUR ON TIME ON KICKSTARTER IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BIG HUGH FOLLOWING ALREADY.

What I means is, if you think your just going to place your Idea on KS and think people are going to back you (that a big mistake), if you think KS is going to promote you (that a big mistake), so way do you think you need KS - YOU DON'T!

KS wants 3% of your founding but does nothing for it, you do all the work 100%, you would be better off just making a website and having your fan base or your following just go there to invest.

You will see like i did , once you place your ad on KS you we be overwhelmed with Spamming emails asking for money, money,money,money, not wanting to invest but asking for money, money,money,money, telling you that they can help found your project up to 80% from anywhere from $99.99 to $1500. then some of them wont 7% of the top of your founding, scammer all of them trying to suck your money out of your pocket.

I got about 70 email all from different companies, saying the same exact thing on their website, say the same exact thing in their emails, Charging high rate's for placing paid ads a google and Facebook in your behalf, NOTE: just do it your self if your going to spend the money you don't need them at all.

Just like the promotion companies did when the SEO bull $#*! hot ( be at the top of google) bra bra bra bla take it from me I run a full business on the Internet and I have heard and see it all.

I hope this help !

When people hear the word "crowdfunding", the first thing they think of is Kickstarter. They do a good job screening the submissions in making sure the quality of project on their platform at a higher standard. While there has been users who’s projects are often rejected, they have been very effective overall as they are the clear leader in both artistic and tech projects. They helped my Raytoons project get off the ground.

I have at present (jan 2016) a KS project, which started out ok, but after a few days, I got no pledges, and am way too far from my goal which is heart breaking. I have worked so hard on my artwork and writing for my own tarot deck. That's 78 pieces of art! I looked at other tarot projects that have raised dollars, that is to say American, but I am in UK and feel the other side of the pond has more backers for locals. Disapppointed, but will get it published, even if I have to save up for one single deck for meeee.

KS's main goal is to connect people with ideas with people who got money and can support the realization of such ideas. It's a noble agenda. So why am I giving it such a poor rating. Well, to make long story short, most of the projects are not backed up by investors, not even projects with great ideas. That's because people, true people, behind KS are actually only fishing for ideas. Most businesses are losing in today's state of the global economy, so new ideas are needed to make everything move again, products that people really want to buy, even people with less deep pockets. Whoever achieves to come up with such products and services first, will gain top positions. If your idea is great, but you don't have the money, your project won't get support on KS or any similar service, it will be stolen as you will see companies being opened in the US doing what you wanted to do. That's the whole point of KS.

EDIT: of course to sell it like the real service with true agenda, they pick some silly projects and make them funded, make things happen and then they advertise those silly projects as great KS successes so real targets (the rest of us) would take the bait.

I've backed 2 projects: one went off without a hitch, came on time and everything worked out spectacularly. The other was delayed about a year, had no communication (aside from telling us about more delays and product issues) and pretty much killed the brand.
That being said, that's all the start ups and not Kickstarter itself. I can't speak for the site, but as a consumer just know what you're backing and understand that there is some risk involved. But yea, most of the stuff is either insanely expensive, very niche or crap. Also way too many people trying to fund little homemade candle operations.

Recently, about a year ago, like many aspiring filmmakers, I went onto Kickstarter to help fund one of my film projects. But unlike the other hopefuls, I chose not to campaign for my project. Needless to say, I failed to receive any funding. I was by no ways shocked at the results; I expected those results. I wanted to prove a point. I went on Kickstarter once more, this time it was for a safety product I had created to save abandoned children. Once again, I refused to campaign myself. And, once again, I failed to receive any funding. And now I will reveal why I refused to campaign for myself--I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO!
Let's take a look at this objectively. Kickstarter's concept asks it's consumers to place their projects on their site. They then offer a slew of suggestions on how to go about campaigning to raise funds for your product. And when, on that magical day, you reach your financial goal, you are given the funds to launch your project minus their COMMISSION, and minus Amazon's commission. If you fail to reach your EXACT financial objective, you get NOTHING.
Think about this for a minute. You are asked to come up with a product, tweak the product, campaign to raise funds for YOUR product, and in the end Kickstarter and Amazon get a cut of what you have earned. What's the point in that? Our nation is inundated with MIDDLEMEN; Kickstarter fits that mold to a T. They're nothing more than pimps. They make money off your hard work. What's the point of these websites like Kickstarter if they do absolutely nothing to help you with the collecting of the funds, but draw their financial share provided by your hard work?
And yes, I also placed my safety product on Indiegogo, and as you may have guessed, the results, or lack of, were identical.
Let's stop supporting these PIMPS OF THE INTERNET.

The only thing that ever seems to make it out are music albums and board games for me. Everything else is just a waste of time, even board games can be hit or miss and it really comes down to backing only people you know will be successful. Too many failed projects or projects that go on for years after their expected ship date. I still do the occasional small one here or there but really I try to avoid it.

Kickstarter gets 5% of every transaction on the site, so they (and those who reached their funding goals) are probably the only ones happy.

This video from The Onion (news parody site) hits the nail on the head:
http://www.theonion.com/video/internet-scam-alert-most-kickstarter-projects-just-28655

It is in the best interest of those raising funds to have a great looking page and words to entice investment. Once the funds are raised, Kickstarter considers the project a "success" and YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN if you are dealing with someone dishonest! Legal recourse is hard because it is difficult to prove intent.

The good news is, the FTC is coming after Kickstarter scammers, as evidenced by this article:
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/06/feds-take-first-action-against-a-failed-kickstarter-with-112k-judgment/

Stay away!

If the company goes belly up, you lose your money! And Kickstarter won't help you.

I was filling out my form and there is this live chat window. I simply ask why are they asking for my credit card for the second time. The lady on the other end used vulgar language on me and informing me that I am giving them a hard time. Immediately offered me a refund. I fine and ask of my email address.

I am not sure if this is a scam. I don't know if I will have my refund back or not or how long will it take.

Be careful people. I will not advice you to sign up on their investment offer.

I've been waiting a year to be refunded on an investment I made through Kickstarter. The project went belly-up and Kickstarter did nothing to help the investors to be refunded.
I'm disappointed in Kickstarter and wish I'd never trusted them.

I was very moved by this project and am disgusted about the way Kickstarter ignored it on their spotlight and films we love pages. I truly believe this company practices cronyism and favoritism. Typical Hollywood wannabes. If I were a filmmaker I'd really support the films you are moved by, such as Peter Ertel's, and not fall in kickstarters' phoniness for a lot of the films "they love" which are so amateurish and teach us absolutely nothing.

the truth is: it depends on if you are lucky and the project you are backing up is produced or if the project owner/company just runs of with the money.
No matter what, if kickstarter gets its 5% for successful funding, they don't give a sh*t.
So keep in mind, kickstarter is neither responsible nor willing to help you in case of problems or if your money is gone.
Conculsion: kickstarter is like gambling,but the odds are worse.

I have always been hesitant to just "donate" my hard earned money to help fund a startup project, and Kolstom eyewear helped me to confirm that hesitation. This was my first and last contribution ever to ANY Kickstarter program. After a $200 "investment", the program not only ran out of money, it was also "forced to abandon the project". So after waiting 2 years, I received nothing except an email from the company stating that there was no money left and the project would not be completed. Save your hard earned $$$$ people... Biggest waste of money EVER!!

Twice I have funded a successful project, zero times the project has shipped to anyone on the list.

Kickstarter offers no accountability or help, despite the projects each stealing over $10,000 from the contributors. Their help desk just says that it is on us as backers to decide whether or not to commit the money.

I have now personally paid $500, and recieved nothing for it.