Comments

1
The only time I've ever contributed to a Kickstarter appeal I had to pay then and there. Is this not always the case?
2
@1 Kickstarter charges only if/when the project is funded. It says it charges you but the charge doesn't actually go through until the day it closes.
3
A close friend of mine was able to pursue his dream of become a board game publisher because of Kickstarter. As of 2 months ago he was able to quit his job and publish board games full time.

The idea and the potential of Kickstarter is so freaking amazing and stories like this kicktrolling make me furious.
4
I also didn't know this was possible. The hold on your card should be verified, just as it is when you rent a car (or similar). What am I missing?
5
I need $10,000 to travel around slashing tires and/or Achilles' tendons of the people who do this.
6
@5: I pledge 100 BILLION DOLLARS

http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com…
7
@4: Exactly.

And how does this work?

"they have to pay fees on the pledges regardless of whether they actually collect"

No, you should not have to pay fees on charges that were reversed.

You shouldn't be able to dispute these charges, especially when the evidence is collected on the persons' intent to defraud.

Agreed with the persons in the article's comments that you ought to be able to decline specific offers from questionable characters.
8
It should be like Ebay, if you pledge, then you damn well better be ready to pay. In fact, Kick starter should hold the money, and if the project does not get funded then kick starter is the one who should be responsible for giving refunds. The pledge and pay if it hits the goal doesn't make sense. Not when people on the internet are notorious assholes.
9
Kickstarer the company is rewarded when someone makes a $10,000 pledge that doesn't go through? What in the actual fuck? So this money you can't even have any access to you have to pay fees on because, what, company policy? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I'd much rather use that one service that pays you regardless of how much people donate, this feels like kickstarter trying to find a new way to squeeze a few dollars out of their customers, even if it's just trolling, kickstarter has quite the obligation to stop this shit. If you get $0 from kickstarter your bill from kickstarter should be exactly $0 as well.
10
@8,

Um. Ebay doesn't actually work like that, as I learned one holiday season when I was trying to sell a Kindle.

Kindles had just come out and were sold out on Amazon's site, so you could make bank selling one. (I had received one as a birthday present, but was too poor to afford any books, electronic or physical.) I sold mine for several hundred dollars, the buyer never paid. I contacted him directly to ask him if he'd at least release me from my obligation so I could resell. He never got back to me. A week later (and one day before Christmas), I was finally free to put it up for sale again.

A complaint to Ebay yielded nothing. There are no consequences for deadbeat buyers on that site. I couldn't even leave negative feedback for that buyer.
11
The problem with holding the money and then refunding is Kickstarter is going to be making thousands of refunds a month. The percentage of successful campaigns is pretty small. The cost to do that is just going to be passed on to the successful people. Any strong method of verifying that people will actually pay will just be a barrier to people participating. It may end up coming down to something like this, but I hope not.

I've been very successful using Kickstarter to collect playing card decks (and a few other things.) So far nothing like this has happened to any of those projects.
12
@11: The "hold" is not in escrow, it is ensuring that there is sufficient payment on the card, AFAIK.
13
There is so much misunderstanding and misinformation in this thread about how these platforms actually work.
14
So explain it all for us, Sr Mary Ignatius.
15
How much in fake pledges do I need get my new business charging people for fake pledges up and running? We also take fake bitcoin.
16
@12: yeah I understand that, but that's not how Kickstarter works, though I guess you mean that you, et al. consider that a solution, but I don't think that will work either. Will a credit card company let you place a hold on someone's account for 30 days? And, then take another 30 days (or whatever they theoretically allow) to get your refund if the project failed? That scenario would probably end my participation.

I don't know that there's a good solution. Maybe the answer is to manually or cleverly algorithmically monitor large or unusual pledges and not display them until they've been vetted.
17
@16: Yes, I mean it would be a "solution" for that issue. I know auth holds can last 30 days, but I'm not sure about any extensions.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.