Kickstarter Review

Pros

• Most popular business/creative crowdfunding site
• Suited for large businesses
• Industry-standard fees
• Excellent media outreach

Cons

• Limited customer support
• Not all project proposals are accepted
• Can only launch a project from certain countries
• All-or-nothing funding

Kickstarter Overview

Kickstarter is the world’s best-known crowdfunding platform for tech projects and creative endeavors. With over 6 billion dollars raised, Kickstarter’s track record is unmatched in the field of business-focused crowdfunding.

Note that Kickstarter is not for personal causes — for that, you’ll need to use a platform like GoFundMe.

Another thing that distinguishes Kickstarter from most of its competitors: you must meet your fundraising goals within a set time period before you receive any funding. Furthermore, you must provide rewards (of your own creation) for your backers.

Keep reading our Kickstarter review for more details.

Looking for a more traditional lender? Check out our start-up lender comparison chart.

Services Offered

Kickstarter provides a platform for users to raise funds from individual backers for creative projects. All Kickstarter projects must fall under one of the following broad categories:

• Arts
• Comics & Illustration
• Design & Tech
• Film
• Food & Craft
• Games
• Music
• Publishing

You can launch a Kickstarter campaign from the following countries:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Luxembourg
• Mexico
• The Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Poland
• Singapore
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• UK
• USA

Backers can support a Kickstarter project from almost anywhere in the world.

Project Qualifications

Kickstarter has five rules that all projects must follow to qualify for crowdfunding:

• Projects must create something to share with others
• Projects and backer statistics must be honest and clearly presented
• Projects can’t fundraise for charity
• Projects can’t offer equity
• Projects can’t involve prohibited items

Kickstarter must approve all projects before they can go live. Approval can take up to three days.

Terms & Fees

These are the terms and fees for Kickstarter’s US-based fundraising campaigns (international processing fees vary by local currency):

Note that while you can set a funding period of up to 60 days, Kickstarter recommends a funding period of 30 days or less, citing internal data that shows projects lasting 30 days or fewer have a greater shot at meeting their goals. And remember, if your project’s funding period ends without the funding goal being met, you won’t collect any of the funds (or pay any fees), and all backers will be refunded.

As I said, part of the terms of launching a Kickstarter project and accepting support from backers is that you provide physical (or digital) rewards for your backers upon completion of the project. The rewards you offer can depend on the level of support pledged — for instance, you could offer trading cards to those who make $10 pledges, a copy of your board game project for $100, and a special edition of your board game complete with posters and expansion packs for $500.

Application Process

If you’re a permanent resident of any of the countries listed in the Services Offered section, you can apply to launch a Kickstarter project, provided the following qualifications are met:

• You are 18 or older
• You are creating a project in your own name or on behalf of a registered legal entity with which you are affiliated
• You have an address, bank account, and government-issued ID based in the country in which you’re creating a project
• If running your project as an individual, the linked bank account must belong to you
• You have a major credit or debit card

Starting a project is quite straightforward. You begin the process on the website, where you choose a category and verify your eligibility. You can then enter some basic information about your campaign, set your rewards and shipping costs, add a video along with a detailed project description to establish your story, add some profile information with links to your social accounts, and confirm your identity.

Once you’ve submitted your project for review, you’ll either pass the automated check and be able to launch your campaign immediately, or you’ll have to wait up to three days to launch if your project gets flagged for additional scrutiny.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

Every step of the crowdfunding process, from the initial application to completion, is detailed on Kickstarter’s website in a very straightforward manner. Nothing feels sales-y or deceptive. As Kickstarter only earns fees on successfully completed fundraising campaigns, the company has little incentive to rope people into trying the platform who don’t already have a serious project in mind.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Kickstarter may be the big dog of the crowdfunding industry, but its level of customer support doesn’t really reflect that. The only way to get in touch with Kickstarter is to submit a support ticket and wait to be contacted via email. This doesn’t give project creators (or backers, for that matter) access to the quick support they may need in the event of a mishap. That said, the knowledgebase provides answers to the most common questions.

Kickstarter Reviews

Negative Kickstarter Reviews & Complaints

Some Kickstarter users have grown disillusioned with the direction the company has taken in recent years. A 2016 HuffPost article titled “Why Kickstarter Is Corrupted” highlighted the effect that paid advertising, investor-backed campaigns, and crowdfunding agencies have had in sucking the air out of the room, leaving smaller creators and outfits — Kickstarter’s original target audience — at a distinct disadvantage.

Kickstarter’s BBB site shows that it currently gets a BBB rating of D- due to its failure to respond to five complaints filed against the company. The BBB site also shows that 96 complaints against Kickstarter have been closed in the last three years, 30 of them in the last 12 months. Kickstarter also has a poor Trustpilot rating of 1.2 out of 5.

Now, the vast majority of Kickstarter complaints come from backers who either weren’t pleased with the outcome of the project in question or never received the promised items. This isn’t necessarily an issue from the perspective of a business launching a project, but it’s good to keep in mind.

Issues raised about Kickstarter by campaigners include:

• Uneven Playing Field: With the emergence of paid advertising, investor-based campaigns, and crowdfunding agencies on the site, big players can have an enormous advantage compared to smaller operations.
• Funding Delays: Some project owners were frustrated by how long it took for Kickstarter to release their funds after a successful campaign.
• Poor Customer Support: Both customers and backers were frustrated by the difficulty of getting in touch with Kickstarter personnel.

Positive Kickstarter Reviews & Testimonials

In a field such as crowdfunding, there is always going to be a significant element of risk. Most professional reviewers still give Kickstarter high marks, however, and the service remains extremely popular.

Benefits of using Kickstarter include:

• Good Approval Process: Kickstarter generally does a pretty good job of filtering out sketchier projects, reducing the risk to backers.
• Funds From Unsuccessful Projects Are Returned: Backers are only charged if the project is successfully funded.
• Media Outreach: Kickstarter’s media outreach is very effective, and the site gets a lot of unique visits. This increases the likelihood that your project will be seen.

Final Verdict

Kickstarter sits atop the crowdfunding world, and the ways in which Kickstarter takes advantage of its position have led many to question its usefulness to the same small-time inventors and creatives that crowdfunding was supposed to benefit in the first place.

Nevertheless, it remains an excellent place to look if you have a dream you want to involve the creative community in, particularly if your project involves art, films, or games. Kickstarter is certainly an avenue worth pursuing if you have a project you think may pique the interest of hobbyists, geeks, and other creative types looking to involve themselves in the next big thing. What’s more, one successful Kickstarter campaign can set you up for success should you launch another crowdfunding campaign later on.

Kickstarter is a great platform for the right kind of project, but if you’re looking to run a different kind of crowdfunding campaign — perhaps one in which you can keep whatever you raise, regardless of your initial goal — check out our favorite Kickstarter alternatives.

Looking for a more traditional lender? Check out our start-up lender comparison chart.

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