Kickstarter Reviews 1,256

As a creator, their algorithm actually does promote a pay to win method and promotes scammers. They say they do background check? A GAME was setting their pledge goal at $1 and they approved and promoted it like crazy. False ai games with no demo, no nothing but used bots to raise their pledges also gets promoted like crazy. Mine? An honest game with actual demo and release date? Nope, they buried it to oblivion to the point it's not even searchable even if you scroll all the way down. When I asked them about it, they say "why not try our launch partners" so you're telling me, I want to raise $10k so I need to spend $15-$25k UPFRONT just so you will show my page to people? If I had that kind of money I wouldn't need crowdfunding in the first place lol

Do Not waste your time!

This company will have you STRIP EVERYTHING that your company stands for before EVER allowing your "project" to launch. Even after months of hard work./ Take that hard work and put it to legitimate work for you. They do not care about companies. They just want to shrink the standards of other companies.

DO NOT NOT FALL FOR THE NARCISSISTIC ABUSE.

I am giving 1 star only because zero is not an option.

I backed a campaign labeled “Project We Love,” which led me to believe there was a certain level of platform oversight and credibility behind it.

As of March 1st, there have been no meaningful project updates for months, and the creator’s last recorded login was January 30th, 2026. Delivery timelines have been missed repeatedly (since December 2024), communication has effectively stopped, and many backers — especially higher-tier supporters — are still waiting without receiving anything or any clear information.

I understand that crowdfunding involves risk and that delays can happen. What is unacceptable is the prolonged silence and lack of transparency, especially for a project that continues to carry a highlighted badge from the platform.

This experience has severely damaged my trust in Kickstarter’s endorsement standards and accountability.

I would strongly caution anyone considering backing a project on this platform to carefully evaluate the risks involved.

Kickstarter is a HOST for scam projects. So many projects are there just to take people's money and vanish. And Kickstarter takes ZERO responsibility. Unreal how they keep letting people create projects without any kind of screening. Stop backing projects on Kickstarter and keep your money instead.

I am filing this complaint regarding a fraudulent crowdfunding campaign hosted on Kickstarter.
Payment was made through Kickstarter’s platform, which processed the transaction and collected fees.
The promised product has not been delivered, while delivery dates are repeatedly changed without fulfillment.
Kickstarter continues to host and support the campaign despite clear evidence of non-delivery and potential deception.
Therefore, I consider both the project creator and the platform facilitating the transaction to bear responsibility.

I recently backed a project on Kickstarter and reported it due to several transparency issues. After further research, I found additional inconsistencies that raise doubts about the legitimacy of the campaign. These include:

> the “founder” shown in the campaign video turning out to be an actor

> the project claiming to be US‑based while all campaign footage appears to be filmed in a rented studio in Kyiv

> discrepancies between the rendered prototype and the real device shown in the video, suggesting the product may not function as described

The project is still live and will collect funds in a few days, but Kickstarter does not provide a clear way to submit additional evidence once a report has already been filed. This makes it difficult for backers to ensure that new findings are reviewed before money is collected.

I will continue to monitor the situation. If the Trust & Safety team responds or takes action based on the evidence provided, I will update this review and adjust my rating accordingly.

The product I recieved was nothing like what was advertised. The brand Give'r with their split mittens is what I backed and they were absolute garbage.

Kickstarter is not an easy platform to use and when I reached my goal I used their platform to reach my 7 to 9 backers and when they made positive comments Kickstarter objected and pulled their money out. They have no real person to talk to. It makes you feel like you are talking to a computer and there is no resolution. Don't wast your time or your backers frustration. It was extremely upsetting. I wouldn't even give them a one star.

Run away.

I contributed with 149$ in a project and have no news since the money was bakend. Neither the creator nore Kickstarter are fulfilling what they are commited to.

I sent multiple messages to the creator. No answers.

I sent multiple messages to Kickstarter. Not their responsibility.

But, in the Terms and Conditions, I can read :
"Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill."

The whole project page is boiling up with unhappy contributers and nobody - neither Kickstarter nore the creator - is giving a damn. How is it possible that the creator banked 480 609 $ from 2 758 contributors and no responsibiility is owned by nobody ?

bought a product from jetkvm in april 2025, i still haven't got my shit

I've backed a bunch of projects, and while some fail to deliver despite successful backing...that I don't mind.
That's life, some projects just fail when creators try to scale up production.

My problem with Kickstarter is their customer service (and their Pay Over Time option)

The last project I backed, I stupidly opted for the Pay Over Time option. When the backing period was over and it was time to make the first of 3 payments, it said there was an error with the payment, but I tried again, and it went through.

The second payment, it again said that it was an errored payment. I checked my bank statement and saw that payment had gone through successfully, so I contacted Kickstarter to let them know there was an issue with their system (that they successfully received my money, but it was showing up as errored).

The initial response came relatively quickly...my ticket got moved to different departments twice, then the communication stopped.

It has now been over a month since they have been "investigating" (2 months since my initial email) with zero follow up, and no responses to my request for updates.

Since then, my pledge has been wrongfully cancelled because of this falsely errored payment.

I would give their customer service a zero if I could

I do not really understand the negative reviews. All the products I backed were delivered and useful. I was informed throughout the process and got what I ordered.
What I really must complain is, that mostly there are additional costs for taxes, delivery etc. coming up later. This adds additional costs to the product.

So you can get some good ideas on there but where the tech ones are concerned, don't bother.
If anything you may get repackaged aliexpress items that are not unique but now it seems you are just funding scammers and kickstarter will do nothing at all to protect you.
If the project has legs then the creator should produce it and back their creation. If not, don't bother. It used to be a good way to create unique inventions. Gutted it has gone the way it has.

I tried to launch there a page , for the real art gallery I m planning to open , I gathered only 10$ real and other donations were made by scammers and then they deleted it ….they try to cheat you on money there …..there are million of scammers , I just spent my time , I have no idea why this web exists

I used to have a very positive view of Kickstarter. I genuinely liked the idea of supporting new products and helping creators bring their ideas to life. Until recently, I believed it was a solid and trustworthy platform.

Unfortunately, my experience completely changed after I received a defective product from a project I backed. I repeatedly tried to contact the project creator through email and through Kickstarter’s own messaging system. Despite several attempts, I received absolutely no response.

I then contacted Kickstarter for support, providing clear proof that I had already tried to reach the creator multiple times. Their response was simply to tell me to contact the creator — something I had already done, and clearly explained. Kickstarter refused to take any responsibility or offer any meaningful help.

In short, once something goes wrong, you should not expect any real support from Kickstarter. They position themselves as just a “platform” and leave backers completely unprotected when creators disappear or ignore issues.

This was a very disappointing experience, especially given how much trust they ask users to place in their system. I would strongly advise others to keep this in mind before backing any project.

I have backed about 5 projects. Literally only 1 was successful and I received it. The rest shut down, failed, or disappeared without a trace. I'm not talking small projects. I'm talking projects that ranged from $50 to $2,000. The worst one was an automated lawn mower that I backed for $2,000, then the company just disappeared without a word. And you will NEVER get your money back for any failed project. Kickstarter has made sure to cover their butts and have you sign that you are risking losing everything by continuing. I would NEVER back another project. Most projects WILL fail.

In recent years, Kickstarter has turned into a safe haven for scammers. It is becoming increasingly rare for projects to actually follow through or offer refunds when things go wrong. It feels like the platform is simply profiting from robbing people – they take their fees and wash their hands of any responsibility.

Even when a creator blatantly violates Kickstarter's own rules and Terms of Service, the platform does absolutely nothing to protect the backers. It is frustrating to see a company facilitate theft while hiding behind the excuse that they are "just a platform." I can no longer recommend backing anything here.

Kickstarter is a great idea if you want to make up some story about some cool new gadget or project then get all the money by deception with zero recriminations, Kickstarter is complicit in fraud, it benefits from the funding yet has no oversight proceedures in place for those fraudsters that use its platform, 183 backers pledged $51,962 to help bring this project to life. or rather had their money stolen in a clever fraud UNLESS YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE THE MONEY STAY WELL AWAY

Kickstarter is a digital pimp for scammers.

It would be appropriate for kickstarter at least to refund their fee when a creator fails to deliver, to incentive kickstarter to do a better effort screening creators before allowing them to raise capital on their portal. Buying stuff on kickstarter is a risk, but it seems scammers also have free passage on kickstarter, which is a shame for genuine creators looking for crowd funding. Kickstarter should take their share of the loss for failing to prevent that. I advise both investors and creators to go somewhere else than kickstarter