Kickstarter 'can't' and 'won't' give money back from scams

Kickstarter has been a rousing success since it began - and especially in the gaming world after Tim Schafer and Brian Fargo successfully funded their publisher unworthy projects through the crowd-sourcing venture. I'm certainly a big fan of it, but not everyone is. How does Kickstarter deal with scammers, is concerning to many people - and the answer probably won't help things.

In an article on Polygon, Emily Gera spoke to the company about scams and how they deal with them and the answer is, they don't. Kickstarter is more of a platform than a business, one board member said - a method for people to get funding for their projects. Regardless of the 5% they take off the top of any successful project, they can't and won't get involved in disputes between users and a third party - and that's clearly outlined in their Terms of Use.

What might be more of a shock however, is their attitude towards the lost money - simply put, it isn't a big deal. Said Kickstarter advisor and board member Sunny Bates to Polygon about the issue:

"I think that because where the bulk of the projects are is between the $25 to $1500 range, are you going to go take legal action on something that you put $50 into? I mean you tell me. Maybe if you put $10,000, sure. Or $1000, maybe. But if you lost $25 or $50 then you're a little disappointed and you think the [project creator] sucks. But that's the beauty of crowdsourcing, it's not really worth your effort — you're disappointed and you're angry that somebody would do this because it does feel like they're duplicitous and they're trying to pull the wool over the crowd's eyes, and clearly they can't. But I think legal action, when you syndicate it out and you have hundreds of backers for any one project, it's a very different story."

It's good to know that there are some people for whom $25 is nothing to worry about. The entire article is well worth a read, especially if you're interested in Kickstarter. Will this stop you backing projects though? It is going to make me a lot more cautious, but I won't stop completely. How about you? Let us know in the comments below.