[Powerofmene]

Look to the platforms terms of service. It is likely explained in their TOS that you are utilizing their platform only and that they have zero responsibility for your support of a project. In short, buyer beware. It is a risk when you prepay for a product that has not yet been manufactured from any platform.

There have been a number of failed/undelivered products on sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo but there have also been a number of successful projects. These sites leave due diligence to the customers. Unfortunately you are not alone in pointing out the number of projects that are not completed or completed with subpar materials.

[aivijay]

I know that there is a terms of service and I also know there are some projects that succeed, but the failure rate is extremely high. Yes, there being zero responsibility for the project which got funded through the Kickstarter like platform where hundreds of thousands of dollars is being handled and having zero responsibility is absurd and should never be allowed, that's what my argument is. As a customer you can only do so much about due diligence about a project and its creators. When Kickstarter like platform is the one which is handing the money over to the project creator, naturally it is their responsibility to do a due diligence about the campaign as they are the ones who are handling a large sum of money on behalf of the backers. When Kickstarter like platforms put that responsibility on the customer to due diligence, it leaves the customer to the mercy of the project creator which is what I have saw in most of the projects which I funded or backed out. Because Kickstarter like platforms suck 7-8% of the campaign as their commission, it seems its easy to have a TOS where you claim zero responsibility and just walk away with the money safely and also just blame or not have any control on the project creator with the money they raise from these sites and the project creator can also walk away free and clear without any repercussions but taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for free.

[Powerofmene]

I agree the failure rate is high that is why I have only backed a couple of projects and one failed.

What do you recommend the platforms do to help in situations where a project fails? I agree a zero responsibility TOS is an easy out but I am not sure there is a solution other than buyer beware. Almost all projects would fail if the platform would hold the money until fulfillment as they would have to borrow money to complete the orders. This would also add to the final cost as the business would have to factor in the interest, etc. One good thing that could come of that is that banks would see if the project had adequate funding to complete what was promised.

I am not trying to be difficult I truly just don't see a solution that works in these situations.