[petercooper]

You're supposed to authorize at time of purchase and capture only when you actually ship the goods.

I also believed this to be true, but wouldn't that mean Kickstarter (and therefore Amazon) are flagrantly violating T&Cs? I wonder if Amazon has a special arrangement with the main card issuers in this regard.

[ig1]

Kickstarter isn't prepayment, it's patronage, the providers are under no obligation to deliver the product.

[petercooper]

Kickstarter's T&Cs state:

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.

http://www.kickstarter.com/terms-of-use

[FireBeyond]

When you fund a Kickstarter project, you're investing in the project.

If it does not fully fund, you receive a refund from Kickstarter.

If it does, your funds go to the project, who are on their best effort to successfully launch the project.

You are NOT, however, directly purchasing a reward. You receive a reward as a gift for helping to fund at a given level.

[nemetroid]

Are you unable to read? The T&C, as quoted, very clearly states that the project creator is required to fulfil the reward or they must refund the backer.

[FireBeyond]

And for those backers not at a reward level?

But you ignore the bigger problem. How are you, as a Backer, able to require a refund because a Project breached its terms with Kickstarter?

[shiftpgdn]

Under what penalty? Plenty of Kickstarter projects have gone unfulfilled with no refunds.

[joeyh]

The teeth backing up that TOS is that if you violate it, you'll probably find it hard to get a new kickstarter project accepted. But that doesn't mean there's a legal obligation to fulfill rewards.