No, if the campaign doesn't succeed, Indiegogo won't take your money. The campaign is only funded if they raise the full $32m, so there is no worry of not paying and not receiving the phone.
> What I was trying to get at is that there's no guarantee of a phone even if the project is funded.
Guarantee from whom?
Normally I'd agree, because the fundraiser is typically a startup, perhaps a limited company, with no existing business with which to back refunds. So they could burn through the money and end up with nothing to issue refunds with. So from your perspective, there's no guarantee, since suing them would certainly do you no good anyway.
But what about an established company? If they want to guarantee it, why can't they? But, of course, are they? I'm not sure whether they're saying they are, or whether the law would say that they are. But I don't think it's as clear cut as the new startup case.
> Normally I'd agree, because the fundraiser is typically a
> startup, perhaps a limited company, with no existing
> business with which to back refunds.
What type of entity is raising the funds (startup, limited company, etc.) is irrelevant. The point is that they are asking for an investment, and yes, as you point out, there are no refunds if an investment doesn't work out.
This is very different from the mindset of a consumer, who is purchasing the product that was created with the investors money. If the investment doesn't pan out, the consumer has nothing to buy. The investor looses their investment.
My concern is that by offering product in exchange for investment (essentially a forward contract[1]), consumers are lured into taking on the risks of investors. The language on the fundraising page is, unfortunately, quite vague about this.
Again, I'm not saying that Canonical can't deliver, and I'm certain that they'll do their best to make this work out. I do wish that they'd make a better effort of warning off people who think they're simply buying a phone that won't be delivered for many months.
What I was trying to get at is that there's no guarantee of a phone even if the project is funded.