Hmmm, I'm guessing no and no. Which is to say that if it fails to reach its funding goal then there is 'money' transferred so you don't get back what you didn't pay out. And no, since there isn't any contract involved with a Kickstarter there is not compelling reason for the person who tried and failed to return any money. Besides if they really did try they probably spent all the money in the attempt anyway.
As for Oouya, if you know anything about the tech buisiness this should tell you everything you need to know about this 'investment':
"I visit Uhrman in San Francisco, where she's meeting with a dozen designers to hash out Ouya's boomerang-shaped controller."
> no, since there isn't any contract involved with a Kickstarter there is not compelling reason for the person who tried and failed to return any money
The article says
> [Kickstarter]'s policy says creators have to give refunds on failed projects
From their Terms of Use, their entire section on refunds:
"Kickstarter does not offer refunds. A Project Creator is not required to grant a Backer’s request for a refund unless the Project Creator is unable or unwilling to fulfill the reward.
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."
Except there are two problems with that,
1) These people don't have the funds to begin with, that is why they are running a Kickstarter campaign.
2) The actual contract language is that they "Backer" funds a "Project Creator" to attempt something rather than to deliver something.
So when you go to sue the person who has your money you have to contend with the fact that they have no money (and insufficient assets probably to get a lien against, and if they do they will just do the personal bankruptcy thing) and then you have to convince a court (or a jury) that they didn't try in good faith to deliver the project.
They will argue the Backers knew there was a risk when they started and that due to problems unforseen by the creators these risks actualized and there project failed to materialize. They will argue the Project Creator is just as harmed as the Backer. The only way you might get any money back is if you managed to prove fraud.
Kickstarter has only been around for a short while, so we have time to watch this unfold.
This is not 'new' (while Kickstarter is, crowd funding is not). I recommend you look up previous cases where the product wasn't delivered. There were a whole bunch in the 60's when a bunch of 'movie producers' were raising money to make movies. I took a cinema class at USC (it was a fun elective) where the professor claimed that a lot of the contract language that exists today for production companies came out of the lawsuits of that time.
Can I suggest that if you're spending money on Kickstarter where if things didn't go according to plan you'd "go to sue the person who has your money", then "you're doing it wrong".
(It's entirely possible that _I'm_ "doing it wrong", and that everybody who's treating Kickstarter as a contractually binding pre-sale offer is somehow not as insane as they appear to me. But I'll take quite a bit of convincing on that point…)
Absolutely agree with you here. There are people who fall in love with the dream, and when they wake up they are grouchy. I've wondered if folks can put an upper limit on a Kickstarter.
Wow, I'll be the first to admit that after reading lots about Kickstarter's business, and even funding a few projects myself, I still had no idea there was language that required refunds. Even if it is fuzzy language (a creator can claim to be "willing" to fulfill a reward...just as "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak").
> refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill
Finishing the project is not one of the rewards unless the creators say it is. Many rewards can be fulfilled regardless of the success of the project (thank yous on web site, T-Shirts, posters, lunch with team, etc). So what it means is that when you create a Kickstarter project and it gives you money, your #1 priority is sending the rewards out.
But let's not miss the other half of that sentence: "While the company's policy says creators have to give refunds on failed projects, the website doesn't have a mechanism to do it."
If they don't have a way of returning the money, then it doesn't really sound like a very serious policy. In fact, it sounds like they haven't given it much thought at all, and their policy is to hope that it doesn't happen:
`` So I call Kickstarter founder Yancey Strickler, and ask: What if Uhrman isn't able to deliver the consoles? Would Kickstarter get involved?
"You know, that would be new ground," he says. "I don't know. I mean, no, I don't think that we would. But certainly, the kind of thing you're talking about is not a bridge that has been crossed yet. Someday it will. And you know, I think if something did go awry, it would be — it wouldn't be my favorite day." ``
As for Oouya, if you know anything about the tech buisiness this should tell you everything you need to know about this 'investment':
"I visit Uhrman in San Francisco, where she's meeting with a dozen designers to hash out Ouya's boomerang-shaped controller."