Major crowdfunding platform Indiegogo introduced a new program called Shipping Guarantee this week. Under the new program users are promised that a ship-by date will be met "or your money back".
Speaking to The Verge about this update, Indiegogo chief revenue officer Julie dePontbriand said "Indiegogo is building on the promising results of our initial test programs with an expanded Shipping Guarantee initiative." Programs like these — limited insurance for crowdfunding supporters, you could say — have been done by Indiegogo in experimental form since 2018, but Indiegogo seems determined to make it a mainstream platform feature.
Ms dePontbriand went on to confirm several key details, including campaigner eligibility requirements for launching products within final manufacturing stages and a proven track record of past successful campaigns. She also explained that operators who fail to meet their obligations beneath the Shipping Guarantee initiative could forfeit their Trust Badge, and no campaign will receive your payment from Indiegogo until a shipment has been made.
As crowdfunding in general stands, we at Tom's Hardware want you to remember that crowdfunding a project is not a guarantee of receiving a finished product. Backing a crowdfunded project is akin to an investment; you believe in the project and want it to succeed. You are not purchasing a retail product.
That said, Indiegogo does at least seem to be making efforts to make crowdfunding a little bit less risky for the end users of the platform who are paying campaigns (and by extension Indiegogo itself) through this Shipping Guarantee initiative. Since your money doesn't enter the hands of campaign operators until shipping, Indiegogo can simply refund it to you immediately on the condition that the ship-by date is not met.
The only real downside of this feature in this form is that some crowdfunding junctures actually do seem to need "money up front," so the use cases for the Shipping Guarantee initiative really are limited to campaigners who already have a product prepared for manufacturing and have done it before. The Shipping Guarantee initiative somewhat lessens the "investment" side of crowdfunding, particularly for smaller campaigns.
But for established companies and teams who like to rely on crowdfunding to get an already-complete or near-complete product released, like many Mini PCs and Handheld PCs we've covered, the Shipping Guarantee initiative should be a welcome feature that provides more peace of mind to the supporters ensuring the crowdfunding goal is reached.
