Wish they made it a bit more clear and easy to find on the website. Ut took me word of mouth and searching through the website to learn that tidbit. In a world where people don't have time to read EULAs like I do, its easily overlooked and looks vague on what happens to the cash if goal isn't met.
Well, at the top of every page on the site is a link called "What is Kickstarter" which takes you to a FAQ page. The second question is "How does Kickstarter work?" And the second paragraph says flat out that if the goal is not met, no money is taken. I don't see how much more they can do short of putting it on every page in bright red.
I, at the very least haven't heard a KS not coming through with everything that was promised.
I have heard of a few. And while Kickstarter does have terms that say the creator must fulfill their obligations, Kickstarter stays out of it if there are problems. As far as they are concerned, it is between the creator and the backers, good luck working it out. They spell it out on the FAQ page I mentioned above, under
Accountability.
How can they enforce it, though? How can they verify that the project organizer made a good faith effort on the project as opposed to hitting the slots in Vegas with the project funds? How can they squeeze the monies back from a deadbeat project?
They don't. They do not get involved once they project is funded and the creator has the money. Under the Creator's section of the FAQ, they mention that non-fulfillment of rewards could lead to legal action between the creator and the backer.
I have a couple of projects that I figure will never give out their rewards, and one that is iffy right now due to legal issues. But that is a pretty good rate of return for the number of projects I back, so I'm not too upset about it.