Kickstarter’s Pledge Manager is an easy way to gather all the information you need in order to fulfill your backers’ rewards in one place, including collecting taxes and shipping costs closer to fulfillment time. There is no up front cost to using this tool. Kickstarter will deduct our usual fees from any payments made within the pledge manager.
If your project meets the criteria to use the Kickstarter Pledge Manager, you’ll first need to confirm on the Basics tab of your project editor, under the ‘Pledge manager’ section, that shipping will not be charged during your campaign. You can then start setting up the pledge manager for your campaign after it launches by selecting ‘Pledge manager’ from the creator navigation bar, located on the left side of your project page.
The pledge manager consists of sections that need to be completed before launching it. Some are optional, and you can choose to skip these. When you’re ready to begin completing a section, simply click the “Start” button next to it.
- Welcome message (Optional)
The ‘Welcome message (Optional)’ section will be automatically set up with a generic introductory message to your pledge manager, that your backers will see. You can personalize this to make it more relevant to your project, including adding images or embedding links. This space can be used to thank your backers, share additional information, or direct people to your website.
- Configure rewards and add-ons (Optional)
You can use this section to configure specific reward tiers and add-ons to be available for backers through the pledge manager. This includes the option for backers to upgrade their reward, choose add-ons, and even make it possible for new backers to purchase available rewards after your campaign has ended.
In this section you’ll see a list of your project’s existing rewards and add-ons. For each one you can select whether or not to offer it in the pledge manager, as well as set the price and quantity limits. You will also be able to add brand new rewards and add-ons to be available specifically in the pledge manager.
When a backer adds or upgrades a reward in their pledge manager order, their survey will update to include any questions relating to the items that make up the reward. As with when your campaign was live, physical add-ons will only be available for backers who pledged to a physical reward tier.
- Create survey (Optional)
The backer survey helps you collect your backers’ addresses, reward preferences, and any additional information you need in order to fulfill rewards. The steps for completing this section can be found here.
- Add your tax information
The pledge manager offers the ability to collect sales tax or value-added tax (VAT) on transactions for backers who reside in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
Here you’ll need to enter your UK VAT ID or EU One Stop Shop (OSS) VAT Number, or let us know if you do not have a VAT ID, to help us calculate the tax for certain transactions. If no VAT ID is provided, you must check the box to opt-out and confirm that applicable VAT collection is being facilitated through a shipping company.
Additionally, you’ll verify your office address (the address currently associated with your project). If you need to make any changes to the address we currently hold for you, simply click the “Edit in Stripe” button to update this through our payments processor, Stripe.
To learn more about how Kickstarter is approaching tax collection, check out our VAT and US sales tax articles.
- Add tax information for your items
For each reward item we’ll need you to complete the following:
- If the item is taxable, add a tax categorization code to help us determine the tax rules that will apply. To add this, you can either:
- Select a category from our list of commonly offered items. This will autofill the tax code for you.
- If you can’t find an appropriate category, choose the option to add one. This will take you to Avalara’s tax code library to help you find a code that works for your item. This will then need to be copied into the tax categorization code field.
-
Add the market value. This amount represents the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price); or the cost you would sell it for individually in the market.
- In the rare event an item is non-taxable, you can select to opt out of assigning a tax code and market value.
- Add a tariff surcharge. This option will only be available for creators who have requested use of the Tariff Manager tool.
For help in completing this section, we recommend talking to an accountant or tax advisor. While we can't offer tax advice, we have compiled some information that may be helpful here.
- Finalize shipping costs
When making their initial pledge, your backers were shown an estimated shipping cost range for their pledge, but no shipping fee was charged. Now is the time to finalize the shipping amount each backer will need to pay, based on their reward tier, any add-ons, and their location.
You will have the option to charge weight-based or flat rate shipping for each reward. More information about charging shipping through the pledge manager can be found here.
- Configure your shipping origin
To help us correctly determine how much tax is owed by a backer and who is responsible for remitting the tax, we need to know where you will be shipping their reward from. You can add as many shipping origins as needed.
When adding a shipping origin, you will need to enter both the ship-from address and the countries this location will be shipping to. For example, if you have a shipping origin in France, you may only plan to ship to other European countries from this location, while your shipping origin in Canada may be used for all North American countries.
Every country selected by one of your backers must be assigned to a shipping origin. If there are countries missing an assigned location, they will be displayed under ‘Not assigned’.
If you only offered digital rewards, the shipping origin should be the address where you intend to send the digital assets from. This may be your home or an office address.
- Launch pledge manager
Once all required sections have been completed, we recommend double-checking everything is correct before launching. You can do so by clicking “Edit” or “Resume” on a section from the main pledge manager page. When you’re ready to launch your pledge manager, click the “Submit for review” button. The pledge manager review by our Trust & Safety team can take up to 5 business days.
When your pledge manager is approved for launch you can go ahead and click the “Launch” button to send it to your backers. In the event that our Trust & Safety team has questions about your pledge manager during the review phase, they will contact you directly.
After launching your pledge manager, your backers will be notified by email that they need to enter the pledge manager, finalize their address, review their order, and pay any applicable shipping and taxes. You can keep track of how many backers have completed this on the pledge manager page.
- Close the Pledge Manager
Your pledge manager must remain open for at least 3 weeks. After that time, you can go back to your pledge manager page and click “Close pledge manager”. We will then send an email to any backers who have not yet completed the checkout process informing them that they have 48 hours to complete it. Once you close the pledge manager, you’ll then be able to lock backer addresses when you are ready to begin fulfilling rewards.
When should I launch my pledge manager?
The pledge manager should be launched when you are ready to begin production and fulfillment of your rewards, and you need to start collecting item preferences and shipping addresses. You can configure and edit your pledge manager before that time, but only click “Launch” when you’re ready to fulfill those orders.
Please note: After your pledge manager has launched it won’t be possible to make any changes. We recommend double-checking everything is correct, and that nothing crucial is missing, before you send it to your backers.
How do Late Pledges work alongside the pledge manager?
To launch your pledge manager you will first need to end Late Pledges. When you launch the pledge manager, a notification will be sent to everyone who has backed your campaign so far.
Ending Late Pledges doesn’t mean new backers can no longer join your project, though. When configuring the rewards in your pledge manager you will see an option to allow new backers at the top of this page. When the toggle button is turned on, simply share the URL of your launched Kickstarter Pledge Manager with any potential backers and they’ll be able to pledge for available rewards.
Related articles:
- How to build your Backer Survey
- Can backers update their shipping address?
- How will Kickstarter approach VAT collection in the pledge manager?
- Tax Collection in the United States
- How do I know if a reward item is taxable?
- Where can I find my backer’s pledge manager or survey responses?
- How can I use the downloaded backer report?