(As a "How To" blog you will want to start with the first post and work your way up to this one)

Don’t pledge to yourself

This seems so obvious you would not think I would bother to post about it. Well, I almost lost my campaign because of this topic!  Here is what happened...


My mother and I share a credit card account because we have a business together. I set up my Amazon account with that credit card and was approved. My project launched and pledges started coming in.  I then happened to notice this statement on Kickstarter:


Credit card rules forbid people from paying themselves. Any pledges made by a project creator to themselves will cause Amazon to cancel a project creator's Amazon account, making it impossible to receive or remove funds.

If you try to create new accounts (either Kickstarter or Amazon) to accomplish this, Amazon will still detect it.

I thought OK makes sense no problem. Then it hit me like a thunderbolt- my mother made a pledge to my Kickstarter campaign that day. She used the same credit card that I used to set up my account. Amazon would see the same card number being used by the Artist (me) and a pledge (my mom). Yikes!

I got on the phone and explained what had happened. They confirmed that they would have thought I had backed my own project by creating a new account using a new name (my moms). I asked what I needed to do and this is the answer.
My mother had to do the following in this order-
1. Go in and cancel her bids on my project. This can be done under the manage your bids tab.
2. Go to Amazon and remove the card from her account.
3. Put in a new credit card number at Amazon.
4. Go back to Kickstarter and pledge on my project again.

That was a close one!  

You might not share a card with your mother but here are a few other possibilities that you might have going on.

A. Your partner/spouse pledging on you project. If you share a card then don't- use another card.
B. You had to borrow a card from your parents to set up your account. Don't let your parents back your project unless they use a different card. 
C. You borrowed a card from a friend because you don't have one. Don't let them bid!
D. You used a company card that other officers/employees use. Make sure the numbers on the cards are all different. If they are the same don't let them bid!