Kickstarter’s new Pledge Manager, featuring tools that “simplify logistics and fulfillment” after funds have been successfully raised, is now available to all creators. It was first announced last February as part of a sneak peek at Kickstarter’s 2025 Product Roadmap. Initially only available through the platform’s beta program, the Pledge Manager includes Kickstarter’s new Tariff Manager that was revealed last month. It’s designed to make it easier for creators to add surcharges to cover additional costs resulting from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, while showing backers why they’re being asked to pay more.
Since its launch in early 2009, Kickstarter has helped creators raise over $8 billion dollars with over 278,000 projects being successfully funded. However, once a project has raised the money it needs, Kickstarter’s involvement is typically over, leaving creators to handle several other steps, including fulfillment, all on their own.
“When creators launch a campaign, it’s just an idea,” Kickstarter CTO Mahesh Guruswamy tells The Verge. “They still have to manufacture it, they still have to produce it, they still have to ship it, they have to collect taxes for it. And all those, sort of middle and last mile of the creative process, we typically have not played in. So up until recently, creators have been using cobbled together third-party tools to make all this happen. With Pledge Manager, now creators can do all of it within Kickstarter, so they don’t have to leave the platform at all.”
Kickstarter’s Pledge Manager is launching today with several new tools for creators. Backer surveys allow creators to collect additional feedback like preferences for color or size options, while also providing a way to confirm a backer’s shipping address. Creators can also now offer post-campaign reward upgrades and other add-ons to both entice new backers, and to generate additional revenue from existing ones. Kickstarter estimates these additional rewards and add-ons could see “anywhere from 10 to 15 percent additional revenue lift for creators,” according to Guruswamy.
Creators will also have access to improved tools for managing data about orders and backers. They’ll be able to generate accurate shipping estimates and costs based on final product weight and current shipping rates, and will finally have a streamlined way to send out tracking info. Kickstarter has even integrated tools for collecting US sales tax and EU/UK VAT within the Pledge Manager (with the collection of Canadian taxes planned for a future update) ensuring that creators are collecting the right amounts and properly reporting them on their taxes.
Although the tools included in Kickstarter’s Pledge Manager were created in response to feedback and the needs of existing creators, they’ll also help make the platform more accessible to new creators who haven’t been through the process before.
The new tools will potentially also help boost the confidence of project backers. When a creator reaches out to the backer with surveys or shipping address requests, it won’t come from a random third-party service, but directly from Kickstarter and the creator themself.
Despite the adverse effects of the US tariffs that have resulted in many companies increasing prices while others have suspended shipping goods to the United States, Kickstarter says it hasn’t seen a decline in new projects or backer support. “As of right now, we’re not seeing any shifts,” Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor tells The Verge. “We see a lot of momentum on the platform. We just had our largest day ever for backings… and our second strongest week in company history.”
But it did prompt the platform to recently create its new Tariff Manager. Creators affected by the US tariffs will be able to submit a request to Kickstarter to apply additional charges to a campaign. Once approved, the surcharge amounts appear as separate items on backers’ payment pages so creators can be transparent as to why they’re asking for more money to complete fulfillment.
Kickstarter is requiring creators to submit requests and be approved before they can apply tariff surcharges to ensure backers are being charged the proper amounts. “Because this is a quickly evolving situation… we want to have another set of eyes from our side ensuring that they’re putting the right numbers,” says Guruswamy. “Right now, when there’s so much uncertainty, we don’t want backers getting overcharged because of some creator error.” And by opening more lines of communication with its creators, Kickstarter believes it will make it easier for them to make adjustments to surcharges as the tariff situation evolves.
Even with transparency about why creators are asking for additional fees, the Tariff Manager doesn’t soften the blow for backers who are suddenly being asked to pay more money. Kickstarter says creators will need to work with backers one-on-one to find a resolution to concerns over surcharges. That could be partial refunds, additional rewards, or credits toward future projects.
But another new tool, which hasn’t been released and is currently in testing, could make it easier for backers suddenly faced with additional charges. Kickstarter’s Pledge Over Time splits up payments into four equal payments for pledges over $125 without backers being charged any interest. The feature is designed to improve accessibility and to make it easier for backers to access higher-tier rewards or additional add-ons, and not as a way for the platform to make more money.
