Indiegogo’s guaranteed shipping provides refunds for failed campaigns

For all the potential upsides of crowdfunding, backing a project always feels like a gamble. And some fairly high-profile campaigns over the last few years have helped remove some of the model’s luster. Indiegogo’s hoping to curb some of those failures with guaranteed shipping, a new feature the company plans to pilot beginning in early 2019 with select campaigns, that suspends funding unless a product actually ships.

The crowdfunding site has laid out the terms of the program, which was first highlighted by The Verge

The concept isn’t a rethink of crowdfunding exactly, but it does signal a shift in thinking for platforms in the wake of the first bubble. Indiegogo has spent the last few years attempting to diversify and reposition its offerings after former COO David Mandelbrot took over CEO duties from co-founder Slava Rubin back in 2016.