KickstarterForum.org

Most of my backers were charged on 1/10/14

I called many times asking how it works on Amazon Payments.
I was assured my status would change to Available Balance.
Nope.
This is getting to be a joke. I still must wait up to 7 Business Days to transfer funds to my bank account. Amazon assured me it would change today. The 25th. I will update you guys.

Thanks for keeping is updated. This is a big factor that many creators might not know to look out for when making post-Kickstarter plans.

Sal

Once this saga is over can I make a comprehensive thread and explain the process? This is the 16th day since I was funded and about $2900 was charged on 1/10/14.
Danielle was an accounts supervisor for a now defy led startup optical tech company called Ophthonix and used to transfer minions of dollars from one account to the other whilst making her Sicilian mothers meatballs. I was freaking out yesterday and she claims it probably is 14 BUSINESS days, but the last time I called Amazon Payments they assured me the funds would switch from Account Ballance to Available Balance on 1/15/14. Today. I could be an outlier but once this is sorted I will call amazon and get clarification and share it here. If any funded creators had to wait more then 15 days please let me know. I owe two projects their pledge money and it makes me sick that I can't pay them with some of the Amazon money. I have had enough time this past week to know exactly what my production and shipping costs are so I know paying those two creators is not harming my ability to ship the rewards. I just may have to wash this project and ship Fed Ex or UPS if tree is some snag with funding because of Amazon.

I am stunned.

Saddened.

I just am sitting here, astonished. I do not want to pull the curtain back to much but my mom pledged 500 on my original reward tier. I called and tried to refuse, she said,"Son, I love and believe in you and want you to make it."

Why is it ok for Kickstarter to take their 5% cut on 1/10/14? Tonight, she took me and my son and wife to dinner and said," But they charged my card on 1/10/14???"

Please, I am worried now. Is this normal? I have checked and made sure I am logging into the right account, like it suggests on Kickstarter. I emailed yesterday, the phone option was gone, no response. I just checked hoping for a miracle. Nothing. It has not changed to Available Balance.

Not counting 1/10/14 this is Day 15

Tomorrow will be Day 16.

I want to try to make this work, I do not want to be a liar and tell my backers they will get the art in Feb. But now, I probably will have to use Fed Ex and UPS.
I wanted to make it. But the cost of the 8x10 is close to the reward tier.

Sorry for venting, I just never thought this would happen.

Ok.
At this point I understand most of you at this moment (2:38a.m. P.S.T.) are sleeping and many of the people who read this will do so in the future. I am documenting everything--trying not to edit--at this point in order to simply share what happened to one creator during the Reward Creation and Shipping . Maybe my experience is an aberration. But I will document each step with hope that I may help someone down the road. Today You, Tomorrow Me.

The amazing guru, wizened wizard, J.A. Ames explained something very important to me, when we began to communicate after he offered to help me (NO CHARGE!) retool and relaunch. He said that I should not feel obligated to follow any advice if it did not jive with my own vision.

I plan on launching 2 more projects in 2014/early 2015. One small one and one large one. Figuratively and Literally. From now on I will factor in an entire month until I have access to funding capital.

Although my Amazon Payments account is still stuck on "Account Balance" and not "Available Balance" despite what amazon emailed below....

Your Account Amazon.com
Message From Customer Service
Hello Ulysses,

I'm very sorry for any inconvenience the 14 day reserve period has caused you. Amazon Payments may require business account holders to maintain a minimum available balance in order to cover potential payment obligations. We call this minimum balance a Reserve. Amazon holds the collected funds for a full 14 days starting the day after the transaction is completed. On the 15th day between 3-4pm Central time is when your funds will be released. I've checked your account and it looks like your funds should be available to withdraw today, Jan 25, 2014 at approximately 3-4pm Central time.

Please note the reason for the Reserve: Amazon Payments must investigate transactions that are disputed by customers, including claims under the Amazon A-to-z Guarantee. Reviews of customer complaints, returns, claims and chargebacks can take 90 days or more. We hold a portion of the trailing sales activity along with any funds that may be needed to satisfy specific outstanding claims and chargebacks. This reserve formula may change depending on how long a business account holder has been using Amazon Payments, their order defect rate, and their sales volume.

I was able (meaning I received an order number) to place an amazon order which included my drafting table to create my micro-studio (tiny niche in our bedroom, 48"x52") my cherished Rotring Rapidiograph technical pens with back up set and ink cartridges and a bunch of shipping supplies.

Then I checked my amazon payments account, expecting it to reflect the amount of the order and be a smaller figure. . .

It did not change.

I then initiated a withdrawal to my account. Now, the website could have not been updated and all is good, or something is VERY wrong, my order will be declined as well as my request to withdraw the funds to pay for proofing, printing and postage.

I hope this is just a glitch in the matrix and all is well.

I have learned my lesson. Again, from now on I will always expect a month wait after successful funding.

I was attacked (by their backer and veteran KS backer) in the comment section of a fellow creator who I now feel is a friend, when I stated that there always was a 14 day freeze of funds by Amazon. I was told that some creators have access to their amazon funds within days of the close of a successful campaign. If this is true, then I have just run into an aberration. Perhaps it is because I created my amazon payment account a month before my first launch and had $0.0 in the account the day before I funded. If this is the case-and you have not had an established amazon business account with funds in it before the backers start having their pledges processed the day your campaign ends--then factor more time then 14 days plus the 5-7 BUSINESS days it takes to transfer the funds to your bank account(s).

I think it is an amazing thing that strangers pledged on an unknown artist and believed that they would receive a giclee print in February 2014. I never imagined this would happen. I am determined to make sure every backer gets their art when I promised. This is my dream. There is so much fraud online, so many stories of shady and flaky backers it feels horrible that some of my backers may never trust me again. I will try with all my power to make sure this never happens.

I also hope, that for any potential creator who reads these words, plans for worse case scenario and in the least, plan for 21 days of 0 access to their linked bank accounts.

I'm at work but will update tonight. Some funds are available and some are in reserve.

Ok. This morning I canceled the Amazon order I had placed last night. And once again Vaportstarter gave sage advice when I emailed him and asked for help. He is a great person and I will never be able to owe him.

I will wait until the last penny is available for transfer and I have spoken with Amazon to write a summation of all I have found....

But I never read any info about Reserves within your Amazon Payments account. I need to speak to Amazon to get clarification, because the available info does not equate. The info I mined seems to indicate Amazon holds a portion of the funds. So, for sake of clarity:

On 1/10/14 a project funds. 2k is charged that day without incident.
On 1/11/14 the final 1k is charged.

14-16 days later the 2k appears within the Amazon Payments account as "Available" the funds can not be used for anything but Amazon products. If the creator needs items not on amazon, they withdraw the total to their verified bank account.
The next day the final 1k changes to "Available" status.

Here is the rub:
The above info can be found on the net. But once all of the 3k is available that does not mean a creator can withdraw every Penny and wait for up to 7 business days to begin fufillment of rewards. A portion (400) now appears in a second line item that has never been in the payment dashboard called Reserve.

Amazon states that there are several reasons for Reserve status. Maybe I just wasn't lucky and never found the web article explaining the Reserve. It seems the reserve is for fraud, or charge backs? But that is what I thought the 14 day hold was for...

Now, things are what they are. I am still a happy, but perplexed funder. I will stay up all night every night if that is what it takes to make sure my backers get their giclees by the end of February.

I just am a list maker and flow chart maker. All of the above is for creators and backers. Maybe one reason projects ship late is because all the creator sees is 14 days and they can start creating the rewards if they need the capital to do so....

That is how I operated.

From now on, I will always have a 5 week time frame until I plan to have access to funds from a Kickstarter project!!

Have an awesome night!!

Final post in this thread.

I for the life of me have no idea how or why, but most of the funds arrived today!!!!

I can now switch to production mode and once Evolve Digital proofs and archives the master files for all of my work, I start shipping,

In fact, to speed up the process, I asked him only to proof and archive the images that sold. Then, after the last print is shipped, we can focus on dialing in all of my work. I held back a few pieces from the project, those also need proofing for the future.

From now on I will plan on waiting 25 days for funds to arrive and add a month to my fufillment projection.

Hav a great night, everyone!
::::Uly::::

Thanks for this heads up! It took a little digging to find the info about the reserves, and still it wasn't at all clear in the User Agreement. I had to do a search to find the real nuts and bolts:

https://payments.amazon.com/help/Checkout-by-Amazon/User-Agreement-Policies/Reserve-Policy

Jodie