A: Your original pledge covered your reward. Shipping, add-ons, taxes, VAT, and tariffs are collected separately through BackerKit once the creator has finalized rates due to carrier fees, fuel prices, and regional logistics. This is standard practice in crowdfunding, since there's often a significant gap between when a campaign ends and when rewards actually ship, shipping prices change.

A: To prevent unexpected or surprise charges -- be sure to always review campaigns thoroughly before pledging including: "Pledge Level" descriptions, "Project Updates", "FAQ's", & the "Shipping" or "Fulfillment" sections to see shipping estimates and/or customs information, if applicable. We know there's a lot to take in, so it can be easy to miss!

A: Absolutely. Here's what you can do:

Don't want to add your card yet? You can complete your survey up until the final "Confirm" page (the payment step) and leave your card off — all selections and address info save any time you hit 'Next'. You can't be charged until your card is on file, so come back and add it once shipping costs are uploaded. Please note: we won't be able to pause survey or payment reminders, as these are automated by the system and cannot be turned off.

Already added your card and want to remove it? No problem — reach out and we'll remove it. Your choices + address will be saved. The creator will post a project update once costs are finalized, and you can re-add your card before the cancellation deadline. Please ignore any automated survey/payment reminder emails in the meantime — your order is safe up until the cancellation deadline and the emails can't be turned off. Sorry!

A: The creator will post a project update when shipping has been finalized and before any charges go through. Check the campaign page for estimates.

A: Payment failed: When a BackerKit pledge fails, you have 14 days to correct your payment. After that, BackerKit gives you a second chance — if you complete your survey and add a payment method, your pledge is considered reinstated and you can be charged. If you did not intend to reinstate your pledge, please reach out to the creator directly to request a refund.

A: Not canceled? If you've added payment information, leaving your survey unfinished does not equal a cancellation. Any add-ons in your cart are assumed intentional and you will be charged with all backers. If your survey shows as incomplete, there's typically still an outstanding balance — most often for shipping, add-ons, taxes, or VAT not collected upfront. Open your survey and review your confirmation page for an itemized breakdown of what's still owed. Still worried? Reach out to BackerKit Support — we're happy to walk through it with you.

💡 Want to reinstate? Complete your survey and your order is safe!

❌ Want to cancel/stop survey reminders? Reach out to us before you're charged and we'll take care of it. If you were never successfully charged, there's nothing to refund. If you have a preorder, you can most often cancel your order up until you are charged.

Your order won't be canceled for your survey being incomplete until the payment deadline — keep an eye on the survey lockdown deadlines via project updates, or contact the creator to confirm.

We won't be able to pause survey or payment reminders, as these are automated by the system and cannot be turned off.

A: These are collected separately from your original pledge because they often can't be accurately calculated until shipping destinations are confirmed and fulfillment is underway:

Digital, Taxes & VAT: All creators are required to collect taxes on goods sold and delivered to certain regions. If tariffs weren't in the original estimate, the creator has added them so your reward can be delivered. VAT also applies to digital goods in applicable regions.

⚠️ If a 'Shipping' charge is appearing on a fully digital pledge and you're being asked for an address — this may be an error. Please contact BackerKit Support.

Tariffs: Import fees apply depending on your country and where your reward ships from. If tariffs weren't in the original estimate, the creator has added them so your reward can be delivered. BackerKit has no involvement in tariff calculations — for questions about specific charges, contact the project team directly.

A: Don't worry, a second order confirmation only means your order is confirmed, not that you've been charged. The email states: "Your credit card is on file. You will not be charged until the creator decides to collect funds."

You'll receive this confirmation email any time you submit or edit your survey — submitting multiple times will not generate a new order or charge. The creator will announce lock and charge dates on the Project Updates page — charges are usually run in batches.

If you believe you've been charged again, please send over a screenshot of both transactions from your financial institution to BackerKit Support so we can look into this!

A: Your Pay Over Time plan covered your reward only — shipping is always collected separately through BackerKit and wasn't part of the installment arrangement. If your survey shows a shipping balance, that's expected.

A: Recurring charge label: Rest assured, your pledge is not a subscription! This label is a quirk of how some banks categorize stored payment methods for crowdfunding. Because your card is saved when you pledge but charged later, some banks flag these pre-authorized payments as "recurring" — even though you'll only be charged once (plus shipping or add-ons through your survey).

Two pending transactions: If you're seeing two pending charges, it's most likely one authorization hold and one actual charge — these holds usually fall off automatically within a few days. If not, review our Duplicate Order FAQ to confirm you don't have a duplicate order.

If you're still concerned about either, please send a screenshot of both charges from your financial institution and we'll confirm exactly what was processed. If a charge is still pending, please wait three business days as it will likely fall off.

A: Once surveys have been sent, while both examples above are the same pledge for the same project – your survey confirmation page (right image) is always the most up-to-date source. Your pledge page reflects only your original campaign pledge and won't show any changes made after the campaign ended through your survey, such as: add-ons, shipping, or successful charges after the campaign ended through your survey, if your original payment failed. If you've paid successfully in your survey, but your pledge confirmation still shows 'failed', that is expected. If your pledge confirmation page shows that you paid successfully, but you still owe money in your survey, that is expected.

A: If you chose a "$1 - $5 No Reward" tier while the campaign was still live, placed a preorder, upgraded post-campaign, or your original pledge payment failed but you added more items through the survey – the "Pledged Amount" in BackerKit will always show the original "pledged amount" before the campaign ended, $0, $1, etc — as no additional funds were pledged while the campaign was live.

$0 - Reward: Since "preorders/late pledges" are placed after the campaign ends, they will always reflect as a $0 - Pledge Level. Your new items are still secure! Going forward, your survey confirmation page is the single source of truth for your order as soon as they're sent. New changes will not reflect anywhere else. If you have a preorder and need a full breakdown, please reach out to BackerKit Support.

A: If no shipping address is entered yet, the system often defaults to the highest possible shipping rate as a placeholder. Once you add or confirm your address, it will often adjust to the correct rate for your region.

⚠️ If shipping still shows an unusually high amount after your address is saved, you may be in a retailer tier, or your country may not currently be included in this project's shipping regions. In either of these cases, the creator may be handling those orders on a case-by-case basis — please contact the project team directly for guidance.

A: The most common reasons are shipping, upgrades or add-ons selected in your survey, taxes, VAT, or tariffs — most of which are not usually collected during the original campaign. You can review your survey confirmation page for an itemized breakdown to see exactly what's owed and why. :) If something still doesn't look right, reach out!

If shipping is higher than you expected: estimates shown during a campaign are preliminary — final rates are set by the creator once they have accurate information after the campaign closes. Final costs can differ due to packaging, weight, carrier fees, and regional changes. The amount shown in your survey is the confirmed rate. If you'd like to discuss the shipping cost further, please contact the project team directly — they handle all shipping calculations and fulfillment.

Double check that you didn't add any add-ons already in your Pledge Items.

Review your Pledge Level and Add-on Questions to ensure you didn't choose "Upgrades" you don't actually want. Any option that says (+$number) implies an upgrade to your original item for an added cost.

You can review if you've selected an upgrade for Add-ons or Pledge Levels on the confirmation page, see below. ("Pledge Level Upgrades, or Add-on Upgrades" line item)

If this was not intentional, click "Edit Pledge Questions", or "Edit Add-on Questions." If your order is locked, please contact Support.

A: This sounds like you may have a duplicate order, or a failed payment. Alternatively, you may have duplicated your Pledge Level items through your Add-ons section. Please review our Duplicate Order FAQ doc here.

A: BackerKit doesn't have visibility into payments made externally outside of our platform. We'll need the creator to confirm before we can update your order. Please contact us and we'll forward the details to the project team right away. Include screenshots of the transaction from your financial institution.
💡 In the meantime, if you let us know – we'll remove your payment information from your survey so you won't be charged while we wait for their response.