Kickstarter Partners With Stripe, Drops Amazon Payments

Kickstarter, which previously processed funds through Amazon Payments, is now partnering with Stripe to collect and process credit card payments for all projects on the crowdfunding website.

Kickstarter announced the move earlier this year, citing Amazon’s discontinuation of the Amazon Flexible Payment Service, the platform Kickstarter had been using since the crowdfunding site launched in 2009, as the reason for the switch.

In January, Kickstarter completed the process of transitioning projects over to Stripe’s payment processing system. Stripe is the platform used by Twitter, Facebook, Lyft, OpenTable, Squarespace, Reddit, and others.

The change means that those seeking to fund a project through Kickstarter are no longer required to establish an Amazon Payments business account, and the payment process is reportedly simpler for project backers. All payments take place on Kickstarter, without users having to log in to a separate service or visit an outside website.

The fee structure remains the same, with Kickstarter taking a cut of five percent of total funds raised through successful campaigns. In addition, as the payment processor, Stripe applies credit card processing fees of approximately three to five percent. No fees are taken for unsuccessful fundraisers.

While Kickstarter has ended its relationship with Amazon Payments, several products resulting from Kickstarter campaigns are available through the recently launched Amazon Exclusives online store, Forbes reported. The Amazon marketplace features products from pitch shows, such as ABC’s Shark Tank, and from successful crowdfunding campaigns from websites like Kickstarter. Items sold through Amazon Exclusives are available only through the product’s creator or through Amazon.