I’ve been a user of Kickstarter for a long time now. Over the last 15 years, I’ve backed over 200 projects. Sometimes you get a great deal, sometimes it doesn’t work out. I get it. As long as someone really tried to get the project going and the funding runs dry, that’s a shame, but that’s part of the risk.

The big issue I’ve got with Kickstarter is that they take no accountability when something is a scam. Even reporting a project often does nothing, you don’t even receive a message that they are looking into it or that they didn’t see a problem.

Magic Box-S1

One of those projects is the Magic Box-S1. This was supposed to be a fidget toy. It looked cool, so I decided to back it.

The creator was active in the comments so it seemed fine at the time. When the project was funded, we got a thanks project update in July of 2024 and a survey in August 2024. This had some up-sell options and it seemed to be going well. In September we even got an update that it was in production, so far so good.

In October, we got an update apologizing for a delay, a problem with the molds. Weird, but okay, that can happen. Then… There was silence.

In May of 2025, we got an update stating that the goods had arrived, but that the U.S. backers would have to pay part of the new tariffs. Attached to that post was a video of generic cardboard boxes on pallets, claiming the products were in there.

In July, there were new developments, 10 months after the supposed delivery date. Not they finally could begin full assembly of the final products. The second shipment would begin around the 30th of July. Second shipment would imply a first shipment, but I see no evidence that anything was shipped and nobody has commented that they received anything.

In October of 2025, we got the final update, “Today, we are relieved to share a positive update: The second batch of trial production units has successfully passed 100% of our quality inspections, including performance, stability, and durability tests. We hereby officially confirm that shipment is scheduled for November.”, and to this day, we have nothing.

The One – Fidget Spinner Cube

To multiple backer’s surprise and mine, a really similar looking product page appeared for a new product. The One – Fidget Spinner Cube.

Promoted on the same platforms as the Magic Box-S1, also a new creator with no projects before it and also located in the US according to the page with a name that sounds really Chinese. Obviously, the latter doesn’t have to be an issue, but the similarities are absolutely there.

So I did what anyone could do, I looked the company up, and couldn’t find anything. So I backed the project at $1 and asked in the comments.

And guess what, my pledge was immediately cancelled and I was banned from the project. Comment was gone.

Obviously this is no proof that it is the same group and that they are scammers, it just shows that it most likely is due to how fast they removed me after asking a simple question. I didn’t accuse them, I only asked for more information.

A real design firm with a decade of work behind it wouldn’t need to refund-and-block someone for pointing out they can’t find that work. That’s not how you handle a question if you’ve got nothing to hide. Refunding and blocking is how you make an inconvenient comment disappear before other backers see it.

In closing

So yeah, I really want more accountability from Kickstarter. Both projects have been reported and I have reported multiple projects in the past. But they never even respond. I just cannot fully trust this platform.

While Indiegogo also has issues, they at least shut down the ability to pledge for WHYTRIP after they were contacted because it was clear that they were not communicating and were most likely scamming. WHYTRIP was supposed to deliver in November of 2024, nothing yet.

Links to the 2 campaigns:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sb-s/magic-box-s1-a-fingertip-aluminum-toy

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1555376118/the-one-fidget-spinner-cube