Evil Inc. by Brad Guigar

Note: Overnight, as this post was scheduled to appear, I was finally verified by Amazon Payments. I still don't know what took so long. I didn't provide any extra information between then and now. But the good news is that this three-month process is finally over. The bad news is that's it's far too late to launch the project I had planned for this year. But I do have another that I can turn around before the end of the year, and I hope to make an announcement on that soon.

Well folks, you're looking at the only person in webcomics who can't get Kickstarter started.

I started planning a Kickstarter in June. I was hoping to announce it at Comic Con International in July.

Unfortunately, part of registering with Kickstarter meant registering with Amazon Payments. And that's where my nightmare began.

Having submitted the information required to become verified with Amazon Payments in July, I waited for weeks with no word from them.

Finally, in mid-August, I decided to write Kickstarter asking what the hold-up was. They told me that they knew but they couldn't tell me. Amazon Payments would have to do that and I was given an e-mail address to use to ask for information.

Amazon Payments said they needed a copy of my EIN confirmation letter from the IRS.

An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is a federal tax identification number used to identify a business.

If that was needed, they could have shot me an e-mail and I would have delivered it back in July!

So I faxed it to them on a Friday, Aug. 24. No word on the following Tuesday.

An e-mail Tuesday afternoon was responded to on Wednesday. They didn't get the fax. (I have documented confirmation of the fax being transmitted successfully).

So I faxed it again on Wednesday, Aug. 29. I e-mailed them with the confirmation data.

I received my response: I will receive my answer within 2-3 business days.

That following Monday was Labor Day, so I wasn't surprised to hear nothing the following week.

On Sept. 10, I e-mail again. And, again, I receive my response: I will receive my answer within 2-3 business days.

And, at the end of that week, I e-mailed again. And again I received the following: I will receive my answer within 2-3 business days.

It's getting to be too late to pull this project off -- and it was a project that I think you guys would have loved. And one of the Push Goals involved a podcast I used to do with three friends of mine. To say I was excited about this is putting it lightly.

I'm mad as hell. My last e-mail to Amazon Payments (admittedly snarky) went unanswered. But I think I know what the answer was going to be anyway.

I've e-mailed a contact at Kickstarter and copied their help desk.

But it's time to face facts. I seem to have been permanently Kickstopped.

Will I ever be able to launch my project? I'm an optimist, so I'm going to say yes.

But I think it's gonna take 2-3 business days.

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Original Comment:

KickSTOPPED by Amazon Payments

in All About Brad by Guigar

Friday, September 28, 2012 - 12:00 AM