Indiegogo 101: Fees, Setting Up a Campaign, and More

All great ideas require a little financing to go from dream to reality. That’s where Indiegogo comes in. Before crowdfunding, young entrepreneurs and small startups always had issues securing funding for their projects through traditional means (read: bank loans).

Indiegogo crowdfunding - or indeed, crowdfunding on any platform - means business owners and startups are now able to quickly generate the funds they need to launch their ideas. Bonus: they also create a community of engaged, dedicated backers that are hungry for their products.

Whether you’re trying to raise funds for your unique idea or get helpful feedback from your potential backers and customers, there are plenty of benefits that come with launching an Indiegogo campaign. In this article, we’ll look at what is Indiegogo, how does it work, how to launch a campaign on Indiegogo, and the role Easyship can play in making your campaign a success.

What's Indiegogo?

Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform that was launched in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Eric Schell, and Slava Rubin.

Since then, its great flexibility and support for entrepreneurs have made it one of the leading platforms for fundraising. The platform has supported over 800,000 creative projects through its platform and boasts over 9 million active backers from over 235 countries and territories.

The Indiegogo fees are surprisingly minimal, which is perhaps another reason why it’s so popular for crowdfunding. But, of course, there are many other things that set the platform apart from others, including:

• The platform doesn’t charge fees for not-for-profit campaigns
• It offers a variety of crowdfunding services to suit any project
• You can choose all-or-nothing or keep-it-all funding options
• You can launch campaigns for any type of project (though retail ventures are the most popular)
• It provides great customer support
• It doesn’t pre-screen campaigns before launching them, unlike certain other platforms

How Does Indiegogo Work?

Right about now, we bet you’re asking, “But, how does it work?” It’s a good question - of course, you need to understand how a crowdfunding platform works before you launch a campaign.

Essentially, the platform allows users to set up a campaign page to tell their story, introduce their project to potential backers, and then solicit donations from these potential backers. The end game is to raise enough money to fund their projects and ideas. So here’s what you need to know.

All the services offered on Indiegogo

The platform allows campaign owners to launch campaigns for a variety of different projects. Although it specializes in retail, you can launch anything from not-for-profit campaigns to creative ventures. Below are just a few categories that have had successful campaigns on this platform:

• Tech and innovation
• Energy and green tech
• Food and beverage
• Home
• Health and fitness
• Transportation
• Creative (art, dance, theater, comics, music, film, photography)
• Animal rights
• Community projects
• Human rights

InDemand is an exclusive - and, we’d say very useful - service offered on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform. It makes it possible for you to continue raising money for your project for an indefinite period after you’ve finished your initial campaign.

Even better? It doesn’t matter whether you run your initial campaign on Indiegogo or another crowdfunding platform - either way, you can use InDemand and not have to set any fixed fundraising goals.

The Marketplace is another service that is available through the platform. This service is an online store and gives creators the opportunity to sell their products. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the service has been temporarily suspended since April 2019.

What project qualifications do you need to create a campaign on Indiegogo?

Indiegogo is all about flexibility and as such, it doesn’t have set eligibility rules that creators must meet before they can launch their campaign on the platform. However, they do require project owners to abide by the following rules:

• Creators should be 13 and above (those under 17 should have a guardian that’s over 18 to oversee the campaign)
• You’re not allowed to fund illegal projects
• You’re not allowed to fund products that might be harmful to others
• There’s zero tolerance for scam campaigns
• Weapons, drugs, drug paraphernalia, and alcohol are not allowed to fundraise on the platform

Indiegogo terms and fees

What about fees, I hear you ask. Of course, the platform is a pay-for-play proposition, meaning you will be expected to fork over some of the funds you raise after your campaign finishes. The terms and fees for usage aren’t too rigorous, though. For example, your campaign should usually last about 60 days. In terms of fees, these are what you can expect to pay:

• Basic platform usage fees: 5% of funds raised
• For InDemand campaigns: 5% of funds raised
• Payment processing fees: 2.9% + $0.30/pledge

However, you should be aware that if you chose to run a fixed crowdfunding campaign and don’t reach your funding goals, all pledged contributions will be refunded to backers - you won’t get any money, but you won’t be charged any fees, either.

To process its fees, the platform uses Stripe. This is an easy, secure way to manage all credit card payments. Unlike other platforms, PayPal is no longer a payment option on the platform.

Indiegogo is also a great option for projects that don’t need to achieve a particular funding goal in order to succeed. It’s also particularly useful for charitable causes and retail brands.

Related post: Kickstarter vs. Indiegogo

How to Start a Campaign on Indiegogo in 8 Easy Steps

Now that you know how this platform works, it’s time to figure out how to launch your campaign. But, before you begin your Indiegogo crowdfunding adventure, you should be thinking about:

• Where and how you’ll manufacture your products (if applicable)
• How much money do you think you’ll need to raise (your funding goals)
• How you’ll get your orders to your backers (fulfillment strategy)
• How to budget for marketing and other ancillary things

Got that? Great. Now, here’s how you actually set up a campaign.

A step-by-step guide to setting up an Indiegogo campaign

1. Register for an account.
2. Use an attention-grabbing title and tagline for your campaign. It should capture the attention of potential backers, but should also be simple. Don’t forget to use relevant keywords so your page will come up in online searches.
3. Insert an eye-catching campaign card image, which should be a close-up shot of a person or product that’s visually appealing. Avoid using too much text or too many visual elements in the image.
4. Decide whether you want to run an all-or-nothing (fixed) or keep-it-all (flexible) campaign; select as appropriate.
5. Set a timeline for your campaign. This means choosing an end date that factors in manufacturing deadlines, Indiegogo fees, funds disbursement dates, delivery dates, and more. If you want, this is the time to opt for InDemand so that you can continue to fundraise after your campaign ends.
6. Craft and make compelling crowdfunding people. It should be short, but informative, providing useful details about your brand and product, the campaign foals, and a compelling call to action. Use a blend of text and images, and make sure you appear in the video to add a personal element. The video should be shareable so that you can gain some traction on social media.
7. Create compelling written content for your campaign page. Tell the world your story and take them on your journey, from humble beginnings to crowdfunding campaigns. Be descriptive, be honest, but keep it engaging.
8. Campaigns that include backer perks draw in a larger audience. So, make sure to line up some tiered backer gifts such as early-bird discounts, bundle offers, or even small physical goods as a thank you.

Easyship and Indiegogo: The Perfect Crowdfunding Pairing

In order for your campaign to be successful, it’s important to start planning for fulfillment as you think about setting up your campaign. That’s because many campaigns fail because they forget to budget for fulfillment at the end of their campaign. So, as you’re planning, remember to get some estimates for shipping and factor these costs into your fundraising goal.

This will enable you to pay to ship rewards or goods to your backers without running out of money, and in turn, boost your chances of achieving a profitable campaign. This is where Easyship can help.

We understand that when you fail to plan for fulfillment, you may end up spending most of the funds you raise on shipping. That’s not what you want. So, we’ve made it easy to avoid this. You can use our shipping rates calculator to get an estimate of how much it’ll cost to ship your goods to various countries (you’ll also be able to figure out how long it’ll take and how much you may need to pay for taxes and duties).

Easyship also integrates with this platform, which makes it a breeze to handle your post-campaign shipping. Our shipping rules, automated labels, and customs forms, and branded tracking means you can offer a full, seamless shipping process to your backers, helping to ensure your campaign’s success. Below, we’ve put together a list of how Easyship can help your Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

8 benefits of using Easyship to fulfill your Indiegogo campaign

• Manage shipping through an all-in-one dashboard
• Get access to discounted shipping rates with over 250 courier services
• Access global fulfillment solutions from one account
• Get dedicated campaign support and account management
• Create branded tracking emails and packing slips
• Create shipments with just a few clicks of the button
• Automate domestic returns within the US
• Automatically generate shipping labels and customs paperwork

Fund Your Next Venture with a Great Indiegogo Campaign

Indiegogo has turned itself into one of the leaders of the global crowdfunding scene. This is particularly because it caters to a wide range of campaigns and offers a high level of flexibility that makes it easy and fast for people to create a campaign and raise funds for their projects.

With a network of warehouses around the world and a range of discounted shipping solutions, Easyship can help make your campaign a success by enabling you to easily ship to backers around the world.

Simply set up a free Easyship account and integrate it with your campaign to get started!