Kickstarter & Indiegogo Bulk Import
Just finished a campaign? Import 5,000+ backer orders in a single upload from BackerKit, Kickstarter survey exports, Indiegogo perk exports, or any generic CSV. Address-only orders supported. Get from "campaign closed" to "first label printed" in under an hour.
4
Format Adapters
BackerKit, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, generic CSV
5K+
Orders Per Import
Bulk-batched commit, transactional
Address
Only Orders
No SKU required — perfect for thank-you cards & merch
Auto
Address Validation
EasyPost + Smarty fallback
Benefits
Why Businesses Choose This Feature
- Four Native Format Adapters
Drop in a BackerKit CSV, a Kickstarter survey export, an Indiegogo perk export, or a generic CSV. ShipWave detects the format and maps columns automatically — no week-long data engineering project.
- Address-Only Orders Supported
Sending thank-you cards, stickers, or merch where every backer gets the same thing? You do not need to enter a SKU per row. Address-only imports create orders that can be batched and shipped with shared content.
- 5,000+ Orders in a Single Import
Bulk batched commit handles successful Kickstarter campaigns at scale. Transactional — if one row fails validation, the import surfaces the row and lets you fix it without losing the 4,999 good ones.
- Address Validation Out of the Box
Every backer address runs through EasyPost address verification, with Smarty fallback for edge cases. Invalid addresses get flagged before you waste money on undeliverable labels.
- Backers Become Orders Ready to Ship
Imported orders flow into the same fulfillment queue as Shopify and Amazon orders. Pick, pack, batch-print labels, and ship — using the same workflow your team already knows.
- Order Tagging for Campaign Tracking
Tag the import with the campaign name. Every order inherits the tag for filtering, reporting, and post-fulfillment communication. Run multiple campaigns? Each one is cleanly separated.
How Crowdfunding Import Works
Export from BackerKit / Kickstarter / Indiegogo
Download the backer survey or perk CSV from your campaign platform. No special format required — ShipWave handles all four major formats natively.
Upload and Map (If Needed)
Drop the CSV into ShipWave. The format detector reads the headers and maps to ShipWave fields. Manual column mapping available for custom exports.
Validate and Commit
Preview the parsed orders, see any address-validation flags, then commit. 5,000+ orders import in a single transactional batch — ready to ship.
Why Crowdfunding Fulfillment Breaks Most Shipping Platforms
The Campaign-Closed Cliff
Most ecommerce shipping platforms assume orders trickle in: 50 today, 73 tomorrow, 200 next week. Crowdfunding fulfillment is the opposite: 0 orders for 30 days while the campaign runs, then a wall of 1,000-10,000 orders the moment BackerKit closes the survey window. Platforms designed for trickle-fed Shopify stores choke on the import step — file size limits, API rate limits, no way to bulk-batch, every order processed individually with a 200ms latency that compounds to hours of waiting. ShipWaves crowdfunding import handles the cliff natively: 5,000-row CSVs commit in a single transaction, address validation runs in parallel, and the order queue does not blink.
Address-Only Orders Are a Real Use Case
A common scenario: every backer gets the same thing — say, a thank-you card with a sticker, or a free upgrade to all $50+ backers. There is no SKU diversity per row. Most platforms force you to add a SKU to every order line, which means a 5,000-row import with redundant SKU data and the headache of either inventing a placeholder SKU or actually creating a "Thank You Card" SKU in your catalog you do not really need. ShipWaves crowdfunding import supports address-only orders: a row needs only a destination address, and the fulfillment workflow treats the address as the unit of work. Pick a shared package preset (envelope with card), print labels in batch, done.
BackerKit Is the Standard, But Kickstarter Surveys Are Common
BackerKit is the dominant survey and fulfillment platform for crowdfunding, used by maybe 40-50% of larger Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns. It exports a clean structured CSV. But many smaller campaigns skip BackerKit and use Kickstarters native survey tool — which produces a different CSV format (less structured, perks denormalized into description text fields). Indiegogos perk export is yet another format. A generic CSV upload covers everything else. ShipWaves format adapters parse all four, normalize them into a common Order structure, and surface any rows that need manual mapping. You should not be writing a Python script to clean a backer CSV.
Address Validation Saves Real Money
On a 5,000-backer campaign, statistically 3-8% of addresses will be invalid: typos, missing apartment numbers, abandoned forwarding addresses, international addresses in a wrong format. If you ship 5,000 labels without validation, 150-400 of them are undeliverable. Each undeliverable label costs the original postage + the return postage + the inventory recovery labor + the rework. ShipWaves crowdfunding import runs every address through EasyPost verification, flags the problematic ones before commit, and gives you a chance to email backers for correction. That alone typically saves $500-$2,000 on a medium-sized campaign.
Where Easyship and Pirate Ship Fall Short
Easyship has a crowdfunding partnership angle and is a reasonable choice for creators — they specifically court Kickstarter and Indiegogo creators with co-marketing. Their import works, but their interface and feature depth for ongoing operations (inventory tracking, marketplace selling, profitability) lag dedicated shipping platforms. Pirate Ship is great for one-off labels but offers no real bulk-import workflow — you would be pasting addresses one at a time, which does not scale to 5,000. ShipWave gives you the bulk crowdfunding import AND the operating platform for everything else (multi-channel selling, returns, warehousing) so you have a real fulfillment platform as you grow past the campaign.
ShipWave Crowdfunding Import vs. Easyship
Bulk import 4 formats, address-only orders supported, and a real fulfillment platform when the campaign ends.
| Feature | ShipWave | Easyship |
|---|---|---|
| Format adapters | 4 (BackerKit, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, generic) | BackerKit + generic |
| Address-only orders | Supported natively | Requires placeholder SKU |
| Max orders per import | 5,000+ | ~1,000 practical |
| Address validation | EasyPost + Smarty fallback | EasyPost |
| Order tagging by campaign | Built-in | Manual tagging |
| Post-campaign platform | Full multi-channel platform | Shipping-focused |
Who Uses Crowdfunding Import
Hardware Creators Wrapping a Successful Campaign
Hardware brands that just hit funded status on Kickstarter need to go from "campaign closed" to "first label printed" in days, not weeks. Bulk import + multi-warehouse + carrier rate shopping covers the whole flow.
BackerKit Power Users
Creators who run BackerKit for surveys love that ShipWave imports the BackerKit CSV natively — no copy-paste, no manual mapping, no data engineering required.
Indie Creators Sending Thank-You Merch
Authors, artists, and small creators sending stickers, signed cards, or zines to backers — the address-only order support means no SKU overhead for every line.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which crowdfunding platforms do you support?
Native adapters for BackerKit, Kickstarter (native survey exports), and Indiegogo (perk exports). For anything else — Crowdfunder, GoFundMe, Patreon, custom Google Forms — use the generic CSV adapter with manual column mapping.
What columns does my CSV need?
Minimum: name, street, city, state/region, postal code, country. Optional: email, perk/reward name, quantity, SKU, notes. The format detector handles BackerKit/Kickstarter/Indiegogo header conventions automatically — you should not need to rename columns.
How are missing or invalid addresses handled?
Every address runs through EasyPost verification before commit. Invalid or unparseable addresses get flagged in the preview. You can fix them inline, skip them, or commit them as-is (not recommended). For international addresses, Smarty fallback provides additional validation coverage.
What about international backers?
Fully supported. International addresses validate against country-specific postal databases. Once orders are imported, ShipWaves rate shopping evaluates international carriers (UPS Worldwide, DHL Express, FedEx International, USPS First-Class International) and picks the cheapest service meeting your SLA.
Can I import without a SKU?
Yes — address-only orders are explicitly supported. Useful when every backer is getting the same item (e.g., a thank-you card) and you do not want to create a placeholder SKU in your catalog just for the import.
How are orders tagged so I can find them later?
During import, set a campaign tag (e.g., "Project-Helios-Kickstarter"). Every order inherits the tag. Filter by tag in the order list, export reports by tag, and run automation rules scoped to the tag — perfect when you run back-to-back campaigns and need to keep them separate.
What happens after import — how do I actually ship?
Imported orders flow into the same fulfillment queue as Shopify or Amazon orders. Use Quick Ship for individual labels, batch labels for groups, or wave picking through the mobile picker. Same workflow your team uses for any other channel.
Explore More
Related Features
Quick Ship
Single-order rate shopping and label purchase — for one-off backer orders that need manual attention.
Learn more →
Order Management
Batch processing, wave picking, and bulk label printing for the post-campaign fulfillment push.
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Warehouse Management
Multi-warehouse routing for split campaign fulfillment across US, EU, and APAC regions.
Learn more →
Ship Your Crowdfunding Campaign in Days
Bulk import 5,000+ backer orders from BackerKit, Kickstarter, or Indiegogo. Address-only orders supported. Go from campaign-closed to label-printed in under an hour.