Careful what you Kickstart. 692 individual backers who pledged a total of $13,168 last March to bring a Bay Area version of Cards Against Humanity to life haven't received their decks and are crying foul on Kickstarter. But Joshua Barrientes, the San Jose resident behind the project, does appear to have gotten the cards printed — judging from his eBay page where he's now selling the decks for $20 each.

"These cards were successfully funded with Kickstarter earlier this year and factory printed over this past summer," Barrientes writes. "Now I'm offering the extra decks on eBay!"

A long list of unhappy Kickstarter backers have taken to the comments section on the original product to bemoan Barrientes' behavior. "Extra?" writes one backer. "Bitch, those decks belong to your backers who paid you for those decks and never received them! As far as I'm concerned those decks are stolen property."

"He's a ripoff artist," another backer writes, "and [I'm] none too happy about Kickstarter helping him rip people off."

"Ugh! This sucks!" a third says. "I was really looking forward to those cards and was just coming on here to see if I could check on them. How sad that he would abuse this system."

A Kickstarter representative responded to at least one unhappy would-be customer, writing the following:

We expect creators to fulfill rewards, offer refunds if they’re unable to complete their project, and communicate with backers at every step along the way. While Kickstarter is the platform for this agreement, we are not a part of it. We do not investigate a project creator’s ability to complete their project, nor do we facilitate refunds or the fulfillment of rewards. While in most cases you’ll find that rewards are delivered as promised, it’s also important to realize that some projects might not fulfill as planned.

In another email, a rep added that:

We've reached out to the creator with a reminder of their obligations to their backer community, and have forwarded along your concerns and those of your fellow backers.

Although we are unable to offer refunds, we are constantly working to improve the vetting process for creators and thank you for sharing your experience. We hope you’ll continue to be an active member of the Kickstarter community as we learn and grow.

Maybe this what happens when you buy a game that's a ripoff of a ripoff of Apples to Apples? Still, as ckchew points out in the comments below, SFist did indeed promote the Kickstarter at the time... expecting that it was, like, not a scam. Next time we'll add a "caveat emptor" to our Kickstarter endorsements — with this incident in mind.

Previously: Yes!: Help Kickstart This Bay Area Version Of Cards Against Humanity