Post-crowdfunding cooldown period and order handling

After a crowdfunding campaign ends, a payment collection period starts and lasts up to 15 days. During this time, the system retries failed payments so that backers can complete their pledges.

This article explains why the cooldown period exists, what happens during payment collection, and how your project settings affect unpaid orders.

In this article

• What happens during the payment collection period
• How unpaid orders are handled
• Changing the default setting

What happens during the 15-day payment collection period

During the payment collection period:

• Adyen, a payment provider, starts collecting payments.
• Backers can update or change their payment method.
• The system retries failed payments up to three times.

When the payment collection period ends, the system processes unpaid orders based on your project settings.

How unpaid orders are handled

After payment collection ends, the system processes unpaid orders in one of two ways:

• The system moves unpaid orders to Awaiting payment, or
• The system cancels unpaid orders.

Which option applies depends on your project configuration.

Changing the default setting

For campaigns that start after December 16, 2025, unpaid orders are not canceled by default. Instead, backers can complete their original pledge later during Late Pledge or in the Pledge Manager.

You control this behavior through a project setting.

How to change this setting

1. Open your project.
2. Go to Project settings.
3. Open General settings.
4. Toggle Automatically cancel unpaid pledges after CF ends to Yes.

5. Save your changes.

You can edit this setting before the launch of a campaign and while your crowdfunding campaign is active.

Once the crowdfunding phase ends and payment collection begins, the platform locks this setting to keep consistent order handling.

Shortening the post-crowdfunding launch period

Starting the next phase earlier stops payment collection immediately.

When you shorten the cooldown period:

• The system stops retrying failed payments.
• Backers no longer get a chance to fix declined payments.
• Some payments may never be completed.

This option helps you move to Late Pledge or Pledge Manager faster, but it also reduces the number of completed payments and the total amount collected.

If you understand the impact and want to shorten the cooldown period, contact our Support Team. They can help you start the next phase earlier.