ShiftCam Admits Poor Communication, Mistakes With Indiegogo Campaign

Backers of ShiftCam’s SnapSeries Indiegogo campaign claim they were being sidelined so that ShiftCam could double-dip by taking money raised in the campaign and spend it on delivering orders to both retailers and consumers. Those who inquired about order status or questioned ShiftCam about these alleged retail sales tell PetaPixel they received vague responses or radio silence.

Similar sentiments echo in comments and forum discussions relating to this campaign.

After being presented with these complaints and evidence PetaPixel uncovered, ShiftCam admits that it made mistakes by not communicating shipping delay details to Indiegogo backers who consistently asked for updates.

When ShiftCam launched its SnapSeries crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in August 2024, backers were expecting to receive their orders as early as October. Going into January 2025, they had yet to receive anything. When some of those backers reached out to PetaPixel to find out why, we contacted ShiftCam for an explanation.

The company says it is taking ownership of the problem and aims to do right by both the campaign’s backers and future ones but the context behind the story is also a cautionary tale for any brand failing to communicate well with backers.

The Campaign and the Products

The SnapSeries launched as a new line of eight mobile photography and videography accessories. Of those eight, three were iterations of existing products: the SnapGrip Classic, Pocket Light, and SnapStand Mini. Those three continue to be available from both ShiftCam and other vendors. The latter two were apparently included in the SnapSeries campaign to give backers more choices in what items they wanted.

Shiftcam

ShiftCam expected to have all eight ready to ship together by October 2024. The two that caused the biggest manufacturing hurdles and delays were the “hero” pieces: the SnapGrip Pro and SnapStudio Light. The SnapGrip Pro is a newer version of the Classic insofar that it is tougher and supports Qi2 wireless charging. The SnapStudio Light is an entirely new product. Manufacturing delays pushed both of these products into January 2025.

At this point, ShiftCam made two erroneous decisions. First, it never communicated there were manufacturing delays to backers. Second, it never told backers these two hero products were causing entire orders to be pushed further down the calendar.

Rather than give backers a choice between receiving what was already available to ship first and getting the the rest of the order later or to wait until they could get everything at once, ShiftCam arbitrarily chose to apply the second option to everyone who backed the campaign without asking. Further, it never informed backers that it was doing this.

Availability on the Outside

The remaining pieces (SnapStand Max, SnapStand Selfie, SnapShoe Accessory Mount with Mic, and SnapSSD) add to the general confusion and have also drawn backers’ ire. Of those, the SnapSSD will see the longest delay — March 2025 is the earliest timeframe the company provided to PetaPixel — which will have no effect on delivering existing orders. Those who ordered it will receive it separately. The others, however, are in varying states of availability.

PetaPixel looked into inventory at B&H Photo, both online and what is available at the superstore in New York, and found the SnapStand Max and SnapStand Selfie were easy to purchase online or for local pickup at the store. When calling to inquire as a customer, a B&H representative confirmed both products’ availability. These are two items that have been held back from backers who paid for them bundled with either SnapGrip Pro, SnapStudio Light, or both.

Shiftcam

The Max and Selfie stands are the two shipments ShiftCam received in numbers by the original October 2024 period. Of the 700 backer orders that included these stands, 500 also included the SnapStudio Light. The company’s rationale was that most of the accessories wouldn’t be as useful without the hero products but that doesn’t account for backers who may own previous ShiftCam gear that would work just fine with them anyway. It doesn’t appear ShiftCam considered that.

At the time of publication, B&H lists the SnapGrip Pro and SnapStudio Light as “coming soon” while others like the SnapPocket Light and SnapShoe (without the mic) are listed as “special order.” When PetaPixel asked B&H about the SnapGrip Pro and Studio Light in particular, the retailer said it had yet to receive any and hadn’t sold any, either. On Amazon, there are no signs of the new SnapSeries gear on the ShiftCam store.

Taking Responsibility

PetaPixel first raised this issue with ShiftCam CEO Benson Chiu and his PR team at CES 2025 in Las Vegas earlier this month. There, Chiu denied any wrongdoing, stating that shipping delays were causing the problems but he did not specify what they were. Moreover, he denied any of the products were being sold in retail and seemed to know nothing about the brewing frustration online.

After being presented with PetaPixel‘s findings, the company is singing a different tune. ShiftCam shared an exclusive statement with PetaPixel that acknowledges and takes responsibility for the state of affairs:

ShiftCam is aware of the frustrations of some of our crowdfunding backers regarding delays in the delivery of the SnapSeries and are actively working to fulfill our commitment to them as quickly as possible.

Our backers are the foundation of the business we’ve built, and we take responsibility for a lack of clear and timely communication regarding manufacturing delays with some of the SnapSeries products. We will do better.

We want to be clear that no delayed items have been sold to other customers before being shipped to backers. We initially anticipated all eight SnapSeries products would be available to ship in October, however the two anchor products (SnapGrip Pro and SnapStudio Light) were delayed until January. Confusion arose from similar products, like the SnapGrip Classic, already available on the market.

We recognize our communication was insufficient and created doubt and mistrust among backers and will work hard to earn that trust again.

Chiu’s point “that no delayed items have been sold to other customers before being shipped to backers,” is proven untrue for two particular items in the series, as already noted above. While some backers may have confused current availability of the SnapGrip Classic with the new SnapGrip Pro, comments in online forums show some backers clearly recognize the distinction between the two.

Next Steps

ShiftCam tells PetaPixel that shipments of the SnapGrip Pro and SnapStudio Light arrived as expected earlier this week. That means it should start fulfilling backers’ orders first as early as January 20 and onward. The shipments are large enough to also cover retail pre-orders but backers will come first, the company says.