If one exceeds their funding goal with KickStarter do they keep the excess?

The contribution individuals make to a kickstarter project typically gets them the product at a discounted price or some other perk when it’s available, but I’m pretty sure not a refund.

The additional funds are used for the increased production costs. More that invest = more that want a return.

Yes, they do.

Yeah, technically, the money given via Kickstarter is a donation. All the money they receive, assuming they hit the goal (since they don’t get any money otherwise), is theirs to do with as they please after Kickstarter and Amazon takes their cut. Most/all creators do re-invest in the project at that point and start making them bigger and better, but this is not strictly a requirement. There have even been projects which have simply died after funding, and the backers get nothing. So far, I don’t think a backer has any recourse because of the way Kickstarter is set up, though a legal challenge may change that.

Which is not to say Kickstarter isn’t awesome (I’ve backed ~20 projects so far), but you have to know the risks.