Amazon has strict rules about sending yourself money through Amazon payments. Visa/Mastercard see it as an illegal cash advance, or money laundering. They could step into the gray area and pay someone cash to back their project, or promise to repay them later. If I were in this situation, I feel confident that I could call someone and ask for a $28 pledge. A post on Reddit or HN would have done the trick most likely.
I think the simple way around that mess is to give $28 to your friend, brother, aunt, uncle, girlfriend, or anyone else you know with a pulse that will follow through.
I'm a little confused as to why they wouldn't have done exactly that.
It's been pointed out in other comments that they were $828 down in the final seconds, and someone pledged $800. It could be that they did reach out to someone for that pledge. Though if that were the case, why didn't that person pledge $828?
This was a rare feat to come so close to the goal and fall short (http://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats). 81% of projects that reach 20% are ultimately successful, and only 0.005% of failed projects reach 81%-99% of their goal.
I think the real failure was not making a stronger final push in the last few days of the campaign instead of the last few seconds. They also should have timed the ending better. Saturday night is when people go out. Sunday evening people are online, and Monday morning after the first of the month is good because a lot of people will be online at work right after payday.
