Kickstarter has been around for roughly four years in the US, gaining momentum and helping to fund endeavors ranging from indie films and music to video games and food-related projects. The service is now preparing to expand to let international users in on the action as citizens in the UK will become the first outside of the US to launch projects on the site.

The crowd funding website made the UK announcement via Twitter earlier this morning, noting that the service would be available starting this autumn. Details are pretty much non-existent at this point but the company promised more information would be coming soon.

The Verge points us to a 2009 post on the Kickstarter blog that reveals why the service has been limited to the US thus far but first it's imperative to understand exactly how the billing process works.

If a project meets or exceeds its goal, the backers' credit cards are instantly charged and the funds are sent to the creator of the project. If the goal isn't met, the pledges are instead canceled and nothing further happens. Kickstarter uses Amazon Payments to accomplish this, reportedly the only processor that is able to meet these requirements.

The decision to bring Kickstarter to the UK almost certainly has to do with the fact that Checkout by Amazon was recently made available to residents in this country. As Amazon expands their service to other parts of the world, it wouldn't be unexpected to see Kickstarter do the same.