BlueSnap Steals Your Money
A History of Incompetence
There was an e-commerce company called Plimus. They offered a turn-key online sales system that allowed other affiliates to sell your product for you. So I could put my software product on their system and many other websites could sell it for me. Everyone gets a cut, everyone is happy.
Except at some point, Plimus started shitting all over their customers and merchants to the point where if you google search for "plimus" the first suggestion is "plimus complaints". Oops! Only one thing to do now, change their name to BlueSnap. Well, names can change, but people don't.
Except at some point, Plimus started shitting all over their customers and merchants to the point where if you google search for "plimus" the first suggestion is "plimus complaints". Oops! Only one thing to do now, change their name to BlueSnap. Well, names can change, but people don't.
New Fees
A few months ago, BlueSnap apparently snuck an updated fee structure into one of those eye-glazingly long terms-of-service updates. Here is what my January statement looked like:
They incorrectly put affiliate commissions and their own bullshit fees into the "gross" column to disguise how much of a chunk they're taking. Disregarding the carryover from December, the actual numbers should be:
This puts their total fee at an unacceptable 44%
Now let's look at February:
Oh great, so on $60 in sales, I get $0. The glorious priviledge of selling my own product that I made through the shit-tacular BlueSnap system is apparently worth 100% of my livelyhood.
PAYMENT OVERVIEW FOR THE PERIOD BETWEEN 01-JAN-2014 AND 31-JAN-2014
===========================================================================
-------------------TOTAL ORDERS-----TOTAL UNITS---GROSS SALES-----NET SALES
BUYNOW TRANSACTIONS
--Blockland (Mac OS X) - Full Version
7 7 $139.93 $125.94
--Blockland (Windows) - Full Version
16 17 $339.83 $305.65
AFFILIATE COMMISSIONS
--Blockland (Mac OS X) - Full Version
7 7 -$41.98 -$41.98
ACCOUNT_MAINTENANCE_FEE
--Merchant Account Maintenance Fee
1 1 -$75.00 -$75.00
PAYOUT_FEE
--ACH Transfer Fee
1 1 -$2.00 -$2.00
CARRY OVERS
--01-Dec-2013 to 31-Dec-2013
1 1 $32.94 $20.95
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRAND TOTAL $393.72 $333.56
They incorrectly put affiliate commissions and their own bullshit fees into the "gross" column to disguise how much of a chunk they're taking. Disregarding the carryover from December, the actual numbers should be:
| Gross | $561.93 |
| Net | $312.61 |
This puts their total fee at an unacceptable 44%
Now let's look at February:
PAYMENT OVERVIEW FOR THE PERIOD BETWEEN 01-FEB-2014 AND 28-FEB-2014
===========================================================================
-------------------TOTAL ORDERS-----TOTAL UNITS---GROSS SALES-----NET SALES
BUYNOW TRANSACTIONS
--Blockland (Mac OS X) - Full Version
3 3 $59.97 $53.97
AFFILIATE COMMISSIONS
--Blockland (Mac OS X) - Full Version
3 3 -$17.99 -$17.99
ACCOUNT_MAINTENANCE_FEE
--Merchant Account Maintenance Fee
1 1 -$35.98 -$35.98
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRAND TOTAL $6.00 $.00
Oh great, so on $60 in sales, I get $0. The glorious priviledge of selling my own product that I made through the shit-tacular BlueSnap system is apparently worth 100% of my livelyhood.
Email
I sent a reasonably worded inquiry to BlueSnap:
>exemption of accounts that exceed $2,500 in sales
So the fee is a deliberate shakedown of smaller merchants, because they think the accounts are unmonitored, or they think the smaller merchants won't be able to fight back and they'll get a quick cash grab in before they all leave.
Either way it's disgusting.
 |
2014-01-20 Subject: Ludicrous fee structure From: Eric Hartman |
|
My December 2013 statement has a "Merchant Account Maintenance Fee" of $75 on $120 in sales. I am only receiving 17.5% of revenue on a product that I wholly created myself. Remind me why I am dealing with you at all? Here are your choices: Refund this fee and you can continue to collect your already overreaching 30%+ commission, or we can end our relationship and you will receive 0%. | |
 |
2014-01-20 Subject: Re: Ludicrous fee structure From: BlueSnap Merchant Support <[email protected]> |
|
Dear Eric, Thank you for contacting BlueSnap. BlueSnap has instituted a new agreement on May 2013 which contained an updated list of Fees and Commissions. In order to view more details regarding your agreement, please go to your "Account Settings" --> "BlueSnap Agreement"; Scroll to the bottom of the agreement and find the "Exhibit B - Complete Table of BlueSnap Fees", and click on the link "BlueSnap Fee Table". The $75 maintenance fee is detailed on that page. Note that all BlueSnap Merchants are charged with $75 maintenance fee - with the exemption of accounts that exceed $2,500 in sales. In addition, this fee will only be applied when there is a positive balance of funds in the respective BlueSnap user account. In case the income does not allow to charge the full 75 USD, a lower amount will be deducted. Following the email sent to you on April 2nd regarding this update of the agreement, we also set a pop-up message to appear on your BlueSnap console regarding the "BlueSnap Merchant Agreement Update". This message was set to disappear after you read and approved the update, or by May 13th. If you have any further questions please let us know. If you would still like to close the account , in order to verify that you are the real account holder and apply, please send us that request from within your account through : Resources-> Support -> Support Form ( At the bottom of the page ) If you need further assistance with this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us. Regards, Tom - BlueSnap Merchant Support | |
>exemption of accounts that exceed $2,500 in sales
So the fee is a deliberate shakedown of smaller merchants, because they think the accounts are unmonitored, or they think the smaller merchants won't be able to fight back and they'll get a quick cash grab in before they all leave.
Either way it's disgusting.
Additional Reading
Why Plimus is Really Changing its Name to BlueSnap
A great rundown of the history of BlueSnap failures.
Major problem with BLUESNAP (formerly Plimus) - Details inside
BlueSnap withholds $3000+ from merchant indefinitely.
Plimus/BlueSnap changes for those who use them
People react (negatively) to BlueSnap's fee structure. Apparently they also charge fees to affiliates, so the commissions in the statements aren't honest either.
A great rundown of the history of BlueSnap failures.
Major problem with BLUESNAP (formerly Plimus) - Details inside
BlueSnap withholds $3000+ from merchant indefinitely.
Plimus/BlueSnap changes for those who use them
People react (negatively) to BlueSnap's fee structure. Apparently they also charge fees to affiliates, so the commissions in the statements aren't honest either.
Comments
Cca2014-04-17 13:26:05
Blame the economy!
Doc2014-04-17 14:35:56
Any amount of money spent is worth my increase in B-peen, because everyone cares about it, right?
SeventhSandwich2014-04-18 00:40:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoYWdHe4tQ4
nal2014-05-05 10:43:08
Lol, I wonder if anyone actually bought it from there at that price
joe4112014-05-11 18:07:08
well, if you want a 2k id...
RarwMuffinz2014-06-17 01:19:20
Get a new way of selling blockland. We cant have you going broke
RarwMuffinz2014-06-17 01:43:47
Your much too mildly interesting!
Nicepoint2018-01-17 03:48:39
damn