BlueSnap Review: E-Commerce Credit Card Processing

BlueSnap Logo
4
full star full star full star full star empty star

How did they treat you? ▼

Overview

In this comprehensive review we will provide a detailed analysis of BlueSnap, a merchant account provider specializing in e-commerce processing solutions. We will cover various aspects of the company's offerings, including its global payment gateway, mobile payment solutions, subscription billing services, and fraud prevention measures. The article will also delve into the company's integrations with e-commerce platforms and other software, highlighting how BlueSnap serves online businesses. Additionally, it addresses customer feedback, including common complaints as well legal issues the company has faced. We will aim to offer a balanced view of BlueSnap, discussing both its strengths and areas of concern, strving to provide you with an insightful perspective on this notable player in the online payment processing industry.

About BlueSnap

Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, BlueSnap is a merchant account provider specializing in online processing solutions for e-commerce businesses. The company was founded under the name “Plimus” in 2001, was acquired by Great Hill Partners in 2011, and was rebranded in 2013 following some negative publicity surrounding a class-action lawsuit filed against the company.

BlueSnap has partnered with a number of other businesses, including Splitit, TreviPay, KeyBank, and BitPay, and in 2019 they acquired Armatic.

BlueSnap Payment Processing

BlueSnap processes all major debit and credit cards for most business types. Their services include POS systems, mobile solutions, access to virtual terminals and payment gateways, accounts receivable automation, fraud prevention, subscriptions, and data reporting and analytics.

Global Payment Gateway

One of BlueSnap's most notable features is its global payment gateway, which allows businesses to accept payments in over 100 currencies and supports more than 110 payment methods. This feature enables businesses to expand their reach, catering to customers worldwide and simplifying international transactions.

Mobile Payments

The company provides a mobile payment solution that enables businesses to process transactions on smartphones and tablets. This feature helps businesses offer a convenient and seamless payment experience for their customers, especially when making in-person transactions.

Subscription Billing

BlueSnap offers a subscription billing service that automates the billing process for businesses with recurring payment models. This feature reduces administrative tasks, ensures timely payments, and helps businesses maintain a consistent cash flow.

Fraud Prevention

Security is a top priority for BlueSnap, and the platform includes a built-in fraud prevention system that utilizes machine learning and customizable rules to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions. This feature helps protect businesses and their customers from potential financial losses.

Reporting and Analytics

BlueSnap's platform includes robust reporting and analytics tools that provide businesses with insights into their payment processing performance. This information helps businesses make informed decisions, optimize their payment processes, and identify areas for improvement.

Integrations

BlueSnap offers seamless integrations with popular e-commerce platforms, accounting software, and CRM systems. These integrations help businesses streamline their operations and manage their payment processing within their existing workflows.

Location & Ownership

BlueSnap is headquartered at 800 South Street, Suite 640 Waltham, Massachusetts 02453, but has offices in Ireland, Israel, and London. Ralph Dangelmaier is the CEO of BlueSnap.

Video Summary

BlueSnap payment processing
BlueSnap offers a variety of payment processing services
Pros & Cons
Pros: Cons:
Reliable processing. Integration issues
Fraud protection. Higher fees than competitors.
Intelligent payment routing. Slow customer support.
Easy integration. Complex interface.
All-in-one solution. Chargeback fees.
Free trial available. Payment delays.

BlueSnap Customer Reviews

Here's What Their Clients Say

Customer Reviews Summary
Total Online Complaints 50+
Live Customer Support Yes
Most Common Complaint Fraudulent Partners
Recent Lawsuits Yes

Moderate Complaint Total

We have located at least 50 negative BlueSnap reviews, many of which accuse the company of being a ripoff or scam operation. Some of the older complaints refer to Plimus rather than BlueSnap, but BlueSnap has accumulated its own moderate body of complaints over the past few years. Most complainants report being scammed by a vendor using BlueSnap to sell illegitimate goods, but there are also complaints of hidden fees, poor account support, and confusion regarding the company’s real name. If you have your own BlueSnap review to make, please do so in the comments below.

BlueSnap Lawsuits and Fines

A suit was filed in January of 2012 by Kimberly Yordy, which alleged that Plimus, the companies previous brand, knowingly provided its affiliates with false testimonials and reviews intended to deceive customers into purchasing access to illegal channels for downloading digital content. The case was denied class-action status in October of 2013 and appears to have been dismissed, but Plimus had already changed its name to BlueSnap by that time.

BlueSnap Customer Support Options

Although most complainants were technically scammed by unethical vendors using the BlueSnap e-commerce platform, it appears that BlueSnap has historically done a poor job of vetting the businesses it partners with. BlueSnap offers phone, email, and ticket-based support to its merchants. While these options exceed those offered by some of its e-commerce competitors, their performance falls short of our demands of top-rated payment processors for great customer service.

BlueSnap Customer Service Number

  •  (866) 312-7733

BlueSnap Online Ratings

Here's How They Rate Online

Online Ratings Summary
BBB Reports 11

Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.

Over 5 Complaints

BlueSnap currently maintains an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau and has been accredited with the BBB since August 2015. The company is showing 6 complaints in the last 36 months.

Note from the BBB

The BBB has deemed it necessary to add the following note to the BlueSnap profile:

“Please note that BlueSnap is a third party processing company.  BBB would like to make you aware, when making a purchase from a company that uses Bluesnap, the name of the vendor does NOT appear on the transaction rather the name BlueSnap appears on the consumers checking/credit card account.  When filing a complaint with BlueSnap please make sure your purchase was not with another merchant.”

What Merchants Say

BlueSnap has received 5 formal reviews in the past 36 months, all negative. The most recent negative review describes confusing charges and poor customer support:

I have a charge on my **** I cannot ID. The number beside it that **** tells me to call sends me to Blue Snap but the number always deadends and there is no ************ I can contact them to verify this charge was legit. They only want to talk to new businesses it seems. Could be legit but how would i know?Therefore a scam until they change their mode of doing business

Customer service is an essential component of a merchant account provider’s ability to effectively resolve complaints like these. Business owners should research how comprehensive their provider’s support options are to have confidence in being able to resolve any issues that may arise during their contract.

An “A” Performance

In light of the company’s low complaint rate and high resolution ratio, we agree with the BBB’s rating of an “A.”

BlueSnap Fees, Rates & Costs

A Closer Look at The Contract

Cost & Fees Summary
Cancellation Penalties No
Monthly & Annual Fees Yes
Processing Rates Variable
Equipment Leasing TBD By Third Party Agreement

BlueSnap Pricing

BlueSnap charges merchants a flat fee of 2.90% plus $0.30 for transactions made in the US. The rate for international transactions users is 3.90% plus $0.30. It waives its $75 monthly minimum fee but clients will be charged this in each month during which they process less than $2,500 in transactions making it a less-than-desirable option for low-volume credit card processing. BlueSnap also advertises that it does not charge any early termination fees

However, section 5.1. of its Merchant Terms & Conditions details the possible impact that terminating an account may have on a client’s funds:

5.1.1 “Holdbacks” are sums that BlueSnap may in its sole discretion without prior notice hold in reserve against Merchant’s account during exposure or potential exposure to high frequency of refunds or Chargebacks or following significant variations in monthly sales volume, so as to ensure there are sufficient funds held in Merchant’s account to meet potential Refund and Chargeback requests. Should BlueSnap be subject to, or have reasonable cause to believe that it may be exposed to any negative Merchant account balance, or any claims, fines, penalties, non-compliance charges or additional fees levied by any Acquirer, Card Association or legal authority due to Merchant’s acts or omissions, or as a result of default, breach or termination of this Agreement, fraud, money laundering, illegal, unauthorized or improper actions of Merchant and/or Merchant’s customers, BlueSnap may in its sole discretion and without prior notice holdback in reserve additional sums for such period as it deems necessary to secure and make whole its financial position.

High-Risk Terminations

In late 2011, some vendors received an email from Plimus stating that their PayPal accounts had been temporarily deactivated due to those vendors’ high-risk business types. This was possibly a result of high chargeback rates through the business types Plimus was partnered with at the time. Business owners are encouraged to read and understand the company’s current list of prohibited business types to avoid an unexpected account shut down. Businesses that sell items prohibited by BlueSnap may need to work with a high-risk specialist. We also encourage business owners to check out our list of the providers of the best merchant accounts.

Other BlueSnap Fees

The company also charges dormant account fees to clients who are inactive for over three consecutive months, which range from $5 to $50 per month. We have found no evidence that BlueSnap charges an early termination fee or a PCI compliance fee, but we welcome any feedback you can provide in the comment section regarding your own experiences with BlueSnap.

BlueSnap Employee Reviews & Sales Tacitcs

Should You Work For Them?

Jobs & Marketing Summary
Uses Independent Resellers No
Telemarketing No
Misleading Marketing No
Discloses All Important Terms No

Inside Sales Team

BlueSnap appears to primarily utilize its website and strategic partnerships to market its services. There is no indication at this time that the company hires independent sales agents, and we have not found any BlueSnap reviews that describe unethical conduct by the company’s sales staff. This compares favorably to our list of best credit card processors.

History As Plimus

One possible cause for concern in this section involves the numerous complaints about BlueSnap/Plimus’s former affiliations with fraudulent vendors. Although BlueSnap itself did not sell the products and services in question, it did provide payment processing through PayPal and other e-commerce features to these operations. By extension, the company was profiting off of unethical businesses on what appears to be a fairly wide scale. The complaints filed against BlueSnap regarding this issue have diminished in the last year, indicating that the company has taken steps to solve the problem. Still, the lawsuit was recent enough to warrant consideration in this review.

Add-On Fees

There are also a fairly large number of complaints online accusing BlueSnap of charging bunk fees and changing the terms of its contract without proper notification. Clients specifically claim that in early 2013 the company added a $75 monthly account maintenance fee for businesses that do less than $2,500 in sales per month. If you suspect that BlueSnap is overcharging you, you can double-check your monthly bill with a third-party statement audit.

BlueSnap Rebranding

The final noteworthy consideration when evaluating BlueSnap’s sales tactics is the company’s name change. While a name change alone is not a reason to lower a company’s score, there is some speculation that the company rebranded itself as BlueSnap to escape the negative publicity surrounding the Plimus business name. This strategy is slightly deceptive, since businesses that would ordinarily avoid Plimus may unwittingly sign up for the same company through the BlueSnap name. On its website, BlueSnap goes to great lengths to conceal its ties to Plimus, lending credibility to the claims that it changed its name to dodge the negative complaints it had attracted.

Our BlueSnap Review Summary

Our Final Thoughts

BlueSnap rates as an average credit card processing provider according to all available information. The company’s alleged history of partnering with illegitimate businesses calls into question its internal safeguards against fraud, but it does appear that the company has taken steps to improve its policies and its reputation in the past two years. BlueSnap’s overall rating may improve as it puts the negative legacy of Plimus behind it. For now, business owners should compare BlueSnap’s pricing and services to those offered by top-rated merchant account providers.

If you found this article helpful, please share it!

Which is Most Important for You?

If you had to pick one, which quality would you say will be the most important with your next credit card processor? Tap or click your selection to register your vote:

  1. Low Transaction Fees
  2. No Monthly Fees
  3. No Contract
  4. Reliable Customer Support
  5. Quick Signup

Testimonials & Complaints

How Did BlueSnap Treat You?

39 User Reviews

  • Joe

    Upon checking my CC statement found a charge for “Privacy Assist”. This is on a card I only use for a couple of auto pay utilities so I know I didn’t purchase this product [whatever it is]. I called the number and get an automated system that says “if there is a charge on your credit card it probably came through one of our affiliates. Please check our website” then hangs up. I went the website and see I must sign up for an account to access info. Not going to fall for that. I cancelled the card and lodged a fraud complain.

  • John Barltrop

    Private

    Why have I been charged $24.30 on 6/12/21 and $23.65 on 5/1/2022. I have no idea who or what bluesnap is and I certainly never subscribed to your site. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind telling me what is going on????

  • Disgruntled Customer

    A completely suspicious organisation. They are posting dubious transactions on customer accounts and when contacted regarding the transaction, they provide other payment provider companies’ support phone numbers. Do not trust this company!

  • Anil

    These guys are useless. They are still working with fraudulent merchants. I was scammed by DrNajeeblectures (a site offering medical lectures) and bluesnap process their payments. A quick internet search reveals many others who have also been scammed.

  • Henry

    Awful company and definitely do not do business with them.

    After 2.5 years of processing with them, they turned off our account with less than a day notice. Left our company high and try scrambling to find a new processor.

    They don’t care about their customers, and this is par for the course from our 2+ years working with them. Save yourself headache and heartache – work with someone else.

  • Pablo

    Worst Experience we ever had.

    We have receive a termination letter without any advise:

    “Dear Merchant,

    This letter is to inform you of our decision to suspend your account and payment due to violations to our merchant agreement. Suspension of your account means that you are no longer able to process transactions through BlueSnap.

    All payments and funds will be held for 6 months to cover potential refunds and chargebacks, as well as any legal costs incurred to BlueSnap. If violations or chargebacks continue to occur during this timeframe, the hold time can be extended. After the applicable period of time, any balance will be paid to you. In case of a negative balance in your account, BlueSnap will send an invoice for the balance amount that will be due within 30 days. If you have any reason to dispute the action being taken on this account, please contact our Risk department at (risk department email).

    At this time, you are required to remove all BlueSnap references from your website.

    Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

    Regards,
    Sandra David”

    This letter was received after a month of working with them, and we have not received a single payment from them. They accuse us of violations of the agreement and they will not give any information about what kind of violations. And we’ve been held 9200 GBP. We have contacted every day by phone and email and after 8 days MARK (support team agent) and he told us they weren’t going to provide more information because they didn’t want to (as incredible as it may seem).

    From the risk department, they NEVER ANSWER.

    We can’t access our account or see any information, process refunds, answer chargebacks, or do anything else.

    Absolute shame, stay as far away as you can or you are going to lose your business and a lot of money.


    This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money

    -Phillip

  • Mary Todd

    If you are a crook then this is the company for you! The professional thieves from American Alarm Security which is a shell company in Costa Mesa with a bogus telephone number successfully use Blue Snap to rob account numbers and steal money using ACH methods! I certainly don’t hold Blue Snap responsible however I would expect for them to have interest in hearing this information and possibly helping future transactions. But that’s just me, a honest hardworking person. I’m certainly not the kind of customer who Blue Snap wants. Best of wishes to you and all your thieving clients!


    This post will help: How to Report Bad Credit Card Processors

    -Phillip

  • Justin Rochleau

    To all the people who left reviews. When you see “BLUESNAP” on your credit card statement, that means the merchant or website who you purchased a service or item from, forgot to change the soft descriptor in their Bluesnap console to reflect the name. This is why so many people see charges they are unfamiliar with and scream bloody murder that Bluesnap is scamming them. Bluesnap or any other processor just processes the payments on the backend from the merchants they partner with. Although they should take some higher measure to ensure merchants set up their soft descriptors correctly, its the actual merchant who is at fault and who you should contact for a refund.

  • Bryan Harris

    This company is not very good. I would highly recommend Bran Tree Payments who we will be switching back to now since they closed our account without ever giving us any of our money. They claim that because a phone number was on a website that says the word “DEBT” they cannot process our payments. Even though we are not affiliated with the so called company or website their “risk” team shut it down and won’t release our funds. Over $10K in revenue they claim they can now hold on to for 60 days and then only release a portion back to us and then we have to wait longer.

    Either way we were told it would be fine. They banked up a bunch of our money and then said we can’t release your funds. You can keep processing but we aren’t going to release your funds. These guys are crooks.

  • Kleslie

    This company allowed. Fraudulent activity to be charged to my debit card which led me to have to close my account. Ibe had my card for years and because of this company I have now had to be inconvenienced and are skeptical of putting my information in on websites who use third party billing companies for payment. You guys are pathetic.

  • Hillary Olivier

    Bad bad bad. Bought VPN last year for a friend on my credit card. They automatically renewed contract for VPN using same credit card details after requesting them to cancel transaction. No corporate governance. No business ethics

  • Luke

    This was pretty disappointing to find out that the company was charging me for more than three months without alerting me through any means. I would recommend not to subscribe to their vpn at all and go for another firm. This company apparently does not plan to run on honesty and morality.

  • Josephine

    FRAUDULENT COMPANY. Still not 100% how they skimmed my card details but they charge nominal amounts you might overlook but for no service. I cancelled my card but it’s a pain in the a** especially for a business owner.

  • Venkat Kucherlapaty

    STAY AWAY. I cancelled the account on the day of billing and they claim they already sent 400 people to my website, which is outright lie as google or my web counter says only few people which is pretty normal. They don’t refund the amount they charged my CC.

  • Marie Colby

    Beware, Sprout uses this company for it billing AND it next to impossible to cancel. They just act (are) stupid and keep taking your money. They need to figure this out before I lodge a complaint with the BBB.

  • Shan Barkataki

    BEAWARE and BE ON GUARD I bought one product through BLUESNAP in 2013, called DVDnextcopy. Never used it; upon inspection saw that the product would make me break copyright/intellectual property laws. They try to charge my card every year. I asked the company to stop this, no response, no result. AVOID, AVOID, AVOID.

  • DEEPAK

    Bluesnap has auto renewed my membership by debiting my credit card, which I have not requested.
    How can i get rid of this. I have already marked a complaint to bluesnap team for refund of charges. Kindly help.

    • Antar Dayal

      Signed up with StoreYa a BlueSnap/ Plimus company promising to send customers to your online store. Billing is monthly taken out of your account. I canceled after three weeks because product didn’t stand up to it’s claims and after 3 emails finally got a refund. Only to be charged again a month later…..These people should not be in the merchant business!!

  • Patricia Borns

    Blue Snap sells a scam PDF converter, bills you monthly for the product and doesn’t take responsibility for what it sells. The particular product promised to convert PDFs to Word but converted them to a picture file instead.

  • Serhan

    I’m trying to open an account through their get started form but no response after my 4th trial in 3 weeks. I’ve even emailed them about the issue but again sound of silence. I don’t know what but certainly smth. is off with this company. I think I’d better stay away from them for a while…


    Are you with BlueSnap? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

  • Dlip

    This company is a fake one and I recently did a merchandise with them. They charged me a whopping 600 % than normal fee. I tried to cancel them transactions but no response as the calling number was fake and no email responses, as given on website

    All my transactions went through AMEX card and Amex was not trying to stop this as well


    Are you with BlueSnap? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

  • Paul

    BlueSnap got hold of my card details and have billed my card many times pushing my account into negative 1k.

    Have filed a chargeback , if you see any debits from BLUESNAP on your account , file a chargeback against these scammers.

    AudioShop

  • BlueSnap/Plimus merchant

    We’ve been working with Plimus/Bluesnap for many years.
    Cons:
    * Transaction fees were incredibly high (starting at >10%) and only after many years and volume they agreed to lower them to 3.9%+0.30 which is still not as good as the official rate they promise.
    * When a customer is charged in any non-USD currency, a hefty conversion fee of ~6% is added. This is much higher than what most people around the world pay for conversion fees with their plastic cards (usually 0%-3%) so by offering additional currencies you’re charging your customer a lot more. Needless to say, they don’t mention it anywhere and don’t allow the merchant to disable non-USD transactions.
    * Not easy to understand their monthly reports when some payments are processed via PayPal. Such payments are transferred directly to your PayPal and BlueSnap only charges the fee difference between their fees and PayPal’s. However, the sales reports show all sales and you may expect a different payout from BlueSnap from what you actually get. Very confusing.

    Pros:
    * Many different payment methods available which make customers around the world more likely to sign up. Contrary to what you may think, not all the world is fine with plastic cards or PayPal.
    * Setting up contracts and having them in multiple languages is relatively easy.
    * They have affiliate network setup although all affiliates that ever contacted us never sold anything for us. Many of them seem like automated operations to place links for contracts. Maybe it’s better when you find your own affiliates.

    Conclusion:
    If your volume is very low, you may not care too much about the fees and having an easy setup and many payment options may be lucrative. However, we would not recommend them as a primary payment processor due to their HIGH fees.

    • JHO

      Bought a software online that used Bluesnap for payments. The first time I used it , Amex called /texted to verify this was a charge I authorized.
      The next time Amex was calling again because another charge “service transaction” for $112 showed up the same day as my authorized $40 charge.
      They (Amex) are now changing my CC because # has been compromised. I suspect as others mention in this article a Bluesnap issue either they themselves and/or vendors they allow compromise your CC info.
      Wish I had seen this article earlier.

Tell Us How They Treated You

Sharing your experience influences our rating and helps other business owners make informed decisions. Please take a moment to tell us if they are serving you well. Your email address will never be published, shared or sold. We only use it to authenticate that you are a real person and, if you select the option for it, to let you know if someone replies to your comment. Required fields are marked *

Comments must contain details about your experience. Please do not use ALL CAPS. Self-promotion, marketing content, or contact information of any kind will not be published. By submitting a comment, you are agreeing to our Comment Policy

Copyright

Copyright © 2024 CardPaymentOptions.com, Inc. (Digital Fingerprint: 0d38c6720f0d78a701b74d58653af608). Getting paid to re-write this page? Click here to earn a reward.

Any unauthorized copying and reproduction of the content of this page, including all meta data and computer code, is strictly prohibited. While the information in the above article is believed to be accurate as of its publish date, the author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of this material, which is provided “as is,” and without warranties. Any and all use of trade names and/or marks are for identification purposes only and shall not be construed as a claim of affiliation, or otherwise, with CardPaymentOptions.com, Inc. ("CPO") in any form. The sole purpose of the material presented herein is to alert, educate, and inform readers. It is not intended as legal or financial advice. We may earn revenue if you obtain services from a provider that we recommend. See this page to learn how we support our operations.