Bitcoin Forum

Just found this new service that I was referred to via Reddit (/r/Bitcoin) -- I was curious if anyone else has had a chance to check out/try out this service.

Apparently you can purchase from any online site using snapCard. I'd like to see how it works, and if it works with ANY site. I have a few in mind that do not accept BTC, and this would be perfect if it works.

If anyone wants to try it, I need to get 3 referrals to get into the Beta. Bit of a pyramid/referral scheme to get in... but I'd like to give it a shot and see how it works. I would be glad to report back my findings.

Use this link to sign up if you try it out.

http://www.joinsnapcard.com/137

Thanks - and let me know if you have any success with trying it!

Signed up under your link, the service sounds cool but the 3 member referral requirement is a bit worrying anyways
heres my link if anyone is kind enough to use it
http://www.joinsnapcard.com/143

It's the best stop-gap solution for "The easiest way to buy anything on the Internet using any virtual currency."  It's awesome so far. I used it for my line level converter for hooking my sub/amp to my car from Amazon, and a Walmart gas card from Walmart.com. As I understand it, they make you link your Coinbase account with their API, it was as easy as logging into coinbase once and saying ok to it, and from conversing with support (the co-founder, Michael) it only draws from you if you have BTC in the Coinbase account/wallet/s.

In other words, i was concerned about what happens when i have zero BTC in my Coinbase account? Will it draw from my bank account, surely not?
The answer is, no it will not

"If you have 0BTC in your coinbase, it will move into processing (as per normal) but the order will be cancelled if there's insufficient funds."...
"I'll eventually make this customisable to the user so they can set preferences associated with it. -Michael


So all that remains to be seen is the products at my doorstep, but, I have high hopes. Super heroes run SnapCard
http://pandodaily.com/2013/10/11/superhero-laundry-founders-launch-startup-to-prove-a-point-then-shut-it-down-once-they-succeed

Thanks for signing up guys, I got into the Beta. Looking forward to testing it out!

And thanks for the information homad, that's very helpful. Clears up exactly the question I would have had about insufficient funds in Coinbase account.

Has anyone bought anything with SnapCard on Bitcoin Black Friday, and received it yet?

I see  they are closed for "extensive technical modification", which in Bitcoin history has often meant "we are disappearing with all of your money".

Uhh... where did you see that message? The main site is still open for business as far as I can tell.

https://www.joinsnapcard.com/

http://www.snapcard.com/ (http://www.snapcard.com/)
How many snapcards are there?

Pretty sure I can wave my bitcoins goodbye to these jerks. They've ignored all questions in regards to my order that I paid days ago (the site is still requesting that I pay it). The only time they've been forthcoming is trying to get me to make new orders.

How many snapcards are there? One too many, I would say.

Edit - I got a tracking number nearly a week after placing the order.

I placed an order with Snapcard on 12/14 to make a purchase on Amazon for about $6.00, it arrived today (12/19 ). I don't know if they will continue, but I received that order. As far as the ease of purchasing an item, it is very easy. I don't have a Coinbase account so after the order they send an email saying what I owe and the BC address of where to send it.

That was fast. Less than a month from initial spam to FAIL.

SNAP is currently undergoing extensive technical modification.

As a result of this modification, all SNAP services are being suspended.


 ???

One of my business partners still hasn't received a tracking number 3 WEEKS AFTER placing the order on Black Friday. "The cofounders" doing the support stopped responding...

AND that order is for an item costing SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS!

So far, most of the bitcoin merchants I tried or heard of are either lame or crooked and unethical. I think I am just going to convert to USD and spend it that way.

At least that way one has recourse, other than just trying to contact the merchant and being ignored.

I ordered a gift certificate to a site sent on black friday. SnapCard said they would have to order it manually.
After that, they dropped the order, without any notice or explanation, and don't respond to inquiries.  >:(

Update: Just heard more of the details. The vendor had some kind of questions, and called the SnapCard, which didn't respond. So, the vendor cancelled the order.

Last message from SnapCard was that the item would be delivered 1 week ago. NO further response from SnapCard, and no refund! The item in question was $800 !!!!

The bitcoin community is being ripped of by these irreversible payment merchants worse than they ever were by credit card companies or banks! And have no recourse!

So much for a "successful" Bitcoin Black Friday...

I ordered a TV, xbox and games.. received them all... I am surprised, customer service was fast on their chat and all that etc.

I am not surprized. How many times have we heard the same stories, where only the names are different?

BitSpend was just as lame. I've recently had a similar problem with GiftCardZen, but for a relatively small amount.

We found where the transaction went - to a wallet that has more than 6200 btc in it !!!
https://blockchain.info/address/19mfTX5NpwwYjLqbAM8BQAxsNgfd7GESc5 (https://blockchain.info/address/19mfTX5NpwwYjLqbAM8BQAxsNgfd7GESc5)

Since the vendor canceled the order, SnapCard isn't out any fiat for it either.

My guess, it turned out to be like a Ponzi: they used the btc they got from this order to get the the fiat to buy your stuff. However, because this order was delayed due to some vendor inquiry, SnapCard ran out of fiat by that time due to the exchange rate correction.
So, they decided to just quietly let the order cancel and stop responding to emails, like a teenage girl who stops answering calls from an unwanted suitor, hoping he will eventually get the message... :D

Based on this and my own experiences, I will only send btc directly to a merchant if that's all they accept. Otherwise, I'll turn it into fiat first, where I have recourse if they don't deliver, and avoid retards like SnapCard, and other lame btc merchants.

So, what exactly happened?  They said they completed the order, and subsequently didn't order anything for you, then returned your BTC?

They way I understand the story:

1. SnapCard was paid for it and ordered the item.
2. SnapCard told the recipient that the order would arrive Th/Fr a week ago now, but didn't give any tracking info (on this 800$ item!)
3. The vendor had some kind of question for SnapCard, and contacted them somehow.
4. SnapCard didn't respond to the vendor's inquiry.
5. The vendor cancelled the order due to lack of SnapCard response.
6. SnapCard did NOT refund the BTC, NOR did they reorder the item.
7. SnapCard did not respond to the emails from the recipient requesting tracking number and order status.

So, the orderer is out $800 worth of BTC, the recipient received nothing, SnapCard  has the BTC!
VIVA the new revolutionary, irreversible-payment economy!  :-*

The whole thing - just as Bitspend did - smells of teenagers in their mom's basement, with big ideas and coding skills, but no financial/business experience or capital. If the only capital they ever got in their life was from their parents in the form of an allowance, then not giving anything in return for it seems no big deal to them. And ignoring questions about its disposition is the same as ignoring annoying questions from their mom... :D

Best of all, since the revolutionary Bitcoin is irreversible and unregulated, there is not even the danger of being sent to after-school detention for absconding with it! Truly a monumental, "low-friction" payment system! :D

Shit, I see.  Yeah, that is an odd situation.  I was wondering if this would possibly happen, especially when you auto convert your coins from BitPay, you are totally reliant on SnapCard to make sure everything goes right, or you will never see anything again. 

I am wondering if this is an isolated incident or happened to others?  I am also interested to see if SnapCard makes the person whole after this fiasco.

They took the money and ran.

Whois info for "snapcard.com":

Admin Name: HOLST-RONESS, ERIK
Admin Organization:
Admin Street: 2 rue du Chateau
Admin City: GENEVA
Admin State/Province: GE
Admin Postal Code: 1203
Admin Country: CH
Admin Phone: 00 41 22 340 7638
Admin Fax: 00 41 22 340 7643
Admin Email: erikhr@mac.com

That address is an apartment, and it's vacant and for rent. (http://www.valorisationsimmobilieressa.ch/locations_appartements/en/0695.42.0010/subscribe)

Erik Holst-Roness is known. Here's a video of him on YouTube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tw4KnN1Be4). He is associated with SwiffPay. He is the "Chief Strategy Officer" of the SCCP Group. They do mobile payments, in competition with Square.

So this is apparently connected with the SCCP Group, which has many offices worldwide. (http://www.sccpgroup.com). Contacting them might be helpful. Either they're behind this, one of their employees has gone rogue, or somebody is impersonating them. So get on the phone (they have a US office at  1 925 558 2719) and ask for their legal department.

If SCCP denies everything, contact the Geneva police. They could find the party involved. The rental agent, Moser Vernet et cie, will probably have copies of their identity documents. This is Switzerland. Financial fraud is dealt with strictly.

That sucks, because I wanted to use their service again it worked so well :/  Im sorry that you got your stuff taken. 

It's not the same company, as was discussed earlier: that was probably red flag #1 - they use the SnapCard name, but are probably not connected to it.
Their whois is private:

   Domain Name: JOINSNAPCARD.COM
   Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
   Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
   Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
   Name Server: SHNS1.SVWH.NET
   Name Server: SHNS2.SVWH.NET
   Status: clientDeleteProhibited
   Status: clientRenewProhibited
   Status: clientTransferProhibited
   Status: clientUpdateProhibited
   Updated Date: 24-oct-2013
   Creation Date: 01-oct-2013
   Expiration Date: 01-oct-2014

Latest update is that the recipient called the 443 area code number, listed on orders as the customer service. It seems to be somewhere in Maryland, but of course the user could be anywhere.
A person named Yani, who is the "cofounder" answered, apologized for the trouble and offered to reorder the item.
The recipient wisely declined that, and asked for a refund to the address of origin.
Yani said that would be done "within an hour, once he gets back to the office",   ::) and that the refund might even be more than original due to the rate flux.

About 24-hours later, naturally, there is no refund, nor any updates from "the cofounder".

I wonder if it's the same gang that ran BitSpend, coming around to reload with Btc.

For me, the moral of the story is no more spending btc through middlemen, unless it's a 3rd-party escrow. It's much safer to convert btc to paper through localbitcoins or coinbase, and spend it through the evil banks and credit card middle-men. At least one has some recourse against them.

Also, by doing that, one is taxed at capital-gains rate, which for the average person will be less than ordinary income rate. If you exchange bitcoins for goods directly, that's barter, and taxed at ordinary income rates:
http://www.bitcointax.info/ (http://www.bitcointax.info/)

Was it BitPay that they used to process or CoinBase? That's probably the only place to seek recourse.

Well, I don't know what that person used, but I used BitPay.  They just send you an address to send to BitPay from your own personal wallet.

Thanks! It was probably BitPay then. The btc recipient sets the processor.

Last I heard, about 48-hours later, still no refund and no news from "the cofounder".

I thought I read somewhere this morning though that they are looking for a paid intern. (Can't find where I saw the article right now.) Perhaps, they need some free money for that.  :D

If you need to sue them, start by suing DomainsByProxy. They are legally the owner of the domain. As soon as they get the court filing, they will fall all over themselves to have the correct identity of the real registrant substituted for their own. This is a standard procedure in litigation involving "private registration". (http://www.lacba.org/Files/LAL/Vol29No2/2249.pdf)

snapcard is far from a scam, at least they came through for me. They are trying to reach OP:
---
Really sorry, but we're trying to address a user concern who has claimed to not have yet received a refund from us for a product of $800. I want to address this with them, but can't post on the bitcointalk forum.
Trying to speak to them and sort it out but can't contribute on that forum.
I wanted to clarify, we've never scammed anyone, nor do we intend on doing so.
Every person who has had a disappointing experience with us has either had their product purchase fees waived, or in some cases, received the product for free.
We're trying extremely hard to separate ourselves from any scams associated with BTC or anything.
The case in question we've been in communication with the customer promptly responding to the emails as soon as possible, we've provided receipt for the transaction refund we issued to them but we still want to resolve all of this. Please feel free to bring this to the attention on the BTC thread so we can help resolve this please.
Thank you and Happy Holidays.
----
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1twdc2/snapcard_addressing_user_claim_of_no_refund_and/

so is this legit or scam?

It worked for me, I wanted to use them again, tbh.  Not sure why the person hasn't come back on the board to update his problem.

worked for me, will use again

Tried the service, and its not delivering as promised. Says 20 mins to make an order, but it took 2+ hours for a $5 walmart e-gift card. No replies via email, no replies via chat. I guess it did "work" for one item I bought, but not if your wanting it instantly. Had to cancel a few items cause it was taking longer than 3+ hours... Sounds like a good idea, but seems like they might be short on manpower or something. Don't expect this to work like Gyft, lol.

So all in all it's like Overstock. I personally like the idea but it already exists in a much larger form.

used them 2 times and both times they took to long to process and i lost out on the purchase. they didnt even bother to say anything to me until i emailed them asking about the tracking number for shipment. plus, im still waiting for my refund for the second screw up. it would be a great service if it wasnt so horribly slow.

Looks like they shut down their bookmarklet service to work on merchant integration instead.  This makes me really sad.  :(  I LOVED SnapCard!  I was able to literally buy absolutely anything online with BTC.  Other than a few delays, which I'm sure were due to them being inundated with more orders than they could handle, I never had any problems receiving the products I ordered.  I will miss them.

Now the only alternative I can find is Brawker.  I'd probably get scammed like I did on BitMit when I bought an Amazon gift card that had already been used.  No thanks.

Edit: Just discovered all4btc.com...Maybe worthwhile.  Checking it out now...

Brawker shut down in April 2015. (http://blog.brawker.com/post/116408675050/brawker-shuts-down) Their website still lets you create an account, so don't waste your time.

Couldn't they have used a different name? There's a site at snapcard.com which doesn't seem operational, and it's hard to tell if this is legit or not.