PSA: Bountysource charges a 10% fee whether or not your bounty is earned

22 points by quisquous 11 years ago | 3 comments

I heard about Bountysource on HN and I thought I'd give it a try. I pledged $100 for an enhancement to a project I like and I opted for a 90 day limit. The 90 days came and went. Bountysource didn't refund my money. I emailed them asking them to do so and they did. But they didn't refund my money to my Paypal account (through which I had paid the bounty up front). Instead they refunded it to my Bountysource balance. They then charged me $10 to move the funds back to Paypal.

So, shame on me for not reading the fine print--I assumed I'd get all my money back if the bounty wasn't successfully claimed. I don't find the policy unreasonable--they gotta support the site somehow I suppose. But now that I know I'm charged for taking money out, I'm less inclined to put money in. Seems to me they'd be better off charging only when there's a 'win' for everyone to feel good about.

Anyway, caveat emptor.

smeyer 11 years ago |

Unless they've changed their web page, I wouldn't really call this fine print. It's in the FAQ and it looks to be in massive print at the top of the Fees page.

quisquous 11 years ago | |

Fair enough, the font is big. Nonetheless, I wasn't clear on that point going in, and I read the FAQ before pledging. I'd say I was reading it through a certain lens, expecting one thing and failing to notice the contradiction to my expectation in their policy. That's my mistake, like I said. I figure others might have the same bias and make the same mistake in their reading of the FAQ, thus the PSA.

quisquous 11 years ago |

Also, I was charged a $2.91 fee by PayPal for the Bountysource refund, so I netted $87.09 back from my original $100 pledge.