Teespring Stole $560 in Profit!

Ok, I don't usually post many threads here but I wanted to share this little rant and get some opinions here.

I ran a successful TS campaign that ended with $560 profit. In the copy I wrote a portion of the profit would be donated. I was not verified however.

After requesting the payout, it never came so I emailed them. They responded with this:

I am sorry to hear about this.I have heard back from our billing department and they have advised me that your payout has to be adjusted
because your campaign ?(name omitted) is promising a donation?.
I do apologize for any inconvenience. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns that you may have

I replied with this

At what point was Teespring going to let me know they were holding my funds? It seems thatTeespring is now the recipient of a donation from me. I was under the impression there were ?verified? donations in which the profit would go directly to the 503c organization. I understand I did not verify that campaign, but there's absolutely nothing in the TOS or FAQ that indicates the opposite ? namely, that Teespring will keep all profits from campaigns that aren't verified. If that's the case, it needs to be clearly laid out somewhere on the website.

My campaign was a bit controversial, and I don't think they liked the message behind it. But if you search for "all proceeds from this campaign will be donated" + teespring you get all sorts of results showing campaigns that tipped, and were not verified. I can only assume they received a payout.

Whether I intended to donate all the profit, a portion of it, or none of it isn't any of their concern. At this point I donated it to them - and they don't need the extra profit! Obviously you can't get through to these fools on the phone, and I have to work through a damn middle man via email so I can't get any sort of communication line open to discuss.

What are your thoughts on this?

Wow that sucks hope you get it back.

Thats terrible, hope it all works out

Update us on what happens in the near future.

If you can get a number or some sort of live chat id do so.

503c , isnt that that thing where churches cant talk against the government?

Good luck with this don't stop pestering them.

Malakii said:

503c , isnt that that thing where churches cant talk against the government?

Click to expand...

No, LOL. 503c is a US IRS Tax Classification Code.

wtf? Are you serious? Why would they take your earnings esp if it's for that purpose?

didn't bother to read all of it, of course that's going to happen if it's too controversial

Try calling them a bunch of times, but it goes to automatic hold, then just sends you to a voicemail message. Impossible to get through. I never heard back from anyone there via email either. You need to communicate via a middle man who escalates issues to whoever makes decisions there, so there's little chance of having any sort of discourse.

I see so many campaigns claiming to donate their profits, without any sort of official badge, and I assume TS pays those people. I honestly think they just didn't like the political stance of mine, which is complete BS.

They did the same thing with at least two different political campaigns (Daily Shoah and Exodus Americanus) that they didn't like. Shipped the product but kept the money. The sold around 50 shirts each and didn't claim to donate anything.

What slips through depends on what get reported, and if you make the right enemies, you'll constantly get reported.

Drop em and get a college grad working through his law degree to work pro bono as you seek compensation. Then sue them for legal fees of said free lawyer and also charge them interest for the time they held the money.

-PromoteArt