Did you find a suspicious looking ‘FSPRG.COM’ charge on your credit card statement recently? Me too. Not just me too, but join the club. Thousands have wondered where this charge originated.
It turns out that FSPRG.COM is short for a company called FastSpring based in Santa Barbara, CA. And it turns out they’re a legit vendor. I eventually found out that FastSpring provides service to thousands of *other* companies by processing their credit card charges for subscription services, usually for software or similar online products. In other words, though you may not have ordered anything from FastSpring, you likely did from one of their clients and that makes a legitimate charge.
In my case, I paid for a annual subscription to an SEO software company named Ahrefs. It obviously didn’t show up as Ahrefs on my credit card, but as the infamous, capitalized spammy-looking statement code: FSPRG.COM.
It’s not uncommon for me to make large purchases on my business card, so when it first showed up on my card, I couldn’t figure out where it came from. I was about to dispute the charge when I decided to look it up again. I came across this site with an explanation of the company’s services:
FSPRG is FastSpring’s charge code. FastSpring processes subscription services, software or product charges for many companies. If you do not recognize the charge, you may contact FastSpring and they explain the charge to you.
That made me a little more curious. So I did more searching, both on the search engines and the receipts in my email. From FastSprings site:
FastSpring is a trusted reseller of software products and services. We handle all aspects of purchasing and delivery, including licensing and activation. We also take care of all aspects of buyer satisfaction and payment-based customer support.
So why don’t they add come context to their charges? They try to, I think. In my email receipt from Ahrefs, there was this note: “Charges will appear on your bill as: FS *ahrefs.com” Although it didn’t — at least not where I saw it. It could have been truncated – not sure what happened, but all I saw was FastSpring’s charge code FSPRG.COM. So, if you do not recognize the charge, you may contact FastSpring and they’ll explain the charge to you.
A list of FastSpring’s vendors to jog your memory
Here’s a list of some of the companies that FastSpring (FSPRG.COM) helps with their payment processing and charges for software subscriptions and downloadable web products. For a longer, updated list of clients — that may have been the originating charge on your card, go here.
-
- Ahrefs
- Apparent Software
- BOINX Software
- Connectify
- Coventry
- CryptoSys
- DaisyDisk
- DBEXTRA
- Devmate
- DeepTrawl
- Espresso
- FANTASTICAL
- Fireshot
- FirmaSAT
- Flexibits
- FLOWBREEZE
- GOVERLAN
- HDRsoft
- IntelliAdmin
- LOOP FOR VOX
- MACPhun
- MAC Cleaner
- PC MAC-CLEAN
- PDFpen
- PDF PRO 10
- Pixate
- Poker Copilot
- POSTBOX SOFTWARE
- RealMac Software
- SecureMAC
- Sketch
- SMILE
- Styleworks
- Text2Go
- Things for MAC
- Thoughts
- Tumult
So if you see FSPRG.COM on your statement, take a little time to think about where this charge may have originated. If you can’t figure out it after some time, then you can contact FastSpring directly at 877 – 327 – 8914 or can quickly question the charge on Fastspring’s webform. They’ll get back to you within a few hours, usually sooner, to provide some description and details as to what you actually bought (or not!)
Please Don’t Post Sensitive Information
UPDATE: We’ve had several users leave comments on this post about charges they don’t recognize or believe they are opening a ticket for FSPRG customer service or assistance. Here’s a couple examples we’ve received with sensitive info redacted:
I have a charge on visa I do not recognize. It is for $29.95 with reference number [redacted], Account number [redacted] made on 3/30/17
And this person gave their credit card number!
I have received a charge in my VISA Card No [redacted] for a PC Cleaner of [redacted]. I do need a detailed invoice for this Charges.
Don’t do that! Please do not leave comments looking for FastSpring/FSPRG customer service or posting credit card accounts, reference numbers, or any sensitive personal information! To reach FastSpring about a charge you don’t recognize, call 877 – 327 – 8914 or fill out Fastspring’s webform to question your card charge.
Hope that helped/Good luck!
