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There are European banks, and I believe not a few, that issue a virtual card next to the real card. The virtual card can be used only on the internet for payments, and it's credited with amounts from the real card, which cannot be used in online trasactions. The reason to issue 2 cards is to protect the cardholder against unauthorized charges. Therefore the cardholder has money or credit in his real card, and transfers instantly online the necessary funds to the virtual (Internet) card - and most of the time he transfers only the exact amount needed for the transaction, so that he cannot be stolen money off his virtual card, since there is no money left there after the quick transaction.
And that's exactly the point - most of such cardholders would not keep a dime in the virtual card, making it impossible to be rebilled, which is the core of the adult biz.
I guess that's why I notice (for me at least) a clear decrease in (Western) European sales - it may be due to this situation, that their card cannot be rebilled successfully, and they are not wanted in a per-signup program, at least.
And it seems to me this epassporte is exactly what I described above. Good for chargebacks and more countries accepted, but bad for rebills.
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