Amputate Your Head
Whilst most people have been slamming the boards with a vast array of rhetoric, I have been working very closely with my processors (who I also like to consider my partners in billing).
As I see it, the third party processors still have an imporatnt role to play for all of us, and you should all be talking to them with respect to these major points:
1) How to handle and protect current rebills
2) How to prepare for sales post Nov 15, 2002
Then you need to get very specific about the chargeback issue, and the umbrella you spoke of. Whilst it is true Visa will be looking at chargebacks to the URL, your processor should be doing two things for you, being:
1) Micro-managing chargebacks on each URL (meaning, ensuring that b4 they have to report the chargebacks, you are given the chance to fix any problems)
2) The processor should be covering all penalty fees (my understanding is that iBill and CCBill have always covered any penalties, and they are sure to keep doing so).
There are many other micro matters to deal with, and each one of them is being addressed to my billing partners, and not aired here on the boards.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the time to be working together to build a strong and profitable industry. Slanging off on the boards will not achive this in any stretch of anyones imagination.
Sure, ask questions of your peers, and I am sure we will all respond. But do you really think Visa etc arent reading this stuff
I can assure you all that Visa is not after everyone. They are after the scammers and thiefs that work within our industry, and cause all of us untold grief. To these scammers, I say "let them hang"!
I have a copy of the Visa regulations on my desk, and it is quite clear that Visa wants to make sure that if you get on their TMF (Terminated Merchant File), you dont just pop up somewhere else under a new company identity.
If you run a clean ship, these chnages will hardly affect you.
The only real losers I see are the little guys who can ill afford the fees to keep compliant (particulalry the offshore guys). Staying in business as a paysite may be very hard for them. And in saying that, if you are a small guy, and you decide to switch from paysite to free site, please choose your sponsors carefully, as they just might be the people Visa has on their TMF
Best of luck to all
Daniel
ICQ: 92462894
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