Moving REBILLS from one IPSP to another...

[goBigtime]

Say I process with Kbill & I want to move to PBill....

My members currently see:

Kbill*GoBigtime on their statements.

Now, since GoBigtime & my sites are registered with Visa... and Kbill these days is basically doing just doign sub-gateway processing with reporting for me...

then if I, the customer/client/whatever feels that Kbill isn't doing their job or for whatever reason, shouldn't I have the right to transfer my processing (rebills) to another Visa-approved IPSP?

I'm sure there are alot of reasons why this wouldn't work...
But damnit it should.


The reason I was thinking about this is because in the event that Kbill goes belly up - they legally take my business that they have of mine with them.

-- This could be MILLIONS of dollars a year. TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.


When we are paying $750 + $350/yr PER IPSP (or whatever it is to visa) plus we're still paying the 10%-15% premium '3rd party' processing rates for what now basically has the same value of gateway processing (which is usually 5% total)...

It just shouldn't be this way. If Visa/MC want to appoint approved IPSP's, they should allow transferring between them.
In this example, the company name "GoBIgtime" would always be the same.

ie..
Kbill*GoBigtime would become
Pbill*GoBigtime

I don't think customers would be too confused with the charge
if they knew what site "GoBigtime" was from in the first place.

And for the rates that we pay IPSP's they should be able to address the handful of customers that call in wondering why the processor portion on their statement went from Kbill to Pbill

It would all be relative to the amount of business they get to process for us anyway.

It's been more than 6 months since the IPSPs have been implimented no? So their chargeback risk is now over.. no?

Now the chargeback/refund responsibility is all on us individually... soooo we should be able to move our business to the IPSP that we think will handle our business most responsibly.


I wonder if this is something that a billion webmasters bound together could fight visa for. Not that anyone ever would.


Ok enough of my venting & ramblings. I'm going back to work.

[tony286]

Those are good ideas but it will never happen. Adult webmasters are on the bottom of the adult business food chain unfortunately lol.

[Brad Mitchell]

Can't move charges from one processor to another because the purchase agreement isn't with you, it was with the IPSP. THat's why it's technically not allowed to move charges from one merchant account to another if they're at two seperate companies... at least, that's how I understand it.

Brad

[goBigtime]

Yeah I know. But the way things have changed, one IPSP that was ideal under the old way of doing things, may be the absolute worst for the new (IPSP / individual liability) way.

[goBigtime]

Originally posted by SinEmpire
Can't move charges from one processor to another because the purchase agreement isn't with you, it was with the IPSP. THat's why it's technically not allowed to move charges from one merchant account to another if they're at two seperate companies... at least, that's how I understand it.

Brad

The purchase agreements should be changed to allow for the processor portion to be portable.

But yeah I know what you mean.. that's what I meant by "I know there are numerous reasons why this wouldn't be allowed.." or whatever I said. But they already flipped the whole process upside down anyway, might as well keep going. Ultimately it's up to Visa/MC.

But if a IPSP suddenly winds up on it's last dying leg... I want to fuggin moooooooooove that business as far away from them as possible.

[goBigtime]

I think this thread should be bumped every time we read something wacky that an IPSP is doing (or hasn't done) with their (our) businesses.

[nevermind]

Originally posted by goBigtime
I think this thread should be bumped every time we read something wacky that an IPSP is doing (or hasn't done) with their (our) businesses.

I've actually come to understand that the IPSP's have a conflict of interest so to speak. And, while it is their responsibility no doubt, it's not totally their fault.

The only way the IPSP's can make money with that 11-15 percent (or lower) fee is by becoming partners with adult websites. That also means they have to generate huge volume.

Their big clients --- who generate that huge volume --- want the sleazy billing tactics. There's more money in it for the short term --- and there was probably even more pressure to do it once recession hit the biz.

The IPSP's go along and, even promote it, because they also make more money with it. In a way, it was necessary for their survival.

The problem, of course, is that it also gets them into trouble with Visa and Mastercard. But since the financial incentive lies with the aggressive billing tactics --- not compliance, which is very expensive --- they tend to ignore the Visa/Mastercard warnings until it is too late.

And, of course, the big clients who initally pushed the sleazy billing tactics will probably turn on the IPSP's in a heartbeat once Visa/Mastercard cuts them off and they lose those rebills, among other things.

In a way, it's a lose/lose situation for the IPSP's. That's not to say it's an excuse for their behavior. Afterall, it's their business on the line and they should have been paying more attention.

But it's easy to see how this could have happened.