merchant acct vs. sponsored merchant accts

[powerbubba]

We're getting ready to add ccbill to our site and this will cost us $750 plus $375 a year thereafter. plus we have to keep ibill for all the rebills, that's another $375 a year. we currently have verotel for the european reach but sounds like they may start charging the Visa fee as well with their recent changes.

So we decided to see if getting our own Merchant account would be worth it. As I recall, I believe only 2-3 companies offer merchant accounts to adult sites. Can someone give me the name of any of these companies? If you have a merchant account, how much did the setup cost you? The last time I checked it was $1500.

Am I correct in assuming that there are no Visa fees for non-sponsored accts (that is, we have a merchant account)?

[Le Dieu des bonnes gens]

If "we" is more than 3, it's about $300 each, if "we" is just ONE, join the church of the good people and let us become your leader.

[sperbonzo]

There are more than three companies out there that can get you merchant accounts, and the set up fees and requirements are changing constantly along with the constantly changing bank situation.

I can assist you in gettting a merchant account, send me an email sometime.

You may also want to look at Duocash as an addiltional way to process transactions along with your credit card processor.

We enable pre-paid phone cards to be used, which means that we have nothing to do with VISA/MC and we are NOT subject to the credit card association regulations.

We are not looking to be a replacement for credit cards, but rather an anonymous, additional method to get customers who might otherwise not want, or be able, to give CC# to adult sites.
Our system also works very well for micropayments as there is no per transaction fee of 15 to 50 cents like CC transactions.

Perhaps you may want to take a look at Duocash

http://www.duocash.com/merchants.jsp


We are not in the business of selling phone cards. The problem with earlier business models has been distribution of proprietary cards. The retailers won?t stock the cards if the customers aren?t asking for them. The consumers aren?t aware of the cards if they aren?t on retailers shelves. It?s a chicken and egg type of issue.

In our case, we have done something different. We are taking a product that is ALREADY on the shelves, in distribution online, and in call centers. We are enabling the existing phone cards that are already on the market and being distributed, to be used by consumers to purchase digital content on the internet. This also avoids the issue of a single-use card that won?t be carried by retailers and distributors because of perception problems associated with a card that is specific to adult, gaming, etc?

We are putting together some VERY large deals that will be implemented in the next 60 days or so that will put us all over the US and Canada, and we are in discussions to expand to Australia and the EU.

You can contact me on my mobile or my email at any time for any questions you might have

[imageman]

We got our merchant account from Card Service International, Nice guys to deal with. But that was 3 years ago at a cost of $800.00 and includes Amex. But we use it on products that we deliver such as CDs that require a signature, i doubt i would risk it with online pay site transactions just yet as CCbill and Epoch are doing a great job for us.

[Le Dieu des bonnes gens]

Originally posted by sperbonzo

We are putting together some VERY large deals that will be implemented in the next 60 days or so that will put us all over the US and Canada, and we are in discussions to expand to Australia and the EU.

This IS GOOD JOKE, has your company more THAN 2 idiots working THERE?

[4Pics]

Originally posted by imageman
We got our merchant account from Card Service International, Nice guys to deal with. But that was 3 years ago at a cost of $800.00 and includes Amex. But we use it on products that we deliver such as CDs that require a signature, i doubt i would risk it with online pay site transactions just yet as CCbill and Epoch are doing a great job for us.

why do you like throwing away atleast 5% more profit?

I dont understand why anyone would have ccbill/ibill when you could have your own merchant account and pocket that extra cash. (unless you have shitty credit)

[powerbubba]

why do you like throwing away atleast 5% more profit?

I dont understand why anyone would have ccbill/ibill when you could have your own merchant account and pocket that extra cash. (unless you have shitty credit)

one advantage would be reduced transaction fees, which we'll calculate in our return

actually, I seem to recall that Card Service International was one of the ones that accepted adult sites, may be wrong

anybody can give me names of companies providing merchant accounts?

[MattO]

I hook up merchant accounts, fees depend on which bank we can place you at, volume and risk rating. My ICQ is in my sig give me a shout any time.

[Kimmykim]

Getting a merchant account for adult is not impossible, and it's not that cheap in the long run either. Shitty credit, good credit, it really doesn't matter, if you are willing to pay what they want, you can get a bank to issue it.

The first problem that most people have is understanding cross border acquisition issues -- you must settle in the region your business is located in, and if it is the US region you must have a physical presence as well as a corporation.

Many companies do not issue merchant accounts for lower volume, ie less than 50-100,000 per month in transactions billed.

Then you will also need fraud control and customer service, along with gateway billing services to actually authorize and settle your transactions.

Last but not least, with a merchant account, even more so than a sponsored merchant account through an IPSP, you run the risk of never being able to process cards again for anything -- not just adult -- if you are terminated due to excessive chargebacks or fraud.

[powerbubba]

Thanks Kimmykim, I appreciate the feedback and glad it wasn't another ad for someone's services :-)

these days, when employers check credit history, it's best if nothing negative's on there

[Kimmykim]

Originally posted by powerbubba
Thanks Kimmykim, I appreciate the feedback and glad it wasn't another ad for someone's services :-)

these days, when employers check credit history, it's best if nothing negative's on there

Sure thing, I've always told people to consider all their options and figure out just what it's going to cost them to go a certain way. Sometimes a merchant account is best, sometimes third party is best.

[MattO]

Yep it's true about issues with acquisition, we help people set up a domicile where we place them.

[mmaisonet]

Hello,

I worked with a very well known 3rd party at one time. If you need any assistance with either 3rd party billing, or offshore accounts or your own IMA for that matter, please send me a message via icq. Or email me at [email protected]