Excellent article, Rick -- clear, concise, and informative :)

"Get your own merchant account and run all of your primary processing through it or rotate two separate IPSPs so you don?t put all your eggs in one basket."

Rick, are you referring to a private merchant account -- not IBILL, CCBILL, JETTIS & others?

I don't remember all these chargeback problems and all the cheating when affiliates didn't exist. How about a website that is so damn interesting that it makes tons of money without using a group of idiots in an affiliate program. That is what we had in 95 & 96. The person who came up with affiliates should be taken to Iraq and dumped.

yes very useful article :thumbsup :thumbsup

Great article Rick. Banks will cb under $25 , the first site I worked was a small site the recurred at $5.99 . We had charge backs to deal with all the time. I dont know where this fantasy came from if its cheap they wont charge back lol. Also I disagree about prechecked cross sells most surfers are hot to join a site and dont look and read. Now they are adults and should be responsible but arent and cross sells depend on stupidity because if the webmaster really thought it was of value to the surfer it wouldnt have to prechecked. Amazon recommends cross sells but doesnt assume them. Things like that create the pain we live in now.

I know of many revenue share sites and otherwise just great product sites with exclusive content that have the 1% issue. Attrition can put you over the number. You are a pretty negative person. Are you looking for a solution or someone to take to Iraq and dump?

Rick, I am looking for some answers to the questions I am asking you. I don't want general bullshit answers. You are someone many respect. Since I have never done business with you, I'm trying to form my own opinions by asking you questions which I believe others also want to know.

How about beginning with my merchant account question. Are you saying that we should have our own private merchant accounts with Visa, etc.?

How about a location where we can read for ourselves what you and Chris said about the lower the membership fees, the fewer the chargebacks.

I'm not negative. I deal with facts. Sure, everyone has some chargeback problems, but I'm saying (in my opinion), the majority of affiliate sites suck. Even you said that there are many dishonest webmasters in these programs who only want to rip you off/

Thank you for the answers I know you will give me.:thumbsup

Microchick,

I don't have all the answers. I wish I did. I just rant. :winkwink:

Okay, how about some urls for other articles you have written.

We can all learn from leaders, even if we don't always agree.

Nice article..... you always have those wheels of yours turning... :)

Whitney

Nice read Rick. I would be interested in hearing what you have to say about the future of 3rd party billing. 2000charge just backed out of the 3rd party billing model and the froze our funds at the merchant bank level.

We currently bill a little over 100K a month with Jettis and I cant say that i'm terribly comfortable with the whole 3rd party billing concept. plus, it doesnt seem like banks are handing out Merchant accounts these days.

any thoughts?

Nice read Rick. I would be interested in hearing what you have to say about the future of 3rd party billing. 2000charge just backed out of the 3rd party billing model and the froze our funds at the merchant bank level.

We currently bill a little over 100K a month with Jettis and I cant say that i'm terribly comfortable with the whole 3rd party billing concept. plus, it doesnt seem like banks are handing out Merchant accounts these days.

any thoughts?

Thanks so much for the great read! I just wish there were more of them here.

There is no solution for greed and a industry that only lives for today for the most part.

very good article

Rick: I respectfully disagree that traffic is God or that content is King. Obviously, the greatest content site in the world with no traffic and no eyes seeing it won't turn a profit, but the same is true that all the traffic in the world is not going to make a crappy site successful. I know of a few sites that have less traffic today than a year ago but are far more profitable today as a result of focusing on user experience.

The only thing I believe is that the customer is always right. To serve the customer is to know how to survive and thrive in business by keeping chargebacks down and retention up.

Homegrown Video has 20 years of fans to back me up on this.

I really just rant. But if you want to know my opinion I don't think 3rd party billing is going anywhere. The entire point of Visa's switch to the IPSP model, classifying them as service providers rather than 3rd party aggregators, was intended to make the companies more responsible in the management of the operations and that is exactly what has happened.

Some of the 3rd party guys going under and others like Epoch, CC Bill and Jettis growing was exactly the intention and good for the industry, not bad.

The increased amount of rules, etc. means that some companies can handle it and other can't. Your job as a client is to try and pick a company you feel can handle it so you don't get fucked on your rebills.

Nice article Rick.

So true :thumbsup

I'm not quite sure what we are disagreeing on. I also think that serving the customer is extremely important. And I know that Homegrown Video has done an excellent job of that.

I guess we are not in disagreement at all, sorry to come across as a naysayer... I was just turning a point on the line that "content is king" or that "traffic is God"...


If one believes too strongly in either of those pronouncements then the sin of pride will soon bring them to a fiery place where there is weeping and a wailing, screams of horror, and a gnashing of teeth.. imo... just look at how many huge programs have declined so dramatically or failed entirely...

Praise the Lord and Pass those charges past the scrub.

Amen.

Clearly to win you need to attempt doing everything right.

Very nice...thanks!

'Just like to interject that you all must surely realize that this is the level of the editorial content in today's Klixxx Webmaster Magazine. Those of you who stopped reading a year ago should pick up an issue. Peaches, send [email protected] your e-mail and get a new subscription - the nekkid women are not in Klixxx, and it comes in a white envelope - it's all webmaster education and sponsor information.

Klixxx is industry born and bred, written by webmasters for webmasters. The Rick's Rants and Worldwide Webmaster column sponsored by NoCreditCard are bonafide worldwide hits, and upcoming article topics requested by the principals of e-group will get you thinking about expanding your businesses. We're responsive and involved and WE DO WHAT WE WRITE ABOUT. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN A KLIXXX LATELY, PICK UP A COPY - IF YOU DON'T GET IT ON YOUR DESK EVERY MONTH, E-MAIL [email protected] with your name and address and you will.

When you support Klixxx, you support the industry and the webmasters who send you traffic.

Klixxx is your magazine - thank you Brad Mitchell and Rick Latona for turning the spotlight on the May issue, and pick up your copies of the May and June issues and Klixxx Euro at Cybernet Expo - In the June issue Rick writes about Competitive Advantage.

Klixxx contributors want to write about what YOU want to know. Got a burning issue you don't have time to research? Write to [email protected] or [email protected] and we'll make time.

My June article wasn't controversial enough. I'm typing one now for July that'll get attention.

;)

:winkwink: When was the last time you checked out the Klixxx Archives? A webmaster education dream...http://www.klixxx.com/archive/ and growing every month with useful information - Klixxx doesn't write about porn stars and retail unless there's a webmaster e-commerce connection....