WG: CCBill uses Merrick Bank, a subsidiary of Cardworks. Interestingly Merrick Bank I believe is out of Utah.

Thank you, was just curious to see if the other major processors were in the same boat with First Data.

WG

GFY is great. Ask question, get answer.

Rick has done nothing wrong by posting industry news. These are public documents. They are real, our NY lawyers just confirmed that this is true and there is a hearing tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. EDT in Queens, NY. Rick, truth, as you know, is an absolute defense.

This is a serious issue for our industry. None of us wants to see another processor fail. It never helps an industry when a major player dies or is killed. Business suffers, always, in my experience.

C

It's nice to get some real info rather than would you hit it threads all day :winkwink:

WG

Nice quote! I wonder how many lawyers get a chance to use the truth. :winkwink:

CCbill has not processed any transactions with First Data for over 2 years.

CCbill's Banking relationships are stronger than they have ever been.

I would like to wish everyone at Ibill good luck during their TRO meeting with the Judge on Wed.

Remember a loss of a processor in this industry in not a good thing.


Ron Cadwell
CEO
CCbill.com
Cavecreek.com
Drmnetworks.com

We second that emotion.

C

Thanks Ron and Chris for the clarifications, much appreciated.
WG

Talking smack out your ass looks real professional too. Rick offered up the proof making the rest of your true believers look like chumps. I remember Globill on here telling people not to be alarmed everything was ok too.

Interesting.

I'd be interested in learning why, if ibill got the same warning, they didn't move months ago.

Where can I get a good spray on tan?

Here is an interesting article I found regarding I-Bill...

Enjoy...
--=Chipmunk=--

IBill, First Data in Contract Dispute
By Gretchen Gallen
Tuesday, September 21, 2004


NEW YORK ? Third-party payment processor iBill filed a complaint against First Data Merchant Services Corp. alleging that the company is costing iBill $800,000 per day because it failed to make good on the promise to help transition its accounts to another credit card processor after the expiration of a contract dating back to 1998.
In legal documents obtained by XBiz, iBill contends that it could go out of business by as early as next week if the Court does not issue a temporary restraining order against First Data.

In papers filed in New York Supreme Court, iBill alleges that First Data's failure to fulfill its promise to work with the third-party processor as it moved customer accounts over to New York-based Merrick Bank could cause "irreparable harm" to its business and customer base.

IBill has been using First Data Merchant Service and First Bank Financial, collectively known as First Data, as the processor for its credit card receipts for the past six years. IBill's contract with First Data technically expired on Sept. 15.

The plaintiff, iBill, had expected the transition to be completed by Nov. 15, but now claims that First Data reneged on the promise and put iBill and its business process in jeopardy and could possibly result in iBill's closure.

IBill claims that by noon on Sept. 16, the day after its official contract with First Data expired, the credit card processor would no longer process iBill's credit card transactions, leaving iBill in the lurch and unable to continue to service its customer base of more than 4,000 Internet-based clients.

IBill had been in negotiations with Merrick Bank since mid-August to replace First Data as its processor.

IBill is asking for the court's intervention to maintain status quo and "avoid the catastrophic consequences of First Data's threatened action."

"Any termination by defendants would result in immediate, irreparable harm to plaintiff and its customer bases," the complaint said. "Cancellation of its credit card support arrangements would effectively put plaintiff's customers out of business, depriving them of any ability to function. Absent a temporary restraining order, plaintiff and many of its customers may be forced to close their doors."

Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based iBill, which is short for Internet Billing Company Ltd., is one of the leading third-party credit card processors for the online adult industry. The company is publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange.

Nearly 78 percent of iBill?s revenues are from adult entertainment content. In 2003, iBill averaged 1.2 million transactions per month and completed approximately $330 million in gross transactions.

In July, Care Concepts I, Inc. agreed to acquire Media Billing LLC and Internet Billing Co., collectively known as iBill, from Penthouse International for $55 million in an all-stock deal.

Representatives for iBill and First Data could not be reached for comment.

This is as true a statement as they come - EVERYONE should have a backup at all time with easy to switch procesor setup.

We wish IBill the best of luck this week. Stay strong.

Read the first link that was posted. They had worked something out to keep processing with First Data until Nov 15th. First data reneged for whatever reason and left them up shit creek.

hopefully the garbage...

"IBill claims that by noon on Sept. 16, the day after its official contract with First Data expired, the credit card processor would no longer process iBill's credit card transactions, leaving iBill in the lurch and unable to continue to service its customer base of more than 4,000 Internet-based clients. "

If they aren't able to process cards why does nobody see a problem with signups?

Because they got a court order so first data cant turn them off .

Why is First Data so anxious to drop them? Are they losing money because of ibill or something?

I was under the impression that they have a seperate banking setup for EU operations. Do they have a bank for both USA and EU or just the one bank?

I think its different

Stand In processing notice that was posted on the CMI on Thurs when FDR cut them off and until they got the TRO:

Our US processor for iBill Complete (SGS) is currently experiencing issues that are causing standin transactions. We are working with our processor to resolve the issue.

What is Stand-in?
Stand-in is a process by which transactions are initially approved (given the purchase passes our fraud scrub) due to the inability to get the proper response from the bank in a timely manner. This may result from timeout issues or system maintenance by our processor.

<it also results when your acquiring bank shuts you off. They forgot to add that>

What are the potential effects to my business?
The potential drawback of this process is temporary access for consumers because all transactions are initially approved. Once the banking network connection has been restored, the original transaction will be automatically resubmitted for approval (a maximum of 4 times in a 12 hour period). Upon receiving the proper response, the transaction information will be moved to CMI.

As an iBill client, do I have the option of disabling this feature?
Subscription accounts have the ability to disable stand-in processing. Catalog transactions, however, do not utilize stand-in processing. Please e-mail your master and sub account numbers to [email protected] if you would like this feature to be disabled.

You are the kind of guy who does his homework, aren't you? Admit it.

Awesome, I haven't made it to the 2nd link which I'm guessing is the TRO. So did they get all those transactions through that were on hold?

They wouldn't want to worry their customers now would they.
WG

Why is Visa USA not involved in this???

Afterall, we did submit the url's, got " inspected" and approved, and paid a fee that was in big part going to Visa.

I hope they pull it thru, because they were really improving... and with so few processors left, it becomes scary....

:2 cents:

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are processing just fine. I can't comment beyond that for obvious reasons. However, later this week when I am in a position to share more, I will.

Mark

this explains why every day since the 16th has been massive joins

Thanks Mark for checking in :)

Good luck tomorrow.

I'm sure we all second that motion.

Well said, I am quite surprised how many programs do not have backups or cascade billing. I could never put all my eggs in one basket like that to have it all gone one day.

Mark

I'm in the process of setting up my business there... Great country! :thumbsup

All I know is that they are publicly traded, and virtually impossible for them to go under without significant advanced warning.....

Which has little to do with the ability or inability to process transactions.

Things still look hopeful though if Mark is to be believed so wanna add another best of luck for tomorrow. Last thing anyone needs is another processor going down.

good to see epoch and ccbill have the integrity not to slam their competator. not many industries have that

I agree. It caught me by surprise.

First Data is obviously in breach of their agreement. I'll be damned if I EVER process any of my mainstream business through a First Data IMA.

I have all the faith in the world in iBill!
They Take a Lickin' & Keep on Tickin' :)

Yeah that is awesome and very professional and shows what kind of companies they really are. :)

Mark

The bank itself is in Utah but main offices are out of New York. We have several merchants placed there.

We would like to wish Ibill luck fighting First Data and securing their new merchant account. First Data has been playing games with them and other merchants too long and are certainky trying to strong-arm this industry.

Mitch

So why don't Ibill payout their clients money? Is your backup plan to steal as much as possible if this turns down for you?

Back online after a 6 hr break...I see nothing much has changed.

Rick: We both do our homework. Admit it.

Dawgy: If your seeing strong joins past the 17th, your in luck because those are real transactions and not stand in processing. Stand In processing ended on Friday when the Judge granted a TRO to iBill. To iBill's credit I can say that the throughput we have seen with them this past year has been just GREAT. I hate telling folks about it because it makes me think everyone will pile in and screw it all up for those of us already here.

On the matter of the TRO, I find it unlikely that iBill will have the TRO lifted tommorrow. Judges are very hesitant to lift injunctions when one party would suffer tremendously and the other party would hardly suffer at all if the injunction were left in place and the matter resolved by the fact finding and negotiation process of discovery, interrogatories and possibly trial. This is especially true in cases where there is even a hint to the judge that there are serious issues in dispute and the case is not a clear cut winner for the party seeking to have the TRO removed. I believe iBill has documentation that was presented to the Judge in the matter that bolsters their argument that FDR was in agreement to allow processing through Nov 15th. In this specific case iBill would be devastated if FDR pulled all processing whereas to leave the processing in place for a few more weeks is not likely to damage FDR at all. If they lose this I would be very surprised.

My last comment here before I crash is probably going to rub folks the wrong way but wtf---its the truth . Paycom and CCBill are on the boards making supportive statements to iBill but anyone who thinks they arent licking their chops and manuevering behind the scenes through instant messaging and phonecalls to stir the fear and get more business is naive. Its happening, but they arent stupid enough to do it here.

Did you not get your wire? I would wait until tomorrow to see if it comes and then go berserk if it doesn't.

Have you received yours?

Best of luck to iBill. I hope things go in their favor. Rick, as always you are a wealth of information. scoreman, thanks for digging that up also. It is nice to see other billing companies post and let everyone know how things stand with them.

Now this is what I call a quality thread! It's more than clear CCbill and Epoch are true professionals answering and clearing things up, and even wishing Ibill good luck!

:thumbsup

No.

well duuuuuuu, it's the class shown here that's impressive though

Nice to see that Epoch and CCBill are not taking this thread and turning it into an advertisement for their own companies. When a major player in this industry is having problems, it is important for all of us to keep them up and going. If they fail, the George Bush and Conservative Christian types get to thinking they should see us all go. I don't know about you, but I like money. I have been making a damn good living from this business and I'd hate to have to go back to a real job again.

Good luck Ibill.