300 :thumbsup

Pornwolf,

What # can you be reached at tomorrow? ICQ is fine too.

Thanks, Mitch

Hi All

Well to illustrate ones feelings of insecurity using a PSP, right now - this minute - the iBIll webmaster interface (CMI - http:cmi.ibill.com/) is down, plus the CC sales are way lo, and checks and Web900 arent working at all.

So if one had their own merchant account, I think you might feel a little more secure - maybe????

From my side, knowing someone (a PSP) is taking the risk on chargebacks for you is a real bonus. But as PornWolf said, what if your current chargeback ratio is already way lower than 1% and you use a service like NetBilling for scrub etc.

You would:
a) control the database (which means no disgrunteled employee of a PSP is gong to walk away with your email database)

b) control your acceptance/risk levels (sometimes I wonder if my low chargebacks are caused by too heavy scrubbing by my processors, or I am indeed balancing other webmasters high chargebacks with my own????)

These reasons with others are leading me to talk with everyone and try to make sense of what I should be doing for my own business, my affiliates and ultimately my customers.

Daniel Hicks
http://www.multibill.com/
http://www.hardprofits.com/
http://www.evildan.com/

Thanks for letting me know about the IBill thing Dan ;)

The only real problem I see with managing your own merchant account is the time it takes to do it right doesn't really save you money -- because you have invested the cash reserves, you have put your name and identity on the line so if you fuck up with the account -- provided you can find a large enough bank that will give you an account you can keep thru the new rules -- and something happens, you end up tmf, or in fine trouble you can't afford --

then what do you do?

History shows, and I'm not going to list the names since it would be rather rude at a minimum -- of how many large programs cannot manage their own accounts.

If you have resellers you want to get the most thru you can or they won't send traffic. If you protect yourself with a better scrub, then you net more but your initial joins are a bit lower -- something that is fine for you as an owner but not for promoting your program to affiliates.

So some of these large programs have or do let most anything thru, on their own merch accts -- one of them doesn't even scrub I've heard :) -- KNOWING they are going to lose the merch acct, burn the acquiring bank and hope they have cleared enough cash short term that losing their reserves and whatever didn't make the last wire insignificant compared to their profits.

Then the banks that issued accts to these companies get into hot water with their association and international, and a vicious cycle turns really ugly. They run from bank to bank, trying to roll over their db, which results in short term cash and long term cb rates going up -- which then pisses off the banks and cc's and causes them to create even more stringent rules. Which then catch the people who were on the borderline prior to the rule change, and now you've got another tier of people losing their accounts and trying to figure out how to get money back out of them.

It is a vicious cycle, and at times third party processors have gotten caught up in it -- those companies aren't here any more, which also demonstrates to the cc's that the same people who will wreck their own merch accts will wreck a third party acct, given the chance.

Lovely state of affairs.

Hey Kimmy

I understand your logic on this issue babe, but for me the following seems clear for my future.

1) Have an account with iBill
2) Have an account with CCBill
3) Have an account with 2000Charge
4) Have an account with Epoch
5) Have an account with WSB
6) Have an account with Jettis
7) Have my own merchant account
8) and "maybe" Have an account with PayPal (EBay permitting)

Then piece it all together so it tracks affiliates etc etc (which I am pretty close to doing as you know ;-)

Then cross my fingers, my legs, my gonads and anything else I can cross and hope this gets me through the storm.

And is this a good plan???

The short answer is - dunno :-(

And yes - iBill is still down :mad: :feels-hot :helpme

Hi,

It is correct that some do not know how to manage a merchant account and have burned through them. What should be realized however is the fact that those who have failed usually tried to manage it all themselves and just get a merchant account, process themselves, not use fraud scrubbing (or try to build their own), do their own customer service etc... It is truly not feasible to do it without proper resources. Having a strong gateway provider behind you that can take care of all of the day to day needs, fraud scrubbing, customer service, chargeback reporting and so on will definitely make all of the difference in the world. Our merchant turnover is exceptionally low for the reasons above. You will absolutely save money in the long run as well and have complete control which is extremely important to so many, and not as important to others.

Is is for sure that having a merchant account is not for everyone and there are benefits as well as pitfalls. When deciding to have a merchant account, one should absoultely work with a provider that knows this aspect of the business from all angles and has a good track record.

Mitch

iBill is back on line - Yahoooo:thumbsup

well, everyone is back.
Hicks,GFY, funny when you come out.
we all understand your game.
trying an old game in a new place?

:321GFY

Stop that ronin, I like the evil one :)

Mitch, I'm not referring to your average 5 figures a month guy forgetting to do his customer service right and ending up with 10 cb's too many --

I am referring to the people who run thousands of transactions a day thru the system by hook or by crook -- yes, they take short term profits in large amounts and that's one way to do business, so they are entitled to do it if they want -- but for people who are in the business long term, this creates a huge boomerang effect.

Of course, there are also a lot of acquiring banks and ISOs who can share the blame equally.

I'm not usually a fan of news articles since they seem to be either slanted or riddled with inaccuracies -- this one tho -- from a couple of years ago -- did prove to be close to the target, it's a long read but if you haven't seen it, interesting.

http://riverfronttimes.com/issues/20...l/1/index.html

what, you have sales to look at?:321GFY

i am done, being nice that is.

"If I could ?bounce? the way she has, shit? bounce me! She is a program operator with CC processing expertise. That is a great combination, imo."

Chris, are you looking for a job? :Graucho

Payrollpete, I'm sure Anthony will be happy to see that he's become part of this piss with Epoch :ugone2far

Interesting idea indeed but I wonder what % of trials hang in because they get too lazy to log back on to quit. In 30 mins who is gonna forget? I'd love to see data on how this is working for people. Like if you ran a 3 day before and had 35% trial conv, how did the 30 min compare?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dig420
[B]"If I could ?bounce? the way she has, shit? bounce me! She is a program operator with CC processing expertise. That is a great combination, imo."

go with the money. sorry it's only a one liner. :)

Great discussion guys & KK. This is as good as the last one. It's always informative when you get the processing guys together. I can't wait to see all of you at the bar at the same time at Internext!

Mitch reach out to me on ICQ at 146 75 429 5

MultiBill -

email me - [email protected] or hit me up on icq - 113422711 - just got some questions for ya

Hi Ronin

Thanks for the positive input

Your are a person of obvious intellect and style

Dan

Wow, I just finished reading all the posts in this thread...

I`m gonna take a nap now.

EPOCH: It's not a job; it's a way of life! (or 25 to Life:glugglug )

Chris
CEO
EPOCH

No, No I'm not iBill_cathy....but I thought I bump this thread
so that maybe.......when some iBill persons flies by....they
NOTICE this very interesting and equaly entertaining thread.

My sincere apologies to everyone who thought that this would
be an iBill reply :winkwink:

DynaMite :thumbsup

I noticed iBill people posting on the board about how gay Nelly
is.......maybe they would also like to contribute in this thread....

As you can see iBill John.......a lot of people are waiting....

DynaMite :thumbsup

This will hurt us all down the road. Its bad enough that the cheapshit customers chargeback almost everything as it is cause visa and mc make it so easy. The customer just says its fraud and chargesback, its given a bad rap to our industry and all we need now is more people saying fraud and hurting the industry more.
It wouldnt be such a bad idea if they were asked to be converted. It doesnt matter how clearly you tell them they will recurr, they still dont see it. They have one thing on their mind and the last thing on their mind is taking a few hours to read all the damned fine print!
Just my :2 cents: