For all international webmasters regarding new visa policy
 

Hi all,

I am not living in US and I don't have corp in US. But the recent new Visa policy might affect a lot of international webmasters. So I would like to bring up a thread to discuss it in more details.

From the big 3 post in this board, they said you must have corp in the processor's country in order to process transaction. But it seems that I don't see this requirment in ibill newsletter. So are we really need to have corp in US?

There is no problem for me to pay the setup fee and incorporate in US. But the time is rather limited, so does anyone know which good company can help international webmasters to setup corp in US within the shortest period of time? How long it takes to setup a corporation in Nevada?

Even if I incorporate in US, but how about if Visa don't accept the sites ( they have all kind of reasons). Don't you think it's a kind of waste of time and money?

My desire state to incorporate is Nevada. If you read the book "Own your own corporation" Rich dad and poor dad series. In chap 4, they talking about the advs of forming a corporation in Nevada. One thing the books said "If you do not want to be identified on the public record as an officer or director of a Nevada corporation you do not have to be listed. Instead, you can use a nominee, a person other than yourself, to serve as the director and all the officers, thus maintaining your privacy.

Any comments are welcome.

<img src=http://www.galeon.com/confidencia/fucked.jpg>

:1orglaugh

I smell IRS audit.....hehehehe

oh wait, you're not from around here, right?

expect for your country to be bombed ;)))

Rumor is the big 3 are scrambling to setup merchant banks in other countries.

Hey cherry!, i was about to post that pic!!!

To Bear: I'm in the same case, but it seems like the 3 sttoges didn't let us know that the rest of the wordl didn't accept visa policy and you can get an International processor and all this problem is history, you process as you always did.

The only problem is the rebills you may have with the 3 stooges.

But i think they will freak out realizing that everyone is going to freak out from them and fearing to loose their biz, they will stablish presence in the other bank regions ASAP.

i hope.

Hey bag of fleas, where did you heard that rumor?

Bear:

This US Corp shit is not worth a damn unless you have a load of recurring billing you want to retain. Even then, I'd do the US corp and let the recurring run down.

Otherwise.. don't think it ain't gonna happen.. you will regret every move. The IRS and US govt are interested in *any* person who can give em some money and who they know all about.

I always think that I would be pretty pissed if I knew I was born in the US and subjected to the laws of that country. Nothing to do with the actual place or people - tis a nice place, but I value my freedom more than that!

Peace!

"Rumor is the big 3 are scrambling to setup merchant banks in other countries."

Yea.. course they are! And got no doubts they will resolve something!

Hey Webby! i think the same, the US was a nice country long ago, now it looks like gigantic jail.

I couldn't live in that country for a second i value my freedom and dignity a lot, at least in our small countries we don't have waco snipers hunting around in the streets or kids shooting each others in the schools or freaking presidents trying to take over the world.

Not mentioning Osamas blowing up skyscrappers and killing our love ones.

I just got reply from ibill:

__________________________________

First, you will be contacted regarding any additional information required
to complete your registration the week of October 7, 2002. Some of the
information required for this registration will include:
1) Company Name
2) U.S. Based Business Address
3) Either a U.S. Based Corporate Tax ID Number or U.S. Social Security
Number
4) Driver's License or Passport number
5) URL Listings
After receiving all required data for your registration, iBill.com will
present you with options for payment of your Initial registration fee of
$750.00 (per company not URL). $500 of this fee will go directly to VISA
USA, and the balance will serve as an administrative fee to the banks and
processors. These fees are due by November 15, 2002, if you choose to
continue your relationship with iBill for VISA billing. Once payment is
received iBill will complete the registration process on your behalf.
An ongoing annual registration fee of $375.00 will be charged beginning the
year following the payment of the initial registration fee. $250.00 of this
fee will go directly to VISA USA, and the balance will serve as an
administrative fee to the banks and processors.

Under the new VISA USA regulations, an IPSP will only be permitted to
register Sponsored Merchants for processing if the Sponsored Merchant has
their corporation based in the same Country as the IPSP's Acquiring Bank for
VISA transactions. i.e. iBill currently has a banking relationship with an
acquirer for VISA USA, and thus can handle high risk processing for any
Sponsored Merchant based in the US.

If I can be of any further assistance, please let me know.
_____________________________________

Bear:

The meaninful bit!

"Under the new VISA USA regulations"

No problem elsewhere!:Graucho

IBill rep

you should maybe start a new thread with that. first i've heard ibill talk about location.

What more did they told you?

I'm premium acct at Ibill, are you also?

I was told Australia and the UK are likely to be the first countries for processors to setup merchant banking relationships in.

Obviously they're not going to setup in every country, only ones that have lots of clients

Any word on Latin America?

Quiet:

Shit.. you just got that email?? It's been circulating for a while now... kinda sums up IBill service!

Brown Bear:

The actual location ain't too critical (as long as it is not under VISA US) .. tis then the banking relationships with others regions that are most relevant for *global* transacting... ie.. you have a relationship within Asia, Europe, US blah (the US one ain't got ties directly with VISA US - just a banking relationship as far as I can see)...

I haven't heard anything about Latin America, but Latin America is part of the same Visa region as the Caribbean, and the Caribbean is where all the offshore banks are, so I would expect to see some processors setting up there.

So if they setup in UK they can take a Canadian WM?

Yep... there are already several processors there (carib) and rumour has it more on the way:-) Tis already serving higher risk clients than adult (gambling).. but even some of em are using European processors - particularly out of Gibraltar...

then if Ibill sets up in UK can we say problem solved?

El Demonio:

Ya need to check the actual deal with Canada and VISA US ... but, other than that, can't see why not. Is there any reason to keep ya signing up right now in Canada for a "global processor"? Doubt it!

Not necessarily, the new Visa rules might be that you need to be within the same Visa region as the merchant bank.

Canada is its own unique Visa region, and there are no banks in Canada that are willing to allow processing for online adult companies.

Sure. If you're business is located in the UK.

So, what think is it's better to incorporate in Nevada.

I got no problems using a UK/European processor although the corp is established in an offshore in the Carib - things may change (don't they always? *g*) ... but seems VISA International never got the vote at their conference a few months back to impose these rules on other banking regions...

where did you hear that about Visa International?

<img src=http://69khz.com/images/ouch.jpg>

Brown Bear:

There was mention of this meeting a few months back in financial press... it was some global banking conference... and summary is (least as far as VISA is concerned) .. was that new measures were proposed and .. think five or six of the regions rejected their proposals with the exception of North America. (not sure how that places Canada cos they are within that region, but *may* not be tied to VISA US) ...

I think Globill also referred to this in some messages...

Canada is its own unique Visa region. It isn't part of Visa USA.

Mmm.. didn't know that!

Apparently the financial God's of this world have split it up into .. think six "global banking regions" and one is "North America"... but can see Canada sticking out there! *s*

Brown Bear:

OK.. found another reference to this global stuff... pretty much sums it up:

"The new Visa rules in particular are directed against "aggregators" which specifically means companies such as ours in the third-party industry. The new rules are slated to come into effect very shortly within the US. These rules would make the third-party model prohibitively expensive for the industry. It would essentially be rendered impractical. Some billing companies such as Lancelot have decided to shut down rather than continue under the Visa/Mastercard regime.

However, not all regions of the world come under the new rules. The merchant banking industry is broken up into different regions such as North America, Europe, Asia etc. Each region can decide to opt in or opt out. While the US region has opted in, other regions have opted out. GloBill has decided to run its business with reputable banks in the opt-out regions. Not all billing companies have the capital, know how or foresight to set up merchant accounts with these particular banks and that is why I foresee some of these companies going under over the next few months.

With this move, GloBill feels it will emerge as one of the most stable companies in the industry.

Adrian Martin
Vice President
Glo-Bill.com "

Hope ya don't mind me posting this here Arian!

Yeah, it sounds to me like the big 3 (IBill, CCBill, Epoch) are trying to make us believe that this is a Visa International decision that all regions must follow, when in fact it is actually just a Visa USA decision.

Its also very suspicious how they made a joint announcement about this. Why would they do that? hmmmm....makes ya think doesn't it?

That's what i'm telling ya fleabag!

i find the language in the 3 stooges emails too confusing, too much indeed, looks like thay want to hide something in order to get us tied up. i.e. they said:

"Under the new VISA USA regulations,"

OK this is USA

" an IPSP will only be permitted to
register Sponsored Merchants for processing if the Sponsored Merchant has
their corporation based in the same Country as the IPSP's Acquiring Bank for
VISA transactions."

What country then?, if it is VISA USA then it only takes cares for USA region.

I think that this can be read as:

"VISA USA will only process trans for USA porn webmasters, the others are fired."

"Yeah, it sounds to me like the big 3 (IBill, CCBill, Epoch) are trying to make us believe that this is a Visa International decision that all regions must follow, when in fact it is actually just a Visa USA decision.

Its also very suspicious how they made a joint announcement about this. Why would they do that? hmmmm....makes ya think doesn't it?"

Well.. they did say it is a VISA US rule! :Graucho
BUT.. also pretty much confirmed in threads it is some global ruling - which it is not! Also introduced "countries" into the scenario to basically complicate the issue...

The joint announcement is the "club" giving no relevant notice to allow a smooth transition and causing panic in the hope that their recomendations that everyone open some US corp and get a Tax Code be adopted in a damage limitation exercise to retain their client base.

I am sure they are busy re-thinking that press release and taking steps to stay viable!

For me... if I lose a cent of rebilling, I will not be staying with em or going back to em - there are plenty others out there to use as processors and spread this risk element on rebilling.

Sure shows how the power of "words" can manipulate!
:Graucho

They are going to pay for this, and you can include WSBilling in the pot, they sent the same email.

Let's spread the word.

IF this is true, and people lose all their rebills and their whole businesses because of this "misunderstanding," that is truly fucked up.

I haven't read every VISA thread so forgive my ignorance if this has already been addressed; but since the announcement, has anyone even bothered to contact VISA directly and asked what the deal is? Or is everyone just taking the word of the big 3 processors? It would be interesting to see is this is just a VISA USA regulation. Cause if so, that changes everything. Then again, regardless if it is true or not, i would assume that the rest VISA International would soon follow suit.

:thumbsup