Questions about NetBilling
 

As I peruse these boards from day to day, I see constant talk of another billing company, NetBilling.

While it would be great to hear directly from them, I'd like to inquire as to who uses them, and what your thoughts are on them as a payment processor.

Key points I'd like information about:

1. Are they honest?
2. Are they here to stay?
3. A year or 3 from now, do any of you see them becoming the next iBill?
4. Do they limit sales as it would seem other billers do for smaller programs?
5. Your personal review on them as a billing company and your experience with them so far.

Thanks in advance.

Is that you Mitch? lol

Not sure who Mitch is but, no that is not me. VD Bucks is a legitimate program and we're genuinely inquiring about a biller we may or may not seek to pick up.

With netbilling you have your own merchant account so some of your questions don't apply like - Do they limit sales as it would seem other billers do for smaller programs?
You control this yourself.
We have been with netbilling since 1998 and have no complaints.

1) Yes, they appear to be.

2) Yes, I would think so.

3) No. They aren't the same thing.

4) Yes and No, 'they' don't limit them, however scrub factors which you can adjust may limit some sales, more directly bad ones. Point being, you're in control of that, as it's your ass not netbillings if you screw up.

5) I've set them up more times than I can remember, I've worked with them directly and they are wonderful. I've worked with countless others that work with them directly.... I can't say I've ever heard anything bad about them.

1. Are they honest?

Yes, they are honest. It's not a third party billing solution (IPSP), so you just use their system and pay for what you use. They will not be the one that pays you, so you have nothing to worry about. The one that pays you is the bank where you have your merchant accounts, or the middle man who sets that up for you. So those are the ones you need to care about and trust.

2. Are they here to stay?

I thin they have been around for like 10 years, so yes they are here to stay. Once again it's not a third party billing solution, so they have no risk at all in being closed down or something.

3. A year or 3 from now, do any of you see them becoming the next iBill?

They are just a gateway system. So no, they won't become the next iBill.

4. Do they limit sales as it would seem other billers do for smaller programs?

They won't limit sales. You can set the scrubbing levels yourself the way you want it. Your merchant provider might have some fraud systems in place as well though, but in general you will have a higher approval rate compared than using an IPSP like CCBill.

5. Your personal review on them as a billing company and your experience with them so far.

They are an excellent company. They have been around for as long as I can remember. They are integrated with tons of banks as well as with all the big affiliate systems like Nats. Their system is great, many big sites use them. They have more experience in this field than probably any other company out there.

I've been using NetBilling since July 1999. I later added their 24/7 call center as an option.

1. Yes, they are honest as well as PCI/DSS compliant.

2. They're in the game to win it.

3. I use my own merchant account, thus, it doesn't matter if they become the next iBill.

4. Since I have my own merchant account, the limits are between my underwriters and I. NetBilling is not involved.

From personal experience, they always answer the phone and get my issues resolved. Every December I get an email from them asking to make sure my address is current. Next thing you know, I get gifts in the mail, i.e. engraved clock, etc. I'm still trying to figure out if they were the ones that sent me the live lobster and pot a few years ago. There was no return address. In other words, they go overboard for their customers. I'm pleased with the service.

I get no gifts or bribes from them... :(

CCbill does give out cookies... :)

Mitch & Wendy where are you?

Thanks for all the input so far...

I guess I should have also asked, what is the total upfront cost of getting set up with them?

Whoa! I've never received cookies from CCBill! They are my backup processor for countries where I don't want to use my merchant account. However, I did get content from them years ago.

When I stared with them, there were no upfront fees. I believe there is a fee if you want to accept checks via ACH. However, that was waived when they were running a special.

There are no upfront costs to be set up.
They will just invoice you for the use of their gateway.

One neat trick with Netbilling is the ability to plug in more than one merchant account, so you get a true cascade, where if one account doesn't process the transaction the other one gets a shot, but no input is required by the surfer. THE best bit is that this applies to rebills as well as new sales - so a rebill can swap from one merchant account to another.

In any other system, if the initial sale is processed by Biller A, then come rebill time, if it fails at Biller A, then its game over.

Then there's the native support for it within NATS - add a pricepoint in NATS and it's job done - NATS passes the info directly to the NB back end, no copying product codes, descriptions and durations from biller to NATS, whatever you set up in NATS, just gets used directly.

On a day to day basis another significant factor, is how pleasant the biller admin area is to work with and for me there are two clear winners right now. If I have to do support then Netbilling or Zombaio both have fast, very intuitive and complete admin areas to work in. Some of the others, not so much.

We only recently set up with them - about 4-5 months ago - we have three different currencies running through them and just moved a bunch of rebills from a previous biller to their system and support have been superb.

JR....This is RJ....lol (better edit that, you were actually some great help)
Hit me up, on Skype...I will help you. If you still need it.

We are with NetBilling for hard products. They are decent gateway...its the banks that can suck. You should set that up or use what you have already if possible.