Visa and AVS
 

This may be old news but is anyone worried by this.

http://www.theadultwebmaster.com/new...visa_avs.phtml

cindy xx

Looks like AVS sites are going to pay big bucks now :(
if an AVS site has 60k sites in it, and Visa is going to charge him $750 per site, quick math will get you to $45 million :helpme

Shit ##

:helpme

That may hurt a bit. They'll probably declare each webmaster a sponsored merchant and make us pay the fee, that is, if we're Americans.. I hate Visa sometimes.

"Information obtained by TheAdultWebmaster.com has shown that Visa U.S.A. has started to notify banks that Age Verification System (AVS) companies and their webmaster customers should not be allowed to dodge the new regulations the company imposed late last year on third party billing companies and their clients."

I'll address a couple of points in that article.

First off, why would an IPSP start a stink about AVS sites? Name one that doesn't have some major processing tied up in AVS, or rather name one reputable one. There aren't any. IBill, CCBill, Epoch and Jettis I know for a fact have them on the books, and I'll assume that WSB and PSW do as well unless someone can definitely say otherwise...

Next, to the best of my knowledge, Visa USA has NOT stated that the sites have to pay any fees as of yet, or even decided how they want to handle the situation. As I understand it, the IPSPs were asked to present a plan to Visa detailing the nature and setup of their AVS business and what they could or would implement if needed to regulate the AVS.

At the end of the day Visa is looking out for two things --
1. protecting their brand image. It's much harder to control the content in an AVS system than it is in one where you have every URL at your disposal and can check them for compliance any time you'd like.
2. site owners who've been terminated could sneak back into the system using an AVS instead of their own merchant acct or an IPSP and that is something Visa is not going to allow.

Visa is right in saying that holding a cc number in hand does not guarantee age verification, and I highly doubt that any of the legislative bodies in the US would confirm that decision today. It's simply too easy for minors to have Visa gift cards, pre-paid debit cards with cc logos on them, etc.

If I were an AVS OWNER and my chargebacks weren't out of line, then I don't think I'd be worried unless either my bank or my IPSP told me I was in trouble directly.

God you people are fucktards sometimes.

I think two things first if the AVS's policed themselves this shit wouldnt of happened just like the paysite people. Also everyone should pay and if you cant afford $750 good bye. It would get rid of alot of the dead weight and thin the herd. I hope MC wants $1500 to tell you the truth. This has been the only business where you dont have to pay to get into the game and that time must come to a end.

I disagree that Visa is worried about site owners sneaking back in by using an AVS. The age verification thing isn't new either. That happened a few years ago with the AVS companies that used to market themselves as an age verification service changing their approach.

If this does happen at all, they might as well start looking at affiliate programs too. They sell a membership to their system, same as the AVS are doing.. and pay their affiliates a commission to include a monthly recurring income.