PSW Billing - Revisted
 

Thought I would start a new/clean thread for a tad easier reading about PSW Billing & the frozen payouts.

I see where some others managed to get through to PSW today to talk to them on the phone, and getting some different results (even though we all pretty much got told the same things I think).

One Webmaster has posted that PSW is releasing an email tomorrow (Wed 8/6/03). I didn't hear anything about that.

Others have said they were re-assured by Gabe and others at PSW that eventually the company will make the payouts currently frozen. I got basically the same type of feedback.

But this is also my "take" on what's happening. I called and managed to talk to one of the Reps there today about my account that had it's reserves frozen even before they froze everyone's payouts.

One thing I asked is "Did you lose your merchants account as it has been rumored in places" and got told an absolute "NO!"

The bottom line for me (and I think for others, and probably the reason the funds were frozen for all), is that as we know, Visa is leaning heavily on all eprocessors in the adult industry. Several have failed because of this. What PSW did in *MY* situation was to look at the last 90 days of activity and come to the conclusion that since I had THREE chargebacks..that that was too high. I protested saying that it was a small # compared to the signups and was told basically that they and the bank don't look at your total signups (I've got a total of FOUR chargebacks period since I started using PSW over 7 plus months), but apparently are now looking at trends in the last 90 days or so. Since I had but ONE cb going into the last 90 days, the sudden THREEE cbs set off alarms, and my account (a backup account at that thankfully) was cancelled and all my reserves were frozen.

So will I ever see my reserves..I'm doubting it as they want to hold onto all the money until the last signup has expired and six months have gone by BEYOND that time period to prevent ANY possible chargebacks. (Meaning I would wait till well after the 1st of next year to see any reserves).

They are not very forthcomming, though they were pleasant enough on the phone. They are not happy, to say the least, with many of the posts on GFY and other boards.

My advice to those who have funds frozen is take a look at the last 90 days of activity and see how many chargebacks you've had. I think that's the key there on whether or not you are a good "Risk".

And I would add a P.S. make sure you are using at least TWO other ebillers like CCbill, jetis, epoch, etc asap!

Would you have to do any of this if you were with CCBill?

:) Not in a million years! I'm worn out from trying to figure out PSW!:BangBang:

Has anyone tried doing a transaction to see if they are charging cards? They would need a merchant account to do this or they couldnt get settlement of the charges.

Nah you would complain about CCBill too when something happened. I was looking through some other threads like a week ago (in a search - threads might have been older.) and you were complaining about some other processor then. Just go with one that is stable so we can stop seeing the threads.

You are full of shit if you are saying I ever complained about ccbill!
Excuse me if I lost almost everything I had when Lancelot went down last September. But I guess you would consider that "complaining"..

Fuck off :321GFY

I posted this in the other thread - but I have had *NO* sales for August and 1 rebill. My account normally would do 4 or 5 sales a day and same with rebills minimum. I have had several emails from users now saying that they have tried up to 3 cards and all get declined. I figured they were scrubbing like bastards to staty under the 1% VISA limitation.

The one percent chargeback threshold is a very serious situation and I predict it will soon be the end of many smaller webmasters.

Say you have started your site up and have been running for 3 months. In month 3 you get 2 chargebacks in which they charge back for the 3 monthly transactions and the trial. So you have 8 charged back transactions. Well you had better be up to 800 transactions a month by that point or you are non-comlpiant.

One thing about chargebacks is that they are largely about luck as much as customer service or a website quality. You can have the best site in the world but a few henpecked husbands charging back for spousal reasons will put you out of business. And then there is the issue of stolen cards...One or two stolen card episodes will put you over as well, and it will be you rather than the IPSP that take the blame for this. And because you are under the IPSP in all this you will have no voice in explaining to the bank what the real story is if you are terminated.

Is the VISA 1% rule for all online transactions or just the adult industry ?

That's the point. CCBill is stable. If he was with them, there would be no need to go through this crap. Nothing would happen.

Doesnt this 1% deal apply only if you do more than 100 Chargebacks a month?
Im sure i read this somewhere...

why would anyone get their accounts cacnelled for 3 Chargebacks in a month or whatever?
Sounds pretty bizzare to say the least...
:disgust

from what i have been reading (and i could be incorrect) but ALL online merchants are considered high risk therefore, all online merchants fall under the 1% umbrella.

I DO use ccbill! They are my primary..have been since I moved PSW to backup last march!:)

My point was not that you complained about CCBill, but that I saw you complain about other processors. I don't know if you were ever forwarned about some of these other processors but you should go with someone more stable, that was my point.

I never want anyone to lose money and that sucks, but I would be spending my time getting my billing back somehow instead of starting more threads about PSW Billing.

What happens if PSW does go out of business? Is there anything you can truly do?

My point was simply get a stable processor and move on, no use complaining about it.

I have been informed by a higher power that my above statement is incorrect in that at least Visa only looks at clients who go over 100 chargebacks / mo.

I am not sure what is up with MC though, and that is why reserves may be being frozen at PSW and Ibill. Or it could be any of 100 other reasons.

If this board every adopted the "no use complaining about it", there never would be any posts!:)

But, while you've tracked my progress :) , apparently you missed the point that I've been using CCBILL as my primary processory since the end of last Feburary. It was then that I made PSWbilling my backup. So, I'm NOT in danger of losing as MUCH money as others who are using them as their primary.

But to let things simply go, unchallenged..sort of shuffle off in the night without saying a word about what happened is not part of my makeup, nor of many people I know who have really been stung by the recent events concerning eprocessors.

So I hope this helps give you a little better insight into me and what has been happening.

This is true. While Visa may have it's rules, processors can have even stricter rules (which is a bit hard to believe, but seems to be part of reality) too. I think PSW is trying to show Visa that they are "tough" cookies and won't put up with "bad accounts", etc.

Consolidating threads, pertinent information below:

Centurion (Regarding your individual situation)
I compiled all the information on your account and, must admit, I was surprised to find an email dialog, a 11.3% chargeback rate over the last 90-days (which unfortunately is a good chunk of time). Checking the dates of emails, you were given 72 hours notice and a concise explanation of the situation. While the final email wording may have been harsh, the decision would be made for any client with a 90-day record, regardless of volume. Hope this helps. Sorry, again, for the frustration caused by the chargeback issues.

Various Q&A Here:
http://www.gfyboard.com/showthread.p...47#post2144247

Lasted Thread Here:
http://www.gfyboard.com/showthread.p...hreadid=160914