Saturday, July 26, 2003
A few months ago, they briefly lost their Mastercard account.. beware of signing up with them.
Posted by inthestars @ 10:12 PM PST [Link]
SICCASH is the latest sponsor program to delete accounts in order to comply with Visa's 1% chargeback rule, here is the letter being sent to affiliates being dropped from the sponsor program:
As you may know, both Visa and Mastercard have implemented very stringent rules for adult related credit card processors based on the huge increases in fraudulent activity involving credit cards, especially with regard to internet/surfer usage for various goods and services. Excessive chargebacks and credits can cost a credit card processor large sums of money in penalties and fines (which are passed on to the various webmaster programs who use the credit card processor). At worst, it can cost a processor its merchant account; and a processor can lose the ability to process credit card transactions.
One of our credit card processors flagged this account for irregular activity. Upon review of your account’s activity since Jan. 2003, it was noted that an abnormal number of signups referred through your webmaster account have been credited or charged back. We have been informed by the credit card processor that they will not be accepting further referrals from this account. Because of this, we have been forced to close this account. We will be sending you 1 check for $120 as final payment (this includes $30 for a signup in payout period 7/13-7/20; none have booked since). Please remove all links from your websites that direct traffic to S.I.C. Cash before July 27, 2003 (the end of the next payout period), as any future signups will not be paid (of course, any signups occurring between this email notice and July 27, 2003, that clear fraud review will be paid). If you have any questions regarding these actions or want to discuss this further, please contact your rep at greg@shawinternet.com.
Posted by inthestars @ 09:18 PM PST [Link]
Ibill made the following billing errors a few days ago:
July 14th double charges to all CC and Check rebills.
July 17th triple charges for all Online Check rebills.
Make sure that your members have been properly refunded.
Posted by inthestars @ 08:34 PM PST [Link]
Another processor bites the dust. Globill Systems is out of business. Here is the message sent to affiliates:
An Important Message from ZMA Industries, Inc., doing business as "GloBill.com"
GloBill.com ("GloBill") has ceased processing. The reasons will be explained in a settlement and explanatory package that will be sent to GloBill webmasters that follow the directions set forth below. All webmasters are strongly encouraged to participate in the process.
* Please do NOT attempt to cash any checks that you currently hold for GloBill payouts because these checks will be returned NSF *
* ZMA Industries, Inc. will issue new checks as part of its settlement process.*
In what we believe is an unfortunate example of Visa abusing its power against the adult industry in a stunningly arbitrary and patently unfair manner, we were advised that our bank was instructed to terminate our processing in order to avoid threatened fees in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. ZMA Industries, Inc. is already in the process of preparing legal action in response to the recent developments and further information regarding the precise nature and grounds of the imminent litigation will be forthcoming in the future.
GloBill is contracted with a technical operations company that will continue to maintain certain user related systems. Namely, the correct commands will still be sent to your server to expire users when their membership ends. Users will be able to log in without any problems. You also will be able to manually add new users to your password file, obtain users lists, etc.
All GloBill clients who are owed funds will be responded to in writing by our corporate office in St. Kitts. In order to receive our settlement documentation and other pertinent information, you must send us a letter detailing your payee name, contact information and all site IDs that you held under GloBill by Monday, September 15, 2003. Please ensure your letter includes the following information at the TOP of your letter:
Your full name, the full name of your company, complete mailing address, telephone number with area codes and/or country codes and email address;
Your main payee name under GloBill; and
Your GloBill Site IDs.
Letters should be mailed directly to our office in St. Kitts by Monday, September 15, 2003 to be factored into the settlement process. You may also send the letter to our mail-forwarding address in the United States on or before the same date, as all mail sent to this address will be forwarded to our St. Kitts' headquarters.
Given the volume of mail we anticipate receiving, please allow 6-8 weeks for ZMA Industries, Inc. to respond to your correspondence. Please do not phone, fax or email because these methods of contact have now been automated. ZMA Industries, Inc. will only respond to written communications that contain the information set forth above.
In order to receive your settlement package, please send your inquiry letter at your immediate convenience and no later than Monday, September 15, 2003 to:
GloBill.com / Settlement
c/o ZMA Industries, Inc.
Amory Building Victoria Road
P.O. Box 1058
Basseterre, St. Kitts
West Indies
Needless to say, we are deeply disappointed with the sudden and astonishing turn of events that has decimated GloBill within a matter of days. Our regret stems not only from our disappointment with the unjust manner in which we believe we have been handled, but more notably by our inability to continue serving all of our valued webmasters in an exemplary manner. Please accept our deepest regrets and look for further information as it develops in our settlement package in the following weeks.
Posted by inthestars @ 05:09 PM PST [Link]
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Today, publicly owned third party processor Ibill, held an online meeting to brief webmasters on new rules for compliance. Here are some new rules:
1. Client website must identify iBill as the merchant
2. Client website can no longer contain any specific price points, client website can only contain a price teaser, such as “as low as $19.95”
3. Pricing grids with “Join Now” buttons are replaced with single link to iBill
Posted by inthestars @ 10:07 PM PST [Link]
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Website Billing, which has not paid hundreds of webmasters for months, is finally out of business. Here is the letter they sent affiliates:
Dear Valued Clients:
We regret to inform you that WebsiteBilling.com Ltd (WebsiteBilling.co.uk), despite our very best efforts, will have no choice but to cease operations on Friday, May 23, 2003. We were recently informed by our European Acquiring Bank (one of the largest banks in Europe and one of the last that was willing to work with Aggregators and "IPSP's") that the Aggregators and IPSP's they work with are being closed due to the pressure and administrative requirements passed down by Visa/MC. By losing this merchant relationship, we have no practical way to maintain our current client database.
In the past few months, we have unfortunately dealt with arbitrary fines imposed by card associations, foreign banks and agents taking weeks worth of deposits, and general harassment as the associations have taken very clear aim at the IPSP business model. (see Paycom's current lawsuit as well as WebsiteBilling.com, Inc's. lawsuit from 2001). We have operated with the best of intentions in trying to fighting through these issues and regaining strength, but there is unfortunately nowhere else to turn when our current and primary bank chose to exit the business.
We are very proud of the service that we have offered and are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with many terrific individuals. We are very hopeful that the lawsuit mentioned above will bring meaningful change in the way that card associations deal with merchants in our space, but it appears that in the meantime, they have claimed another casualty.
We wish you the very best of luck and may be in touch if further information becomes available.
Sincerely,
Evin Daly
Managing Director
WebsiteBilling.com Ltd.
London
Adult webmasters all over the world are still outraged that they did not receive money owed to them by Website Billing, because in recent phone conversations with the company, they were promised that all funds would be paid in full.
Posted by inthestars @ 04:18 PM PST [Link]
Monday, July 21, 2003
I'm hearing stories that Ibill will freeze your reserves if your Mastercard chargeback ratio is over 1%. If you use Ibill, make sure you check your Profitability Report for Reseller Credit Card Subscription Sales; there you can check your chargeback ratio.
Posted by inthestars @ 08:27 PM PST [Link]
One webmaster questions whether TGP's are backed up. I think the question is yes:
I dont mess with tgps too often but i just got this approval e-mail today.
What's the longest time it's taken you to get an approval for a listing somehwere? (besides d-moz)
Your submitted site:
url: http://www.xxxx/xxxx/index.html
description: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
category: cum shot / blowjob
submitted on 2003-03-19
Has been approved, and will be listed on Download Porn TGP - http://www.download-porn.com soon.
Some webmaster are getting listed 4 months after submitting a gallery.
Posted by inthestars @ 01:55 AM PST [Link]
