Please Welcome Electronic Payments Association (ePayments.com) To The Board!!

[Aline(EPA)]

Originally Posted by ecchi

Two questions:
1. It costs $35 to join and people cannot use the service without joining, so am I correct in assuming people have to pay you $35 before they can pay any merchant?
2. Everything appears to go through Mastercard, but Mastercard are clamping down on strong adult stuff (eg bondage), so what alternatives do you offer for the adult industry.

Dear Ecchi,

1. You are absolutely right, there is an annual membership fee of $34.95. This is to cover issue, personalization and delivery of cards to our members. This fee also covers operational and maintenance costs of our website. However, we are waiving this fee for members of this board. Please follow this link http://www.epayments.com/?i=greenguysboard.
2. In my view your question refers to MasterCards merchant acquiring side of the business. Heightened review by MasterCard of merchants offering adult content is typically due to high level of chargebacks in this industry. If the content is legal there is no reason not to process it.

Sincerely,
Aline Hughes
Members' Support Adviser

[ecchi]

Thanks for your reply, however it raises a couple of other questions, and I think you misunderstood my first question.

Originally Posted by Aline(EPA)

You are absolutely right.... However, we are waiving this fee for members of this board. Please follow this link

I was not thinking about the cost at our end, I was thinking along the lines of: If I sell something for $20 and offer the option to pay via ePayments.com, and they join to buy it, then they effectively have to pay $55 for it? I know they don't have to pay that every time, but why would anyone other than merchants sign up when it is this expensive for them to start?

Originally Posted by Aline(EPA)

Heightened review by MasterCard of merchants offering adult content is typically due to high level of chargebacks in this industry. If the content is legal there is no reason not to process it.

Umm, I don't think you understand Mastercard's current business model: Smaller dealers are banned from accepting Mastercard for the stronger but legal adult material. My current processor is fighting this on the grounds that big companies are allowed to sell the stronger stuff (eg Amazon and Barnes & Noble sell books via Mastercard that A1 are not allowed to sell via Mastercard). What are your plans/intentions on this matter?

A third question arose from your reply: I posted my question on Friday. You are based in England, so Monday was a bank holiday, and you replied promptly on Tuesday morning. Thank you, that is fine for things like this. But that would not be fine if I was your client, financial matters can often not wait 4 days. And also remember that not all the world lives on GMT (or GMT-1 in the summer), and the middle of my client's day may be the middle of our night. So do you provide 24/7 support regardless of holidays etc?

[Aline(EPA)]

Originally Posted by ecchi

Thanks for your reply, however it raises a couple of other questions, and I think you misunderstood my first question.

I was not thinking about the cost at our end, I was thinking along the lines of: If I sell something for $20 and offer the option to pay via ePayments.com, and they join to buy it, then they effectively have to pay $55 for it? I know they don't have to pay that every time, but why would anyone other than merchants sign up when it is this expensive for them to start?

Umm, I don't think you understand Mastercard's current business model: Smaller dealers are banned from accepting Mastercard for the stronger but legal adult material. My current processor is fighting this on the grounds that big companies are allowed to sell the stronger stuff (eg Amazon and Barnes & Noble sell books via Mastercard that A1 are not allowed to sell via Mastercard). What are your plans/intentions on this matter?

A third question arose from your reply: I posted my question on Friday. You are based in England, so Monday was a bank holiday, and you replied promptly on Tuesday morning. Thank you, that is fine for things like this. But that would not be fine if I was your client, financial matters can often not wait 4 days. And also remember that not all the world lives on GMT (or GMT-1 in the summer), and the middle of my client's day may be the middle of our night. So do you provide 24/7 support regardless of holidays etc?

Dear Ecchi,

Membership of the EPA is not available to general public. We only accept application from professional participants of online industry. At the moment we are developing a merchant acquiring service for our members, however, it is not yet available. With regards to 24/7 support line, it is being setup and will be launched shortly.

Sincerely,
Aline Hughes
Member's Support Adviser

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Aline(EPA)

Membership of the EPA is not available to general public. We only accept application from professional participants of online industry.

So you are saying I misunderstood the function of your company, and that you are only there for things like sponsors paying affiliates?