My bad- Although they are still promising the world to their bigger clients, and I based my post on the information sent from internal higher-ups.....

This ibill thing is getting worse. Looking at my checks received over the last month I have a few other (small check) sponsors using them too. I never really thought about it because I login to their admin to see stats. :(

I guess it's surprising plus all the others using them under MPA2 or NATS.

got the same email this morning and changed right away

It's true if Ibill is to survive this incident they will need their old clients to stay otherwise they will face serious solvency issues as people migrate to the other processors.

The irony to that is that we are not being compensated for the increased risk. As a matter of fact our payments will be delayed thus effectively lengthening our accounts receivables i.e. reducing our effective ROI and in turn giving them a free loan.

I personally hope they pull through since I doubt any of us will get a cent of the money they owe if they go chapter 11.

Here is what was recently posted on a certain other board, by Mark from Ibill:

"To squelch any rumors, distortions or innuendos that have been erroneously posted on these boards, we are making the following information available. iBill is pleased to announce that the company has entered into a new processing agreement with a domestic association-registered party. The new relationship involves processing transactions through a domestic acquirer and settlement bank.

More details to follow next week. We are very excited about some new opportunities that have risen from some tough challenges we have gone through. It has definitely been a September to remember. On that note, we have officially gone under Hurricane warning in our area so our office will be operating at minimal staff for the next few days. Rest assured we have a well tested business continuity plan at this point. Updates will be posted on CMI.

As far as payouts that have been affected by First Data, we expect to get back on track next week. We understand this is the most important priority for our clients.

Mark"

FYI - Allegedly IBill are not taking Visa transactions at the moment,...

:(

DD

this is my own fault

I should have tossed them months ago

I was thinking the exact same thing

Verotel - Putting trust in global payments since 1998. |shake|

Epoch and CCBill aren't the only other alternatives, heck if you have your own merc account we'll process you no problem ... if not we might be able to fix that too verrrrrry soon ;)

Just posted on the ibill site for their new requirements for having visa or mastercard
******
Costs:
$1500 VISA high-risk merchant account fee - this fee is NOT required up front and your application will be reviewed for approval without payment of the fee. However, if approved, the fee will be required for processing to begin.
iBill fees will be fixed and will be based on the same rate you are currently paying.
Initial six-month reserve, reviewed quarterly for potential adjustment upward or downward (no more rolling reserve).

*****

Um what the fuck! I just paid these jerkoffs $350 to keep my account rolling for another year despite my best thoughts and now they're throwing this at us.
I tried calling and was given the brushoff.

Isn't it lovely how after 7 years with a company they act as if you owe them. Their statement doesn't give any indication about lower per transaction fees or any benefit. Its just pay us $1500, give us tons of very specific information about your business location, tax returns,etc and we'll consider keeping your business open for another year.

Working for the ACLU makes me extremeley weary of supplying them with some of the information listed in that form, even if I were willing to fork over $1500, which I'm not.

Since they're not providing the service that I paid $350 for the right to have Visa for this year, shouldn't I be entitled to that money back?

Anyone have any ideas on what I should do to respond to this?

-WildChyld

WildChyld

It sounds like they changed the terms of your contract so you should be entitled to a refund.

the contract looks like we will be appying for a merchant account

if we are getting our own merchant account why do we have to pay ibill 15%

this looks to me like a huge rip off

I am not sure weather to call epoch or ccbill monday

what do you guys think ?

Both Tommy
And get a cascading system.

toms thumbs is a small site

5k a month, i dont think its worth having two processors

Yes they are having you apply for an independant merchant account, from what I understand they are no longer a IPSP (you can double check on that but I think thats the case).

The fees for applying for a high risk merc acct vary from bank to bank especially US based vs. Offshore.

Merchant accounts are not for everyone but they can be very beneficial to some. Here are a few things to consider when deciding if you should apply: (just remember numbers vary per bank):

*rates are APPROX 4.95% (US)+ and are determined on a case by case situation - offshore approx 6.9%+
*they want a nice transaction volume monthly (anywhere from 25k up) , the more volume the better you look to them.
*they'll want a few months of statements to back volume and chargeback numbers.
*of course they want to see low charge back ratios.

Any good processor will evaluate the information given on the forms before sending your application through to the merchant bank, this can save you any application fees that might apply (depending on the banks they use) if they think you wouldn't make the cut.

The good part is, if you qualify for your own merchant account you have much more control over charge back disputes etc, not to mention higher profit margins ... hmmm well I guess that last part would depend on the processor you work with, I'm not sure IBill plans to reduce their rates.

I hope that helps clear things up

WildChyld - yes I think they should refund if you JUST paid that fee and if you plan to pull your business from them.

since you guys are looking to get in to the adult buisness very soon do you think gord would wanna set me up this week ?

Move away from Ibill and you will see an increase. Cascading billing will not only bring in more signups but will protect you for when the next cc processor fails. You will make the extra expense back in a month or two.

But...if you just go with one, go with Epoch :)

Go to your bank & tell them you want to start processing adult transactions...then tell me when they stop laughing at you :D

(sorry, but it's my role to be the smart ass)

Tommy

I'm sure he'd be more than happy to work with you, I'll let him know for you.

GG,
Smart asses are my favorites .. lordy knows we don't need anymore dumbasses huh? lol

Jim,
I agree ;)

We are very interested in a cascading program. Are there any more affordable alternatives to NATS? Preferrably one with affiliate capabilities?

They aren't really cascading in literal terms. Back in the day, we had a true cascading system and it was really nice. We had 3 processors. We captured the prospective member's information and tried one cc processor. If they turned that person down, we tried the next. If that processor turned them down we went on to the next. If all 3 processors turned them down, we then offered alternatives.

You can't do that anymore. So, all today's cascading billing really does is rotate between processors. It is really easy to rotate a join page on your site between 2 processors. And, you don't need fancy software to do it.

Jim you do need fancy software if you are running an affiliate program or you are going to get a lot of very pissed up webmasters if they are sending their traffic for an iBill join and you have a CCBill join page up.

Angel and I are also looking for affordable affiliate software so that she can get away from CCBill links codes.

You got that right Cleo...I just set up cascade billing with CCbill and Epoch and nothing moved fast at all with Epoch. Even though we've been processing adult paysite memberships for over 3 years they seem to take forever to get someone set up...