[Rand]

Originally posted by lassiter
As a paysite owner using Epoch/Paycom, I have some issues with ePassporte.

Mainly, Epoch/Paycom is diverting signups whose CC is already blacklisted to allow signups via ePassporte. Problem is, I have no ePassporte account and so I am not paid for those signups to my sites, and Paycom gets to keep all the money.

Lassiter, if you are using FlexPost for your transactions, you have complete control of your response handler, which means what happens after the tran hit's our gateway. You control what happens with an approved tran or a declined one. Anyone who does not have a default set up for a decline is offered an ePassporte alternative. These are sales that would otherwise fall on the floor. As sales begin to take place that would have otherwise just been lost, you build a balance in an ePassporte business account. It's free money. Paycom doesn't have it, Epassporte does and they just wait for you to claim it. To get it, all you do is open an account and you have full access to it.

Paycom is essentially forcing me to open a business account with their privately-owned bank, ePassporte, ($100 minimum balance required, no less!). And even when I do get paid for those signups, well, as people have pointed out, I can only use that money for other ePassporte transactions - I can't transfer it into my company bank account.

Paycom doesn't own any banks. I wish we did.

True, you need to open an ePassporte account to claim your balance, but once you do, you are not limited to using that money for ePassporte transactions. You can withdraw the money at any ATM, and very soon, you'll be able to move it to your own bank account (if you have a U.S. account).

No, I cannot opt out of Paycom's practice of sending CC fraudsters to ePassporte and giving them unpaid access to my sites, I can't get the $100 minimum payment just to open an account waived, and I can't transfer those payouts anywhere.

You *can* opt out by opting to send your declines somewhere else through the FlexPost interface. It really is that easy. You can't waive the set-up cost (which is reasonable if you have a good sum in your account) because we have to receive a wire from you to activate the account. It meets the know-your-customer rules for Visa. Transfers? Well... stand by.....

Oh, did I mention they still will take the 15% off the top? Of course they will, while earning interest on my mandatory $100 payment.

Paycom gets paid for approved transactions. That's not any different for ePassporte than it is for any other Visa so I'm not sure what your point is. The mandatory $100 payment you speak of will go toward opening your account and the balance that is left is yours to do with as you please.

To add to my processor woes this month, iBill was insisting on charging my $750 for Visa registration renewal even though my account with them has been closed for a year and a half. Finally got that one straightened out, I hope.

Are there any IPSPs left anywhere that have a freakin' shred of honesty and integrity in their dealings with webmasters? Or are we stuck with incompetence, extortionate scams, and hostility to the clients who presumably make them their $$$? |pissed|

I think you simply had a few misunderstandings Lassiter. I have worked for Epoch since 1998 and the men who built this company are honest guys who will go so far as to lose money to remain honest. I'm not going to go into details here but a lot of people in this biz know exactly what I'm talking about. And I personally wouldn't be here if I though for one moment that the partners of Paycom were dishonest men. I'm too young and too good looking to go to jail.

I hope this helps. I'm leaving to go camping now. Will be back around on Monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend.