E-PROCESSING

Cybernet Expo in Montreal saw several industry leaders gathering in one place for networking and parties. There were also a few newbies around looking to learn something about the online adult business, and you could find several of them at the Credit Card Processing and Alternate Billing seminar, which brought together three processing companies.E-PROCESSING

Cybernet Expo in Montreal saw several industry leaders gathering in one place for networking and parties. There were also a few newbies around looking to learn something about the online adult business, and you could find several of them at the Credit Card Processing and Alternate Billing seminar, which brought together three processing companies. Speaking on the panel were Rand Pate of Epoch, Todd Moran of Ibill, and Tyler Hoffman of PayPal. Ron Cadwell of CCBill was scheduled to speak on the panel but was unable to come to Montreal.

The first question brought before the panel from moderator Colin Rowntree was regarding recent rumblings about the future of MasterCard in the adult market. Recent articles and unofficial buzz have questioned whether or not MasterCard will continue to allow third party billing companies to accept their card as a form of payment, claiming that Payment Service Providers (PSP’s) are aggregators. Rand (Epoch) was quick to point out that since PSP’s have a direct relationship with both the bank and the cardholder, PSP’s are not aggregators any more than TicketMaster or 1800Flowers.com. Todd (Ibill) agreed that at this time there were no indications that MasterCard would be discontinued as a form of payment for the industry. Tyler (PayPal) stated that the PayPal model works a little differently as users must register with their service and that they will continue to accept MasterCard without interruption.

The discussion turned to debit cards, as the attendees wanted to know when the PSP’s would be offering debit cards as a form of online payment. Rand and Tyler both indicated that this alternative payment method would at some point make its way into online billing. However, that will probably happen at least another year away, due to various banking and legal issues.

Another question from the attendees, one that evidently is heard quite often, pertained to the negative databases that PSP’s maintain. As Todd pointed out, if every PSP had the same negative database, then using a backup processor would give you the same results as the first one and would ultimately reduce approved transactions. Rand went on to say that the information each processor gathers is sensitive data that cannot be shared between private entities and that there are laws against sharing credit card data.

Ibill, recently purchased by InterCept, stated that they would continue to do business as usual, and that all operations have remained the same. The purchase by InterCept did not have any affect on the way that Ibill has always done business.

PayPal, relatively new to the adult space, is promoting their product as having brand recognition and user familiarity. Consumers would be less likely to question a billing descriptor such as PayPal and less likely to commit fraud due to the registration process.

Epoch, already making lots of news in recent months, is clearly targeting the adult market’s need to convert traffic and market to surfers, claiming that they offer their clients more ways to market and sell their product than any other processor. Epoch offers webmasters unique ways to market from join forms, purchase receipts, upon approved transaction, during the online cancellation process, and to upsell additional sites or sell traffic to other Epoch clients in ways no other processor can. Additionally, Epoch just released a free and simple automated reseller program called EzTrack, which works with or without cookies and automates reseller signups and even tracks click-thrus.

Although there was not much news regarding alternative billing solutions, each of the billing companies represented are working to ensure quality processing by expanding on the current payment options and looking to add alternatives as they become profitable and available.

Rand has been with the Epoch team since 1998, beginning with client services and managing a team of tech support representatives. He now oversees the compliance department at Epoch and works closely with sales and marketing as well as serving as Director of Communications. He writes a daily newsletter available to all Epoch clients and their affiliates. He can be reached by writing to rand@epochsystems.com.