After explaining his company's decision to transition from an AVS site to a mega paysite, Turgeon pointed again to Visa as being the culprit for many impending fallouts within the adult entertainment industry.
According to Turgeon, the implementation of the 1 percent charge-back ratio as of Oct. 1 will create a very difficult situation for AVS companies and other sites throughout the industry that can't control their end user base.
"Many companies will fall by the wayside," Turgeon told XBiz. "Maintaining less than a 1 percent charge-back ratio will be very difficult. Ultimately it will affect how people market their sites and it will be a slippery slope. Because if you are over your 1 percent, then you can no longer be processed and you will be in a very difficult situation."
Turgeon told XBiz that Mancheck is already compliant with Visa's new demands and operates under a 1 percent ratio.
"To establish what is needed by these companies to become compliant, we need solutions for fraudulent behavior on the part of the end user, especially in lieu of these strict charge-back ratios that are putting professional companies at risk," said Turgeon.
Turgeon added that he feels the entire charge-back debacle with Visa is a symptom of the overall government clampdown on the adult industry and its attempt to clean house.
"As soon as Visa gets a handle on targeting the AVS community, there will be a domino effect throughout the industry. The paysites are off the hook for now, but not for long," said Turgeon.
One reason for the AVS community's lack of action, or "proactiveness" as Turgeon refers to it, is poor communication, and miscommunication.
"I'm very surprised when I am at industry events and attend seminars where the lawyers are saying you better protect your site with AVS, and then the billing companies are saying move as far away from AVS as possible," said Turgeon.
"The industry does itself a great disservice by not sharing information," Turgeon continued. "It should be up to the industry to find solutions, not up to Visa to drop the hammer on us. Maybe Visa doesn't understand the industry as well as we do. It’s a very convoluted structure, so Visa may be narrow-minded in terms of what they are trying to achieve, and it is up to the industry to help come up with solutions to appease Visa."
Turgeon concluded by saying: "We are all in competition, but we should not be competitors to a fault. We need to work together and stand up for what is best for us, for our industry."
Mancheck will be the premier sponsor for Cybersocket's party at Internext in Vegas this coming January.
