The promoters described this event as a clearinghouse of current, factual information, stating that “Credit card associations, bandwidth providers and other forces continue to mold the online business environment for adult webmasters. This panel will help displace old rumors with clear facts about the current state of the Industry.”
Sitting on this panel were Ron Cadwell of CCBill, Clay Andrews from Epoch, Mitch Farber of NetBilling, Tony Morgan from National Net, Morgan Sommer from Cybersocket, with Alec Helmy representing XBiz.
After a brief round of introductory comments, the discussion turned to the recent changes that our industry has undergone over the last year; changes that Andrews asserted have been less noticeable than in years past. “We’ve seen a lot of changes in previous years, driven by the credit card associations, but the state of credit card processing is stable at this point,” he said. Farber concurred, adding that “there’s been no changes in a year.”
While both of these billing company reps bypassed the biggest change in their arena, Sommer was not shy about mentioning the fate of beleaguered iBill, one of the ‘big three’ processors: “There’s a really big change this year, as an enormous amount of money is now missing from this industry” – a reference to the millions of dollars in unpaid earnings that the company owes its merchants.
“These companies are going into debt just to keep their employees working,” said Sommer. “There’s a lot of anxiety out there, along with bruised egos and ruined fortunes.”
Andrews was philosophical about his competitor’s woes: “This is a high-risk industry, influenced by credit card associations, the Justice Department and a host of other factors. Shit happens, and we’re all in this together.”
As for the continuing speculation over the future of online billing to be found on industry message boards, Farber summed up the situation succinctly by stating, “You have to take what’s on the boards seriously, but do your homework and have a backup plan.”
The discussion then turned to matters of fraud, shaving, chargebacks and scrubbing. Despite rampant board speculation that third-party processors are “adjusting their scrubbing thresholds” resulting in a loss of sales, the billing reps denied such claims. “We really want to let as many transactions through as possible,” said Cadwell.
As for chargeback fighting measures, Farber commented, “Nothing pisses off a surfer more than a members area that has nothing to do with what’s offered in the tour.”
The state of web hosting services was next on the agenda, with Morgan offering that “Consumption rates are up, balancing the drop in prices with increased costs due to broadband penetration.”
Dialers and other forms of alternative transaction processing were next up for discussion. “Dialers are dead” was the consensus and, as one panelist put it, “Porn simply isn’t worth $5 per minute.”
“We’ve implemented 2000Charge’s EU direct debit processing system and have seen positive results,” said Helmy.
“ACH [online check processing] is a very viable secondary processing option for membership sites,” said Farber. “It’s a great way to increase your income.”
The audience was then invited to participate in an open “Questions & Answers” session, at which point Helmy seized upon the first question to deliver a stunning condemnation of certain elements within the industry.
“The industry as a whole has gone through a lot of positive changes over the last eight years. A lot of things have become more formalized and have thus improved,” said Helmy. “ASACP and FSC are standing up for our rights, but our rights are being endangered by those producers who mistreat models.”
“Content that displays aggressive, abusive mistreatment of women further damages the image of our industry in the mainstream and keeps us from being taken seriously,” added Helmy.
“Establishing and enforcing content guidelines within your company won’t just help keep you out of legal trouble,” concluded Helmy, “but it’s the right thing to do.”
