Printable View
So,
If you haven't heard yet, Visa is going to start charging all the AVS sites the same $750.00 fee that pay sites are having to pay.
Just curious as to how much (if any) impact you think it will have on the AVS market? Are we going to see a great number go "under", or do you think it will make little or no difference in the market?
don't know for sure what it will do to those of us who work with AVS sites. But I know one thing for sure, it is time for some new payment systems to be developed to compete with the big boys. It seems like Mastercard and Visa are becoming power drunk.
Mr. Licious
This is actually quite an interesting move from Visa from a business standpoint and, more importantly how it can potentially affect our businesses.
First they imposed the new Visa fee's onto paysite/sponsors
Secondly they introduce the same processing fee's onto AVS systems.
I hope i am wrong here but, what happens if they implement these fee's to sites contained WITHIN the AVS systems?
Also.. having not read that much about this new Visa stuff and exactly how it effects the AVS systems, i wonder if opening some 'free avs' might be the way to go?
Im thinking long-term, webmasters could submit their sites to a free system and, as long as no transactions are being made from the AVS to the surfers i honestly think the long term business that any such AVS would have would be astronomical.
Just imagine, all the webmasters using the big AVS's being charged $750 or whatever to submit their sites would ALL move to the free AVS systems, this would give any such system an incredible traffic source and, an incredible collection of statistics from the surfers who used such a system to access their porn.
What this would also do for the webmaster AND the AVS itself is enable them to ride their business off the sponsors who have already paid the $750 Visa fee's ensuring they wouldnt have to pay these fees themselves.
I know from personal experience, Gary and I would rather send our surfers to sponsor sites where we do not have to worry about retention rates and make $30-$40 per signup than to keep them recurring on our own paysites and make the same level over several months.
It will be interesting to see just how Visa implements these new regulations long term in the adult industry and, even more interesting to see which billing processors get the most long-term damage due tot he same regulations.
Regards,
Lee
I'm truly starting to think CASH is the way to go! grin
Well, maybe not cash, but get yourself a PO BOX and accept only money orders & cashier checks.
I'm curious about some of the "double layered" folks who use an AVS. Let's say you use Adult Check (truly just picked them out of the hat), and you also use Adult Check "Gold". So, does you have to pay TWO $750.00 fees?
And if the government truly accepts ownership of a credit card as proof of being an "adult", would they also accept a long and comprehensive declaration that states to the effect of "Yes, I am of a certain age and desire to see adult material," etc etc etc. BY ITSELF!?
Thinking of it being a page one must ALWAYS go through to access the "goodies".
There are several other novel ideas of getting around the fee, but I'm getting the impression that more and more webmasters actually welcome the fee. They think it will get rid of a lot of the "riff raff" and obviously bring them more traffic/signups.
P.S. Not trying to start rumors, but ARE there any major AVS's right now struggling to keep their heads above water?
Quote:
And if the government truly accepts ownership of a credit card as proof of being an "adult"
Actually, this is one of the biggest misconceptioins in the adult industry - just because you have a cc it does not certify you as being of age. Look at the t&c of any major ipsp - most force you to agree that you are of age. That is supposed to be their protection.
Of course, my opinion means very little since I am not within the USA nor am I a lawyer....just a good mate from down under
Cheers!
Luke
The Visa fees are for each site within an AVS system, not the system itself. EACH site would be required (if this goes through) to register with Visa and pay the $750 first year fee. Not sure if Mastercard would follow suit and implement the $1,000 first year fee as well.
You do not have to pay the fee twice. If you own 1000 domains, you pay one time. It's a one-time registration fee to Visa for $500 and a $250 fee to your third-party processor or credit card processor (that covers them because each month they have to submit detailed reported for each site; chargebacks sales, etc). If you are with X processor and jump to Y processor, you do not have to pay the fees again. Once the registration fee is paid, that's it.
There are some alternatives. Cash is good, money orders, checks (just use Telecheck), Discover, Diner's Club -- or convert your AVS site to a pay site and either get your own merchant account (it's truly very simple and inexpensive) or go with a third-party processor who doesn't require the Visa registration fees.
For me -- my feelings -- Visa has no business knowing how much my sites are earning.