Paysite Question and Micro Billing?

[TropixxxStudios]

I was wondering how many of you paysite owners do the following:

1. Provide more than one option for billing. For instance, CCBill and another one.

2. Have used a micro billing company like nocreditcards.com.

Is Micro-billing something that will open my site for more members around the world, or do you think it is better to stay with one company like CCBill for credibility, support, etc.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. - Michael

[marcjacob]

I personally think no credit options for more than just the USA is a good idea. Some people dont have a credit card. I certainly dont see that it could harm you in any way.

[Lee]

Micro billing is over-rated IMHO.

Most of the hype about paysites needing micro billing systems to monetize their global traffic has been spread by, yep you guessed it, micro billing providers.

Almost everyone beleived [at one point] that China and the Asia Pacific nations were unreachable with credit card billing and that has never been the case, in fact, China and Japan make up the majority of credit card usage per capita in the world, at least according to stats i saw a year or two back.

That being said, there is definately a place for micro billing, just as there is definately a place for localization of adult sites however, if you are getting sales and signups globally, the potential to be accused by affiliates of shaving outweighs the benefits of adding micro billing options to your signup pages.

Regards,

Lee

[Becky]

I have always cascaded billing, with backup cc processing adding around 5% in additional signups. Microbilling is something that I am just now testing out with password by phone, and so far it is working out ok. I am working with them to expand on this option as well, but only for customers outside the US.

[basschick]

to be able to cascade from one biller to another, you use a program like NATS. that way your affiliates will get credit for the secondary processor.

i'm not a fan of micropayments but does anyone here know whether NATS or any of the others have any such options built in?

[gxbill]

The main goal you should have is not cannibalizing credit card sales, but at the same time attempting to pick up those users who simply cannot / will not pay via credit card.

What you really want to do is offer micro billing / alternate billing as a secondary option , but on the standard join page as well. Simply offer it with less prominence than credit card billing.

If you are running affiliate software like NATS / MPA etc , you can also drop in micro billing / alternate billing in the cascade, so you have a 2nd chance to pick up those who get declined. Of course, you can also credit affiliates for sales through the secondary billers so you won't get any heat from affiliates.
In fact, affiliates should be happy when you enhance your program and do this correctly - as they will make some extra money as well.

In short - if done right, you won't see any loss of credit card sales, and only see a gain from those who won't pay via credit card anyway.

The key is not being over aggressive and thereby negatively affecting credit card sales.

so thats my 2 cents

regards,
Sam
gxbill.com
icq: 156 335 240
sam@gxbill.com

[Becky]

Excellent advice gxbill. One problem I had when first implementing international payment options, which included credit cards, was they took away from my primary credit card sales. So this option was moved to the decline page. Then I added PBP to the join page, but only non US customers even see it, and obviously it is only phone billing, so again, no taking away from credit card sales. And of course, I credit affiliates with all sales from these options.

[basschick]

gxbill - that's a great way to keep your affiliates from getting sales and also a great way to keep a lot of affiliates from signing up. also if you average a bunch of $4 sales, and see less full month credit card sales. that's not a good thing.

becky's option is the best one (no surprise there) if you must offer micropayments, but will take more work and scripts to implement.

[gxbill]

Basschick

I have to respectfully disagree with you.

If you re read my post, my point was if done right even on the standard join page you will not eat into credit card sales by offering alternate payments methods. The problem arises when webmasters get too aggressive with alternate / micropayment billing mechanisms and thereby trade a $5 sales via micropayment for a $30 credit card sale. What you want to strive for is trading a user who cannot / will not otherwise pay for a $5 or $10 micropayment sale.

Because something is better than nothing , even from the affiliate point of view.

I have found in nearly all cases if you keep the micropayment links as strictly secondary / less prominent over your credit card link you simply don't negatively affect cc sales. Typically, you only pick up the small but steady % of those who won't or can't pay via credit card.

Here is a good example of this:
We crunched the numbers with one the largest programs on the net to see if our small secondary link was having any negative affect on cc sales.
We studied the credit card sales and growth trends before we put up our link , when our link was up, and then we took it down for a short while to fully analyze the trends / sales data etc.

In short , nothing changed, credit card sales were growing at the same rate with or without our link. If credit card sales dropped , or the growth rate on credit card sales even slowed down, our option would be gone. That was back in 2002 and we are still being marketed in the same capacity as our original test. The only thing that changed is more sales for the program through our platform , and more money for the affiliates b/c they are being credited for all these sales.

I know one size does not fit all, and webmasters know their paysites better than anyone. So what I advocate is a webmaster testing our payment platform in a very unagressive manner, and keep a close eye on their credit card sales. More often than not, they see no negative affect and simply get a nice extra check come month end.

[TropixxxStudios]

Here is a good example of this:
We crunched the numbers with one the largest programs on the net to see if our small secondary link was having any negative affect on cc sales.
We studied the credit card sales and growth trends before we put up our link , when our link was up, and then we took it down for a short while to fully analyze the trends / sales data etc.

In short , nothing changed, credit card sales were growing at the same rate with or without our link. If credit card sales dropped , or the growth rate on credit card sales even slowed down, our option would be gone. That was back in 2002 and we are still being marketed in the same capacity as our original test. The only thing that changed is more sales for the program through our platform , and more money for the affiliates b/c they are being credited for all these sales.

I know one size does not fit all, and webmasters know their paysites better than anyone. So what I advocate is a webmaster testing our payment platform in a very unagressive manner, and keep a close eye on their credit card sales. More often than not, they see no negative affect and simply get a nice extra check come month end.

Good input. Thanks. I have begun looking into a few different micro payment solutions. Although i am not sure I will impliment them in the near future, I am glad to hear about everyones experience with them. Thanks for all the posts.

[Lee]

Because something is better than nothing , even from the affiliate point of view.

Unless, the affiliate isnt getting credited for those sales.

Thats called 'shaving'.

I send a surfer to paysite.com through the CCBill/Epoch linking code that sponsor.com gave. That surfer decides to use the micro-billing option instead of the CC join form, there is no way that i would get credited with that sale.

Regards,

Lee