If You Use MPA - You Cant Use SegPay To Process

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12-28-2007, 11:35 PM
Lee

If You Use MPA - You Cant Use SegPay To Process

LOS ANGELES - Mansion Productions, which provides a suite of software products for affiliate programs, informed clients Friday that effective Feb. 1, 2008, it will terminate its relationship with SegPay, a credit card and check processing company.
Oystein Wright, CEO of Mansion Productions, said several reasons led to the decision.

"Due to the recent events surrounding the new equity stake owners of SegPay, Too Much Media; the possible connection between them and the now defunct iBill and the fact that support issues that might arise in the future will be handled by our competitor, NATS, we feel that Mansion Productions is best off not doing direct business with SegPay," Wright commented in a notice sent Friday to Mansion clients.

Mansion Productions developed and owns MPA3, an affiliate program software that manages accounts for webmasters, Wright said. The product is similar to NATS, or Next-Generation Admin Tracking System, which is developed and owned by Too Much Media. Because of the similarity of the products and TMM's ownership of SegPay, Wright told AVN Online, it presented a conflict of interest for Mansion.

We are taking this step that we believe is in the best interest to our MPA3 customers," he said in the company statement.

Wright said in an effort to make the transition easier for Mansion clients using SegPay, the company will not end its business relationship until Feb. 1. Mansion will also cover and Visa registration fees incurred by clients when switching to another processor," he said.

"We don't want [our clients] to have financial burden from this," he told AVN Online.

http://www.avn.com/index.cfm?objecti...3B15CD0AC74DFB

I must say, this is actually a VERY smart move on Mansion Productions part, not only would SegPay have had to handle some support issues for MPA customers, they would have been privvy to additional data about their competitors.

This actually reminds me of Epochs old rule about not allowing their customers to also use iBill when it was still around.

Regards,

Lee
12-29-2007, 12:18 AM
Squirt

Oystein kicks ass and is a pleasure to work with.

I agree, this is a smart move on their part. The situation with Segpay and TMM coupled with "recent" events have been red flags in the eyes of many long time industry professionals :thumbsup:
12-29-2007, 10:04 AM
Chilihost

I think this is rather stupid of Mansion, they are now putting themselves in a direct conflict of interest.

For fuck sakes, affiliate software makers, its not your choice who I chose to bill through. The whole point behind purchasing / leasing affiliate software is so that I get the choice of who to use as my cascades.

This is exactly what I feared would happen with NATS / TMM, I did not think that Mansion would jump the gun and be the one to do this.
12-29-2007, 10:34 AM
Squirt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chilihost

affiliate software makers, its not your choice who I chose to bill through.

Right but you choose what software you use and who you bill through.

As a company Mansion Productions shouldn't be, and isn't, forced to work with companies that have a conflict of interest or are possibly up to no good.

If you feel NATS is a great product and Segpay is stable then that's your business decision to make, nobody makes it for you. Although, if word continues to spread in mainstream your surfers will decide what affiliate software you use ;)
12-29-2007, 10:47 AM
Dzinerbear

I don't believe it has so much to do with the competitive aspect as it does with TMM's recent security breach. If TMM had a security breach, I'd be asking how secure Segpay is. And I think it makes perfect sense for companies to batten down the hatches and get as far away from TMM as possible. If the shit really hits the fan, you don't want to get any on you.

Michael
12-29-2007, 11:33 AM
Chilihost

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squirt

Right but you choose what software you use and who you bill through.

As a company Mansion Productions shouldn't be, and isn't, forced to work with companies that have a conflict of interest or are possibly up to no good.

Sure you have the right to chose, but switching affiliate programs is not an easy task, it takes months and loads of work on both the program owners and its affiliates. I think Mansion is jumping the gun and starting down a slippery slope, they ban SegPay because NATS is direct competition, does this mean they will also ban CCBill because their new cascading program is also direct competition? How about forcing Epoch as a primary because they are partners? They are a software company, they do not have the right to dictate to their clients who they can and cannot use as billers.

By the way, I am in no way arguing for or against NATS or SegPay in this, I am just looking at this decision from a broader perspective.
12-29-2007, 11:55 AM
Lee

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chilihost

How about forcing Epoch as a primary because they are partners? They are a software company, they do not have the right to dictate to their clients who they can and cannot use as billers.

You mean in the same way that TMM alluded to when they said they would offer better service to SegPay clients that used NATs a week or two back?

Again, this is just Mansion protecting their, and their clients interests.

It would be akin to Mark asking me to handle any support issues over at GMS for him, it just doesnt make sense.

Regards,

Lee
12-29-2007, 12:11 PM
Chilihost

again, I was not arguing for or against nats/segpay here, but yes, its exactly like them. So what reasonably priced, reputable affiliate software does that leave us with?
12-29-2007, 12:20 PM
Squirt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chilihost

Sure you have the right to chose, but switching affiliate programs is not an easy task, it takes months and loads of work on both the program owners and its affiliates. I think Mansion is jumping the gun and starting down a slippery slope, they ban SegPay because NATS is direct competition, does this mean they will also ban CCBill because their new cascading program is also direct competition? How about forcing Epoch as a primary because they are partners? They are a software company, they do not have the right to dictate to their clients who they can and cannot use as billers.

By the way, I am in no way arguing for or against NATS or SegPay in this, I am just looking at this decision from a broader perspective.

It's affiliate software. All software has limitations and this is a limitation of Mansions software.

Clients dictate what software they use. Clients dictate what processor they use. Mansion dictates who they'll work with.

That being said it does suck that this is such an inconvenience for everyone effected but it's obvious that TMM brought this on themselves with the way they've handled issues over the last year or so.
12-29-2007, 12:25 PM
Squirt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee

You mean in the same way that TMM alluded to when they said they would offer better service to SegPay clients that used NATs a week or two back?

Exactly, other things TMM has alluded to, and done, has caused many people to think twice about their credibility, setting aside the connections posted between Segpay and Ibill.

I am a bit biased as I've done business with Oystein in the past and their operation was absolutely stand up. Meanwhile seeing the way TMM has dealt with clients and business issues both online, and offline, I'd be concerned.

With Oysteins connections and knowledge I can't help but consider the fact that Mansion is probably aware of issues that we aren't, or wont post about publicly.