Do you accept checks ?

[Huskyhunks]

I stopped accepting them last week because every week one fool bounces a check but on the flip side, 3 or 4 (or more) come through with flying colors. Do members who use checks have credit cards also or do you think that's the only way they can pay. Do you accept checks at your site ?

[Dzinerbear]

Most of the refunds I get are cheque revokes.

[Squirt]

I don't accept checks.

When I did, for a few months, 60%-80% would come back and I got tired of paying the fees for their return and the "customer" having free access the whole time.

I don't know anyone who accepts checks and doesn't get a hight number of bounces. Affiliates don't like that either.

I do however accept 900# and SMS pay by the minute

[maxpower]

Ya I had a problem with people bouncing checks, I stooped taking them. It just really pissed me off that like after a week the check would come back. I think allot of people know they can take advantage of the check situation and look for sites that accept them. As I look at it now if a person dose not even have a bank card they are not worth the trouble.

[Blueyedb0y]

due to all revokes, I also stoped accepting checks

[Chilihost]

same story here, at least 60% of all cheques bounce and the fees that you get charged for a bounced cheque plus the cost of having those buggers leeching off your site for free far outweighs any benefits.

cheers,
Luke

[haganxy]

you would think that in this day of computers and information technology that the banking system would be able to authorize payments in real time. unfortunately ACH is a little behind.

[Seth]

... one fool bounces a check but on the flip side, 3 or 4 (or more) come through with flying colors....

I'd still rather have 75% of something than 100% of nothing.

Probably 25% (off the top of my head) of our check payments are returned. However, looking at our overall revenue from checks we are not yet willing to remove online checks as a payment option.

I agree with haganxy that in this day and age, it is ridiculous processors cannot verify these transactions in real time and still take several days to verify ACH funds...

[Seth]

Shit, wouldn't you just know it. I just checked our main account and two checks were just returned tonight

So that spurred me to check some recent stats. Over the last 90 days 28.5% of check payments were returned. Yes it pisses me off that those thieves gained access for free. However, that leaves 71.5% that went through and the way I see it, it's revenue we and our affiliates wouldn't have seen otherwise.

[gaybucks_chip]

I think part of the reason that there are so many bad checks is that some surfers have figured out (just as with chargebacks) that there's really no downside to writing bad checks or charging back purchases... the webmasters almost never come after them.

To change that perception, AJ and I have been considering starting a very aggressive collection operation for our own collection of bad check writers (which isn't *that* large comparitively, maybe 28-33%) and perhaps even the people that do bogus chargebacks. If we did it, and it worked, we would probably offer it as a sideline service to other webmasters.

One of the problems we've had with CCBill, who apparently uses WTS, is that they've been known to accept checks from customers like "Mickey Mouse" with obviously phony addresses. I don't know if they even check the ABA routing system to see if it's a good ABA number.

I'm told Electracash's fraud screening is much better. We'll see, as we're in the process of getting signed up for it. If that works, meaning they can verify a valid name and address, then we'll have their correct contact information, so even if the check does bounce, at least it's more likely we're dealing with a real person.

In my other (non-adult) businesses, I've typically had really good luck collecting on payables and bad checks... it's really just a game of letting people know that you're serious and will enter the records into Telecheck and their credit files... and tacking a large enough bad check fee on top of the membership fee that makes them take notice.

One thought that's occurred to me (haven't tried it) is to add a giant statement on the join-by-check page, something like "We aggressively pursue check fraud. By using a check as payment, you agree that if your check is returned for any reason, you will pay a collection fee of $50 plus the face value of the check. If we have to pursue legal action, you will be responsible for all legal fees. If the check is not made good within 10 business days of notice to you, we will report the delinquency to your credit report and to Telecheck and Chex Systems, and aggressively pursue all legal means of collection."

Of course, you don't necessarily have to join those services or do those things, but the mere thought that it *might* happen is probably enough to scare away many would-be thieves, in the same way a fake "This house protected by _______ alarm company" sticker will scare away a lot of thieves.

[maxpower]

:yeah: That sounds like a good plan to me, the bad check thing really piss me off I would love if my processing company would go after them. You can not use a bad check and get away with for anything else I don’t see why we should be the exemption.

[Lee]

We dont accept checks for access to the Condom Cash sites for the same reasons stated above, to much fraud involved with them.

Regards,

Lee

[Huskyhunks]

Two interesting things from Verotel,

"Verotel Glue
Verotel Glue will allow an end-user to renew his membership at a discounted rate at the point of cancellation by offering him/her a discount for staying on as a member. This feature will increase the average duration of a membership and thus the bottomline of most web-masters. This customer retention feature should go live within the next 2 months and we expect it will reduce your total number of cancellations and improve your profitability.

Double Check
This product has been tested extensively and is ready to go live within 2 weeks. With Double Check, the merchant can request additional information for an online check transaction (driver's license) Although this will result in lower signups from online check (direct debit) the reversals from this product will be much lower. Each merchant has different needs, and depending on those needs you can implement double check on your site or remain with the current direct debit product."


Maybe this will help in the check department. I will probably try it out.

[maxpower]

I like the Verotel Glue I think I will offer a 14.95 price do you guys think that’s too low from 24.95 to 14.95?

[gaybucks_chip]

I like the Verotel Glue I think I will offer a 14.95 price do you guys think that’s too low from 24.95 to 14.95?

This doesnt' sound like anything different from the cancel discounts that ccbill has offered for years, unless I'm missing something.


As for your specific question, I look at it this way: If the member is otherwise going to cancel, you generally need to do something compelling to get him to stay. In my book, if you can get him to stay on for $15/month, you're still making major bank, and it's a strong enough incentive that it might actually convert a decent number of cancellations.

If you're a numbers geek, you might try a week or two with it at $10 discount and a week or two at $5 or something and just see if you notice a significant difference... if not, then switch to the $5 discount.