Can I process calls to my 800 toll free number w/o a merchant account?

[HungBrandon]

I have a NiteFlirt listing, while I like not have to jump thru hoops to get a merchant account. Also NF has little interaction with the IRS. :051: But the 30%+ fee irks me to no end and that's just for starters. They are masters at nickel-and-diming speakers.

I want to strike out on my own. I am a PC nerd and I have my own website and 800 toll free number. MyVirtualCard.com can process online website sells. But if I want to do some print advertising, I'll have to promote my 800 toll free number, because that's what they are more likely to use. Print ad readers don't visit websites and even when they do, you can't be sure customers will come to you only thru NF. I have no desire to add to NF's customer base on my dime.

How can I process callers to my 800 number without getting a merchant account?

Brandon

[gaybucks_chip]

If you're talking about 800 number billing as in the pay-per-minute model that the 900 numbers used to use, you will probably be better off using an existing service provider.

I am not certain about 800 number billing, but with 900 billing, last I checked, most providers had a setup fee of $1000-1500, and then a pretty exhorbitant fee (last I checked, which was years ago, it was 50 cents a minute + 15% of whatever you were billing or something like that). I suspect it's a similar deal for the 800 billing.

And then there's the problem of collection. The chargeback or non-pay rate is something like 30% or higher, and you only get paid after the biller gets paid, and that's often 90 days or longer.

[HungBrandon]

Chip,

Thanks for the info.

While what you outlined would be ideal, but putting the per minute issue aside, I'd settle for just being able to take verbal credit card orders over the phone and hand enter a fixed amount into a secure website. I can place phone orders at millions of catalog retailers anywhere in the US and Canada and place delivery orders at any local restaurants. As far as restaurants go, I can sign into my back account and practically watch them charge my debit card in realtime. Its amazing how quickly they can take my money versus how long it takes to get a refund. Do all these places have merchants accounts? As easy as MyVirtualCard, PayPal (non-adult), Epassporte, and Bidpay has made it for webmasters like myself to let my visitors place credit card orders, why hasn't that ease of use been made available to live voice orders? Am I asking too much?

I have another question. Recently I've noticed companies with voice recognition phone systems. The ones that ask for your account number. Repeat it back to you and than asks, "Is that correct?" Anyone know what that's called? What kind of topics would I google for? In the past, I have seen computer add-ons that can take voicemail or send broadcast voicemail to members. Anyone know where I can find current info on systems like that?

Brandon

[gaybucks_chip]

No-swipe purchases are common for retail products, but I think you'd have a very difficult time getting a merchant bank or IPSP to agree to allow you to manually enter adult website membership sales from phone orders. The risk would be too high, they'd have no way of tracing the transaction back via IP address.

Also, our own experience is that magazine readers and web subscrubers are, for the most part, a different audience. Mag readers buy DVDs, but don't often subscribe to websites. And to some extent, the reverse is true... web membership subscribers seem to be less likely to buy DVDs.

There are IVR systems with voice recognition (the phone systems you're speaking of), but good ones are not inexpensive, and generally require dedicated hardware. When I used to build them for commercial clients, the basic software toolkit was in the $1500-2000 range, the voice cards around $1000, and the text-to-speech and voice recognition was another $1000-1500. This not including the high-end PC needed to drive the software, or the work to program the actual application in Visual Basic or one of the other programming languages. Prices may have come down a little, but the commercial grade software that's accurate enough to use is still pretty pricey, 'cause development costs were so high and the potential buyer base is pretty small.

[HungBrandon]

Chris,

Again thanks fior the info. You have a lot of good info.

Well, I wasn't thinking of selling DVD's or website membership. I just wanted to offer phonesex. I'm good at it, but I'm not getting many calls from NiteFlirt. Either I don't know how to target my clients or NF is just saturated with too many other guys. The gay market on NF doesn't seem as heavy as it was when I first joined and I seem to be getting just One Minute Wonders.

My plan was to buy a classified ad in my local weekly Washington Blade newspaper and just keep building on those ads. Something in the $100 range, which might get me a month of ads. Then once the money starts rolling :king: in, I'd keep placing more ads before the others lapse. Once I have 6 months or a year of local ads then start with Washington Blade's sister pubs in other cities.

The big problem I see, is that print readers want toll free numbers. But if I give out NF's 800 number and the extension they assigned me, there is no guaranty that readers of my ad(s) will call me only. NF's system lets callers peruse other Flirts voice ads. So basically I could build up NF's customer base with little return on my money.

While I do have my own 800 number and I can direct the calls to me, I have yet to find anyway to bill customers cheaply and conveniently.

Thanks for the info on IVR systems. Lets just say its beyond my price range at the moment. That sounds like a long term goal.

Brandon