Paysites help.. noobie

[nikozai]

I'm a professional web designer and recently teamed up with a pornographer in the area to create some sites for him and his girls. In looking into CCbill and other CC processing and payment companies i've realized its not like running an online store. These companies want big bucks to allow these sites to accept payments using Visa or Mastercard. We aren't rich yet, We don't have $500 to throw at some setup fee.

I'm planning on using "Amember" for security and user/pass automation

Does anyone know of a good company like CCbill without the outragious rates?

[Greenguy]

Some of those fees are required by the CC companies (Visa's fee is $750 if I remember correctly)

I don't think there are any processors that waive that kind of stuff & pay it out of their pockets

[DangerDave]

What GG said...

There are no legit processors that "dont" charge the visa Fee anymore...

Price of doing business

DD

[mist]

But if you'r business is based in EU, there is no free from CCBill and other EU based processors, but the catch is that you'll need to be located somewhere inside EU.

But, you could check out EuroBill I think they take on overseas webmasters, but I'll not 100% sure.

Mist

[SykkBoy]

If you're US based, you'll definitely have to cough up the $750.
I'd personally be wary of anyone not charging the fees as there were a bunch of them coming out and now they are gone.

Your processing is the MOST important part of your operation. The last thing you want is a database of a couple thousand members that you suddenly can't bill.

Fancy design? Great content? means NOTHING without good processing.

[Horny Dude]

Paycom runs a special every now and then that will waive the fees for you! We signed up with them a few months back on that same deal and are using them with no problems!

[JohnH]

Originally posted by Horny Dude
Paycom runs a special every now and then that will waive the fees for you! We signed up with them a few months back on that same deal and are using them with no problems!

yeah, i hear the same thing about PC, and their occasional special

[[BV]]

Sometimes they will take the 750 Visa fees out over time. If your going to start with only one processor your going to want to use CCBIll because they have the best setup for you to run an affiliate program. When or if you get a little larger you will probably want to add a second processor and use your own affiliate software. Each processor requires you to pay the fees. 2 processors = 1500 :-)

BTW I would choose Paycom as your second processor. With 2 you can start putting your eggs in more than one basket and take advantage of such things as tiered billing.

[Wizzo]

I'm just going to suggest that if you can't afford $750, you likely aren't ready to jump into the paysite game... |rasta|

[cyberdream]

The $750 is little capital compared to what you can make if you have a good product. Your billing company is very important. Go with a trusted name. CCBill and Ibill have both been around for a while now. I can remember in the late 90's a big and trusted billing company went under and left a lot of people standiing in the wind...

[[BV]]

I would stay as far away from IBill as you can. They are having BIG problems paying out from what I have been reading.

[LB]

I always get nervous when people fairly new to the biz with little capital behind them want to start a paysite.

Hell, I just sank another $10k worth of content into my paysites last week, and they aren't even big paysites by any stretch of the imagination.

If you don't have $500 to sink into processing, then do you have a programmer to navigate the maze that is Epoch(paycom), or a few $k for a decent frontend?

When talking paysites, $500 isn't big bucks.

[Mishi]

If you can't afford $500 (I thought it was $750), you're not ready to start a pay site. No shame in that.

Ten years ago, folks who wanted to open a store, but couldn't afford it, found a way to cough up the bucks for a stall at a flea market ($25 - $250 or more, depending on location.) If they couldn't manage that, they'd have garage sales (free!) Now they do Ebay. If they make enough to justify it, they eventually open that brick-and-mortar biz they've always dreamed of.

If you want to start a pay site, start by learning how to build and drive traffic via TGPs and/or free sites...etc. You can still do this for free, though you're much better off spending a few bucks. Once you figure out what you're doing, it shouldn't take you long to be able to afford the VISA fees. If you can't get to that point, you're not ready to start a pay site.

[magicmike]

Originally posted by Wizzo
I'm just going to suggest that if you can't afford $750, you likely aren't ready to jump into the paysite game... |rasta|

Isn't this the truth!

[[BV]]

There is nothing wrong with starting out slow and I can see where you are coming from with having to pay out 750 bucks before you even make your first dollar.

Look at it this way,

You are a professional web designer and you are teamed up with a pornographer. The money you save there you can throw it towards the Visa fees.

BTW: the 750 is for the Visa fees, rest is N/C

You can get set up for free at CCBill and accept everything but Visa cards. You'll miss some sales, but it would be better than nothing.

Any new site runs like this for a few days to a week anyways. Once CCBill approves you, your signup form will go live and ready to process. It usually takes Visa 3-7 days additional to do their thing and then you get another email after their approval and then the Visa logo will magically appear on the form.

I wouldn't recommend accepting affiliate traffic until you have Visa though.

Oh I'd like to add that back a couple years ago the 750 dollars was a big topic on the boards and almost everyone bitched about it even though they could easily afford it. Nobody really liked it but personally I think it has really helped with the quality and legitimacy of sites you see nowadays versus pre visa regs.

[raul]

This is how I'm approaching the pay site thing, tell me what you think. I'm using Adults Alllowed for a site with my own content. They host it, handle the credit cards and give me half of the sign up. When I have a decent member base I'll switch to something like CCbill. I figure by that point I'll have some good traffic. I host my galleries so the domain won't change.

I've been doing it for 6 months and I started to get checks after the first month, not a lot but a few hundred a month.

Do you guys think this is a good approach or should I be doing something else?

Raul

[[BV]]

Originally posted by raul
This is how I'm approaching the pay site thing, tell me what you think. I'm using Adults Alllowed for a site with my own content. They host it, handle the credit cards and give me half of the sign up. When I have a decent member base I'll switch to something like CCbill. I figure by that point I'll have some good traffic. I host my galleries so the domain won't change.

I've been doing it for 6 months and I started to get checks after the first month, not a lot but a few hundred a month.

Do you guys think this is a good approach or should I be doing something else?

Raul

I think an AVS is a good solution to get recurring income if your own members area is new and small thus can not retain well on it's own.

Once you get a decent size members area and can afford to purchase allot of good plugins and filler content, and frequent updates then moving on to CCBill would be a good idea if you want to be more in control of things and have a decent affiliate program.

Oh, and when you say "I'll switch when I have a decent members base"

I don't think you'll be able to transfer your members from Adults Allowed to CCBill if that's what you mean. I could be misunderstanding you though.

Cheers,
BV

[raul]

Yes, you're right, I won't be able to switch over the current members but, I will have started the ball rolling and I can cross promote. I find it's very "hit or miss" to get galleries listed. I mean a gallery will be accepted on the hun or worldsex but rejected by 10 other TGP's. This way when I switch (start a new site really) I've already got something else going.

Raul

[T Pat]

Raul I use Verotel I raised my fee to join after 6 months or so
I just setup a different payplan and left the active members at the origonal price
I've got a handfull of die hards that have been with me for over a year

[Special "Ed"]

When you use Paycom as your billing processor, they charge you the $750 CC fee at the end of the first year, not at the beginning.

[LindaMight]

Amen to staying away from iBill. I had about 100 members left with them after I switched over to CCbill a few years ago. I kept the old members on because it was easier and their fee was lower and it was good for them as a loyalty kind of thing. Well, so much for loyalty....iBill has not paid me for the past 5 months...nothing, squat. So I ended up cancelling all of my old customers. When one of my customers questioned why I had to do this, I informed them that I was not getting paid. He called iBill and they told him they were have not problems whatsoever and that everyone was getting paid. Needless to say, he thinks I AM THE LIAR! I've learned that a larger company has bought out iBill or vice-versa and that their problems might soon be over...but I wouldn't deal with them again if they were the last cc processor in the wild wild west of the internet!

Just my two cents. Good luck with your search but I would pay the $750 and chalk it up to "cost of doing biz".

Linda

[ecchi]

As a sort of interim thing, try someone like Adult Verifier. It is AVS so you don't pay anything, but if your site is big enough you can set up a affiliate program.

Do note two important points that were said before:

If you do not have a few grand to spare, do not set up a paysite. I tried that when I first started (and this was about ten years ago when it was easier than it is today). Believe my, you got to have plenty of cash to carry and publicise your site for months. If you haven't, you are wasting your time and money.

2. Avoid Ibill like the plague, they refuse too many cards and are deliberately unhelpful to your prospective customers if they contact them. Most of your customers will assume it is you who are being unhelpful and go elsewhere, probably badmouthing you to their friends as they go.

[cyberdream]

can you give us a sneak peak at what you are working on. Maybe we can give you better advice if we know a little about what you are doing.

[raul]

TijuanaPat- I checked into Verotel and it looks good. I think my site isn't big enough yet though to retain members on it's own. With the Adults Allowed deal they get a couple of hundred other sites to check out which helps the rebills. I've only been around for 6 months, so I've got some time to put in yet.

Thanks, Raul

[DMc]

Hey nikozai,

Verotel has a special program designed for starting out webmasters; it's called TicketsClub - With TicketsClub there are No Setup Fees, No Yearly Fees, No Visa registrations and No Monthly Minimums. We deduct a small percentage of the transaction price as our fee!

Once your site is generating at least $1,000 per week or more, you can upgrade to Verotel PRO which requires the Visa/MC registration fee.

Either click my link below or e-mail me for more information.