Letters
To
greensheet@greensheet.com:
I've been in the
bankcard industry for 10 years and am the hardest
person to please, but
you've managed to do it! Got your newsletter a
couple months ago and
hate the nasty jabs some of these bozos send you
guys. Jealousy is an
ugly thing. But am sending you an e-mail finally
due to me viewing your
Web site that has really put a couple light
bulbs in my head. Great
place to find people to connect with. . . just
super. Keep up the good
work and to hell with the naysayers.
H. Beaton
Thanks Mr.
Beaton:
I appreciate your kind
words.
Good
Selling!
Paul H.
Green
Editor-in-Chief
Dear
Paul:
Here is your chance to
prove yourself as a real defender of the ISO.
Check out this link
http://www.ccnow.com.
How do companies like
this or Internet Billing Company, DMR and
others get away with
this? I have been in this business for about seven
years now and always
believed this to be Factoring or Laundering.
Perhaps you can find out
why this is legal for them and not every
merchant.
If this is O.K., then
why is it illegal for a merchant to walk next door
and use his neighbors
terminal or, for that matter, check guarantee
service?
I know they probably
have some kind of partnership agreement in writing,
but can't retailers do
the same? This is trouble and Visa and MasterCard
should put a stop to
it.
Where are the ISOs? When
Costco was going to sell terminals everyone was
up in arms. Now on the
Internet nobody says a word. Wake up ISOs. This is
OUR business not THEIRS.
Who can we write to?
Thanks for your
help.
Rick D. Merchant Account
Solutions, Inc.
Rick:
It appears to me that
you are right. I will print your letter, and my
response, since both
Visa and MasterCardÕs legal departments
receive
The
Green
Sheet, we
will see what happens.
The business of CCNow
sure looks like factoring to me. Given the fact that
the site makes it clear
that the merchant sells their own product, and links
to
CCNow for payment, and
further, that CCNow buys from the retailer at wholesale, but charges
eight percent for credit card, sure sounds like the process which is
prohibited at retail.
If this approach is OK,
why can't a business handle all credit cards at
retail, and make the
same argument, that it isn't the retailer really
selling the goods, it is
the factor?
Good
Selling!
Paul H.
Green
Editor-in-Chief
From the CCNow
Web site:
How does CCNow
work?
CCNow will provide you
with customized snippets of HTML code to insert
into your Web pages.
This links your Web site into the shopping-cart
screens
on our secure server.
Customers navigate their way through your Web site,
selecting products for
purchase and adding them to a virtual ÒShopping
CartÓ
provided by CCNow. When
finished shopping, the customer presses the Checkout
button and enters
his/her credit card and shipping information to complete
the
sale. At this stage,
CCNow is acting as your retailer, selling products to
the
customer and
simultaneously buying the products from you at wholesale. In
return
for the wholesale
discount you give us, CCNow provides you with
shopping-cart
software, credit card
transaction processing, and our toll-free customer
service
line. After each batch
of orders is submitted and processed, we will send you
notification of the
orders. You then ship the products directly to the
customers,
and use our Client
Administration Screens to notify us of the shipment.
To
greensheet@greensheet.com:
I have been informed
that LYNK will no longer provide debit services to
Discover,
only those merchants
currently on-line will remain. I know that our office
will
give Discover a lead
only after the merchant is installed and only if there
has
been a specific request.
The reasons have already been stated. The prices they
sell equipment for
should guarantee a short-lived existence using their
current
sales plan. It seems
that this plan is going to be extremely expensive and
not
very productive as the
competition is now almost antagonistic towards
Discover,
rather than being an
incredible source for leads. I am somewhat curious as
to
who sold Discover this
plan, either he is really good or they are not real
sharp.
P.O.
Godwin
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