Adult Payment Systems - by Dalip Mahal, PayCash.us (January 2005)
In the previous two issues we investigated the reasons why the credit industry is withdrawing its support from the adult industry. We then explored: 1) historical and current attempts to fix the defects of the credit card industry and 2) historical and current digital cash alternatives. This month we focus on the parties to a transaction for the purchase of adult related materials...

The Future of Online Payments - Part 2 - by Dalip Mahal, PayCash.us (December 2004)
Predicting that the days are numbered for credit card use in the adult space, coupled with the growing reluctance of consumers to use credit cards in general due to rising identity theft cases, let me discuss the processing alternatives so that you may consider how to prepare to keep your online enterprise viable, regardless of what the future holds...

The Future of Online Payments - Part 1 - by Dalip Mahal, PayCash.us (November 2004)
The love affair between the credit card and the Adult Industry is clearly coming to an end. The ease of access for credit in the US coupled with the ability to supply instantaneous gratification was a winning combination - but as they say everything has advantages and disadvantages. Banks are withdrawing credit card services from the adult industry because they can no longer make reasonable profits in this industry...

Why Centralized Payment Works - by Brian, TotemCash.com (January 2004)
Regrouping your different billing services into one place and controlling how you pay your webmasters is an essential move to running a better program. Centralizing your pay system in this way enables you to simplify everything around the program from account management to stats, ad tools and forecasts, and can only lead to a more efficient, dynamic and profitable cash program...

Optimal Billing Options - Breaking Down the Visa Situation - by Cyndalie (Dec 2003)
It was only 3 years ago when payment options began dwindling for adult businesses online. America Express pulled out, Visa and MasterCard put a clamp on "factoring" and began to more tightly regulate and restrict third party billing companies. Now adult site owners are experiencing exclusion from services provided by mainstream companies such as Paypal, more and more banks are stepping away from customers associated with adult related business...

Short Message Service Long on Possibilities
SMS (Short Message Service) is a feature for digital cell phones. The short messages (generally 160 characters, although that limitation is being overcome by some emerging technologies) can originate from another phone or from a Web site; person-to-person or broadcast; outbound, inbound, or two-way. SMS has taken off like gangbusters in Europe. According to a recent study by research firm A.T. Kearney, SMS messaging has now achieved nearly 80 percent usage rates in some European countries. However, only five percent of mobile phone users in the US used SMS...

Visa Futures: Ready or Not! - by Kath Blackwell
With the memory of the early days fading into memory, Adult Online Entertainment is now maturing as an Industry. Having taken its stride through it's own version of puberty - we now see it beginning to grow up, and adulthood is bringing grown up considerations, just as in the mainstream corporate world - translation, regulation. As with our own adolescent years, sometimes it's just time to grow up - whether you're ready or not...

Third-Party Processing - Will Credit Give Way to Debit?
The vast majority of online shoppers currently use credit cards to pay for products and services. It's an established, familiar system with a ubiquitously huge installed base that migrated to the online world pretty easily-naturally, even-and there's no doubt that plastic is king of the e-commerce hill - But not necessarily by choice...

Account for Every Dollar - by Cyndalie
Often, it may seem as if there is a different type of merchant account option for every type of online transaction. It is virtually impossible to do business online, if you do not accept credit cards. Credit and debit cards are the most popular forms of payment in the U.S., comprising 70% or more of all Internet transactions. Every online merchant at some point is faced with the decision of selecting a transaction processing company...

MasterCard's New Policies - by Kath Blackwell
The e-commerce community was turned upside down, after an announcement made by MasterCard with regard to its policies on third-party transaction processing. The statement said that effective May 1st, MasterCard would be clarifying its rules to prohibit members from submitting or accepting a transaction that had been submitted to the member directly or indirectly from a commercial entity that does not have a valid merchant agreement with the member...

A Payment Solution That Really Works - by Maura
Whether it's charge backs, stolen credit cards or merchants unwilling to process credit cards being used at adult sites, the point is, processing has never been an easy task where the adult business is concerned. Not to say that other businesses online have not had problems but those problems seem to be particularly prevalent in the online adult industry...

Blows Against the Empire: WebSiteBilling vs. VISA - by Ed Rampell
Until now: with its precedent-setting lawsuit against Visa, WebsiteBilling.com is leading the charge-back of e-biz's light brigade. Richard Kwiat, the President of WebsiteBilling.com, not only had the moxie to sue the credit card behemoth about the cybersex industry's biggest bugaboo, but was the only individual associated with this case who stepped up to the plate when asked for an in-depth interview with Klixxx...