Since it’s Halloween time, how ’bout a horror story?
Recently, I was talking to Doberman Dan about merchant accounts. Dan has been selling health supplements for over a decade, has an impeccable “money trail” record to look at as being ethical and transparent. And basically runs a business as honest as the day is long.
But, that didn’t stop ’em from shutting him down!
Talk about a horror story…
Imagine having your business running like normal, then one day waking up to dozens (maybe hundreds) of “declined” orders.
With no warning.
And no “heads up” whatsoever.
Someone at the bank decides your business is suddenly “high risk” (even though you have zero charge backs or complaints on file) and your business is effectively shut down… in the blink of a bureaucrat’s eye.
Yikes.
That’s scary.
(Don’t worry about Dan though, he’s a smart cookie, and in the next Email Players issue I’m including a bonus audio CD showing how he escaped that situation, and how you can, too.)
Anyway, where was I?
Oh, yeah, now, you may be thinking:
“But Ben! I don’t sell supplements. I sell an eBook — information — with nothing controversial about it…”
You think that makes you safe?
Forget regular merchant accounts for a second.
Even 3rd party payment processors that have been selling info products for years are following suit.
Take yours truly, for example.
I’m gearing up to promote a high ticket product with affiliates.
It’s a physical product.
And I don’t want to mess with paying affiliates myself.
So I thought I’d use 2Checkout.
They been around a while and are reputable.
Plus, I have even been an affiliate for info publishers who have used them to sell products very similar in content and price as my product.
But Saturday, I get an email that says:
(And I quote…)
“Unfortunately, we can no longer support sales from any website that would be classified as a direct marketing website by Visa and MasterCard regulations. This is a policy that has been passed down to us from our merchant provider.”
Application denied!
(Notice, their merchant account made the decision, not them.)
Again, you may be thinking:
“Yeah, but I use clickbank and paypal…”
So?
Who’s to say clickbank won’t do this?
Or even PayPal?
What makes you SO sure they won’t decide to ban selling products from “direct marketing” sites?
Fortunately, there IS a solution to this.
A very simple one, too.
And it is explained (in minute detail — I left no stone unturned) in the bonus audio CD that comes with the November “Email Players” newsletter issue.
It goes to the printer next week.
To get in on time, go to:
Ben Settle
