So I’ve been thinking of starting a member’s area on my site. Given the nature of my site it would be amateur videos - either with me or shot by me… So a few questions mostly centered around picking a credit card processor…
For starters I’d be wanting a credit card processor with an affiliate program. So we’re probably looking at the majors - CCBill, Epoch, Verotel and DHD. I’m not a big fan of CCBill - I don’t really like where they’re headed with WMS, and not a big fan of their customer support (Paul being the exception), etc. So that leaves me with the other three.
A big plus would be one that gives me flexibility in the future - if I want to do Download To Own, or a cam show, or even a DVD. CCBill’s WMS is supposed to address this, but it sorta sucks. From what I’ve seen/heard DHD is probably the best pick for flexibility.
I also want to approve affiliates. I don’t really want a situation where anyone can sign up as an affiliate. (I want affiliates with certain types of traffic.) The other day I saw a post on Shoe Money about scrubbing vs. shaving - it was interesting 'cause we don’t really think in terms of scubbing in adult (e.g. a dating site saying they’ll only pay commissions on signups of females between 18 and 24), but in a broad sense that’s what I’d be trying to accomplish in that I would want affiliates that have different types of traffic than I do. There’s no point in me having bareback bloggers as affiliates since people who visit their sites probably already visit my site.
I’d also like a processor who gives me the data so I can differentiate between people at different membership levels. I’m thinking of giving more to people who buy longer memberships or have been members for longer periods of time. For example - just streaming for monthly members, but downloads and/or special videos for 3 and 6 month members.
It would also be nice if they were OK with me having a javascript alert for age protection rather than an enter/exit warning page (they work better anyway).
And do some programs cap the affiliate commission at 50%? I think I heard 50% is the max in Verotel. I’ve been wondering whether it would be smarter to do something like 40% on initial signups and 60% on rebills to encourage people with quality traffic.
Oh yeah - low fees would be a big plus as well. I think I heard people say Verotel has the lowest fees (?)
So those of you with some experience - if you were in my position who would you choose?
Anoher question - do any of the 4 majors require you to have a merchant account? I see DHD mentions “if you have a merchant account” but then doesn’t have a section addressing people who don’t have a merchant account.
Jorge - In terms of Verotel and flexibility - they only process memberships, not DTO or DVDs, right? And yes, Verotel sucks for affiliates.
Why not run nats or mpa3 or another affiliate software program? That will give you everything you want, and it will be nearly irrelevant who you chose as your IPSP as you will almost never use their stats / interface.
I guess I could. But it sounds like a layer of complexity I’m not really eager to support.
I just had a call with Roger from My Gay Cash. I’ve got a really tight relationship with them and it sounds like they could work out something for me. (They have their own custom affiliate software.) So there are a number of options.
[QUOTE=rawTOP;57413]Anoher question - do any of the 4 majors require you to have a merchant account? I see DHD mentions “if you have a merchant account” but then doesn’t have a section addressing people who don’t have a merchant account.
Jorge - In terms of Verotel and flexibility - they only process memberships, not DTO or DVDs, right? And yes, Verotel sucks for affiliates.[/QUOTE]
Verotel does not require a merchant account, and I’m 100% sure because I don’t have one.
I don’t know if they allow you to sell dvds and I don’t know what’s dto.
CCBill is an awesome option, they have an affiliate program and can cascade to many other processors and your affiliates get paid and paid out by CCbill on the sales to the cascaded sales.
I would highly recommend speaking to a CCBill representative
I would recommend contacting Sean ICQ 84769138 he has been an account rep there for many years and really knows his stuff!
I actually think it takes away a huge amount of complexity, as you have a single interface for checking stats, managing and approving affiliates, creating your own join pages, setting variable commision rates, etc. Plus it allows you to use your merchant account and/or any ipsp plus loads more biller options like phone billing, sms billing, etc…on their own or in a cascade. And swapping your primary is simply 1-click away. ‘’