5+ Year 2Checkout.com Account CLOSED!!

13 years ago

Yep, I have heard of people having problems with 2checkout before, although not so often.

Just goes to show paypal is not the only one you may have problems with if you do anything even remotely related to IM niche.

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goldliger

13 years ago

Yeah, zero explanation from them and monthly income down the tubes.

Not good.

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Rankomatic

13 years ago

The exact sam thing happened to my buddy in Canada last week. His account was only 2 years old tho. He was basically just selling his own wp plugin and like yours was completely free of spammy looking content.

Who knows what they are up to.

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drmani

13 years ago

Well, they gave me ten full days' notice - which, if I'd been heavily
using 2CO, wouldn't have been even half-way adequate to find and set
up alternatives!

Here are the 2 emails they sent:

Thank you for selecting 2Checkout as your payment
processor. Unfortunately, due to increased regulations recently placed on us,
we will no longer be able to support your account. 2Checkout will continue
processing payments for you through September 30, 2011, at which time your
account must be closed.

We are truly sorry for any inconvenience this
causes you and would like to assist you in finding a new home for your payment
processing needs. Based on your account requirements, we suggest you contact
Total-Apps. Total-Apps is a payment processor that focuses on sellers with
products and services similar to yours.

This was followed up 15 days later with:

Hello. This is a follow up message regarding the closure of this account. This account is now closed. We have appreciated your business, and we are sorry again that we are no longer able to provide service to you. Any remaining funds in your account will be paid to you in the next 90 days depending on the activity on the account, and the presence of a balance. If the banking details in your account are outdated or incorrect, please let us know so that we can assist you in receiving your payment. The account has been closed with read-only access, so you will still be able to review your sales and account information by logging in as usual. We wish you the best of luck in your business endeavors, and we hope you have found a suitable solution for your company's needs. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact risk@2co.com.

Well, that's that!

Onwards...

All success
Dr.Mani

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GWSheila277

13 years ago

Just be glad you're not losing recurring commissions. (hope your not btw)

Have you considered using Alert Pay?

It seems that a lot of the new up and coming online vendors are using them..

Has anyone heard of Alert Pay canning peoples accounts? I know paypal, 2CO etc are risky but haven't heard much in regards to AP.

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LogoNerds

13 years ago

I recommend talking to FastSpring - E-Commerce, Merchandising & Fulfillment Solution for Desktop Software and SaaS to see if they will accept what you are selling. I believe they support recurring subscriptions now.

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13 years ago

Same! My account closed too.

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davejug1

13 years ago

The problem I believe with 2Co is that they incorporate Paypal into their payment system and as such, are pretty much bound by PP t&c

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GWSheila277 13 years ago

Originally Posted by davejug1

The problem I believe with 2Co is that they incorporate Paypal into their payment system and as such, are pretty much bound by PP t&c

Ya that may be part of it...

It seems to me that everything to do with internet marketing/advertising is still in a constant state of flux. Meaning, the rules and regulations are changing all the time with ALL parties involved (recent ftc ruling, Adwords closing accounts, credit card companies - payment processors etc...

Adwords has stopped pretty much all affiliate advertising recently and you have this recent ftc ruling that has affected how credit card companies are proceeding (this passes on to processors like clickbank, paypal, 2CO etc)

My suggestion to current and future internet marketers is to diversify as much as possible (hosting companies, payment processors, advertising methods etc) and do not assume for a second that any of your practices are safe and secure, even if things have been running smooth for 5 years even.
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GWSheila277

13 years ago

There is another recent thread with someone going through the same issue as you goldliger... created 9-25-2011 if you search

There is some really good info there with suggestions of other payment processors.

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Mary Wilhite

13 years ago

Awww Goldliger, were you able to immediately
convert the payment processor?

When things like these comes up what I usually
do is to talk to the people in charge.

As much as I can, I call them up and have them
explain and if possible provide something that
can help me while I transition.

This is your livelihood that's on the line.

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Dann Vicker

13 years ago

It seems the IM payment processing industry is taking a big time hit from the major players. Guess that's a fallout from all the 5-click softwares to millions. Quite sad that the OP's thriving income just fizzled out because of that.

It's probably high-time we started looking at other options like Alertpay. Well, that is until they also decide to join the train.

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tpw 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Dann Vicker

It's probably high-time we started looking at other options like Alertpay. Well, that is until they also decide to join the train.

If the issue is related to American Law, I doubt if Alert Pay will jump too high to respond to these changes...

If however, these changes are more closely related to Merchant Account processing rules, Alert Pay may be equally impacted by the current changes.
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goldliger

13 years ago

I tried calling 2checkout.com (several times) today and they're not answering phones... I left a voicemail and no call back after several hours.

I'm wondering if they're shutting down operations altogether at this point.

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mosthost

13 years ago

Pretty shoddy treatment for someone who was a great customer!

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Josh Anderson

13 years ago

If you are located in the US you should consider using a different payment processor anyway...

2checkout is a really expensive option... their fees are twice as much as PayPal and a merchant account will not only cost you less in fees it will provide you more power and flexibility.

There are plenty of merchant providers who will be happy to have your business.

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Shannon Herod

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

If you are located in the US you should consider using a different payment processor anyway...

2checkout is a really expensive option... their fees are twice as much as PayPal and a merchant account will not only cost you less in fees it will provide you more power and flexibility.

There are plenty of merchant providers who will be happy to have your business.

What Josh said... I have a merch account and a paypal account. I try to direct most of my revenue through the merch account.

Plus you can do a bunch of cool things with a merchant account. Like one-click upsells.

Shannon

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Daniel Evans 13 years ago

I liked 2CO but they clamped down on IM products with "hard sell" claims.

I received an email telling me that one of my products was no longer supported so I made to a backup payment provider.

The only annoyance I had with them (besides the above obviously) was the unnecessary fraud measure emails I'd get for each transaction. I had to route them to the trash. Fees are a tad high, but I wasn't too concerned.
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- tpw 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by webcore
  
  I liked 2CO but they clamped down on IM products with "hard sell" claims.
  
  I received an email telling me that one of my products was no longer supported.
  
  I'd be interested in knowing a bit more detail about where the new "line in the sand" is located...
  
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  Michele Miller 13 years ago
  
  I'm sorry to hear that. I have one account with them that I've had for about eight years, but when I wanted to open another account with them a couple of years ago they asked me to send them my physical products to be approved. Since we were talking educational books I was very surprised, so I just went with another processor instead.
  
  I think you've been treated very badly and I'd be pissed off if I was you.
  
  Time to change and be charged less fees as well I guess.
  
  Sorry I can't help, but it sucks to think you give a company that much business like you have and they just shut the doors without a second thought. Pretty darn rude and inconsiderate on their part. Their loss!
  
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EdmundLoh

13 years ago

Same thing happened to me. Got the same emails on the closures since yesterday. But it was a blessing in disguise that most of my recurring billings are on my paypal account and as of lately most of my sales were transacted outside 2CO by coincidence.

I was fortunate not to have that much money transacted through 2CO when this happened although it's a shame.

I've learned many years ago never to put all my eggs in one basket in situations like this and sure enough the surprise did arise. (Sure is! I've been with 2CO since 2005, the day I started IM, and I've rarely had problems with them)

It's just time to move on.

Edmund

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goldliger

13 years ago

Yeah I'm in total agreement on diversifying payment processors... I've got a couple merchant accounts, 5 Clickbank accounts, a Paypal account ... also had an iBill account, PaySystems account, and of course, the 2checkout.com account...

So yeah, just wanting to give others a heads up about them, and also see if anybody's heard anything further about *what* sites they're shutting down. Their letter was completely generic, ie., "We don't service your type of website anymore."

I'm thinking, "Oh okey dokers! You don't service my site anymore after 5 years of a great record and no explanation beyond that? Well toodalu and best wishes! I didn't need that recurring income anyhow! Yippee skippy, carry along and good tidings to you all!"

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tpw

13 years ago

To be sure, I am surprised that they did not give people the option/choice to change business models to something that was suitable, within the new rules they must live by.

I remember when I first got set up with them, and I had to go back and forth with them several times before my pay buttons matched their guidelines for a legal button.

Given the trouble they went through to make me compliant, I am very surprised that they did not give people the option to come within compliance, before dropping the hammer.

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goldliger

13 years ago

Originally Posted by tpw

To be sure, I am surprised that they did not give people the option/choice to change business models to something that was suitable, within the new rules they must live by.

I remember when I first got set up with them, and I had to go back and forth with them several times before my pay buttons matched their guidelines for a legal button.

Given the trouble they went through to make me compliant, I am very surprised that they did not give people the option to come with compliance, before dropping the hammer.

I agree Bill... Why (in the world) would they shut my entire account down? Why not just stop payments on the site in question. That would have been easy enough - I could have even cancelled recurring payments from my end if given no other choice. But no, they closed the account entirely. After having processed $500,000+ with them, they've made plenty off me in fees - you'd think they could treat their long time customers better. Just sayin'.

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EdmundLoh

13 years ago

It's really high time for many of us to find other alternatives.

Has anyone used Alert Pay and Plimus?

Edmund

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kindsvater

13 years ago

Bryan, there was another thread a few months regarding Plimus doing the same thing that had useful information.

There were more threads regarding PayPal telling some Warriors their payment processing for IM may not be happening in the future.

Alert Pay has been crippled by the banks. How many TOS changes has ClickBank made this year?

In a nut, the US government is coming down on the banks, who are coming down on the payment processors, to effectively eliminate processing for making money online offers.

There is simply too much fraud.

There is no barrier to entry, it is all digital without mailings to physical addresses, there is no storefront to deal with a seller in person, there is an inability to police a growing stream of bogus claims and sites that steal people's money.

It has nothing to do with you, how much money you have made 2Checkout, whether you have had zero complaints, etc.

The powers that be are tired of playing whack-a-mole with fraudsters. It is easier to choke off the entire category.

IM/MMO is being slowly pushed to the backwaters of the net where porn and gambling reside.

.

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HeySal

13 years ago

Originally Posted by kindsvater

Bryan, there was another thread a few months regarding Plimus doing the same thing that had useful information.

There were more threads regarding PayPal telling some Warriors their payment processing for IM may not be happening in the future.

Alert Pay has been crippled by the banks. How many TOS changes has ClickBank made this year?

In a nut, the US government is coming down on the banks, who are coming down on the payment processors, to effectively eliminate processing for making money online offers.

There is simply too much fraud.

There is no barrier to entry, it is all digital without mailings to physical addresses, there is no storefront to deal with a seller in person, there is an inability to police a growing stream of bogus claims and sites that steal people's money.

It has nothing to do with you, how much money you have made 2Checkout, whether you have had zero complaints, etc.

The powers that be are tired of playing whack-a-mole with fraudsters. It is easier to choke off the entire category.

IM/MMO is being slowly pushed to the backwaters of the net where porn and gambling reside.

.

Funny, isn't it? The amount of fraud committed by the banking industry - and the feds had them dead to rights -- and they got paid some huge bucks out of OUR pockets for committing the fraud. Yet IMers are getting shut down whether they committed fraud or not.

This isn't a war against fraud - it's a power grab aimed at shackling entrepreneurs. If this goes on much further, you will have to buy into credit card processing to be able to have any online payment abilities.

I'm looking at possibilities that products will need to be produced physically - on DVD or hard copy (books) before too long. Of course, at that point the whole tax situation will change...um...read the bolded part again. Get it? They are after bucks, not cleaning up fraud.

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Patrick Pretty 13 years ago

Originally Posted by HeySal

This isn't a war against fraud - it's a power grab aimed at shackling entrepreneurs . . .

Hello HeySal,

I respectfully disagree; it is a war against fraud -- the sort of fraud that is unprecedented in the whole of human history. And it is not a power grab aimed at entrepreneurs.

These matters do not involve millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars or even hundreds of millions of dollars. The figure is in the billions and billions of dollars, and much of the money disappears down ratholes or is otherwise converted illegally. A disturbing amount of the fraud is aimed at legitimate merchants, entrepreneurs, people of faith and other affinity groups.

It is a sad reality -- and very much a real one. I'm covering stories these days in which one or more of these elements is present:

* Thefts by the tens of millions at a time.
* Victim pools that include hundreds of thousands of people -- often with geographic separation from one corner of the world to another.
* The formation of several -- if not dozens -- of shell companies. These often are linked to offshore venues, particularly nations that turn a blind eye to money-laundering because it is good for local profits or nations that simply have no apparatus in place to detect fraud and/or aggressively investigate it.
* Cross-border theft, which slows down investigations because governments do not always work well and play well together.
* A colossal number of chargebacks that add to the costs of banks, payment processors, businesses and consumers.
* Bank failures caused by fraud. (As you point out, sometimes the fraud is an inside job -- and I'd urge you not to lose hope that something is being done about it. The budgetary and logistical challenges of reverse-engineering a fraud scheme are enormous. Sometimes the cases are years in the making.
* The mushrooming on the Internet of what I call "fraud creep." Fraud schemes go viral. They are not always easy to detect because the scammers use SEO tricks either to bury "negative" search results or to sanitize the negative results.
* Recidivist felons starting new scams after their release from prison and using the proceeds of the new scams to pay restitution to victims of the first fraud.
* Apologists and shills sanitizing fraud schemes and creating distortion fields and unbelievable thickets to confuse customers and law enforcement.

Governments of the world now recognize the enormous security implications to all of this: economic as well as national security. Responding to it can be a sticky wicket because of the form-shifting nature of the frauds. It's my belief that some of the early prosecutions have been almost ceremonial as law enforcement considered the enormity of the problem, pondered options and perhaps miscalculated the level of pain it was going to take to bring down the scammers. But I believe that law enforcement learned from its early experiences in these areas and is in the process of going way beyond the ceremonial. The value of one's living quarters and one's ability to drive the engines of commerce while recording a profit depend on the most forceful law-enforcement response ever recorded. These crimes and abuses cannot be permitted to stand. They are ruinous.

The alternative -- marketplaces stuck spinning their wheels or the collapse of the marketplaces themselves -- is too painful to contemplate.

Patrick
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Cyberkntsean 12 years ago

Originally Posted by kindsvater

Alert Pay has been crippled by the banks. How many TOS changes has ClickBank made this year?

This is part of the email I received from Alertpay 2 weeks ago..

"Thank you for contacting AlertPay. My name is ***** and I am happy to assist you.

We apologize for the inconvenience however we cannot offer you a time frame for when credit card processing will be available again. Please be assured that we are working diligently to resolve this issue as soon as possible."

Sean
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goldliger

13 years ago

Thanks for the insight Brian - do you have any more info. (link) on what you mentioned about AlertPay? Their business model centers around the more 'risky' offers (mlm etc.) so I'm interested to hear more about what's happening with them... They were supposed to be "safe" from this sort of thing in other words, or at least, that was their claim.

Regarding 2checkout.com, I can understand them not having a choice. But I can't understand the extremely poor way they handled it. Or the fact that they closed my account altogether when it could have been left open for processing on other 'safe' sites.

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kindsvater 13 years ago

Originally Posted by goldliger

Thanks for the insight Brian - do you have any more info. (link) on what you mentioned about AlertPay?

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stevenjacobs

Banned 13 years ago

I have had my 2checkout account for 5 years now too. i have to say i love them. They had great support easy to reach, and not paypal.

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Josh Anderson

13 years ago

There are plenty of merchant account providers that want your business...

At 1/2 the fees of 2co its like giving your self an instant 3% raise...

Plus in many cases your conversion rate can go up... just not using janky 2co checkout process...

It is not uncommon for some to improve conversion by 100% switching to one step merchant account driven checkout process...

I have always said that 2co should be Last resort option and only IF you have no other choice.

So, for those with a choice... if they have not thought this deep about it moving to merchant accounts can be the best thing they could have done and they may realize they should have long ago... think of all the money they lost not thinking deeper...

Add to that one click upsell integration and you will Start to see the piles of money 2co users who could have obtained a merchant account have been leaving on the table.

There is no benefit to 2co over a merchant account. The opposite is true.

Now for those of you who do not understand the politics of third party processors... its simple. They share their merchant account and credibility with you. You are not judged by your own credibility and credit worthiness. Normally this practice of processing transactions for third parties, called "factoring" is not legal, but third party processors bring card brands so much money they look the other way...

BUT, the third party processors are under constraints dictated by the card brands. To stay in good standing with the card brands they reduce their risk... they do this by eliminating risky markets such as the "business opportunity" market that the OP is selling their plr and resale rights to...

This is completely normal and there are plenty of other markets third party processors will not touch as well.

Similarly merchant providers also regulate risk... but they do it considering accounts on an individual basis. also occasionally they will ask a higher risk account to pay a higher discount rate like 3.2% vs 2.2% or they may require a certain % be held back on a 6 month rolling reserve.

There are also merchant providers that specialize in higher risk accounts... there is a merchant provider for pretty much every legit business model.

Its about time that people start learning how the most important aspect of this market works and understanding the politics of it. To often people get cut off by third party processors and do not realize this is the natural and normal pattern of them managing risk. You dont need to do something wrong... its not a mistake... its an arbitrary reaction to pressure they get from the card brands and something they have to do to stay in good standing with them and continue as a third party processor.

They do NOT make the rules. They have the rules dictated to them by the card brands. So calling them makes no difference. They don't care. Its not an individual decision. Its not something you did.

2co fills a need for those with no other choice... and is a great option for those who have no other options. But for those who can get a merchant account... you should have done it already.

If you never understood these things before count this as gold... you can drop 2co and start picking up all those extra profits you were leaving on the table by using them when you had better options all along.

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linkwhizz 13 years ago

Care to expand on the names of some of the merchant accounts? I have attempted research and always end up back at the same old third party processor brands..
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- Josh Anderson 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by linkwhizz
  
  Care to expand on the names of some of the merchant accounts? I have attempted research and always end up back at the same old third party processor brands..
  
  I set up this page to introduce people to various merchant account provider options:
  
  Merchant Account Information
  
  Also for people not acquainted with the difference between merchant accounts and payment gateways, gateways are what your ecommerce solution integrates with, so when choosing a merchant account provider choose one that works with a gateway that is compatible with the business automation systems you use.
  
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BIG Mike

Banned 13 years ago

This doesn't surprise me at all...I've commented many times in the past that it was only going to become more and more difficult to do business in IM and things got tightly regulated.

Flame me all you want, but if you really want to build any sort of sustainable, long-term business in IM (meaning the next 10 to 25 years), IM'ers are going to have to change their tactics.

The direct sale model for MMO, Business Opportunities, etc., is going to need to change drastically and you may as well start looking for ways to do that now.

eCommerce regs are only going to get tighter and more difficult to comply with - not easier, so you may as well start adapting.

Resistance is futile

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Rukshan

13 years ago

2 Years ago they closed my account. So I moved to FastSpring - E-Commerce, Merchandising & Fulfillment Solution for Desktop Software and SaaS and getting a wonderful service.

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Warrior X

13 years ago

I know there's a rep from 2CO posting on the forum now, so I'd love to hear some clarifications on this issue direct from the company.
_______
Jeremy

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EdmundLoh

13 years ago

@Josh Anderson thanks for sharing the link! I've never thought about having my own merchant account until now. It's already time for many of us who are just counting solely on PayPal (and ClickBank, urgh) to have other payment processing solutions.

Edmund

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LeeLee

13 years ago

Well this is interesting Bryan. I just posted in another thread asking how to get 2CO to cancel a subscription. That subscription is to one of your products. So far they have been unresponsive. So it looks like they didn't just shut you down, they are messing with your customers as well.

Meanwhile, I have a subscription to another one of your sites that I want to continue, as I am sure many others do as well. I hope you can sort it all out.

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mattflynn

13 years ago

Merchant accounts at first sound like good alternatives to PP and 2CO and others, except they usually require an excellent credit profile, from what I've heard. Maybe that only a rumor, but if true, it may be why so many use the other processors.

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LeeLee

13 years ago

I just wanted to update. I was in contact with Bryan and it is all good. Thank you so much Bryan. I have no doubt you will sort out your processing problems.

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infinite

13 years ago

Hey Bryan

Just saw your post on 2CO account closure. Sorry to hear that.... I too had the same experience just a few days ago and I am still trying to gather info from them. Fortunately it was an account that I haven't taken new sales on in quite some time... but my recurring sales are "down the gurgler" I guess since I had some members who had been with me for YEARS.

I sent them a response asking for more info but got a generic response. As I said to them, my account must have one of the lowest refund rates on record and I don't even sell to NEW clients on that account anymore so I can't see what the issue is.

Anyhow... just letting you know, it happened to me too and I expect it will happen to many others no doubt. And here I was thinking Paypal was the only one I had to worry about!

Aaron

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Abby Gibbs

13 years ago

Yours is a very disappointing story. It's good i never had a 2checkout.com account. Well, maybe it's because i am new at internet marketing. Only Paypal.com i knew aside from alertpay. I just hope that everything will be okay with you buddy.

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infinite

13 years ago

Hi all

Well after pressing the issue with 2CO further via their ticket system, I got this reply:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting 2Checkout.com. I apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced with your account.

This account was closed as part of a calibration of our compliance requirements as mandated by our upstream providers. The merchant classification code which was assigned to your account was part of a series of codes that we are no longer able to accept. We are sorry that we will no longer be able to provide service for this account.

I apologize for this inconvenience, again. I wish you the best of luck in your search for a suitable solution, and abundant success in your business endeavors.

Feel free to reopen this ticket, or call for any additional assistance. We appreciate your patience, as well as, your patronage. For your convenience you can open a support ticket anytime.

Thank you,
Nathan Butler

Senior Specialist
2Checkout.com Loss Prevention Unit

It would appear that we may all be classified under the same classification but I don't remember classifying my site when I applied for that account about 6 years ago so I can only assume it is something they complete when they activate / approve your account.

I have 2 other accounts with them so I'm hoping those don't suffer the same fate.

Whilst I agree with diversifying (I already have Paypal, multiple 2Checkout accounts, multiple Clickbank accounts, and Alertpay which I haven't used much as of yet) but it's a pain to keep everything reconciled etc.

Aaron

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Mystery777

13 years ago

Originally Posted by infinite

It would appear that we may all be classified under the same classification but I don't remember classifying my site when I applied for that account about 6 years ago so I can only assume it is something they complete when they activate / approve your account.

I believe these are due to new rules. I used to have a 2checkout acc long ago but didn't really use it much and totally forgot its login details so I tried to open a new one.

They denied my membership site and refunded my application fee. Apparently, the only reason they denied my site was because it had an optional affiliate program where affiliates also benefit from referrers they bring. Ie. kindda downline. They don't like the word "downline" any longer, even if it were an optional part of the site.

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royh

13 years ago

Just wanna let you know I had an account with them for 11 years, Since 1999
They recently closed me down because the product I'm selling, which is just a PHP video script, is against their TOS. I tried explaining to them that it is not, but they stated that 'their decision is final'....I got canned by Google Checkout too, recently, even though my account was in relatively good standing.
This is very unusual.....I think there is a crackdown going behind the scene.
I'm not even sure if a merchant account is the solution to this.

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Josh Anderson 13 years ago

Originally Posted by royh

I'm not even sure if a merchant account is the solution to this.

Of course it is.

If you do not understand how to appropriately manage relationships with your merchant providers and how the industry ticks and how to manage risk and balance the payment processing side of your business... then you are essentially just waiting to go out of business.

Take control of your business. Figure out your options. Talk to merchant account providers... if you run a legit business and adhere to industry standards and regulations they WANT your business.
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Kenn6eth78

Banned 13 years ago

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Gail_Curran

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Kenn6eth78

The exact sam thing happened to my buddy in Canada last week. His account was only 2 years old tho. He was basically just selling his own wp plugin and like yours was completely free of spammy looking content.

Who knows what they are up to.

Will somebody nuke this SPAM BOT already? Every post IT makes is just copied from the thread. This one is a copy of Rankomatic's post.

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roblawrence

12 years ago

What are these new FTC rules that are causing this? Won't Clickbank be next and shutdown people? Makes me concerned to rely on a service that hosts my customers payment information and my business hostage. Scary! You could lose it all IN AN INSTANT!

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ThomPhelps 12 years ago

I have a website that we have had for 10 years and have been using 2checkout for 6 + years. It is not in the IM niche at all. 95% of our recurring orders have been with 2checkout and this website had a six figure net profit each year.

Then, with no prior notice, I get an email saying they canceled my account. I actually didn't find this out until the next day when a customer emailed and said they were trying to place an order and it would not go through. I then looked into this and that is when I found out that they had completely shut down my account!

The problem with this is not only did this mean I could not accept new orders through them, the real issue was that around 1,000 + recurring orders were also canceled meaning they would never rebill again. This essentially made us lose most of our business on this website. A website that showed a net profit each year of over $100,000 now may go out of business unless we can somehow pull it back from this disaster.

I also asked why they could just cancel an account with "NO PRIOR NOTIFICATION". They should at least have the decency to say we are going to give you 60 days to make changes on your site and we will continue to let your orders rebill. No, they just shut the account down causing us to lose all that business we had through them immediately.

On top of this, over the last month I had been dealing with a leading website broker to sell this site. In fact we were about to list it when this happened and 2checkout.com closed my account and now I can't sell the site. The site was valued at $395,000 and my broker said he would testify that he had just done a valuation and actually had the prospectus complete to sell the site.

2checkout.com not only stopped the website from continuing to create over $7,000 a month in revenue, it now has also destroyed my chances to sell this site costing me around $400,000 to sell the site plus a six figure income.

I would say, DO NOT USE 2checkout!
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PMinc 12 years ago

I find it ironic that 2CO seems to pride itself on shunning the IM crowd for its "questionable" nature, but it doesn't take much of a Google search to turn up
a few nasties that certainly aren't doing the company any favors:

- OpenMerchant.com

...and of course...

2checkout | Ripoff Report | Complaints Reviews Scams Lawsuits Frauds Reported
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LudwigReithofer

12 years ago

2Checkout take me down, too.

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danlew

12 years ago

2checkout are pretty strict, I had an application declined recently. I don't think they favour the IM niche too much.

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JustVisiting

12 years ago

@ThomPhelps

Holy S**t

I can't believe what I've just read. It seems there is no recourse when these payment processors make a decision about a business or a whole business sector. This should be a wake-up call for many folk to move to a local bricks 'n mortar, proper bank. At least if there is a problem you can go and talk to them face to face. These online companies have zero loyalty to their customers.

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ThomPhelps

12 years ago

Originally Posted by JustVisiting

@ThomPhelps

Holy S**t

I can't believe what I've just read. It seems there is no recourse when these payment processors make a decision about a business or a whole business sector. This should be a wake-up call for many folk to move to a local bricks 'n mortar, proper bank. At least if there is a problem you can go and talk to them face to face. These online companies have zero loyalty to their customers.

Yes, it is true there is no loyalty, but we do have recourse. We can file a lawsuit. I wanted to avoid this but I will not let them destroy what took 10 years to build. I will not let 2checkout get away with this. PERIOD!

Also, this wasn't done because of a business sector or even our business model. This is not a website in the IM niche. It is a large membership website. If they had an issue with our business they would have canceled our accounts years ago. They canceled because they didn't want to hear from me as I was on top of them for giving me so much misinformation about the billing issues.

Anyone else who has had a similar experience, we need to band together so please PM me if you would like to discuss this.

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nicheblogger75

12 years ago

Looks to me like they don't want to process for Internet Marketing niches anymore.

If you are looking for a really great alternative, then I suggest E-Junkie. I have been using them since I started my IM business 4 years ago and have never experienced a problem. Their pricing is reasonable, and they work great with either Paypal, or Google Checkout (soon to be "Google Wallet").

I use them specifically because if something happened to my Paypal account, I could easily just use Google Checkout and keep on ticking wothout much loss of income. They also work in conjuntion with other processors:

From their website:

E-junkie provides shopping cart and buy now buttons to let you sell downloads and tangible goods on your website, eBay, MySpace, Google Base, CraigsList and other websites using PayPal Website Payments Standard, PayPal Website Payments Pro, PayPal Payflow Pro, Google Checkout, Authorize.Net, TrialPay, ClickBank and 2CheckOut.

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Bruce NewMedia

12 years ago

Originally Posted by nicheblogger75

Looks to me like they don't want to process for Internet Marketing niches anymore.

If you are looking for a really great alternative, then I suggest E-Junkie. I have been using them since I started my IM business 4 years ago and have never experienced a problem. Their pricing is reasonable, and they work great with either Paypal, or Google Checkout (soon to be "Google Wallet").

I use them specifically because if something happened to my Paypal account, I could easily just use Google Checkout and keep on ticking wothout much loss of income. They also work in conjuntion with other processors:

From their website:

I already use e-Junkie for almost a year, except they are not a payment processor. They're only an order and product delivery service. Thats why their fees are so tiny.

You still need a payment processor: Paypal, AlertPay, 2CO, or Google Checkout etc...the problem is not the delivery vehicle it's the PAYMENT vehicles...it does seem these payment processors don't want IM products.
_____
Bruce

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cypherslock

12 years ago

I'm thinking DL Guard might be an option?

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Raydal

12 years ago

I've had my conflicts with 2Co as well and they responded right
here on the WF to my gripes. But I doubt they would dump
you for just no reason seeing that they are up to lose their
processing fees as well. Except a company is benefiting from
closing down your account I would take a second look at
the reason for their actions.

Hopefully you'll grow through this process. Still a tough
situation to wake up to.

-Ray Edwards

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ThomPhelps 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Raydal

But I doubt they would dump
you for just no reason seeing that they are up to lose their
processing fees as well.

They did tell me a reason.They originally said I had "berated" the support person which was why they made their decision. Even if I had of "berated" anyone, that is not against their terms. When they realized that wasn't good enough they said I made a statement about declined billings but there is nothing in their terms that says you cannot make a statement. You have to actually "do something" to violate any terms.

Why would they not give you a grace period anyway if they wanted to stop doing business with you? You cannot just stop 1,000 + recurring billings just because you don't like what some one says.
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Warrior X

12 years ago

3rd party internet processors are the like wild west- fast and loose. I use the whole gang of them of course (pp, e-junkie, 2CO), but I'm under no illusions that I have much protection.

The only real way to protect yourself is to use a merchant account- so that you operate under real-world banking regulations.

-Jeremy

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ronaldmd

12 years ago

Wonder what happened. Does 2CO want to be the next paypal?

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workplay 12 years ago

So what are good payment processor alternatives besides PP and 2CO?
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Mary56324

Banned 12 years ago

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Warrior X

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Mary56324

Care to expand on the names of some of the merchant accounts? I have attempted research and always end up back at the same old third party processor brands..

MasterCard Merchant Rules PDF guidelines for all businesses that accept MasterCard credit cards.
Visa USA - Accepting Visa
PCI SCC Reference Document PCI SSC Quick Guide.

Getting a merch. account is similar to getting a large bank loan, because they are essentially extending you a line of credit.

Is it as easy as getting a paypal account? No of course not, that's why so many just go with pp or 2C0. And if you just do a small amount of sales per month, then the 3rd party processors are probably fine (you can switch or walk away without too much pain if something goes wrong.)

But to build a large business with a 3rd party processor I think is asking for trouble. There are plenty of stories of people selling physical goods, having their pp accounts frozen, not being able to pay their suppliers, and being in a world of hurt. Just one example.

-Jeremy

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jeffreyhuan

12 years ago

I have recently get my account approved by 2Checkout.

Now I have to think again using 2Checkout on our store.

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ThomPhelps 12 years ago

Originally Posted by jeffreyhuan

I have recently get my account approved by 2Checkout.

Now I have to think again using 2Checkout on our store.

Do not use 2 checkout. You will be sorry.
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E. Brian Rose

12 years ago

2CO once closed my account for selling hearing aids. They quoted an outdated state law that made it against the law. I showed them that the state law was revised when the Federal Appeals Court and the FDA stepped in. We gave them proof that it was legal and their info was outdated. Their response was that they can only go by what their attorneys tell them. I asked them for their attorney's contact info and they said it was privileged information.

They lost a lot of money when we processed elsewhere.

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AlexRyan

12 years ago

Wow this is why I've switched to wepay but this may happen there too. Any way of getting our own credit card processors?

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anwar001

12 years ago

@ThomasPhelps

It is very sad to know how your business suffered. But I still don't understand why you can't switch the payment processors now and get the business back on track again.

You may need to email all your members and ask them to subscribe again from a new link. Apologize for the inconvenience they have to go through but tell them you are switching payment processor for a better one which will be good for customers in the long run as their money will be safer and it will be more convenient.

Maybe about 20% of members might not do the needful - so what, you will still be able to retain 80% of your members. They will go through the small inconvenience again (some grudgingly so) but will do it if they are enjoying and benefiting from the membership.

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ThomPhelps

12 years ago

Originally Posted by anwar001

@ThomasPhelps

It is very sad to know how your business suffered. But I still don't understand why you can't switch the payment processors now and get the business back on track again.

You may need to email all your members and ask them to subscribe again from a new link. Apologize for the inconvenience they have to go through but tell them you are switching payment processor for a better one which will be good for customers in the long run as their money will be safer and it will be more convenient.

Maybe about 20% of members might not do the needful - so what, you will still be able to retain 80% of your members. They will go through the small inconvenience again (some grudgingly so) but will do it if they are enjoying and benefiting from the membership.

I have been doing this for many years and have thousands of subscribers who do love our site. However, there is a phenomenon with recurring billing. People will let it rebill indefinitely until something causes it to fail. Once it fails or it cancels a very large percentage will say:

"we love the site but now that this has failed we have decided not to renew or sign up again"

we have seen this is the case most of the time.

In fact I have discussed this same phenomenon with others who have recurring billing.

We will get a percentage that will sign up again but it will still cost us much of our business and there was absolutely no need for it to happen.

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SonnyYoung

12 years ago

Originally Posted by ThomPhelps

People will let it rebill indefinitely until something causes it to fail. Once it fails or it cancels a very large percentage will say: "we love the site but now that this has failed we have decided not to renew or sign up again"

I think this makes a statement about the true value of the product and about the business model used to sell it. Based on what you are saying, recurring sales are more dependent on people's laziness to cancel than on their need for the product.

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ThomPhelps

12 years ago

Originally Posted by SonnyYoung

I think this makes a statement about the true value of the product and about the business model used to sell it. Based on what you are saying, recurring sales are more dependent on people's laziness to cancel than on their need for the product.

If you have ever had a site based around all recurring billings, no matter how great your product or service, this phenomenon is a fact and holds true.

If your product or service sucks, people will cancel quickly. I am talking about people that have been active members and have had recurring billing for 6 years or more.

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anwar001

12 years ago

Originally Posted by ThomPhelps

I have been doing this for many years and have thousands of subscribers who do love our site. However, there is a phenomenon with recurring billing. People will let it rebill indefinitely until something causes it to fail. Once it fails or it cancels a very large percentage will say:

"we love the site but now that this has failed we have decided not to renew or sign up again"

we have seen this is the case most of the time.

In fact I have discussed this same phenomenon with others who have recurring billing.

We will get a percentage that will sign up again but it will still cost us much of our business and there was absolutely no need for it to happen.

The phenomenon you mention could be true. However, if you had subscribers from a long time, you can give it a shot and get them to re-subscribe again. Give them a compelling reason to do it.

For example - give them 1 or 2 months free or give them a discount or some other pretty bonuses. Or else make some remarkable improvements in your membership and inform your ex-subscribers about it.

Give them a powerful reason to re-subscribe. Since, most people are unlikely to continue once something happens which cancels their membership, you need to think of providing NEW REASONS for them to subscribe again.

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Kashi456

12 years ago

I've been on 2checkout since September this year, and have gotten around $19k processed from there without any hassle.

All were sales from different avenues.

Didnt encounter any problem with them..

One thing that did happen was that they had to verify my first two order when I newly opened to ensure the customers were happy.

After that, everything was fine..

Their support needs to speed up.. I called them the last time and was on for over an hour lol..

Thanks for the heads up btw.

Bilaal

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Josh MacDonald

11 years ago

I'd just like to bump this thread, as everything here should be acknowledged by everyone here. 2Checkout continues to tighten up restriction. I myself had a problem with them last week, so am now searching for a new payment gateway.

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eXe

11 years ago

Sorry to bump this but I had a similar email from them this week. They have "delayed" my payment due to a couple of chargebacks. The account isn't closed yet but I don't have a good feeling about this. My question to the OP and others who had a similar problem is this, When did you get paid the pending balance?

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e4job

11 years ago

for what it is worth, we did a side by side comparison of payment processors last year - compare

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vishwa

11 years ago

Yes! Exactly Same Thing Happen to Me. My 2+ Years account is closed.I am selling some e books & templates. After Contacting them they said that they did not support digital products anymore.