|
The $750 fee was divided 500/250 with the processors taking the 250. Dont forget that there were costs to implement the mandatory card regulations. These costs are still there even if a significant percentage of the sites left. IMO IBILL would have been better offering a refund on this charge spread out over time like CCBILL did to encourage people to stay as the continued business certainly would have made up the charge over a short period. I also believe that IBILL could have better managed the implementation of the rules. Witholding payment remains the single method IBILL has to enforce compliance with their regulations, but this action has created many credibility issues.
I disagree with the belief that IBILL is going under. Intercept has a profitable core business that does not rely on the IBILL business. Intercept has a long way to go before any kind of debt covenent violations that would mean Chapter 11/7. IBILL still has a huge percentage of the adult billings and for those who believe IBILL will go out of business, you are in essence predicting the failure of the industry, something I do not envision.
Many here seem to take a real pleasure at the prospect of IBILL going under, but I believe that this is also misplaced. Look at what happened when DMR went under, in the end this was one of the worst blows the industry ever had to suffer. IMO if IBILL were to go under it would be a terrible thing and would set us back as a whole and not move us forward. There are other billers so the music wouldnt stop, but I believe it would be heavily muted.
A previous poster here pointed out the fact that IBILL is public and this allows us to glimpse at their numbers, something that is not possible with Epoch or CCBILL. The transparency of their numbers is indeed a benefit but the public nature of the company also carries with it some real problems. Chief among the problems IMO is that the parent company will be under pressure due to the financial declines to make changes in the staffing at IBILL without offering competent replacements. Being beholden to shareholders could also put pressure on IBILL's model for morality issues.Approximately 90% of IBILL's business is still adult, and shareholders could take great offense to that. Just look at what this kind of pressure did with Yahoo.
The direction IBILL seems to be taking in the last quarter IMO is a positive one. Intercepts statements indicate that IBILL is cleaning house and showing high chargeback clients the door. A VISA fine that was largely rumored to have been 8 figures was not mentioned at all by Intercept, and in fact Intercept's CEO this morning in an earnings conference call stated that he knew of no VISA fine that had been levied at all. IBILL is introducing some very interesting products, things that will help their clients to move forward, where they seem most challenged is their ability to provide a quality client services. A good meal served by a terrible waitress will in most cases result in that business leaving to eat down the street.
__________________
|