Dumb ass billing processor question
 

If i have a dating site and i added banners that link to pornsite.. does that mean i would be classified under an adult site and therefore need "adult credit card processing" instead of some mainstream ones?

help?

clickclickclick ~

It is my understanding that dating sites are considered 'high risk' (same as adult) in the eyes of the banks and card associations. If you are in the EU, hit me up!!!

:thumbsup

clickclickclick,
what KGucci says is true...

hit me up

A dating site is already classified as adult by V/MC !

Your MCC code will depend on what you are actually processing, which will determine your processing options and rates.

The high risk categories include (this is not a complete list) -
adult subscription
audiotext (phone sex)
gaming (wagering, not video games online)
dating
certain subscription membership sites outside of adult
pharmacy
herbal supplements (not all but a good many that would apply here)

The best way to find out whether or not your particular business is classified as high risk is to either talk to a processor that has the complete list, or talk to your local bank about a merchant account. Every local bank that offers merchant accounts, but does not do high risk, has a list of what they are excluded from processing. If they cannot process you, then you know you are pretty much going to fall into the high risk category. There may be some smaller local banks that are willing to process you, but keep in mind that if you are caught with mis-coded transactions by the card associations, you will be put into the TMF file, any money owed will most likely never be paid to you, and you will not be able to get processing for a lemonade stand, much less anything online.

If you need any objective help with this, icq me and I'll be glad to give it to you. While I do write merchant accounts for people that need them, I'm the first one to tell you to take your business to a local bank if you qualify, since their rates are much lower than anything in high risk, and the allowable chargebacks are vastly different.

I have a local bank that would process my site with a 10k deposit. But it would be a dating site with no adult ads/upsells to anything. That is why i ask about whether having banners and upsells would change this category

I'm not sure why they would say no ads or upsells, honestly, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, given that you've explained to them that you are not processing the end result of those ads or upsells.

If they see your site as a non-adult dating site, and I use that term loosely, they may feel that adding adult products to the site changes the classification. Reality is that it won't change the classification, since your site should probably be high risk in the beginning.

What sort of rate are they quoting you and what kind of terms?

Good input from KimmyKim... I think you are best of to talk with a payment processor 1-on-1 rather than over the boards. :)