True, but they should be as high then for Epoch - so for purposes of a fair comparison between the two, it doesn't matter if they are high, as long as they are consistent.

On this note, the interesting thing is that the form hits to Epoch ARE higher than the form hits to CCBill. Not by much, perhaps 10-15%. This could be a load issue with the CCBill servers, but from my observations the load times are within .5 seconds of each other.

Anyway, further testing is needed, that's obvious. The one thing I do have going for me in regards to testing is that i am fortunate enough (lucky enough?) to have 4-5 sites in my network that are incredibly consistent earners. Like clockwork. That helps a lot with testing. LOL

Really? It looks like 99% of webmasters are wrong then? what do you say?

why don't check those threads where 99% of webmasters say that sales suck lately?

Why don't you compare adult webmaster forums with 3-4 years ago? Traffic decreased 300%.. and many of them closed...most webmasters gone broke and looking for jobs.. So, your sales are better than ever??

I always suspect when someone has a big ego and thinks he's right and 99% of other people are wrong. Keep making up your number, dude.

.

We have a winner.

How's it going for you guys today?

I think I am having one of those "statistical anomaly" days.

Since CCBill implemented that new WMS thing or whatever it was called my ratios and sales dropped drastically. :Oh crap

CCBill's form hits aren't always (ever?) real time.

If you do any A-B comparison, the only meaningful way is to write a server script that exactly divides the clicks to the signup form between the two, alternating one then the other. That's the only way you'll smooth out the variations in time, weekday, week of the month, payday, month, and all the other variables that can affect purchases.

1:807 this month on CCBIll...

I don't want to sound rude or bash ccbill but what's the number of targeted hits sent ?
My point is, if you sent 807 hits this month and made a sale it ain't the same as sending thousands of hits of course

The rollercoaster continues BUT, this being Wednesday, I don't freak out as much. Actually, Tuesdays are notoriously the worst sales day of the week (which is why many retail stores have sales on Tuesdays), and Wednesday is almost as bad. Percentage-wise I'm holding steady tho so this tells me it's a day of the week thing. Now, come Friday....LOL

You are absouletely correct in this observation. A/B testing is best done with a server-side script that does a simple 'split' test: one click goes to A, one click goes to B. This is the type of A/B testing I mean when I refer to my setup. :)

Since you are up... how was your convo with paul K on monday?

I would have to concur, no "CCBILL" sales in over 2 days! That is without question an anomaly for me. That has never ever happened in 6 years!

It's like the past 2 days were masturbation conservation days.

Now it will be interesting to note if there are others experiencing this same anomaly yesterday and today, and then suddenly within the next 2 days the same webmasters have huge ccbill sales flurries.

Geeze people, stop GUESSING at this and GET SOME REAL FACTS BY ASK YOUR CUSTOMERS!

Post your phone number on your website and invite customers to call you if there are any problems. You won't get crank calls. Instead, you'll get good calls from honest people who's cards are being declined. Get their names and email address and then call your processing company and ask them why this customer is being declined.

We have done this for a while now and the reasons range from IP / Geo Mismatch, or entire domains blocked for fraud. If you know your customes, you may know that Mr. Smith is a travelling salesman, or that Mr. Jones is a repeat customer, and that neither of them should be declined for these reasons.

Next, ask your processor to remove the blocks on these customers. Call your customer right back and invite him to try again, and voila! Not only have you gained a sale, but if you word it the right way, you (and your processor) were simply "looking out for your customer's best interest and protecting him from identity theft".

We learned this years ago as a part of our own internal fraud scrubbing (see http://2much.net/fraud-detection.php) and it works very well. While it's against CCBill's TOS to DEMAND that customers call only you, I am sure they appreciate it if you go out of your way to assist with customer service and do some of the leg work for them. Get the info from your customers, square it away with CCBill (or whoever), and watch your declines go down.


:)

I'm 1/600 this month with ccbill. So it's not CCBill.

Thanks for asking. Paul and I talked Monday and he's on the case, looking over some numbers with me. It's still kind of an anemic week but the percentages are holding steady even tho sales are down, like the % of form hits to approvals. Isn't August traditionally the slowest month? Or is that january, or February...


I love the idea of this on the one hand, but on the other I go "talk to PEOPLE? Ewwww!" I mean fuck, if I wanted to talk to fucking humans I wouldn't work on the Internet, I'd be a fucking waiter. :)

I know... I wasn't sure about the idea at first but we have our toll free number up everywhere. Customers really like to talk to a human and know that their concerns are being answered. Plus its a great chance to make another sale if you can show them any other sites you have.

You're 100% right, of course, but you don't need me to say that. LOL It's a great idea. I'm a huge believer in customer service. People are so surprised when you answer an email in ten minutes.

I told you go 3D! That market is alive. So may be you start hitting me for FREE 3D FULL HD content NOW!!!

1:1398 raw for the month to date. Not bad but not great either. I was ~ 1:800 up until around the 15th went it nose dived a bit (as is usual for me). Still better than my numbers last year.

plain dead..

idiots like robby keep saying that his sales are the same as 1999 and that the biz is better than ever.

maybe he didn't notice the amount of sponsors closing on a daily basis, the slow forums and all the broken webmasters.

show some respect, robby idiot.. you are full of shit.. so better close your homo mouth, before someone shows up your real curriculum..

heh.

You come here claiming to have gotten out of the adult biz, saying mainstream is doing great, spread all your "adult is dead" bullshit everywhere because YOU can't sell anything yet you are still posting on an adult forum. Who is the idiot?

Okay, one of the WORST days this month. Lousy, lousy, lousy day for sales all around, network-wide. Traffic so-so but still, shouldn't be THIS bad.

Going to bed now - to pray for higher ratios, to dream dreams of endless conversions...

I want to thank you all who contributed to this thread. It showed me that I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go.

As far as things being dead or dying, yes my traffic has gone down and yes so have my sales. But I've worked my traffic flows and channeled it a bit differently and sales are almost the same on my lower traffic as they where at higher flows. I sort of wish I was that creative back then.

So we ahave to work a little harder now. The good thing is we still work for ourselves and not some idiotic 9-5 job somewhere for some asshole boss.

Cheer up!

Maybe it's time CCBILL just revamps the ENTIRE system from the ground up. As an affiliate I stopped sending most my traffic to sites directly through CCBILL late 2008, out of nowhere my sales took a HUGE dump without any explanation. :helpme

Also, one of my sponsors used cascade billing between CCBILL and EPOCH. A couple years ago they had CCBILL first in the cascade, even then 60% of the sales were EPOCH. They reversed it and now over 90% of the sales are Epoch!

I don't suspect foul play in the least bit, but I do think there is an issue somewhere in the system. With the amount of people noticing these issues it's hard to deny it. :Oh crap

UPDATE:

Yesterday and today have felt like slowly, slowly, slowly slipping off a cliff.
Therefore: bye-bye CCBill for the foreseeable future, hello Epoch.

Same; last two day horrible.

Going Zambio/Verotel for awhile.

Don't see many of these threads about Epoch, is that because CCbill has way more clients then Epoch?

Last year : 1:941
Jan-April : 1:1423
May : 1:9121
June/July : 1:33,998

And thats not just a scrap of traffic, I send a good flow of traffic and conversions have been pretty stable until late.

I ****KNOW**** there is something wrong.

Honestly, the maddening thing is you see these numbers, you work your ass off, increase traffic & productivity, and still they go down, down, down. And JUST when you think things may be leveling off/returning to "normal", here we go again.

GRRR!

you sure whine a lot