Why are paid subscription sites considered high risk by processors?
 

I would think that people who signup for a monthly subscription are less likely to chargeback than someone purchasing one-time digital content.

It is the product, not the length of membership that makes it "high risk."

Interesting. It was explained to me that high risk assessment is based off of the likelihood of receiving chargebacks, which is quite common with digital purchases.

I guess it doesn't matter which type of transactions you handle. If you're in adult, then you're automatically high risk.

You have to go back to 1998 or so, when many porn sites were fake and didn't even have a members area.
They would say "Enter credit card info for age verification only, this site is free", and
then bang the credit card for $60-$120; but the password never worked because they
never built a members area.

:1orglaugh

And then came "Pre-checked cross sales". That exploded the chargebacks on sites that actually had a members area.

:2 cents:

I would say that's a pretty safe presumption but if you have really good ratios you can probably negotiate a deal.

BOOM! :2 cents:

https://whitehouse.com/ was like that, back in the day... There was a shitty members area though, albeit nothing actually worked inside it. :2 cents:

I remember someone 'verified their age' and then came complaining to me about it when they got charged! I asked what exactly 'I' was supposed to do about it, and they said 'Get me my money back - YOU do internet sites don't you? Tell them to give me it back!' :1orglaugh

That's why I remember the URL.

The "age verification" for "free" trick is still happening in a big way, usually with 2 cross sales, for a total of 3 random charges going off. I'm surprised they still get away with that shit lol.

I wish such scumbags ended up in jail... no wonder people are reluctant to trust legit porn sites if there are assholes doing this.

And the irony is that every user would have been happy if pay sites back then stole all their content from other pay sites sites like a tube site.


:1orglaugh

People are not reluctant to trust legit porn sites.
People have all the porn they want for free, why would they pay ?

I guess it is because the websites/producers are willing to pay that premium.
My chargeback ratios were always below 0.5% - a lot lower than mainstream.
Go figure.