2Much.net Bounces Back From Near Disaster in Third Party Billing Bust
February 2, 2004 (Press Release) --
Montreal, Quebec (February 1, 2004) – 2Much Internet Services, responsible for LiveCamNetwork 1.9, was forced to a standstill from January 16-19 when its LCN network virtually lost the capacity to accept payments.
Third-party billing company Probilling, which 2much.net dealt with since last summer, announced it would cease all credit card billing services, with only e-checking remaining, on January 16.
Citing “challenging times for all online credit... companies” in their communique, Probilling claimed that "increased
scrutiny by the credit card associations we feel that we can no longer offer reliable credit card processing”. Pro Billing cancelled services with a
4 day warning on Visa and none for MasterCard.
2Much.net, which requires a reliable third-party billing processor to enable customer purchases, had to put normal operations on hold and hunt the market to seal a deal before the January 20th deadline.
2Much President Mark Prince and his programmers
began approaching companies, dealing for compatibility to the 2Much system. Billing companies are umique and share no standards when communicating data between transaction points. “We have had to write new software,” said Ye Zhang, 2much head programmer, “for each of the billing companies we tested.”
The simplified E-Wallet system LiveCamNetwork 1.9
uses can’t be universally adapted to any third party billing system. 2much had the unpleasant option to either re-write or reconsider the system altogether, but in the end decided against either course.
“It was hell,” Prince said. “Phones rang, customers were nervous. They just dropped $12,000 and they needed service. It's been hectic.” Prince remained upbeat throughout, he claims, and remembered when a previous billing company pulled the rug from under his feet. “It was a challenge. Our software actually grew because we found new ways as far as improving data transfer and the
customer experience, by way of the new e-wallet function.”
Five days past the deadline, 2Much was still looking into standardizing with one company in particular.
And despite his lack of rancor, Prince had a bone to pick with ProBilling. “They announced it on a Friday, making finding another company to work with harder. Then, nobody was open on Martin Luther King Day, a three-day weekend.”
Despite a quick response by 2Much, the announcement from ProBilling was unduly harmful. “All 2much-powered sites had approximately 70% drop in sales, ” said Prince.
2Much.net sites lost money, said 2Much Communications Director Greg Jones, “but not faith in 2much. Actually, reactions have been encouraging and calm on behalf of the webmasters. I think that demonstrates a great amount of faith and understanding on their part. I just hope no one took too much of a financial beating.”
Prince was even more confident. “LiveCamNetwork 1.9 features the MBase model sharing and our e-wallet system. All this will be forgotten inside a week. We’ve already found our billing companies and are signing agreements with them as I speak. Now is time to get back to making money.”
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Third-party billing company Probilling, which 2much.net dealt with since last summer, announced it would cease all credit card billing services, with only e-checking remaining, on January 16.
Citing “challenging times for all online credit... companies” in their communique, Probilling claimed that "increased
scrutiny by the credit card associations we feel that we can no longer offer reliable credit card processing”. Pro Billing cancelled services with a
4 day warning on Visa and none for MasterCard.
2Much.net, which requires a reliable third-party billing processor to enable customer purchases, had to put normal operations on hold and hunt the market to seal a deal before the January 20th deadline.
2Much President Mark Prince and his programmers
began approaching companies, dealing for compatibility to the 2Much system. Billing companies are umique and share no standards when communicating data between transaction points. “We have had to write new software,” said Ye Zhang, 2much head programmer, “for each of the billing companies we tested.”
The simplified E-Wallet system LiveCamNetwork 1.9
uses can’t be universally adapted to any third party billing system. 2much had the unpleasant option to either re-write or reconsider the system altogether, but in the end decided against either course.
“It was hell,” Prince said. “Phones rang, customers were nervous. They just dropped $12,000 and they needed service. It's been hectic.” Prince remained upbeat throughout, he claims, and remembered when a previous billing company pulled the rug from under his feet. “It was a challenge. Our software actually grew because we found new ways as far as improving data transfer and the
customer experience, by way of the new e-wallet function.”
Five days past the deadline, 2Much was still looking into standardizing with one company in particular.
And despite his lack of rancor, Prince had a bone to pick with ProBilling. “They announced it on a Friday, making finding another company to work with harder. Then, nobody was open on Martin Luther King Day, a three-day weekend.”
Despite a quick response by 2Much, the announcement from ProBilling was unduly harmful. “All 2much-powered sites had approximately 70% drop in sales, ” said Prince.
2Much.net sites lost money, said 2Much Communications Director Greg Jones, “but not faith in 2much. Actually, reactions have been encouraging and calm on behalf of the webmasters. I think that demonstrates a great amount of faith and understanding on their part. I just hope no one took too much of a financial beating.”
Prince was even more confident. “LiveCamNetwork 1.9 features the MBase model sharing and our e-wallet system. All this will be forgotten inside a week. We’ve already found our billing companies and are signing agreements with them as I speak. Now is time to get back to making money.”
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