What is a CHARGEBACK and why are they so bad?

I love to tell stories so here’s a story:

"The absolute best, most perfect method to help prevent the scourge of the CHARGEBACK is through truth in advertising."

Bob, Bill and Benny all entered and shopped at a local appliance store within four weeks of each other. Each one of them was drawn to the fancy packaging and promises labeled on a certain portable barbecue grill. The grill looked cool on the package and the text on the box described a unit that would please any Bob, Bill or Benny.

Unfortunately, a display model of the grill wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Worse, none of the guys could find a sales clerk to ask questions. Benny finally found one when he went and searched around the store but the clerk wasn’t much help. All that the clerk could say was “I have no idea if it’s good or not. I just work here.”

Amazingly, Bob, Benny and even Bill bought the grills anyway. They liked the price. The grill on the box looked cool and the text stated: “Everything You Need is Here!”

When Bob got home and opened his box, there were pieces missing and he couldn’t assemble the grill.

When Bill got his grill unpacked, he was able to put it together but he couldn’t get it to work.

Benny got his grill setup and working but the darn piece of junk didn’t cook worth shit and it didn’t have everything.

Bob, Bill and Benny all repacked their grills, took them to the store and stood firm until each guy got a refund.

Your paysite tour is your box on the shelf. What’s more, you own the store. In the story above, the manufacturer of the grill is probably more responsible for a refund of the money than was the shopkeeper. But when you run a paysite you’re both merchant and supplier. When people want their money back, you’re the man. Refunds of credit card purchases -authorized by the credit card issuer- are called CHARGEBACKs and CHARGEBACKs are bad.

The first step to reducing CHARGEBACKs is to sell what you promise and promise what you sell. Your paysite tour is your package and your sales clerk combined. Your tour will include textual information describing the paysite content, benefits of membership, special offers and the price to join. You paysite tour will be designed so that it attracts the eye of your intended customer. You want to build a tour that will make them click, read and buy. If you lie or mislead anywhere in your tour, then your customer has every right to demand a CHARGEBACK on their VISA.

Bob, Bill and Benny took back their grills because they get what they paid for. If your paysite is missing promised content like Bob’s grill was missing pieces. CHARGEBACK!

If your customer can’t get your paysite to load then they’re no different than Bill. He put his grill together but it wouldn’t work. CHARGEBACK!

If your tour guarantees daily updates and there are no updates or, if your tour promises the best live feeds when they’re really time-refreshed cam shots, then you’ll have guys like Benny to answer to. CHARGEBACK!

The absolute best, most perfect method to help prevent the scourge of the CHARGEBACK is through truth in advertising.

That doesn’t mean you can’t sell. That doesn’t mean you can’t promote intangible things like fantasies come true. Just don’t fib. If your tour pledges that your hostess model ‘Trina’ will email them once a week, then get your grubby fingers on that keyboard and type out a weekly missive. If you claim in your tour copy that your site contains over five hundred thousand images, there better be five hundred thousand images sitting on your server when your members log in. Your tour is your package and you are the owner of the store. Provide what you promise in your tour and you might avoid that awful thing we call a CHARGEBACK!

Stay tuned for part two of this continuing series on how to avoid chargebacks when you own an adult paysite. We’ll go inside and around and behind the causes for them and try to give you ways to keep them away from your ass.

** Click Here For: Reducing Chargebacks! - Part #2