Why relying just on Stripe is horrifyingly naive
Published: Sun, 09/29/19
One of the greatest pieces of advice I ever done got up in this business is when the great Doberman Dan foamed at the mouth and barked & snarled at me to get a back-up merchant account, and a back-up of a back-up merchant account, and, ultimately, an off-shore merchant account.
His advice was based on him being shut down for no reason.
Twice.
In two consecutive weeks.
If he'd had only one merchant account, his 7-figure supplement business would have went under with the push of a bureaucrat's rejection stamp.
And, when it happened to me a couple years ago I was super grateful for his advice.
So much so, I told him what happened in my case (which I talk about in more detail in the October “Email Players” issue, incidentally), and we got to talking about how many online marketers are in serious danger of having their businesses shut down without even realizing it… *especially* people who rely exclusively on Stripe.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Stripe, btw.
They are a great company from what I can tell.
But here’s how Dan put it, right from the Doberman’s snout:
“And all these poor saps using Stripe... I predict they will soon shut most of these guys down. If the people using Stripe would ask if their products/services were approved BEFORE they started selling, I think in 80% of the cases Stripe would say NO. They’re only getting by because they just start selling without asking approval first. Most of the people selling through Stripe would be shut down in a NY minute if the people asked Stripe to approve their products. They are only getting by for now because Stripe auto approves everybody... until you get on their radar."
Incidentally, their rules are plainly listed on the site.
And, written in "Plain English."
But, once you read those rules, you may very well realize what they consider “get rich quick”, for example, is vague enough to cover most internet marketing...
Anyway, back to having multiple accounts:
This is why I am a huge proponent of having real merchant accounts.
From real banks.
And, especially, where you have your own merchant account agent to deal with.
I have 3 such agents I deal with I’ve curated over the past several years.
And these 3 people have been like a Godsend to my business.
All you do is, you contact them, say you want a merchant account, they will set you up and, if you use a payment gateway that lets you load balance (which they can explain to you), you can — with admittedly a bit of pain-in-the-arse, but 100% understandable, time consuming info-gathering — be set up with multiple merchant accounts.
Which brings me to the October “Email Players” issue.
It goes to the printer tomorrow.
And I reveal who my 3 go-to merchant account agents are.
What their names are.
And, exactly how to contact them directly.
To subscribe in time to get the October issue, go here immediately:
http://www.EmailPlayers.com
Ben Settle