Payment processor

Hello,

I have a service that uses the Twitter API to enter people into a contest. If they don't win the contest, I refund their card (or actually just don't capture payment). I have been shut down by PayPal and Stripe so far. They think what I do is too 'shady.' Any advice?

SO wait... you charge their card when they apply for this contest and refund them if they don't win? Am I reading this correctly? No wonder you're being shut down...

I think you need to change your contest rules.

Hmm.. if you're going to refund then why not just not accept payment until they win?

We could help you out and get you a processing account, but will certainly need more details on your system.

For example, how long is the contest? If it's several days and you're trying to do authorizations one day then capture (or release) them several days later, then no. And we usually don't allow high-risk authorizations anyway.

The better approach would be to capture payment upon win, but I can see how you may be concerned that some people would not pay, so you prefer to get authorizations first. If you discuss your contest with me further, I can help you come up with a solution for this.

Would it not make more sense to require payment for entry regardless of win or lose? I'm just thinking lottery style here - you pay an "entry" fee by buying a ticket, but when you win the lottery, you're not refunded for your ticket purchase; the lottery pot merely outweighs the entry fee.

And if you're adamant on only charging people who win, we are capable of capturing everyone's cards for $0.00 upon contest start (this would be similar to an authorization, except much safer in that you don't have a pending charge on the card, and the card info is still stored), schedule a payment for x days in the future, then stop that payment for everyone who loses and then let the payment go through for everyone who wins.

Again, need more details on your contest so I can get a better idea of what you're trying to do so we can help you out. E-mail me at [email protected] or add artizhay on Skype/AIM.

Solution is simple - dont charge in advance and then to refund payment, cause this leads to very high refund % and no surprise you was shutted down.

AquaticGamer said:

Hmm.. if you're going to refund then why not just not accept payment until they win?

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I do not run the contest and if I contacted them to accept payment they would know they won and could go claim the prize without paying....

Can't you then just put up a paywall?

If you are interested in actually getting approved for an account I can take a look at your business model and I can give you suggestions on how to change it to get approved for merchant processing. I have been in the vertical for several years and I have processing for a very high risk campaigns.

We can have an actual processor look at things also to tell you what you need to change to things etc. You have not given enough information on your post to tell you exactly what you need to do. So Pm and we can figure out your challenge.

curiouslybrown said:

I do not run the contest and if I contacted them to accept payment they would know they won and could go claim the prize without paying....

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You should rethink what your doing here, just sounds off.