RM not accepting Visa anymore!? What the actual f$ck?

[+ tassojunior]

Staples sells MasterCard giftcards of $200 with no fee every two weeks or so. 

[mike carey]

14 minutes ago, tassojunior said:

Staples sells MasterCard giftcards of $200 with no fee every two weeks or so. 

Others have commented that RM declined some payments from gift cards. There are rechargeable mastercard debit cards that may work, some can be loaded with multiple currencies (not relevant for paying an RM account). You would expect a multi-currency card to work outside the US but it would pay to check whether USD ones do. (PayPal apparently has one.)

[Simon Suraci]

22 hours ago, BiGuyNola said:

Visa has recently faced legal action, being sued for engaging in monopolistic practices and behaviors, and allegedly somewhat mistreating certain vendors. The lawsuit accuses the global Visa services of abusing its dominant market position to stifle competition and unfairly dictate terms and fees to smaller vendors and businesses. These vendors claim that Visa's big control over the payment processing industry has allowed visa to impose excessive fees, create restrictive contracts for vendors, and force unfavorable conditions on their biz. 

I’d like to learn more. @BiGuyNola will you cite a source or post a link?

Visa is obviously huge and widely accepted in the US, but not a monopoly. Amex, MC, Discover, and others compete freely with Visa. Some businesses like Costco do not accept Amex. I’ve wondered if it has to do with contract negotiations or simply Amex charging more fees to the vendor than Visa. Almost anywhere that accepts Visa also accepts MC, among others.

If the issue is monopoly bullying for more favorable terms with RM, why are we not hearing about the same thing happening with other companies? Surely RM isn’t the only one they would be targeting to boost revenue or strongarm for more favorable contract terms.

My hunch is there’s an issue with Visa appearing as though they are encouraging, promoting, or facilitating illicit commercial activity. Why this wouldn’t also apply to MC beats me.

My other hunch is RM sees the writing on the wall and is thinking ahead, not to if - but when - they can no longer accept CC payments due to some policy, law, or lawsuit ruling preventing them from doing so. I assume that’s why they are pushing crypto. I still don’t understand why that would be a viable solution, however. Crypto is so easily traceable. Law enforcement regularly uses crypto data to sniff out crime.

Edited September 26, 2024 by Simon Suraci

[BuffaloKyle]

 

[mike carey]

32 minutes ago, Simon Suraci said:

Visa is obviously huge and widely accepted in the US, but not a monopoly. Amex, MC, Discover, and others compete freely with Visa. Some businesses like Costco do not accept Amex. I’ve wondered if it has to do with contract negotiations or simply Amex charging more fees to the vendor than Visa. Almost anywhere that accepts Visa also accepts MC, among others.

I haven't watched the video that @BuffaloKyle posted but the DOJ suit is about the fees Visa charges merchants (that the public do not see) and their basis for charging the fees which apparently vary depending on the issuer of the card. As I understand merchants can't pick and choose which visa cards to accept and they don't know in advance what the fees are.

I doubt the same rules apply in the EU (they don't here) as I doubt EU competition rules would allow predatory transfer fees.

I also doubt that it's an issue of visa being puritanical in its attitude to RM, or there being issues of perceived criminality (they would probably also affect MC), I suspect it's some sort of issue that RM has with visa or the financial institution that processes those transactions (although why it seems to have been applied inconsistently is a mystery to me).

[Simon Suraci]

54 minutes ago, BuffaloKyle said:

 

Thanks for posting the clip @BuffaloKyleI’d like to hear from processors what Visa’s “exclusive network” demands are, and what fees they impose for processors not being exclusive to Visa. Or, putting it differently, what discounts they may offer to use Visa exclusively.

In my mind, there is a difference between offering a discount for going exclusive, vs charging more than their competitors for NOT being exclusive. One is an incentive, which is better, but still problematic because they are exploiting their monopoly position to accelerate their growing market share. The other is a penalty. Visa knows they have monopoly leverage when 60% of consumer payments are through Visa.

I am a merchant. I accept CC payments but it’s through a third party processor, so I have no say over which cards I can accept. The only choice I have is which third party processor to use, which can change their policies at any time for any reason. My system is Booksy, which processes through Stripe. Stripe competes with Square and others. Stripe would be negotiating fees with Visa and passing that cost onto me, which I then either choose to eat or pass on to my clients via higher prices or apply processing fees to clients using digital payments. I eat it. We’re talking 2.5% to 3.5% +/- depending on which payment processor.

[+ IronMaus]

CRAP!
First off, I googled "rentmen not accepting visa" and the first thing that came up was this conversation.
Second, Rentmen better not take away my long held $40 Gold Membership for this.
Third, do any of you have a Mastercard and want to pay my membership?

[Simon Suraci]

5 hours ago, IronMaus said:

CRAP!
First off, I googled "rentmen not accepting visa" and the first thing that came up was this conversation.
Second, Rentmen better not take away my long held $40 Gold Membership for this.
Third, do any of you have a Mastercard and want to pay my membership?

@IronMaus I bit the bullet, applied, and was approved for a MC last month. I got the digital card info from my financial institution and paid my membership dues that same day. Try applying for a MC. I was embarrassed but asked a trusted client before that to help me out temporarily while I apply and wait for the card to arrive. He doesn’t use MC so I was SOL until I figured this out myself and got back on track, albeit with a CC I didn’t want or need. It is what it is. We can’t put our livelihoods on hold while RM maybe…might…eventually accept Visa ever again. It sucks.

[+ jeezopete]

11 hours ago, Simon Suraci said:

My hunch is there’s an issue with Visa appearing as though they are encouraging, promoting, or facilitating illicit commercial activity. Why this wouldn’t also apply to MC beats me.

This is the explanation I received:

Be advised that we accept only MasterCard and crypto payments currently due to recently introduced limitations by VISA regarding adult content websites. Please consider using one of these payment methods if possible.

[+ azdr0710]

I got a notice from Rentmen a couple days ago that my auto-recurring premium membership payment ($9.95/mo) wasn't accepted.....it did go thru last month after all the ruckus had already started, but not so much just now.....I carefully followed their instructions to update the card (don't want to lose my grandfathered rate, of course) and used a little-used MasterCard I had sitting around.....the payment went thru as I requested and all seems good.....will see if my Rentmasseur premium membership (same company as Rentmen) auto-payment is rejected in a couple days

[Simon Suraci]

16 hours ago, jeezopete said:

This is the explanation I received:

Be advised that we accept only MasterCard and crypto payments currently due to recently introduced limitations by VISA regarding adult content websites. Please consider using one of these payment methods if possible.

So it DOES have something to do with new policies regarding adult content!

[Tallmenlover]

Wow! It's crazy that Visa is allowed to dictate what constitutes illicit activity. I could just be using the site for the videos.

[jonnychgo]

So this is why my membership failed and wouldn’t accept it when I deleted the card and tried to re-enter it.  

[+ DynamicUno]

It looks like RM is continuing to use Visa cards that are on file with an account, but is not taking me cards or refreshing expired cards.

[+ jeezopete]

54 minutes ago, DynamicUno said:

It looks like RM is continuing to use Visa cards that are on file with an account, but is not taking me cards or refreshing expired cards.

It continued using mine up until last week. That's when I received notification that my Visa was invalid.

[BuzzLiteQueer]

 

3 minutes ago, jeezopete said:

It continued using mine up until last week. That's when I received notification that my Visa was invalid.

I had the same experience.  So today I entered information on a MasterCard and all went well.

[BuzzLiteQueer]

1 hour ago, DynamicUno said:

It looks like RM is continuing to use Visa cards that are on file with an account, but is not taking me cards or refreshing expired cards.

That wasn't my experience.  When it came time for my monthly renewal with my Visa card on file which had not expired, the system would not accept it.  So I added a Mastercard and the monthly renewal went through.

[Tallmenlover]

23 minutes ago, BuzzLiteQueer said:

That wasn't my experience.  When it came time for my monthly renewal with my Visa card on file which had not expired, the system would not accept it.  So I added a Mastercard and the monthly renewal went through.

That didn't happen for me and my visa card has not expired.

[TAMPAMUSCLEDAD]

I'm not sure if anybody is checking this anymore. So I got a Mastercard account and it has plenty of room on it as far as credit goes and I tried to use it today and it was also declined. Everything that has been suggested which is appreciated in this forum has been declined. I wrote to them two days ago and I still have not heard back. Meanwhile my business is suffering. More like hemorrhaging and I cannot stand masseur finder. Overpriced and very restrictive and if rentmasseur goes Belly Up, guaranteed that the other site will Jack its prices up even more. Their premium membership is $400 a month which is insane. I really don't want to have to use crypto. Anybody else having an issue trying to process a MasterCard that is not a MasterCard gift card? Thank you very much

[Hot4latin]

4 hours ago, TAMPAMUSCLEDAD said:

Anybody else having an issue trying to process a MasterCard that is not a MasterCard gift card? Thank you very much

Yes, I setup a MasterCard to replace the Visa I had on file.  I logged in today and I’m back down to a free member. So I tried to manually renew. Wouldn’t work. I got a text from my bank telling me they rejected the charge but to reply “yes” to authorize. I followed through but my account is still sitting as a free member.  And to make this even more of a pain, the one-year renewal option isn’t available this time. What gives? 

[BuffaloKyle]

2 hours ago, Hot4latin said:

Yes, I setup a MasterCard to replace the Visa I had on file.  I logged in today and I’m back down to a free member. So I tried to manually renew. Wouldn’t work. I got a text from my bank telling me they rejected the charge but to reply “yes” to authorize. I followed through but my account is still sitting as a free member.  And to make this even more of a pain, the one-year renewal option isn’t available this time. What gives? 

Well if clients and providers can't use any kind of credit card RM is definitely gonna be nonexistent before you know it.

[Hot4latin]

RentMasseur’s webmaster got back with me and confirmed they no longer offer a one-year membership. Six months is the max. So I resubscribed and this time my MasterCard processed. I suspect the initial decline was on my bank’s side of the transaction. 

[chitownguy]

16 hours ago, TAMPAMUSCLEDAD said:

I'm not sure if anybody is checking this anymore. So I got a Mastercard account and it has plenty of room on it as far as credit goes and I tried to use it today and it was also declined. Everything that has been suggested which is appreciated in this forum has been declined. I wrote to them two days ago and I still have not heard back. Meanwhile my business is suffering. More like hemorrhaging and I cannot stand masseur finder. Overpriced and very restrictive and if rentmasseur goes Belly Up, guaranteed that the other site will Jack its prices up even more. Their premium membership is $400 a month which is insane. I really don't want to have to use crypto. Anybody else having an issue trying to process a MasterCard that is not a MasterCard gift card? Thank you very much

It might have been declined because it was flagged by Mastercard as a possible fraudulent charge because it's a foreign charge.   I had this happen awhile back when I renewed my membership with a new card.  I had to call my bank to let them know I authorized the charge.  I then resubmitted my renewal and it went thru.

Edited October 1, 2024 by chitownguy

[+ m_writer]

On 9/30/2024 at 2:15 PM, TAMPAMUSCLEDAD said:

Meanwhile my business is suffering. More like hemorrhaging and I cannot stand masseur finder. Overpriced and very restrictive and if rentmasseur goes Belly Up, guaranteed that the other site will Jack its prices up even more.

Forgive me for asking but I'm confused: what's bad about Masseur Finder?

Granted, they won't allow anything signifying you can do anything more than therapeutic massage, but I would assume it's another site that can draw customers for you outside of RentMasseur. So wouldn't advertising on two sites instead of one broaden your pool for customers?

Edited October 1, 2024 by m_writer

[Guest]

On 9/26/2024 at 2:54 PM, IronMaus said:

CRAP!
First off, I googled "rentmen not accepting visa" and the first thing that came up was this conversation.
Second, Rentmen better not take away my long held $40 Gold Membership for this.
Third, do any of you have a Mastercard and want to pay my membership?

I was also brought to this conversation when I went to go purchase a platinum membership boost and was told to switch to MC or Crypto. My card on file is a visa and is set on recurring charge and hasn't shown any signs of causing ad inactivity and is set to renew on the 14th.

Sidenote: you were getting $40 gold?! They told me tough and raised my rate even though I've been on the platform since 2016??