What began as exasperation has blossomed into a cutting-edge, global success story for 2000Charge.com Chief Executive Officer Wolf Kring.
Twelve years ago, Kring became frustrated while selling online. The problem: his European customers couldn't pay with European bank accounts. The solution: find an easily translated payment plan for Internet users around the world.
Unable to find a payment processor that could service the European market, Kring came across MSBILL, a processor interested in international payment options.
After joining MSBILL as a consultant, he later became a partner, gaining the knowledge he used to open 2000Charge.com in 1999.
Offering a variety of real-time, internally developed solutions that cover the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, 2000Charge not only has become an industry leader in alternative payment solutions, but also a host of other online services.
"Our solutions are not just processing solutions," said 2000Charge spokesperson Raphael Berkien "We offer a series of services combined into one solution. Included in every product is a geo-IP feature, the automatic translation of payment pages, worldwide customer support, fraud scrubbing, multi-currency conversion, affiliate management and access to an array of optional management and admin tools."
One 2000Charge specialty is payment alternatives other than credit cards - alternatives that are established, highly secure and widely accepted in all major regions of the world, from North America to Europe to Asia and South America.
"Unlike the USA, the majority of the world doesn't use credit cards," said Berkien. "Therefore, it is imperative for a merchant to understand that alternative payment solutions can represent a significant portion of their sales. People around the world prefer to pay with methods that they trust and are familiar with, which are often bank-driven solutions that also provide advantages to merchants."
With 2000Charge smack in the middle of another growth spurt, global challenges present themselves daily, due to countries such as China, Japan, Netherlands and Canada possessing their own set of rules and regulations regarding banking systems, regulations, cultures and work ethics.
"As a payment processor, we deal with a variety of different countries," said Berkien. "Each one has its own set of legal, compliance and product challenges. Dealing with these complexities is certainly challenging at times, but it can also be rewarding because we're able to bring forth the latest advantages directly to our clients."
Berkien said the company's European solutions, DirectPay and EUDEBIT, are proven in the marketplace, and with the recent introduction of Debit Asia, online business professionals also have the ability to reach one of the fastest-growing Internet markets in the world: China's estimated 1.5 billion consumers.
That figure has not gone unnoticed in the United States.
"U.S.-based merchants are catching on. Not only are they targeting Europe, they're also driving more and more traffic from the Asian region to their Web sites," Berkien said. "We play an important role because part of our service is to automatically translate our payment pages and provide local customer support, which is really an advantage to our merchants because users will feel more comfortable being able to read in their own language and having a local number that they can call for support."
One-fifth of the world's population lives in China, the second-largest market in the world. Recent statistics indicate the country comprises 80 million Internet users, a figure that in the next five years is expected to eclipse the United States' numbers.
"In this e-commerce world, we all call ourselves ‘global companies' and ‘global solutions,'" said Kring. "But it's hard to take a line like that seriously without a viable processing option for a nation made up of 1.5 billion people. With Debit Asia, now we all have one."
Debit Asia allows Chinese consumers to use any of 30 different local bankcards to purchase products and services online. It is a PIN-based processing option, so as with ATM purchases, there is reduced chargeback risk.
In addition to providing U.S. and Canadian ACH solutions to merchants, 2000Charge in January 2008 introduced DirectPay US to help merchants reduce "unauthorized returns" on U.S. check transactions.
DirectPay US eliminates the risk of costly chargebacks, because each transaction is initiated and carried out by the customer. More importantly, the company said, DirectPay US is connected to all major U.S. banks and provides a trusted and easy-to-use solution. DirectPay US combats unauthorized returns on check transactions by allowing customers to make payments from their checking or savings accounts through their bank's website.
With many new ventures planned, it appears there's no limit to the company's future possibilities.
"The adult online market has always been on the forefront of new technologies and ideas," said Berkien. "And we're applying what we have learned in the adult space into easy and useful solutions for our mainstream markets."
-Jamie Rey
This article originally appeared in the November 2008 issue of AVN Online. To subscribe, visit AVNMediaNetwork.com/subscribe.
