RIP Cross Sales

[cthulhu_waves]

Now, it appears cross sales will die a slow painful death if Visa can do anything about it. Will this hurt the industry even further or improve it?

SAN FRANCISCO — Visa on Tuesday tightened the screws on companies involved in cross sales.

Online companies will no longer be able to allow third parties to charge a customer's card without the card owner re-entering credit card information, Visa said Tuesday.

Visa says that such marketing can result in "high levels of consumer disputes and degrades the efficiency, reliability and security of the payment system." It said that 35 million consumers have paid $1.4 billion for such marketing offers.

Visa's new requirement is designed to send a "clear signal to cardholders that a second purchase is being initiated and protects them from questionable marketing practices," the company said in a statement.

A source close to Visa told XBIZ that the new policy goes into effect May 1. The source said Visa could impose fines against merchant banks that continue to work with sites that flout the new policy. The merchant banks also could face a loss in the ability to accept Visa payments.

Reaction from adult billing companies was tempered by that the fact that most were predicting a clampdown on cross sales.

Read the entire article here.