It's my blog, so I can rant if I want to.

This morning when I walked in to say Hi to our wonderful head of Customer Service, Sharon Hamner, she was about to cry tears of rage and frustration.

Turns out Nova, the processing company we use, is suddenly and without warning declining all Visa and MC orders from SherpaStore. Yup, for the next 48 hours (until the dot of March 1st), all Visa and MC cardholders will be declined at our store no matter how good your card is. (However, if you use Amex or Discover, or want to be billed, you're still ok.)

Why are MC and Visa stopping us cold in our tracks? Because we're too successful.

Visa and MC don't like merchants who do well, because then the card companies' risk gets higher. You see, legally in the US, consumers have 90 days to complain about a fraudulent charge and get it reversed.

This consumer safety net is the number one reason why ecommerce has been phenomenally successful in the US. I've talked with plenty of marketers in other countries that don't have such consumer protections, and they say it's far tougher to get online orders.

However, the safety net scares the heck out of the card companies. Why? Well, what if a merchant suddenly goes bankrupt or flees the country with all of their past 90 days' revenues ... and leaves the card company holding the bag? What if the card company has to refund heaps of upset customers?

To limit this risk, the card processors give each merchant a revenue limit. That's right, you can only make so much per month. While it makes sense in theory, the problem in reality is that:

#1. Most card processing companies don't warn merchants about this revenue ceiling. So you have no idea it exists until you hit it or hear about it from a friend.

Luckily, I was warned three years ago by the ecommerce VP behind a household brand name's site that had been shut down one weekend by card processors for "making too much."

#2. Most card processing companies don't alert you when your ceiling is imminent, nor do they tell you at the moment they cut off your processing capabilities. Suddenly all your orders are rejected, and that's it.

#3. Most card processing companies are slow and bureaucratic. No service rep or supervisor has the ability to help you on the spot... all decisions must be kicked to an executive in another department who may get back to you in 48 hours. Or not. The fact that your site is rejecting orders NOW doesn't concern them.

#4. Most card processing companies are exceptionally unfriendly to merchants that are smaller than, say, megalithic. In exchange for a 2-3% cut of your revenues, they'll refuse to give you a personal service rep, nor allow reps to tell you their last names or direct phone extensions, nor allow you to speak directly with anyone who has any power.

As I said above, we're not the only site to have run into problems like this. In fact, the list is as long as my arm and lots of famous names are on it. We're actually luckier than most because being forewarned, we've been pro-actively negotiating our limit every single quarter for years now.

Plus, we're not new nor suddenly skyrocketing (two things processing companies fear and despise. Our business has shown super-steady trends for six years now, and customers like us so we don't get many chargebacks.

Despite all of this, our store was cut off with zero warning late Friday night. We were penalized for being successful. In America. Thank you.

Well, all I can say is thank goodness for American Express and Discover. These two companies sidestep the archaic regs that hem in Visa and MC and are more than happy to take our business. Even when we do really well.

For the next 48 hours if you want to order from us, you'll have to use Amex, Discover or contact Sharon's department for an invoice. And you know what? That's just fine with me. I'm fed up with the other two card brands right now.

Anne Holland - Publisher
MarketingSherpa

P.S. As always, our Case Studies and articles are open access for about 10 days. Then they go into SherpaLibrary where you can research for a small fee. The links always remain the same.

#2. How Big Al's Raised Ecommerce Conversions 5% by Offering eBilling

A few MarketingSherpa readers complained last month when we brought you a Case Study about Newegg.com's Bill Me Later tests. Turns out loads of ecommerce sites are excited about copying this test, but the vendor Newegg.com uses only takes new clients with more than $20 million in annual online revenues.

If you work for a small-to-sized eretailer, this e-billing Case Study is for you.

By the way -- check out Big Al's incredible conversion rates:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3190
(Open access until March 3rd)

#3. How to Grow Your List to 2 Million Opt-Ins... and Which Tactics Give You Higher Quality Names

Sherpa readers who wrote in to say, "Would you find out what Bell Canada's doing with their email?"

Well, sure! So we called up Bell Canada's Alain Tremblay and he agreed to be grilled by us for over an hour. Turns out his team is using three list building tactics that are not only smart, but also permission-based.

Here are all the details, including creative samples and fascinating response data:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3192
(Open access until March 5th)

#4. How Scholastic Doubled eCommerce Revenues with a Site Survey

Despite its famous brand name, ecommerce sales at Scholastic's site got off to a rockier-than-expected start.

So, the team launched an online survey. Results were so helpful to improving the bottom line that the survey's been continuously served up to shoppers for four years now.

Discover which two major changes, suggested by survey results, helped turn Scholastic's conversion rate from blah to boffo:
http://www.contentbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3193
(Open access until March 6th)

#5. Special Report: How to Market to Lawyers -- 5 Specific Tactics (Hint: Text-Only Email)

If you're sending any email newsletters or campaigns to lawyers right now, pick up your phone, call the production department, and tell them to switch to text-only. Preferably a layout that looks fabulous on a BlackBerry.

Next, keep reading for more on marketing to lawyers, including:

-> How to avoid the top two mistakes
-> How to write copy that lawyers love reading
-> What are legal firms' top 3 challenges and frustrations
(that your marketing can tap into)

There are 650,000 lawyers working in the US today; here's how you should approach this marketplace:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3191
(Open access until March 4th)

#6. Fame Briefs: Email Awards Entries News + 2 New Awards

Here's your quick listing of the latest marketing, ad, and PR awards you can nominate yourself for:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2632
(Open access = permanent)

#7. Help Wanteds: 31 New Jobs & 3 Seekers Available

The past week's new posts include positions from Tower Records, Classmates.com, GEICO, Backcountry.com, A.T. Cross Company, and Q Interactive. Plus, learn how to post your own opening complimentary service).
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2522
(Open access = permanent)

#8. New Giveaway: "Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play," by Mahan Khalsa.

"Selling is the second oldest profession, often confused with the first," begins this new book by Mahan Khalsa, the biz dev consultant best known for his exceptionally long white beard.

Packed with real-life anecdotes of high-tech biz dev life, this over-sized paperback features big type, wide margins, and lots of charts, friendly photos, and illustrations. So although it's 235-pages thick, it's not intimidating.

Khalsa has graciously donated five copies for MarketingSherpa readers. Enter your name in the hat to try for one of them:
http://sherpa.bookoffer.sgizmo.com
(Ends 03/05/06)

+ Winners of last week's giveaway are...

These five lucky marketers will get their own copies of "Your Marketing S*cks," by Mark Stevens.

• Chuck Hildebrandt, Travelzoo Inc, Chicago IL
• Steven Dupree, 3am Labs, Woburn MA
• Luke Erickson, The Motley Fool, Centreville VA
• Geoff Craig, Unilever Canada, Toronto Canada
• Susan Oderwald, Society of Plastics Engineers, Brookfield CT