In what seems to have become a rather unpleasant right of passage for start-up indie studios, our payment provider has screwed us over. We actually chose Paymate for just two reasons:
- They allowed us to use a “pay what you want” model.
- We’d heard stories about devs being messed around by both Paypal and Google checkout.
All seemed to be going fine, and then about an hour ago, we received the following email from them:
“Thank you for registering up for Paymate!
Unfortunately after doing a risk assessment on your account we were unable to approve your Paymate account. All payments made so far will be reversed back to the buyer.
We apologies for not being able to assist you on this occasion, If there is anything else i can help you with please let me know.”
Um, okay. No other explanation given. So Paul called them, and this was their (paraphrased) explanation:
“We don’t work with online games companies, because teenagers use their parents credit cards to buy games, and then we end up having to refund them. End of story.”
Excuse me, what?? The next half-hour basically consisted of us staring at each other open-mouthed, unable to comprehend that a 21st century, internet-based payment processing company would have such a prehistoric attitude to online sales.
We are a legitimate company. We are selling a legitimate (albeit digital) product. But because it’s in the “games” category, that automatically makes it a risk? Teenagers don’t use their parents’ credit cards to buy anything else but games? And you really think they’re going to do that to by the special edition of an indie game no-one’s heard of? You really think they’ll want the commentary track that badly??
Anyway … everyone’s money should now have been refunded. We are working on arranging new payment solutions, and will have payment options available as soon as possible, for those who are lovely enough to want to support us. At that stage we will email everyone who paid, and give them the option of paying again.
In the meantime, please enjoy the free Curiosity Edition of the game.
Thanks for your understanding. I’ll be over there, banging my head on the table.
PS: We now have a mailing list for those who want to know when our payment system will be back up. Sign up here and we’ll let you know.
And now everyone knows to never use Paymate again. Ever. For buying things. =/
(Will wait to pay for appreciation edition again later even though I have it)
That is extremely unfortunate, and like you said, is a prehistoric way to view digital game products and purchases.
I enjoyed the appreciation edition, and the commentary too – can’t remember if the commentary was in the curiosity version at all.
I for one will definitely be re-buying it from you guys when you get your payment details sorted out.
Don’t let this set-back get you down, keep at it and make more indie games!
Honestly this is disgusting, especially in this modern day climate. In my understanding it is in violation of the Australian fair trade laws and I would consider it as a unconstitutional conduct between businesses and you should seek immediate legal advice.
I’d quite like to pay for the game; is there some way I can subscribe so you can tell me when I can?
Yes! We just fixed up a mailing list over at http://eepurl.com/jA0PP – sign up and we’ll send you an email when we’re ready to take payments again.
get on silicon beach australia and ask them to recommend some options
“We don’t like having to issue refunds, so we decided to issue everybody a refund”
bitcoins
Not sure that’s such a great idea:
http://nerdr.com/bitcoin-exchange-scam-bitcoins-are-worthless/
For BTDT: SE’s PWYW system, I went with Formspring (
http://www.fastspring.com/) They set everything up for me, were helpful and pleasant, and importantly haven’t shut the account down. It’s not a perfect system, but it does the job and they don’t seem to be as anti-indie as some other companies.
The BTDT buy now page is here, see if that’s the sort of thing you’re after? http://sites.fastspring.com/sizefivegames/product/bentheredanthatspecialedition
Best,
d
I’m a long time game dev, now working at a small social games publisher – we deal with credit card companies all the time. Maybe I can shed a little light on things.
It’s too bad you decided to be ugly about this. As a businessman I would have hoped you’d be more professional. Our banking partner does not allow us to accept gaming companies. They determine who can and cannot be accepted and what categories allowed. It’s not that you are doing anything bad like porn or tobacco sales, only that it is a high risk category from a chargeback standpoint. I’m sorry you don’t understand as that’s the way this industry work.
if you are really from this company, you should probably realize that a) this is hardly an “ugly” response in the grand scheme of things, b) you should have warned these people before letting them set up an account with you and receive payments, c) your response was totally inadequate and failed to explain anything to them. If anything, it was actually a pretty rude response. I’d say that it puts you squarely out of the “businessman” category.
Damn, you didn’t even read the guy’s reply and then you insult him personally? “Our banking partner does not allow us to accept gaming companies.” The guy is just doing his job!
That does not excuse such poor treatment of clients; this article leads me to believe that this is an awful company.
”Our banking partner does not allow us to accept gaming companies.” then for the love of god is it not your responsibility to clearly state this before a small company try’s to use your service?
Why do you consider this being “ugly” about it?
In your industry, they’re a customer not a businessman.
Just as you’d demand certain service from your cable company, car garage or bank, he expected a certain service from yours.
Failing that, he reported to HIS customers over his own experience and dissatisfaction with your services and explained why HE is no longer able to provide a service to HIS customers.
That’s rather professional. If anything, he was acting in the interest of the public.
Is he harming you in any way? What customers would he be denying you of, what business do you stand to lose from this ‘ugly’ness, more indie gaming companies? But you couldn’t take their business in the first place, right?
That you’re bound by your financial partners to conduct a certain manner of business should not reflect upon him. His account shouldn’t have been authorized in the first place. You should have a 24-48 business hours clearance procedure until the account becomes active. That is standard in professional business.
Also, this form of explanation should’ve been provided to YOUR CLIENT upon your account termination notice, not posted as a comment on news item in an indie’s blog. That is also part of being professional, the courtesy to explain the rationale behind your decision making. It goes long ways to treat your customers, even denied ones, with respect. Business 101.
Good luck in your future endeavors.
- A gamer.
How about suing them, at least to recover the lost money?
“You agree and warrant that You will not use the Service or the
Paymate Website in connection with any products or services that
Paymate reasonably consider are illegal or brand damaging including
(but not limited to) gaming, adult content, the illegal sale of
prescription drugs or tobacco products, improper use of intellectual
property rights or the sale of counterfeit merchandise or included
in this list of Unacceptable Business Categories.”
It says right there in the terms of use. Maybe read them before agreeing to use them as a payment service. Very Unprofessional.
Just wanting to clarify: my reading of “gaming” in this context is gambling, not video games. Is this correct?
I believe that kind of gaming we see in EULAS and TOS are always refering to gambling as gaming
Lame indeed. The weak excuse is the sucker punch. Nothing like a big ol’ strawman to justify illogical (or anti-competitive) decision making.
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You won’t have these issues with bitcoin.
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My God! That’s horrible. They work so primary and irresponsible and customer service is rude and condescending. That’s intolerable.