by Ben Dwyer CCBill is a credit card processing company that specializes in high-risk industries. While it’s known for supporting adult entertainment businesses, it isn’t limited to that industry. The company can serve any business that is considered higher risk – including some subscription businesses, dating websites, businesses with a lot of international sales, and more.
The designation “high-risk” is not intended as a reflection on you or your business personally. Rather, it refers to industries that deal with age-restricted items, industries with higher than average chargeback rates, and industries that sometimes attract businesses skirting the lines of legality, such as aggressive debt collection companies.
If you’re considered “high-risk” try not to take it personally, but do realize that it means your processing needs will be a little different (and come with higher pricing) than non high-risk businesses. With that in mind, let’s look at CCBill’s services, pricing, and customer reviews.
(Don’t need a high risk processor? Go here to see pricing for non-high risk industries.)
Payment Processing
CCBill offers payment processing services much like any other processor, except that they serve higher risk industries and only offer online (card-not-present) processing. The company offers online payment processing for both one-time and recurring purchases. Note that CCBill does not permit you to enter a customer’s card information on their behalf, meaning they do not offer a virtual terminal option for phone sales.
International Transactions
As a high-risk processor that supports international payments, CCBill lets you take almost any credit card for payment. Additionally, you can accept direct debit using European-compatible debit solutions that support Euros and British pounds. You can also accept Canadian and Australian dollars as well as Japanese Yen.
With DirectPayEU, you’ll be able to offer a payment channel that doesn’t require credit cards. Instead, consumers can directly link to their bank using a transaction ID to pay for the service or goods you’re providing. DirectPayEU is available in 36 countries in Europe. You can choose to enable multilingual payment forms for your customers’ convenience as well.
Recurring Billing
For accepting subscription payments, CCBill supports recurring billing. You’ll be able to accept the same payment types as one-time purchases (including cards and ACH debits) while also choosing whether to implement free trial periods and set the billing frequency. Tiered subscription plans are also available if you offer more than one subscription type.
Fraud Prevention
Advanced fraud protection is included with CCBill plans at no extra charge. A client risk team reviews transactions to help reduce your risk of fraud. The team will check for suspicious activity and out of the ordinary purchasing patterns to help ensure transactions are valid. Additionally, CCBill uses a proprietary analyzation method prior to authorization that checks transactions against a variety of factors.
Software and Integrations
CCBill integrates with several leading ecommerce platforms and shopping carts, including Magento, PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Weebly, 3dcart, and Opencart. It’s also compatible with dating and adult-specific services like Adult SiteRunner, WPDating, StreamingVideoProvider, and Skadate.
CCBill Rates, Fees, and Terms
Rates and fees in processing already fluctuate, but with high-risk processing, it’s even more specific to your individual business. That said, CCBill does publish starting rates for different industries, as follows:
- Online businesses: Starting at 3.9% + 55 cents per transaction
- Dating services: 5.9% + 55 cents per transaction
- Non-profit organizations: 3.9% + 55 cents per transaction
- Other high-risk industries: 10.8% – 14.5% per transaction
CCBill also supports subscription businesses, live entertainment venues, and video-on-demand services, but pricing is determined on a per-case basis depending on the content, so CCBill doesn’t publish rates for these industries.
On its website, CCBill lists 5 plans, called “Complete,” “Date,” “Donate,” “Blue,” and “Direct.” As the names imply, “Date” is the plan for dating services while “Donate” is the plan for non-profits. “Complete” is the plan that applies to the general online business category, and “Blue” is for other high-risk businesses.
Other Fees
While CCBill states that there are no setup or monthly fees for any of its plans, an annual high-risk registration fee of $1,000 will be assessed on the “Blue” plan. Additionally, the company states that the average transaction size for most plans (including the “Complete,” “Date,” and “Donate” plans) must be greater than $10 or a 3% surcharge will apply. For other plans, minimum transaction size is $2.95. A recurring transaction surcharge of 2% will apply to businesses on the “Complete” plan if the business chooses to implement recurring billing.
Lastly, CCBill charges fees in specific situations, such as chargebacks or refunds, as seen in this screenshot, below.
On every plan except “Blue,” CCBill assesses a chargeback fee of $25 and a refund fee of 15 cents. All plans will incur a $20 fee for stopping payment on check, providing bad ACH information, and rerouting ACH transactions. A $30 fee will be charged for reversing an ACH payment or a $15 charge will apply for a returned wire.
You may also incur fees for payout of funds ranging from $5 for an ACH transfer to $22 if you elect to receive a check delivered by priority overnight mail.
Reserves
All plans include a rolling reserve, as follows:
- Complete: 5% for 8 weeks
- Date: 5% for 8 weeks
- Donate: 5% for 8 weeks
- Blue: 5% for 26 weeks
- Direct: 5% for 26 weeks for higher risk, 5% for 13 weeks for lower risk
Non-profit organizations that don’t fall under the “high risk” designation should consider all processing options, as there may be lower costs available through traditional processors.
Read more: Credit Card Processing for Non-Profit Organizations.
CCBill Reviews
The problem with looking into CCBill reviews it that most are posted by consumers who have made payments through CCBill, not the businesses that enabled CCBill as their credit card processing solution. This is true on the Better Business Bureau’s website and at TrustPilot.
Better Business Bureau
CCBill has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau since 2014 and boasts an A+ rating. At the time of this writing, the company has 3 positive reviews, 1 neutral review, 7 negative reviews, and 16 formal complaints.
Unfortunately, the majority of the complaints and reviews are from customers using CCBill to make payments and refer to being dissatisfied with ability to get refunds. There is no information on CCBill as the credit card processing service for the business.
The company does include a section of customer success story videos on its website. Reviewers praise the company for helping their business run smoothly, growing revenue, and ease of use.
