I logged into my account with instabil.com just to see what the status of my reserve amount is. I should be now getting reserve payment, but guesd what, nothing. I had a refund and my payment this month is a negative amount.


Well what shocked me was I seen their "Merchant Advisory Log"

It said this:

29/08/2001
Instabill.com is no longer a subsidiary of zStar Network,Inc. effective August 20,2001 zStar Network, Inc. will honor all agreements made between its members before that time.

I am lost on this one. :confused:

It's all part of the whole company/network going out of business.

Originally posted by indiboi
It's all part of the whole company/network going out of business.

So is Revecom or paysystems part of ZstarNetwork?

well, i've heard (read) the rumors about them all being related, but honestly I don't "know" if they are or not... At this point I'd be very cautious with that whole stream of 3rd party billing services; it's all just my opinion, but it seems like they're dominos waiting to knock each other over. Ibill is very expensive, but they have a lot more stability (even if it only seems that way), but you're always going to be at someone else's mercy when you use the 3rd party billing systems, unfortunately.

Originally posted by indiboi
well, i've heard (read) the rumors about them all being related, but honestly I don't "know" if they are or not... At this point I'd be very cautious with that whole stream of 3rd party billing services; it's all just my opinion, but it seems like they're dominos waiting to knock each other over. Ibill is very expensive, but they have a lot more stability (even if it only seems that way), but you're always going to be at someone else's mercy when you use the 3rd party billing systems, unfortunately.

No it is not only your opinion, it is mine also. I even went and got my own merchant account to ge away from 3rd party billing companies and I am so glad I did.

I also feel using a 3rd party MAKES your business LOOK unprofessional.

Sorry I capitalized them two words, because I wrote about this on another board and was attacked from serveral angles, even some saying, "oh, so your business used to be unprofessional" I restated it makes you LOOK that way, not that you are.

I prefer to have the place of business I am dealing with on my credit card statement, not a 3rd party.

hehe, indeed, more than just my opinion, but trying to avoid any ill content from anyone who might not agree with me/you, etc.

The public perception of level of professionalism varies, some realize that (hypothetically) that you're a small company and don't have necessarily have the upfront capital, etc, for a full blown merchant account, while others will see it as a very negative aspect; either way, a merchant account is really the way to go once you've become established. :)

Originally posted by indiboi
hehe, indeed, more than just my opinion, but trying to avoid any ill content from anyone who might not agree with me/you, etc.

The public perception of level of professionalism varies, some realize that (hypothetically) that you're a small company and don't have necessarily have the upfront capital, etc, for a full blown merchant account, while others will see it as a very negative aspect; either way, a merchant account is really the way to go once you've become established. :)

Same here, don't want to start a war.

When I used a 3rd party and I set a customer up manually, ie over the phone. I had to either tell them to sign on the web page and order or email them a link, then tell them, BTW, your credit card will be billed by so-in-so for our services. I know for a fact that I lost customers due to this.