Merchant Account + Company and "Creative Business Operation"

[Satand]

Im new on this forum and Im looking for a company setup to my business operation, after subscribed to "Mentor Group" I was reading some threads... but I think I will need some orientation from you guys if is possible..

My business idea is to build a online movie portal like this one:
https://pickaflick.co/
The idea is to charge 49.99€ per month to my users that are using my service..

I will have 100% legit website like that one, with all terms and conditions so I think any merchant (including Stripe) will accept my business, those guys for example are using a Cyprus company.

But the real truth is, they use this kind of "movie online website" only as a proxy for real deal, and the real deal of them is "Win iPhone X for 1€" landing pages, so every visitor will go to their website using certain link(with cookies) the website will transform itself on a "WIN iphone X today" landing page, the user subscribe enter his CC details, and they earn more 1 user to their database, using a "movie online portal", even if stripe or any other guys go to the website check what is going on, they will always see the "movie portal" legit website/business operation, and the user after subscribe (without know that are subscribing to a 49.99€ monthly plan) will have a access to that portal.. this is the game they play, and I want to do something like that...

things to consider here is the ChargeBack could be high, so my idea is to have an amazing support to those customers, so in case they want to cancel the surprise of 49.99€ per month, they could reach me by chat and I will do that in certain situations to avoid High Rate of ChargeBacks...
If you went on this kind of "scam" I tested using the chat, what they say is:
"We don't promote or work with any kind of giveway or something like that, we cannot be responsible for who marketing our website in wrong ways, and what we can do is cancel is your subscription if you get subscribed to our movie portal."

and is what they do, and I know that they do milions of euros with this kind of business...

but in terms of company and legal penalties, I could get problems? I was wondering to open a UK with nominee, and to start, open a STRIPE account to bill my users..

What you think about whole thing ? and what recommendations you can share to operate like those guys. 🙂

 

[eckart]

The chat reply you got from their support is the truth.
These types of movie/streaming portals are loaded with ads that anybody can buy
so the ads are generally pretty aggressive/scammy.

One day you will see "get an iPhone for $1 NOW - just enter your card details HERE"
on another day you might see "WARNING! Your device is infected by a virus and you need to install this utility RIGHT NOW"

The flow consists of multiple entities/companies:
movie portal site > ad network > media buyer/affiliate > affiliate network > iPhone offer owner

There's a reason 99% of the internet is running through a flow like the one described above:
it's because every single piece of the puzzle is a serious challenge on its own.

Sure, in theory you could build and own the entire flow yourself
but unless you are a miracle wonderboy/girl 🙂
you're pretty much destined to fail with that.

So best to pick (in your case) either:
- running a movie portal site
- or set up one of those "Win an iPhone for $1" companies.

The "win iPhone" is pretty scammy and payment processing for that will need to be hidden behind another (more legit) type of business.
But if you want to use Stripe then you cannot hide it behind something like a movie streaming site either because that's a high risk business (free trial with auto-renewal) and therefore won't get accepted by stripe
but could get accepted by high-risk merchant providers.

Whichever you pick, chargebacks for both of these types of businesses will always be a problem.
Yes, 24/7 chat+email (and preferable also call centre) support is mandatory to even stand a chance at survival
because consumers are lazy and if they feel scammed, forgot to cancel, or someone else bought through their stolen card
they will often chargeback right away with zero attempt at all to first contact you.

 

[Satand]

eckart said:
The chat reply you got from their support is the truth.
These types of movie/streaming portals are loaded with ads that anybody can buy
so the ads are generally pretty aggressive/scammy.

One day you will see "get an iPhone for $1 NOW - just enter your card details HERE"
on another day you might see "WARNING! Your device is infected by a virus and you need to install this utility RIGHT NOW"

The flow consists of multiple entities/companies:
movie portal site > ad network > media buyer/affiliate > affiliate network > iPhone offer owner

There's a reason 99% of the internet is running through a flow like the one described above:
it's because every single piece of the puzzle is a serious challenge on its own.

Sure, in theory you could build and own the entire flow yourself
but unless you are a miracle wonderboy/girl 🙂
you're pretty much destined to fail with that.

So best to pick (in your case) either:
- running a movie portal site
- or set up one of those "Win an iPhone for $1" companies.

The "win iPhone" is pretty scammy and payment processing for that will need to be hidden behind another (more legit) type of business.
But if you want to use Stripe then you cannot hide it behind something like a movie streaming site either because that's a high risk business (free trial with auto-renewal) and therefore won't get accepted by stripe
but could get accepted by high-risk merchant providers.

Whichever you pick, chargebacks for both of these types of businesses will always be a problem.
Yes, 24/7 chat+email (and preferable also call centre) support is mandatory to even stand a chance at survival
because consumers are lazy and if they feel scammed, forgot to cancel, or someone else bought through their stolen card
they will often chargeback right away with zero attempt at all to first contact you.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your opinion, well i fact I think I could be that "wonderboy" hehe I have several years experience working for that networks that have those offers, and Im also a developer, so for me build a "green website" and create a "proxy" to bill my users that are coming from "win iphone today" landpage isn't a problem for me.. online traffic(ads), coding all setup and also create my own "win iphone" lands, aren't a problem, my biggest concern is exactly what you said, the payment processors, if Stripe will not accept my "green" movie portal, imagine when I start getting some CB's on the process.. this is my dilema, which payment processor will work with my "movie portal" project that could handle my CBs without shut down my account? I will do everything I can (chat+support) to decrease that CB rate, but I also know that CB is a consequence of operating such a business.. a I saw one this companies movie portal operating with same company since 2015.. and they have multiple websites running but the company is the same.. they must have a good payment processor to handle all "bad side" of this business

 

[eckart]

Ok if you've been working as an affiliate for multiple years then you already understand how the flow works.
Why are you so convinced then that the movie site is directly behind the iphone offers? What makes you believe this?

 

[Satand]

eckart said:
Ok if you've been working as an affiliate for multiple years then you already understand how the flow works.
Why are you so convinced then that the movie site is directly behind the iphone offers? What makes you believe this?
Click to expand...

They arent directly behind that scam landing pages, that pages is from the guys(like me) who work for the networks.. we produce the false claims pages "get your iphone for 1€", and they (movie websites) create landing pages that "match" our idea.. they use iPhone background.. they show all terms and conditions, but on page they also "simulate" in low profile, you will actually win a iphone.. they are smart, the publishers do the blackhat and they do a little gray hat giving us a changed subscribe page with iPhone in background for example.. in that way they arent against the terms and conditions and they arent doing any scam, and in same way they help the guys who promote blackhat pages to their offer.. but I want to run the entire game without middlemans(networks,advertisers).. my concern is, what merchant will be able to resist to (maybe) high rate of CB

 

[Satand]

If they use same company for 4 years without stop, they must have a contact with a "bulletproof" merchant, and I want to know who they are I will pay for that info/help if is really good source

 

[eckart]

I'm not talking about the landing pages that affiliates make.
Let me rephrase the question so we can get a clear direction: why do you believe that the sites like this movie site are owned and operated by the same company who own and operate the iphone giveaway offers?
If they own both the traffic (movie site in this example) and they would also own the ad offer (iphone in this example) then there would not be any affiliates or networks to which they need to pay commission.

 

[Satand]

eckart said:
Let me rephrase the question so we can get a clear direction: why do you believe that the sites like this movie site are owned and operated by the same company who own and operate the iphone giveaway offers?
Click to expand...

They don't have do the dirty work (scam landing pages with false claims, and get traffic for their website), so they create a "soft landing page" to provide to publishers, for example, a the form to subscribe to movie portal, but with a iphone in background.. makes sense? no.. but they are acting illegal? also no 🙂.. and then the publishers create the REAL DEAL landing pages with false claims and with all blackhat as possible... so they don't own the traffic, and they don't own the REAL blackhat pages, they pay to networks to publishers do the real job for them 🙂