It is no exaggeration, dear reader, to say that I’m considering giving it up.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy it any more. On the contrary, I enjoy it more than ever, and have been looking forward to 2011 like no other in my short online history.
It’s not that people have stopped reading or responding. On the contrary, I’ve got more regular readers – and comments of a higher standard – than I’ve ever had.
It’s not that I have gone skint. Now whilst I can’t say ‘on the contrary’ here, because times are harder for everyone – including me, I’m still chiseling out a living from my online endeavours (and considering myself a million times blessed that I’m able to do that, so absolutely zero sympathy required!).
No, it’s none of the reasons a business should fold.
In fact, it’s the most annoying, frustrating, disappointing, downright stupid set of reasons you can imagine.
Firstly, PayPal have decided not to accept more than half of the instalments to the Geegeez Racing Club (and another of my services). This is down to the fact that they don’t like recurring billing payments, and seem to reject them for a variety of reasons known only to them. Suspected reason: because I deal with gambling-related products, despite that being entirely legal in UK.
Secondly, despite having an impeccable trading history for four and a half years, and a commensurately pristine relationship with my bank and my relationship manager, I’m having extreme difficulties in procuring a merchant account – which is a means of taking payment without troubling PayPal (who have grown into a monster with zero customer service, and have the power to stop a business dead in its tracks…). The reason for my difficulties in securing alternative processing options: because I deal with gambling-related products, despite that being entirely legal in UK, and despite my bank being happy to accept the transactions into the account.
Thirdly, and what might be the final nail in the coffin, my email sending company have decided to close down parts of my account (to be closely followed, presumably, by the rest of the account), including the ‘Geegeez’ list. The reason: because I deal with gambling-related products, despite that being entirely legal in UK.
In other words, despite not doing anything illegal; and despite being at continued pains to try to do my bit to tidy up an otherwise dirty arena; and despite having a readership that recognises and embraces that (thank you, thank you, thank you); I am not allowed by the fundamental building blocks of any business, to conduct business.
It is against the terms of service of my payment processor to process transactions for betting-related products. It is against the terms of the service of my emailing service to send emails for betting-related websites.
To put it another way, it’s like being shut down by your finance and marketing departments! And, frankly, I don’t really have a leg to stand on.
You see, it IS against those company’s terms of service, despite what I might consider ethical and know to be legal. So ultimately I can have no complaints.
For the record, aweber – an email sending service of similar size and repute to getresponse, who are closing me down – explicitly state that so long as betting is legal in my country (which, of course, it is), they would welcome my business.
And that’s where I’m headed, with some of you too. I will lose somewhere between 60 and 70% of my subscriber list in the process, which is actually a mixed blessing.
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