BIN and ICA: More than meets the eye

Editor's note: Ken Musante, President of Humboldt Merchant Services and a Contributing Writer for The Green Sheet, shared the following letter with us:

Ken:

I don't believe we've met, but thanks for writing about BIN / ICA ownership and portability in The Green Sheet ["How Important Are the BIN and ICA to ISOs?" by Ken Musante, The Green Sheet, Dec. 12, 2005, issue 05:12:01].

I have worked for "X" for 10 years, the last 3+ as an ISO Recruiter/Manager. I can't tell you how many times I have talked with potential ISOs that want a BIN and ICA and simply do not understand the details, economics and costs involved.

Too many ISOs writing 100 deals per month want a BIN and ICA and simply are not equipped for it and don't understand that "portability" and "ownership" are more often than not simply terms, not reality. I'll reference your article often and encourage all ISOs I speak with to read it.

Name withheld on request

'We've gotta fight back'

I'm an MLS, and I just read the disturbing cover article entitled "PayPal: Nickel and Diming Its Way to Dominance" in The Green Sheet (Dec. 12, 2005, issue 05:12:01). It absolutely made me sick! I've been keeping an eye on [PayPal], and I knew it was inevitable that its hungry and relentless appetite would start eating away at our business, before our very eyes.

I wish PayPal would die; Wal-Mart and Google, too, as they're threatening our industry and are not [as] scrutinized as we are. But honestly, I know they're going to be around for a long time. Anyway, taking that into consideration, here's my question:

Can you please give some powerful and compelling reasons to share with merchants as to why it's better to go with the traditional way of doing online processing instead of going through a nonbank payment vendor? Perhaps you can list the pros and cons of each solution, especially with e-wallet and other payment methods that [are] now rising on the scene, thus taking a piece of our pie. Please provide a list of strong selling points that [are] favorable to our way of processing as opposed to these other solutions.

Of course, merchants are certainly not limited to our solution, but what can we tell them that would make them want to at least include our way of processing with other solutions they might choose to go with as well?

Especially, please focus on what we can say to overcome the fact that PayPal has acquired VeriSign's payment gateway, which will really give them growth and hurt our industry. What are Visa, MasterCard or "any" entity doing about this? These companies are steadily encroaching on our market. We've gotta fight back hard (and should've started a long time ago).

Thanks,
Nadine House

Nadine:

Thanks for your letter. In publishing The Green Sheet, because of a limited amount of space and time for each story, we are continually challenged with covering a topic to the extent that it needs to be covered for our readers.

Our goal has always been to provide the right information to the right people in the right way, and we are working hard to bring merchant level salespeople what they need to foster their sales careers. Look for a story that addresses your concerns in an upcoming issue.

- Editor