Zombaio Having Serious Problems

[Eschaton]

Dear Zombaio Client,

As I am sure you have noticed, we have been experiencing more problems than usual in paying out on time recently and many people have speculated (as they have done for years) that we are on the verge of going out of business.


Whilst we understand that many of you have lost money when other processors have gone out of business in the past, and that you understandably get nervous when payments are late, we want to assure you that our problems are temporary and a knock on effect of issues our main acquirer had with their USD settlement and exchange bank which meant that their settlements to us were quite significantly delayed.


We tried to keep things going as best as we could from our reserves during this period, but this caught us a little unaware, and it has taken time for us to straighten things out which I am pleased to say that we now have and we should be able to bring everybody''s settlements fully up to date during the course of next months.


We will however need to make changes ongoing if we are to avoid falling back in this hole. When we first came to the market we tried to give both the best rates and the fastest payouts and we now know that unless you have a much greater share of the market than we do, and a faster settlement than our acquirers are able to give us, this is quite an impossible model to sustain.


Consequently, we have decided to stop trying to be the cheapest AND the fastest and concentrate on being a reliable low cost processor which of course means we need to change our terms of business.


Rather than just giving people the choice of accepting our new terms or finding a new processor, we have decided to come up with 3 different pricing/settlement models that we are confident we can deliver ongoing and that we hope at least one of which is workable for your business.


The choices are as follows:


1. Monthly - settlement around 20th of the month for previous months transactions. 1.2% decrease in our normal fees
and usual 5% rolling reserve.

2. Bi-Weekly settlement periods. Paid out around 20 days after period end. We will continue to offer existing rates and
usual 5% rolling reserve.

3. Weekly settlements. Paid out around 20 days after period end. Normal rates increased by 3.5% and rolling reserve
increased to 10%


All of these options will continue to free of any annual card fees and it is our intention to switch to these new terms on 1st June.


Your account will by default be changed to the monthly payouts option with your processing rate automatically reduced by 1.2% but if you prefer to change to the bi-weekly payouts option at your existing rates or our weekly payouts option at the premium rate with the increase in reserve, all you have to do is logon to ZOA after 1st June and make the switch in "change banking details".


I very much regret that we have to make these changes, but I feel that going forward, it is important that you can count on Zombaio the way you used to be able to in the past.


Our interest in this business is long term, and whilst I accept that we have made mistakes in the past, a lot of these have come from us trying to improve the service that we offer. We were the first processor to offer settlement to a prepaid card, and we were the first to offer EU payment by ACH. It has not been without problems of course, but we will keep working on these things until the problems disappear.


In addition, we will shortly be adding some exciting new payment options for your customers. These include SEPA Debit, SOFORT banking and BitCoin. For CAM sites we will add a new API for card on file debits which we have been testing with very good results during the last few months.


We will continue to try new ideas, but in the future, we will try to do so without impacting on the efficiency of our core operation.


We really are sorry for any inconvenience and stress our unreliability recently has caused especially if you have reached out to Support or to me personally and not received the answer or action that you were looking for. I hope that you now understand a little better our situation and will give us a chance to earn back your trust over the coming months. If anything in this email is not clear or if you have any questions or comments, please let us know.


Best regards,

Tomas Anderson
VP, Zombaio LLC

[Eschaton]

It will be interesting to see what their policy is when someone chooses weekly or bi-weekly payouts and they still skip/miss payouts on time. Do we get charged the extra fees when Zombaio has the money to pay out or are they waived?

[signupdamnit]

3. Weekly settlements. Paid out around 20 days after period end. Normal rates increased by 3.5% and rolling reserve
increased to 10%

Doubling the reserve and increasing rates 3.5% simply to get the normal weekly payment. Ouch. Seems a little steep.

[Sly]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

Doubling the reserve and increasing rates 3.5% simply to get the normal weekly payment. Ouch. Seems a little steep.

Not only that, you are still getting paid 20 days AFTER the period ends.

If anyone needs help or advice getting set up with Epoch, CCBill, or going merchant so that you can get your hard-earned cash faster, feel free to let me know. ICQ is 147479144. It's not as hard as one may think.

[Eschaton]

Originally Posted by signupdamnit

Doubling the reserve and increasing rates 3.5% simply to get the normal weekly payment. Ouch. Seems a little steep.

I presume the only clients who will opt for this option are the high volume clients who need their money faster.

In other words, that extra 3.5% as well as reserve could be used to pay off the low volume clients who opt for bi-weekly or monthly payouts.

[xXXtesy10]

[Fat Panda]

HaHaHa RIIIIIIIGHT. Money is in MOOOOOTION

[3om3]

wish u guys all goood luck

[The Porn Nerd]

"Whilst"?

[Eschaton]

On a positive note I'm glad they're doing this. I thought to myself several times in the past I would much prefer to pay an increase in fees to get my money rather than not getting it at all.

[lagcam]

It is easy to criticize, especially when you have no dog in the fight, and just like to play to the mob, but as a Zombaio merchant, I actually found that email to be pretty sincere sounding and moderately re-assuring.

I am not crazy about the 20 days, but I would rather have a 20 day settlement that always arrived on time than a 10 day settlement that arrived after 30 or 40. Of course, time will tell if they can deliver on that, but basing your model on what you think you can deliver rather than what you think people want is a start.

That revised pricing and settlement model where you choose between better rates or quicker payment is very interesting, and maybe a little cruel come to think of it!

[Paully]

Sounds like they are trying to get their shit together. That's good. I hope they stay vocal. This letter probably could have saved them a lot of money and headaches had it been sent off a long time ago.

Ultimately, the proof is in the payouts.

[jdubs1982]

Originally Posted by lagcam

It is easy to criticize, especially when you have no dog in the fight, and just like to play to the mob, but as a Zombaio merchant, I actually found that email to be pretty sincere sounding and moderately re-assuring.

I am not crazy about the 20 days, but I would rather have a 20 day settlement that always arrived on time than a 10 day settlement that arrived after 30 or 40. Of course, time will tell if they can deliver on that, but basing your model on what you think you can deliver rather than what you think people want is a start.

That revised pricing and settlement model where you choose between better rates or quicker payment is very interesting, and maybe a little cruel come to think of it!

For me its very close to too little to late, I have re-bills with them and they're currently my backup backup processor for basically every site except 1. I'm annoyed with them but i don't hate them I guess.

I believe what they said in the email it lines up basically with everything I've been hearing from people who supposedly talked to Tomas weeks ago, and I've also over the past couple weeks seen a decent number of my payouts come BUT this is an email that a business that has its shit together would have sent out 6 to 8 weeks ago. Instead of the BS they were spewing for over a month about all the missing payments.

I don't mind the 20 day settlement, don't mind price changes, I'm perfectly capable of looking at the options of the different services available and making a choice but Zombaio has gotten to the point where even if they mean well and are sincere (which I sorta think they are) I question if they are competent. And being unable to pay because of bad business decisions, is honestly for anyone expecting payouts is just as bad as a company being unable to pay because they stole money. Either way the end result is me not getting paid or not getting paid on time.

I feel better about them that I did a month ago, BUT they still have a ways to go before I'd recommend them or use them as a primary biller.

[srockhard]

When did you get that email? Any other Zombaio users get the same email?

[The Porn Nerd]

I don't understand!

A processer collects money, does all the transactions, PROCESSES THE MONEY - then the money is.....where? Delayed? What are they DOING with all the monies and cash flow they are collecting every second of every damn day?

Sounds to ME like robbing Peter to pay Paul. When a company does this it's tick tick tick before BOOM it's all over.

Good luck to any Webmasters still using Zombaio but I would get OTHER PROCESSERS SETUP ASAP if I were any of these Webmasters. Don't get fooled again, do NOT wait, setup your backup plan NOW.

Good luck everyone.

[ottopottomouse]

Reads like a long winded way of saying you're fucked.

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

"Whilst"?

British English.

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by srockhard

When did you get that email? Any other Zombaio users get the same email?

Yes, I received it as well.

[mikesouth]

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

I don't understand!

A processer collects money, does all the transactions, PROCESSES THE MONEY - then the money is.....where? Delayed? What are they DOING with all the monies and cash flow they are collecting every second of every damn day?

Sounds to ME like robbing Peter to pay Paul. When a company does this it's tick tick tick before BOOM it's all over.

Good luck to any Webmasters still using Zombaio but I would get OTHER PROCESSERS SETUP ASAP if I were any of these Webmasters. Don't get fooled again, do NOT wait, setup your backup plan NOW.

Good luck everyone.

What he said....

[Sid70]

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

I don't understand!

A processer collects money, does all the transactions, PROCESSES THE MONEY - then the money is.....where? Delayed? What are they DOING with all the monies and cash flow they are collecting every second of every damn day?

Sounds to ME like robbing Peter to pay Paul. When a company does this it's tick tick tick before BOOM it's all over.

Good luck to any Webmasters still using Zombaio but I would get OTHER PROCESSERS SETUP ASAP if I were any of these Webmasters. Don't get fooled again, do NOT wait, setup your backup plan NOW.

Good luck everyone.

Exactly.

[ruff]

Originally Posted by srockhard

When did you get that email? Any other Zombaio users get the same email?

I got it as well. I'm not worried. Porn is an honorable profession. I'm sure that business will go on as usual.

[xXXtesy10]

Originally Posted by ruff

I got it as well. I'm not worried. Porn is an honorable profession. I'm sure that business will go on as usual.

[2MuchMark]

Originally Posted by Eschaton

On a positive note I'm glad they're doing this. I thought to myself several times in the past I would much prefer to pay an increase in fees to get my money rather than not getting it at all.

Agreed. There is nothing wrong with a company raising its prices. Sometimes it just has to happen. They are also offering good choices too by offering a lower rate for slower payout.

Good luck Zombaio.

[ShowMe69]

They know the jig is up and they are just trying to string it out as long as they can. Tomas's explanation is pure bullshit and make absolutely no sense...1-2 month delays...please..lol!!! It makes more sense to pay the mc/visa fees and move on.
People get with Verotel, CCBill,Epoch or anybody else before it is too late, I learned my lesson the hard way...be smart and move on while you can with minimal damage

[KillerK]

Can someone please share why there is a Delay?

If Visa/MC settle to their account within 48 hours, why can't they payout then?

I could understand if certain cards too longer to clear that some money might not credit, but wouldn't 90% of the money settle that fast?

[ShowMe69]

Originally Posted by KillerK

Can someone please share why there is a Delay?

If Visa/MC settle to their account within 48 hours, why can't they payout then?

I could understand if certain cards too longer to clear that some money might not credit, but wouldn't 90% of the money settle that fast?

Because they are using the money for something else, plain and simple and now they are so far behind...they have come up with new terms to seem like they are paying you on time...but this won't happen for several months or never, since people are pulling their accounts..it is Ponzi 101

[Datingsystems]

Never good when a CC processor is in trouble.....DMR......iBill.........plenty of history.......but lets hope what they suggest works for all the webmasters out there who need to pay bills.

[signupdamnit]

They must be in serious trouble if by default they are moving everyone to once a month payments while decreasing fees 1.2%. That suggests short term cash flow is more vital to them than long term cash flow. If everyone stays on the monthly option that will mean less profit for them over the long term. But this way they get to avoid many payments for almost another entire month.

Or do I miss something?

[ShowMe69]

You got it right and trust me all those monthly payments won't be on time either

[Zyber]

From an old post in 01-05-2011:

Originally Posted by Zombaio_Tomas

... IOMS AB is not Zombaio, its a company that processes payments on behalf of Zombaio (the Merchant). Zombaios ownership is entirely different, see the links I posted. Now lets dig this down since we are not getting anywhere with this really. IOMS AB is also replaced in the new platform with CAWEN (the financial institution).

Now to your concerns:

1. USING OUR RESERVES FOR FUNDING OTHER PROJECTS
The 5% is from new policies, yes. It is also regulated in all agreements. I have NEVER stated that it is to fund redpass, however it happends because with redpass, the cawen/zombaio portfolio too large to run without reserves. What happens is the Cawen (the new processing company) became a legal financial institution and does now have full principal memberships with MasterCard for issuing and acquiring. So the 5% reserve is for the Cawen portfolio (where zombaio is a part), again, not to fund redpass.

It's not a loan, its not steeling, its a reserve. You have that with all other direct merchant accounts or ipsp's. We need to be able to adopt changes, the HR processing is not what it was a few years ago.

...

Full post


Let me get this right. So Tomas said in 2011 that the 5% reserve was due to the Mastercard membership.

Now when Cawen Financial Group AB is no longer a Mastercard Compliant Service Provider, what is the "reserve" then exactly for?

http://www.mastercard.com/us/company...st-1-15-14.pdf

Also "Tomas", care to document that Cawen is/was a legal financial institution?

Because strangely the financial authorities in Sweden (Finansinspektionen) do not seem to include Cawen Financial Group AB on their list of companies who are allowed to provide financial services.

http://www.fi.se/Register/Foretagsregistret/

[Lichen]

tl;dr version: money is in motion

[NaughtyNerdy]

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

"Whilst"?

... English not your first language or do you speak "American English?" :p

[iSpyCams]

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

I don't understand!

A processor collects money, does all the transactions, PROCESSES THE MONEY - then the money is.....where? Delayed? What are they DOING with all the monies and cash flow they are collecting every second of every damn day?

A 3rd party processor is no different than, for example, you and me launching a site together and you running the site and me doing the billing. In that scenario I am the 3rd party processor, and you are the webmaster.

Now let's assume for a minute that regulations allowed it, and that I was crazy as all hell, I could come out tomorrow and say, "HEY EVERYONE PROCESS WITH POMPOUSJOHN I'LL DO IT CHEAPER THAN ANYONE AND PAY YOU FASTER - YOU DO NOTHING I DO EVERYTHING"

So now suddenly I have to work just as hard as any other ISPS for less money. And who is going to process with me?

1) people who have nothing to lose - already been rejected or shut down by everyone else. Why were they shut down? Most likely for a good reason. Most likely they blame the person who shut them down though cause, you know, dumbasses are never at fault for anything. And most likely they will continue pulling whatever shit got them shut down.

2) people who can't afford to pay what everyone else is charging Why can't they afford it? 1 out of 100 is a fast learning pilgrim just starting down the path, the other 99 are fucking losers who have no business running a business of any kind and if they did they would have a few bucks to invest or at least the good sense not to process with the cheapest shop in town.

3) scammers who are running a risky game and want to mitigate those risks by reducing their buy-in to zero since they know they are going to get busted sooner or later and have to rinse/repeat anyway. The fast payouts make me even more attractive to these types.

So now I've got a nice portfolio of fuckups, noobs and scammers and I am paying out of pocket to set them all up and make them think they have a place at the table. Not only is each of them literally costing me money to get them started, but since I am trying to undercut my competition I am not making even half what my competitors are making per transaction, from their customers.

To top it all of their fuckups are straining my relationships with the acquirers I get my merchant accounts from, the ones who make deposits into my accounts that enable me to pay my clients, and now reserves are being held, processing rates increasing, deposits delayed etc.

WTF was I expecting? I guess maybe I thought I could swoop in and scrape the cream off of the top and leave the "idiots" that had been in the business for years in the dust with my amazing volume. Well a few years down the road, the ends stopped meeting and it was time to change the strategy, so I guess now I'll come in with fewer benefits except this time instead of the new kid on the block who is at least an unknown entity, now the risks of doing business with me are well documented and no one is giving me the benefit of the doubt anymore.

Will it work? Who knows. I guess we'll see.

Personally I'll be the first to admit my issues with Zombaio come from a bad experience I had with them years ago. They shut down my account and told me some bold face and lies about why that even an idiot would not believe.

But, I am very glad that happened, and they did pay me every cent. It was one of the things that got me looking for my own merchant processing accounts and I ended up with private merchant accounts which was immensely better for everyone involved.

Also, having my own merchant processing accounts helped me to understand why Zombaio was so freaked out over my stats and why they did what they did. I still think they are idiots though and I pity anyone who works with them because many would be better off elsewhere and those who really need what they offer and cant get it anywhere else are in a pretty sad state.

In the end, I am better off without them and they are likely better off without me. So it's all good.

/rant

[Eschaton]

The reserves "should be" (not saying they are) solvent, untouchable funds used to underwrite the account. Not for anything else. I saw nothing in their terms that stated they can use my money, my reserve, to fund anything else. It should literally be illegal for a company to take money, other than their fees.

[adultchatpay]

I hope Zombaio can catch up. With these terms, i am not sure if they can sustain it.

[Gator]

Have a little faith people.

Stop the witch hunt.

Everyone should want them to succeed. If they do, you do.

Drag them down like GloBill and iBill, who does that help? No one.

Chill.

[ShowMe69]

Originally Posted by Gator

Have a little faith people.

Stop the witch hunt.

Everyone should want them to succeed. If they do, you do.

Drag them down like GloBill and iBill, who does that help? No one.

Chill.

Witch hunt please...Their problems are because of their fuck ups...If they fail it will be their own doing.

[The Porn Nerd]

Originally Posted by NaughtyNerdy

... English not your first language or do you speak "American English?" :p

Don't loose your mind I speak English good.
(Hah - how many errors in that sentence? LOL)

Whilst I try to explain this to the, let me paint a picture of a world where pretentious nutsuckers don't use words like 'whilst'. This may take awhile...

I said 'the'! I should get points for that right there.

:D

[bean-aid]

Whilst i have no websites and i edufuckate you

[Rikki-Nyx]

supposed to get payments from them in early June... moving to ccbill soon though..

[Paully]

I get the bashing Zombaio shit. Even by people I don't like and think are cowards on this board.

I bash shitty people here on a regular basis. But I don't do it with mob mentality I do it because they have stole from me or have hounded me, sometimes outside this forum.

I'm just not sure what you Zombaio bashers want to accomplish. If Zombaio goes down because lets say somebody even listened to your retarded shit. What would that accomplish?

You act like youre here to help, I see no help in Zombaio going out of business or being trashed by your fellow webmasters.

Only one way to tell. Did you get your money? I did.

[ls101]

You guys must stay away from them before regretting it.

[Fat Panda]

My advice to ALL of you is CUT your loses and GET OUT NOW!

[iSpyCams]

Originally Posted by Paully

I'm just not sure what you Zombaio bashers want to accomplish. If Zombaio goes down because lets say somebody even listened to your retarded shit. What would that accomplish?

You act like youre here to help, I see no help in Zombaio going out of business or being trashed by your fellow webmasters.

Only one way to tell. Did you get your money? I did.

First of all almost no one is here to help anyone but themselves. I say almost cause just maybe, you know?

Second clearing the playing field of idiots makes it easier for serious players to get the job done.

Finally if Zombaio could be brought down by anything people say here then they put themselves in that position. People talk shit about Paypal, Wal Mart and the Federal Government constantly, none of those are in any danger of going tits up any time soon. Not being an idiot is a good defense against idiots.

What does nearly every biller that is not Zombaio have in common? - No late payments, ever.

[ShowMe69]

Originally Posted by pompousjohn

First of all almost no one is here to help anyone but themselves. I say almost cause just maybe, you know?

Second clearing the playing field of idiots makes it easier for serious players to get the job done.

Finally if Zombaio could be brought down by anything people say here then they put themselves in that position. People talk shit about Paypal, Wal Mart and the Federal Government constantly, none of those are in any danger of going tits up any time soon. Not being an idiot is a good defense against idiots.

What does nearly every biller that is not Zombaio have in common? - No late payments, ever.

Couldn't have said it better

[signupdamnit]

Originally Posted by Paully

I'm just not sure what you Zombaio bashers want to accomplish. If Zombaio goes down because lets say somebody even listened to your retarded shit. What would that accomplish?

You act like youre here to help, I see no help in Zombaio going out of business or being trashed by your fellow webmasters.

Only one way to tell. Did you get your money? I did.

I'm getting flashbacks here. I remember people saying such things in regards to Epassporte too.

https://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=985088

Then there was Steve Lightspeed's famous one:

http://m.gfy.com/showthread.php?t=985348

The way I see it, let those who want to take the risk do so. Let those who want to get out, do so. It's up to each individual what they want to do. Nothing wrong with sharing info or thoughts.

[adultmobile]

Originally Posted by Eschaton

Dear Zombaio Client,
...unless you have a much greater share of the market than we do, and a faster settlement than our acquirers are able to give us, this is quite an impossible model to sustain.

Zombaio said: our issue is scale economy: our business model it would work if we had many more customers. We have too few, so we change business model (a little late).

Response includes:

Originally Posted by ls101

You guys must stay away from them before regretting it.

Originally Posted by Fat Panda

My advice to ALL of you is CUT your loses and GET OUT NOW!

This will reduce the Zombaio customers. Further changing the business model parameters, less cheap and/or later payments.

At this point there can be 2 trends and 2 outcomes:

Ponzi outcome:

1) This will reduce the Zombaio customers. Further changing the business model parameters, less cheap and/or later payments.
1b) This will reduce the Zombaio customers. Further changing the business model parameters, less cheap and/or later payments.
1c) This will reduce the Zombaio customers. Further .. well can't lower further, it is the famous collapse.


Bro outcome:

2) Payouts and terms it was changed, but coming as promised, so more people keep Zombaio, and new guys use it.
2b) Payouts and terms it was changed again into better and coming as promised, so more people keep Zombaio, and new guys use it.
2c) Payouts and terms it was changed again into better and coming as promised, so more people keep Zombaio, and new guys use it. Zombaio it is stable.

[misspandora]

I got the email, too.

I'm still skeptical.

And what about the fact that their LLC is "suspended" in California, as someone on here pointed out a little while ago?

Originally Posted by srockhard

When did you get that email? Any other Zombaio users get the same email?

[misspandora]

Also, I have to say..I used to have a bank account at a California bank called First Federal. During the time so many banks were failing because of bad mortgages, I remember getting a similar reassuring letter from them, saying their exposure to bad loans was minimal.."we'll be in business for a long time, yada yada"..

Well, First Federal went under not long after that, and got bought out by One West.

[pamon]

Does a normal merchant pay once a month, no. Sign of a bad thing coming.

[Socks]

What is their "normal fee" to begin with?