Membership: How to Avoid Internet Credit Card Billing Traps

If you get caught up in the buying frenzy of the pre-launch segment of a big info product marketing launch, you may buy an Internet info product without realizing that at the same time you’re committing yourself to monthly recurring charges on your credit card or debit card for a monthly membership. Sometimes the continuity or microcontinuity program is the main product being sold. However, it is common for the membership to be a cleverly disguised “bonus” for the main product or a one-time-offer (OTO) to try the membership for 7 to 30 days for free or at low-cost. Regardless of the particular terms, the goal is to capture your credit card information with the authorization to charge you monthly recurring charges beginning after X number of days.

To be clear, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing this if the Internet marketer (1) clearly discloses the continuity program’s price and terms,  (2) offers you something of value, and (3) makes it easy for you to cancel your subscription at any time. The good marketers do this. The sleazy marketers go out of their way to pump out trash using hidden or forced continuity and then make it impossible for you to cancel your membership as they continue to bill you.

What should you do? Research complaints about Internet marketers online before buying from them during a big launch. If there is a past history of fraudulent or deceptive billing practices, don’t buy from them. Ignore the occasional nutcase rant you’ll find from someone who is jealous of a particular marketer’s success. Instead, look for patterns of customer service – good and bad – before determining whether you want to enter into a potentially long-term financial commitment involving thousands of dollars of your money.

You should be able to quickly identify those who operate scams misusing Jeff Walker’s product launch formula.

But what should you do if you’re still on the fence after doing your due diligence?

Example: You really want to buy “Village Idiot Facebook Riches” that’s about to be launched but it includes a continuity program. You’ve done your due diligence by researching the village idiot “guru” who is offering the program but the reviews are mixed as to whether the particular marketer provides true customer service or bills deceptively.

Possible Solution: Get a pre-paid Visa or Mastercard gift debit card with just enough funds on it to make the initial purchase and perhaps a month of continuity billing. If you like what you see with the continuity/membership, you can either replenish the card with sufficient funds to cover monthly billing or provide the marketer with information for one of your regular credit or debit cards to cover ongoing payments. If you dislike the continuity, you’ve limited your exposure with the gift card. The dishonest Internet marketer who refuses to cancel your subscription shouldn’t be able to bill the gift card beyond the amount on it. In other words, you’ve taken control of the ability to cancel the continuity rather than begging for it to be done by someone who won’t honor their commitments to you as a customer.

Hat tip: Tony Blake

Micro-CONtinuity: Internet Continuity Scams Abusing a Good Idea

Now that forced and hidden continuity programs are getting such a bad reputation online, the latest fad is micro-continuity. Specifically, selling website visitors on a limited time program, such as a 3-month webinar series with monthly payments automatically pulled from the customer’s credit card each month.

The big selling point is that it provides customers with definite pricing. In the preceding example, a 3-month webinar series billed in 3 equal installments of $29.97 would result in gross profits of $89.91 (29.97 * 3).

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this if the terms are clearly disclosed. Indeed, this can be an attractive offer when one includes bonuses that exceed the value of the purchase price.

So what’s the catch?

The same scam artists who abused continuity to begin with apply the same techniques to con people using micro continuity. Here’s how it typically works.

The offer contains a micro-continuity program plus several valuable bonuses. However, hidden within the bonuses or in the fine print on the order page is a “free trial” of an ongoing continuity program. In addition to buying the micro-continuity, the customer unwittingly buys into another continuity program where billing starts when the free trial ends (usually in 14 or 30 days).

The key legal issue is full disclosure. If the average customer wouldn’t understand that there’s a second continuity program triggered with the purchase of the micro-continuity program, that’s a sign the sales copy and ordering process is deceptive.

Don’t ruin your reputation by pulling a stunt like this or promoting these types of scams as an affiliate. It is a question of when, not if, the Federal Trade Commission cracks down on this misconduct. You don’t want to be the target.