Its also a great informational article for merchants that accept credit cards. http://www.greensheet.com/emagazine.php?story_id=3544
Monthly Archives: April 2013
NATB Florida Regional Meeting
NATB Headquarters Organizer
2 hours ago ยท
In Florida, around 50 ticket brokers filled the session room at the Ft. Lauderdale Crown Plaza Hotel on April 15th. The meeting was hosted by the NATB along with Jimmy and Lena Siegendorf of Premium Seats USA and Rick Schefter of A Great Place to Sit. Special guests included representatives of the NATB; Jason Berger (President), myself and NATB PR Consultant Viveca Woods. Jason discussed the far reaching NATB objectives and provided insight on the history of the legislative battle in NY. I talked about the state of the industry and the ways brokers were being impacted by various industry developments. Viveca provided her expert perspectives on how publicity initiatives are being tackled to address and elevate the interests of ticket brokers nationwide. For educational purposes, the meeting included presentations by Ticketmaster Resale (“TicketsNow”) and Cloakify.
A prime focus of the meeting was a discussion on legislative issues affecting ticket brokers in Florida as well as the rest of the country. Nick Larossi, the lobbyist hired by the Florida brokers, gave a detailed account of the vicious legislative battle being played out between all facets of the industry including Ticketmaster, StubHub and Disney. Nick explained how the efforts of the ticket broker community served to protect free market principles in Florida.
Every attendee I spoke with said the meeting was extremely valuable and the content was compelling. The vast majority of attendees agreed to participate by speaking with legislators from a local business perspective, financially contributing or helping in other ways. Numerous brokers eagerly volunteered their time and financial support to address pressing Florida legislative issues. And many vowed to continue these efforts and to attend the upcoming NATB World Ticket Conference on July 18-20, 2013 in Las Vegas. Afterwards, there was a cocktail reception where brokers networked.
In Texas, I, along with Jim Barr and the lobbyists hired by the Texas Ticket Brokers Association, met with a number of legislators and staff. It still amazes me how uneducated legislators are about the secondary market and how much they appreciate learning about what legitimate brokers do. I was quite impressed with the coordination on the local level in Texas and how many brokers have contributed both their time and money to make sure ticket brokers’ interests are protected and ticket brokers’ voices are heard. The Regional Meeting also served as a valuable tool for the NATB’s expert strategic planning consultant, Morrie Warshawski, to meet with brokers and to learn more about the industry.
A compelling positive aspect of the Regional Meetings was that they represented yet one more proactive step taken by the leadership of the NATB to assist its members and to improve communications with the broker community. As you may recall, the NATB Board has created a list of action items to assist in improving the NATB and to create a long term plan for the NATB. One key action item was to hire a planning expert which the NATB did when it retained Morrie. Another was to conduct regional meetings which have now been accomplished. A third was to improve the public recognition of the NATB and its Members. That is also being accomplished. Hopefully you saw that the Better Business Bureau (“BBB”) has issued a press release recommending to consumers that they make sure that when buying tickets in the secondary market to deal with an NATB Member. The BBB joins a growing list of groups who have made that recommendation.
If you feel that a meeting would be beneficial in your region please reach out to me. I expect that we will continue to see legislation that will require ticket brokers to unite in the future.
Gary Adler
Roetzel & Andress
600 14th Street, NW
Suite 400
Washington D.C. 20005
Main Phone No: (202) 625-0600
Direct Phone No: (202) 216-8307
Fax No.: (202) 338-6340
Email: gadler@ralaw.com
We are the credit card processors for both AED and the AED Foundation.
I’d like to save you some money on your credit card processing also.
My company info can also be found at The AED Marketplace here
I wanted to send you some info on myself and my company so you can feel comfortable dealing with us. If it looks good to you email or fax (847 381 4289) me a recent MC/Visa statement. We have a lot of merchants that use POS Systems, gateways and cc terminals so I can easily load the hierarchy info for their POS/gateways. Below please find some info on myself and my company. As I had mentioned because of my long hours and the fact that almost 100% of my accounts come from client referrals I am very proud of the service I give my clients. This is because I am involved in an industry which unfortunately often still resembles used car sales as far as reputation and rightly so. However that eventually works to our favor as we demonstrate to our merchants and prospects that we are a beacon of honesty, great customer service and true fair pricing in an otherwise tarnished industry which I’m sure that you have gotten a taste of firsthand.
The reasons date back to the original days of cc processing when no or very little residuals were paid on a merchant account to the ISO and rep after it was opened. So the only way a rep could make money was to get a new account bonus and sell or even worse do a lease/purchase equipment at vastly inflated prices. Even though the opportunity now exists to make a marvelous annual residual stream most ISO’s, acquirers and banks have not outgrown that mindset as their typical “training” is a day of hard sell, hard close instruction and then they release the new rep with instructions to haunt restaurants and shopping malls. Consequently the average rep quits in six months or less.
Also I am involved in an industry were unfortunately almost 100% of my competitors quote rates that if true would be under water so consequently they quote you a teaser rate and than proceed to downgrade all of your rewards, business and corporate cards to a higher rate. In addition they charge hidden fees, annual fees, etc. I’m in the industry and sometimes it takes me awhile to properly interpret a statement. Also there are currently about 200 different types of cards which all carry their own rates so we have to make sure that although we give our merchants the best rate possible we also have to make sure we won’t lose money on an account. That’s why I need you to email or fax (847-381-4289) me a recent MC/Visa statement. And of course with us you have 24/7 Level 2 support without having to hit multiple prompts and get put on permahold just to talk to an inexperienced “customer service” rep. The average firm in our industry loses 35% of their merchants per year. Matrix loses less than 1/10 of one percent so there must be a reason for that.
Recently talking with two of our acquirers we asked how many of their ISO’s concentrate on not having their merchants suffer transactions that downgrade to a higher rate. One that has over 1,000 ISO’s said just one-us. The other one has 298 ISO’s and they said two.
Sincerely,
Bill Hoidas
Consultant Manager Larger B2B/MOTO/Internet Accounts
Product Development Manager
Matrix Payment Systems
847-381-3482 office
847-381-4289 fax
Square called unlicensed
Meanwhile, Illinois issued Square the cease and desist order after the IDFPR’s finding that Square is in violation of the state’s Transmitters of Money Act. The act requires any business “selling or issuing payment instruments, transmitting money, or exchanging, for compensation, payment instruments” to be licensed by the IDFPR.
The department ordered Square to stop doing business in the state and produce documents on all Illinois customer account activity, money transmissions and “independent reviews of Square’s Anti-Money Laundering program.”
The order called for Square to file those documents with the IDFPR by Feb. 19, 2013. IDFPR spokeswoman Susan Hofer told The Green Sheet that she could not say if Square had met the deadline. A Square representative stated, “We’ve been in close contact with the Illinois Division of Financial Institutions for several months and are addressing their concerns.”