Sportsbooks - put some money at NETeller!

[sportshobby]

The concept of NETeller is great - one day turnaround for deposits and withdrawals directly from the players' bank account with little or no fee.

But in order for this to work, the players have to be able to make withdrawals. And in order for this to work, the books have to have some positive balance with NETeller. Twice this week (with different books) I've run into the problem of no being able to get a NETeller withdrawal because the sportsbook didn't have funds on deposit.

Come on, guys, let's get it going!

[NewYawker]

You're absolutely right. I tried to make a withdrawal after recently signing up with Neteller, from a sportsbook I'd never had a problem with. For about 24 hours, Neteller kept telling me I should be able to make the transfer, as did the sportsbook, but I couldn't affect the transfer. Finally Neteller admitted they allow sportsbooks a certain amount of "float" and this particular book had met their limit. The book ultimately Western Unioned the cash for free, but that's not the point-this was one of the few times when free Western Union was NOT preferable, as I wanted to immediately use the cash to open up another account, and now had to trek and pick up the cash. Sportshobby is 100% correct-sportsbooks, get your s**t together!

[Curious]

I've had the same bad experience. How much "float" are we talking about?

[NewYawker]

They wouldn't say-it took a lot of coaxing and complaining just to get them to admit that the float existed. Frankly, Neteller is making me more and more nervous; in a short period of time, they've instituted a charge for something that used to be free, apbruptly ended their association with Paypal
a few days ago, and are increasingly the subject of US government investigation rumors. I've also heard that some organizations that tried to do what Neteller is doing now went belly up with a lot of people's money.

[sportshobby]

No luck withdrawing from either TopWorld or Heritage this morning. In the case of Heritage, I've tried for two weeks. It's not a decline, its just the message that says it can't be processed - which means the sportsbook doesn't have sufficient funds.

What a great, potentially convenient money transfer method that is not being supported by the very books that signed up for it.

[Radar_6]

This should tell you something if Sportsbooks are uncomfortable with their funds at Neteller. Its not that these books dont want to pay you, or that they dont have the funds, they just simply aren't comfortable with funds sitting at Netteler.....

[Underdog7]

Radar_6 - I do understand the fact that some sportsbooks are not comfortable enough to park huge amount in Neteller. But if that is the case, just take the Neteller option out in your website.

[Radar_6]

Why would you do that? Then you are taking away an option to deposit funds and fund an account for a potentially new customer, or an existing customer. The withdrawal issue can be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Until this whole Neteller situation shakes out, it will remain a grey area for all sportsbooks, in which the merchants will minimize their exposure to minimize the risk of client escrow.

It appears the majority of books are following the same thought process, its odd the players with funds at Neteller dont feel the same way, or sense the same thing as I'm sure there are players with more funds on account than the majority of the books mentioned.

[sportshobby]

Heritage - still no luck withdrawing even as little as $1000 this morning. This is after trying for about three weeks. What a joke!

[Underdog7]

Radar-6 "Why would I do that?" Simply because most customers, I meant almost everyone who deposited money by Neteller, transferred funds by Neteller from book to book, also wanted their money (wihtdrawal) by Neteller. That simple.

And also for your information, there are some books out there that will not allow you to withdraw W. Union if you deposited through Neteller.

[-UB-]

NETeller is a sinking ship. I think that their separation from PayPal was the final nail in their coffin. If you have funds at NETeller, I would suggest getting them deposited at the Sportsbook of your choice. IMO this is much safer than allowing NETeller to hold your funds.

[sportshobby]

UB, why do you think that?

I don't usually keep funds at NETeller for more than a day anyway. But they are soooooo convenient.

[-UB-]

Sportshobby,

I feel this way because of their revenue model. The percentages they charge the books and the players are small in relation to their exposure. Not to mention monthly reserve amounts held by their own processors.

They guarantee all transfers to the books, meaning no chargeback risk for the books. They were doing the majority of their volume in through PayPal, which passes any chargebacks on to its clients, like NETeller. So surely they were experiencing chargebacks from PayPal players, and with their low fee structure, for them to eat these charges has to hurt their cash flow and their bottom line.

Do you think it is coincidence that they stopped using PayPal and all of the sudden you start seeing these complaints everywhere that no books have money there. I don't.

I think that they are operating off of the float that they supposedly keep from the books and the books sense this weakness, and are trying to keep their exposure down.

SureFire / FireCash is rolling out with a new option called FirePay, which is similar to NETeller, from a much stronger company. It will also allow Amex and Discover. This is available at some books now and will become very popular.

Also, many books are starting to use PayPal directly, cutting out the middle man, so your options are getting better.

Just my two cents.

-UB-

[sportshobby]

If you put aside the credit card chargebacks, they should have a no-lose money-making machine. Their interest on deposits alone should be substantial.

Credit card chargebacks are another story. You could be right on this one. Thanks for the response.

[-UB-]

I just found this on another site.......

SUREFIRE COMMERCE ENTERS THE MARKET
Written April 16, 2001 by Elizabeth May

Surefire Commerce (http://www.sfcommerce.com) has joined the in providing online payment services for personal and business accounts. Firepay (http://www.firepay.com) is now being accepted by VegasUSA and VegasUSA2 for purchases at their casinos. Surefire has is an epayment provider for a number of casinos.

Surefire is a Canadian company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as (FIR), that posted a profit for the last five quarters. Surefire also provides epayment services for sports, and entertainment merchants.

With the introduction of Firepay in January, 2001, the competition in this market will grow stiffer. Gaming is still a small part of the overall online payment transfer market, but will continue to grow rapidly in the next five years as more people world-wide go online. In the meantime, several large financial instituions are positioning themselves to take advantage of this growing niche.

Wells Fargo and eBay have joined to create Billpoint (http://www.billpoint.com), a person-to-person epayment solution, that can be easily adapted if they so desire. This joint venture was created in March, 2000, and is still in its infancy. Citibank has launched C2it (http://c2it.com), and BankOne has eMoneymail (http://www.emoneymail.com). Western Union is offering MoneyZap (http://www.moneyzap.com), which is a little different from the others in the services they offer.

While Billpoint and MoneyZap cater primarily to person-to-person transactions, Moneyzap funds may not be available for several days, a huge disadvantage for their future success. C2it and eMoneymail, advertise that they can be used to send money to anyone with an email address. All of these services can be funded by credit card or bank account. Fees vary for each provider.

Firepay is different in that it can only be funded by credit card. They do, however, offer international payments, which all providers do not. This international payment ability puts them in position to compete directly for gaming clients. However, by not accepting online checks, they will omit a large portion of the gaming market that does not use credit cards for various reasons.

Clearly, however, by currently providing epayment transaction services to gaming merchants, Surefire is in an excellent position to provide serious competition for services such as Paypal and Neteller.