YNOT – Secure and reliable payment transactions on the internet are among the most important prerequisites for successful e-commerce. Euro Payment Group GmbH (EPG Bill), a Frankfurt, Germany-based provider of real-time electronic payment systems with integrated risk management, offer online retailers and internet service providers reliable, personalized 24/7/365 attention to their processing needs in a secure environment.
Christian Diegelmann and Martin Michatz founded EPG Bill in 2005. Diegelmann recently took time to talk about the market.
YNOT.com: Christian, in 2005 you joined forces with Martin Michatz to start EPG, even though both of you operated other businesses at the time. What led to this decision?
Christian Diegelmann: Both of us had been telecommunications consultants since 2002, and we worked together on a project where we had to develop an interface for prepaid calling cards that offered the option of backing up phone usage with a credit card. We were sort of “forced” into the topic of online payment by the project, but the experience turned out to be successful.
After a few months we realized the potential of the market and the demand for high quality and customized solutions. We therefore decided in 2004 to develop our own processing gateway — currently only for credit cards — and to establish our own payment service provider.
We launched in 2005 and steadily worked on our gateway, until in 2008 we became a certified PCI Level 1 PSP.
Online payment in the adult business often is seen as riskier than in other areas. Did you worry about that?
Honestly no, because we believe that eroticism on the internet is a powerful economic engine and always has been. Even with all the “free porn” online now, users are still willing to pay for high-quality materials and special-access products.
There are vendors in all areas that have more or less experience than others and who have their own ideas about the way to run their business. We have experiences with vendors from all sectors of the marketplace. In some ways, the content from the adult area is nothing like “regular” products — for example, from the video-gaming arena, etc. But in other ways, all e-commerce is remarkably similar. In the end, everything comes down whether a party is trying to establish a reputable and long-term business by offering attractive, innovative products in order to win new customers and keep existing ones.
Nevertheless, the adult industry does not enjoy the same prestige as other industries. Unfortunately, the industry repeatedly has been called “black sheep” or tricksters. How does your company protect clients and consumers from rogue traders?
First of all, there are tricksters and “black sheep” in every industry, not just adult. We do our best to investigate potential clients before we sign them up. There are business tools we can draw on to check a company’s principals, shareholders and directors, as well as the company itself. We try to meet as many of our clients face-to-face as possible, but that’s not always an option, especially with our strong user base in the U.S. Still, we attend lots of trade shows and try to arrange appointments while we’re there. We place great emphasis on regular contact with our existing retailers.
Above all, we are professionals and one of our main tasks and goals is to provide all our business partners with the best service and security. Our proprietary risk and compliance team review in detail every company with which we do business. There will always be some residual risk, but this is also the case in other industries.
The rapid growth of EPG and certification within such a short time indicates you’re doing extremely well. What distinguishes you from other billing companies? What should potential customers know about you?
I think we just live our slogan: “Fairness, transparency and trust.” We try to communicate clearly with our business partners to avoid misunderstandings from the outset.
We are always open to compliments and criticism, and we want our clients to know beyond a doubt that they are in good hands with us for the long term. There are always errors and misunderstandings no matter how good the communication, but when those things happen, we sit down with our client and do everything we can to solve the problems quickly and fairly for all.
I think it’s important to know that our management is always available for personal contact, no matter how big or small the client is.
Finally, safety, quality, flexibility and stability are qualities that we take very seriously.
EPG Bill is the Platinum sponsor of YNOT Summit. Company representatives will attend the show June 23-25 at the Golden Gateway Hotel in San Francisco.
