Stormpay Controversy

Recently, StormPay started offering lower transaction fees, BUT only to those who sign up for NetIBA verification. NetIBA is a separate business entity, yet appears to be run by the same person.

The above picture shows the registered addresses of StormPay and NetIBA, only about 100 metres apart!

Now, signing up to NetIBA costs about $20 per year, which you have to pay via StormPay. NetIBA offers an affiliate scheme, in which you can earn $5 in commission for every referral purchase.

Now, for those who use StormPay, NetIBA offers a sizeable amount of savings on your transactions. The claim is that NetIBA verification increases the level of transparency to reduce fraud. The fact that they charge for the service, makes this a real cash cow for StormPay/NetIBA. Lower transaction fees allow StormPay to compete on some level with the other more established payment processors.
Now, when you have a verified StormPay account, it means that you've provided bank or credit card details to StormPay.

Now, the problems come when there is a credit card chargeback on your account. Say that someone sends you $10 via StormPay using a credit card, and shortly after asks for a refund. StormPay deducts the $10 from your account, AND ANOTHER $35 whenever there is a chargeback, and it is up to you to fight to get it reversed. For honest users of StormPay, this can be quite a shock.

Now, I recently came across a website, about one person's horror story with StormPay. Apparently, the above scenario occurred, and put the StormPay account into negative numbers. StormPay then TOOK the money from the person's bank/checking account, even though they can't do that without permission. The problem compounded, as the checking account was now in the negative, and the bank charged their own fee (Non Sufficient Funds fee).

Here's the link, read on:
http://www.mystormpaylawsuit.com/



Other sources:
http://server2.ihostphotos.com/show.php?id=20493
Thread on Ebay Forums
NoPaypal Forums
CNet Forums
http://hate-stormpay.blogspot.com/
whois info stormpay.com
whois info netiba.com


Other Posts on this blog concerning Stormpay