More bad Government cigar news it seems

[tafdom]

Somebody sent me this from an email he got today. Very disturbing. If it is the Gov, then the other cards will follow to cover there a s s further crushing this industry. What does it sound like to you?

 

IMPORTANT NEWS FOR MASTERCARD USERS
=======================================
 
 Richard, if you use MasterCard to purchase cigars from us, you will be sorry to hear that as of this Friday, Oct 9, 2009 The Cigar Hut will no longer be able to accept MasterCard as a form of payment.
 
=====================================================================
 MASTERCARD WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTED AS OF 12:01 AM EST OCT 9, 2009
 =====================================================================

Visa, Discover and American Express are still accepted but due to new MasterCard rules that take affect this Friday, The Cigar Hut will have to stop accepting that type of card.

So Richard, if you were planning on making a purchase in the near future, and do not have another type of credit card available, we suggest you stock up on or before Thursday while you can still use that type of card.

Because The Cigar Hut is a Non Face to Face Merchant providing tobacco sales via the internet, MasterCard has not only decided that we have to pay a yearly fee of $1,000.00 for the "privilege" of accepting their card as payment, but also require a legal document stating to the effect that "The Cigar Hut complies fully with all laws applicable to MasterCard and its related parties". As this is such a wide open and vague statement there is no way possible to ensure that we comply with every law and or regulation, in effect now and in the future, that relates to tobacco sales, MasterCard, and its unknown "related parties".

As penalties for breach of any regulation or policy can result in fines by MasterCard of up to $50,000.00 per offence, we have decided it was prudent and necessary to cancel the use of their services.


Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause you Richard, and we hope to continue providing you with some of the finest cigars at some of the finest prices.

Sincerely

Jim Bullen - President
The Cigar Hut Group of Companies

[US_Tank]

[curse][curse][curse][curse][usa]

[crowb8]

Outrageous! How about Paypal?

[pirate2]

[carl609]

Outrageous! How about Paypal?

[pirate2]

That sucks.  I wonder about paypal also.  I have heard stories of Paypal canceling accounts when tobacco related purchases are made.  I emailed Cigars International to ask about their paypal policy, as they offer it as a payment method.  They knew nothing of this cancelation rumor.

[Admin]

Its their bank, not actually Mastercard per se.   To sell tobacco you need a special account.   Its like gambling & adult sites, its an offshore merchant account.   If it were a bank policy change they would have provided him time to adjust.   They basically operated under the radar and now got caught.   Chances are they will loose Visa as well.

One local bank came in my office about 2 years ago, offering incredible rates on a merchant account with 24 hours turn around.   I knew better and didn't cancel my main account.   After about a week of processing their processing center suddenly rejected the account, locked over $60,000 in transactions for 120 days, and shut off the account with no notice.    3 days later I got a letter in the mail that they don't take tobacco accounts eventhough their very own FN rep was sitting in my store completing the paperwork for it while smoking a cigar.

Once they get an offshore account they will be fine.

[Teck1337]

Its their bank, not actually Mastercard per se.   To sell tobacco you need a special account.   Its like gambling & adult sites, its an offshore merchant account.   If it were a bank policy change they would have provided him time to adjust.   They basically operated under the radar and now got caught.   Chances are they will loose Visa as well.

One local bank came in my office about 2 years ago, offering incredible rates on a merchant account with 24 hours turn around.   I knew better and didn't cancel my main account.   After about a week of processing their processing center suddenly rejected the account, locked over $60,000 in transactions for 120 days, and shut off the account with no notice.    3 days later I got a letter in the mail that they don't take tobacco accounts eventhough their very own FN rep was sitting in my store completing the paperwork for it while smoking a cigar.

Once they get an offshore account they will be fine.

Interesting...

[Admin]

Most domestic tobacco merchant account providers refuse to open an account when it comes to tobacco business online.   In such circumstances, only an offshore tobacco merchant account can serve the purpose.  Another reason is that domestic merchant account providers often have to stick to very strict rules and regulations forced upon them by banks or credit card providers so to avoid this; they simply refuse to open the account. Selling tobacco online is a very risky business and offshore tobacco merchant account is the solution one should go for when it comes to this. Normally, what happens is that Tobacco vendors sell their products in those countries where there is less tax rate on tobacco products. Hence, an offshore tobacco merchant account provider would be able to help them getting rid of all the taxes etc. So, if you want to make your tobacco business grow online, an offshore tobacco merchant account would be your choice for sure.

They should look at this company, or someone similar:
http://www.perpetualpayments.com/highrisk_offshore_merchant_account.htm
http://www.offshorehighriskmerchant.com/


The other BAD thing....   If in fact VISA terminated them because of tobacco or an incident, then they are now on whats called the "TMF" or "MATCH" list.   Once you are on that, you will NOT get another merchant account in the USA very easily.
http://www.findmerchant.com/merchant/merchant_tmf_file.htm