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| Bans, Lawsuits and Other Barriers |
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Read
about PayPal's new Mature Audience Policy
which basically bans all merchandise that contains post
1980s
frontal nudes. ( read how edible penises are one exception,
incase you want to sell any on PayPal )
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Are credit card
companies the driving force?
PayPal is arrogant in their customer
service, but they delivered one of the delivered one of the
least expensive opportunities for small companies to accept
credit cards. Read about Visa
USA's campaign
-- and U.S. government? - against adult content merchandise
and how third party credit processors are having to lump most
sexual-based products with high credit risk porn -- either
not able to service the merchants or charging extremely high
fees (15% as opposed to industry standard 2.3%). Is it just
Visa? |
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Other PayPal/Ebay concerns:
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| III's Ban by PayPal and
other Problems Along our Sexual Publishing Path |
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On Labor Day 2003, in the midst of
us getting our 1000 books and trying to raise the
final $1500 payment for the printer's shipment. PayPal
sent us an email that said they have placed "
limited access" on our account due to our sexual
content.
That is no one could send money
to us because we have Sensual,
Nude Photography "frontal
nudity" and "images that are designed to
sexually arouse the viewer" not only on our site,
but that we sell a product that has these sexual attributes,
as well.
In May 2003, PayPal did send general
notices that they were discontinuing services for
Adult sites. When I had contacted their offices back
then, they told me it was just a general notice sent
to all PayPal customers who wanted notices, and that
our book and site should be fine, though they refused
to send a confirmation in writing.
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| WHY IS PAYPAL HOLDING CUSTOMER'S MONEY? |
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So, confronted with PayPal's abrupt
Labor Day decision, I very quickly checked our account,
and found that there was a 180 day hold (that's 6
months, everyone) on any funds left in my PayPal accounts.
There is no explanation as to why they chose to hold
this money. Thankfully that was only $54, but PayPal
wouldn't let me even refund the money back to the
customer through those funds, though PayPal did take
their % and earned bank interest on the funds held.
(PayPal sent us another note that the 180 day hold
was in error and they are trying to remove the hold
on existing funds in the account, but in a subsequent
email, they told me that my agreement with them did
give them the rights to hold my funds for 180 days
at their discretion.) Another PayPal email later that
week actually told me I am responsible for sending
the product to the customer, even though they kept
my funds. I guess we are supposed to hope PayPal will
release the money to us for the customer's purchase
in 6 months. (I ended up asking the customer to please
contact their credit card and cancel the transaction
to get her money back, at least.)
How can we be in PayPal's good
graces again? Simple,
according to PayPal, just don't have a book about
sex with nude frontal pictures.
They write:
"To appeal the limited access PayPal will need
to be removed from your site in it entirety and respond
to paypal-compliance@paypal.com stating you understand
and agree to the Acceptable Use policy and will no
longer accept funds for adult content via PayPal from
this point forward." (grammatical errors from
the PayPal email of 9/2/03)
WHY are Nudes BANNED ON PAYPAL
(While Edible Genitals are PayPal's Version of Kosher)?
Apparently, it started out with
financial concerns. Adult "porn" sites are
said to have extremely high fraudulent use of credit
cards and high charge backs. People saying they never
ordered to download that racy film etc. Are
Credit Card Companies the Driving Force?
So as a matter of finances and to be fair to their
"diverse group of customers," PayPal decided
to enforce a Mature Audience Policy that doesn't differentiate
a downloaded porn, that someone might later say they
never ordered from a sexy but serious book like ours.
Interestingly, according to their policy sheet, books
with sexual text and no photos are OK with PayPal,
so long as they aren't considered obscene (by whom?
PayPal, of course). And "food items in the shape
of genitalia"are open for sale on PayPal with
their blessings, too. (Do you think PayPal has a thing
for oral?) Note: PayPal current policy updated seems
to have edited out those yummy, chocolate-covered
penises allowed in their 2003 policy sheet.
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| WHY
IS a MORALS SHEET ATTACHED to PAYPAL'S FINANCIAL CONCERNS |
| If credit card companies
and PayPal can restrict freedoms of speech by simply
not allowing sexual-content businesses to sell their
products through their services, is this just the beginning
of conservative Corporate America's private extension
of the Patriot Act? What other freedoms and where else
will our freedoms be restricted? Our printing for our
book is not from a US printer, not only because of better
pricing and quality from the company we chose, but many
US printers don't accept nude
photography because it might offend their workers or
their established clients. Web hosting companies and
many other Internet services, like forum platform providers,
exclude sites with nudity, as well. Citing these same
"community/work place standards", we even
had a problem with our local Kinkos.
It was quickly resolved by Kinko headquarters within
24 hours of our complaint, but with a compromise----
I needed to call ahead to ensure there would be at least
one employee, who wasn't offended by our photos or stories,
to be available when I arrived at the store. Thankfully,
there were only 2 employees who were so uncomfortable
with the materials they wouldn't assist with them.---Now,
remember, our photos are provocative, but they're not
Hustler! (Note:Adding to the PayPal moralism complexities,
there may be an International cross- cultural standards
issue at PayPal, as many of their Internet customer
service reps are said to be out-sourced in India
-- where even an onscreen kiss is considered risqué)
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| But here in America, ours is a society
that is routinely filled with T__ & A__, where any
toddler or teen can see suggestive sexual behaviors
on TV and in commercials, without adequate explanation.
In comparison then, what do corporate restrictions,
on materials that actually promote honest sexual dialogue,
say about our double-edged values ? ( Yes, III is intentionally
seductive, too, but gee, isn't that what the very natural
practice of sex is all about?----feeling sexy?) |
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| CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS, ANYONE? |
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PayPal is being sued by several
law firms for their money
holding policies and overall unfair consumer practices,
including allegations of consumer fraud. And
E-Bay
seems to be acting against personal
freedoms in its open access policy to personal records.
We first stumbled on a problem in August ‘03,
when a customer, asked for a refund through their
credit card company because our books were still delayed
from the printer, and PayPal, without questioning
the reason for the request held our funds, until we
reimbursed him In this case, it was a fair transaction,
but had there been a dispute, PayPal has shown with
other companies, that they would hold all funds, without
giving the merchant a chance to dispute first.
The PayPal class action case
was settled in late 2004 with apparently PayPal paying
a small sum but not having to change their policies.My
account is still banned from activity in 2005—I
discovered that when I tried to PAY for a non sex-based
event that had required payment through PayPal. PayPal
has deemed me so dangerous they don’t even want
my money, now!
Our current ecommerce situation
is through Card Services International. They were
one of the few that didn’t charge a premium for
adult content. However their Gateway (the platform
that connects the secure connection for credit card
information) couldn’t be their usual company,
because that company refused sexual content. Our only
other affordable alternative was Verisign, which amazingly
has provided the best tech service anyone could ask
for. But the irony of all corporate buy-outs—Verisign
was purchased by PalPal in November 2005. I’ve
been told our one-year contract is safe --for now…..
Only through publicity, continued
law suits, and public outcry will PayPal and other
similar companies change their totalitarian unsex-loving
ways.
In the meantime, thanks for
your support of III!
Please pass this page and site
on to anyone you know concerned about sexual freedoms
or corporate checks and balances on their power.
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III's Copyright Lawsuit, settled 12/06/05
One of our own contributors sued
us for copyright use -- the book was on hold for two
to four years depending on how you count it.
The second of our eighth photographs, filed
a formal complaint for copyright infringement on January
21, 2005. The court ordered settlement was formally
signed December 6, 2005. I still have no idea what
his/her reasons for filing were. I have my guesses…and
invite him/her to explain any time.
But after a lost-count of close to
a dozen attorneys - most of them Volunteer Lawyers for
the Arts - representing us on both sides for over four
years, he/she was granted less money from me than
what he would have gotten had he allowed our project
to continue. His/Her victory is that I am now allowed
to sell only the remaining copies … no more permitted
to be made that contain the images from the shoot
he/she photographed.
Meanwhile, over 30 people who have
worked on the book have had to wait 4 years for their
contractual pay. The other 7 photographers may never
get the full possibility of their pay because parts
of it were % based on a 4000 copy edition profit model.
And the six models, who choreographed their moves
with me, and were hired and paid by me for the shoot
that he/she so readily agreed to do, might now have
their nude bodies and faces splattered anywhere that
he/she chooses-indefinitely. While those same images
are never allowed to be printed for the originally
intended 4000 copy edition of our book-the full project
that the models posed for.
Interesting irony, don't you think ?
International Call for 36 new images
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and are not permitted to be copied, printed, or linked in
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