EA collects from a Foreign entity now?

[HRH Liz]

EA is a games making company.
Not a bank, a collection agency, or a credit card company, like anyone else in this world, they need to use companies experienced in this.
Banking is a worldwide phenomenon.

Btw - what I think has probably happened, is your collections are collected via the usual CA branch, but it looks like one of the worldwide references has been put onto the opening posters transaction in error, ultimately, it is all automated, easy mistake for Global Collections to make.

LMAO I never said EA was a Bank or a CC Company but you are trying to say that a company as large EA doesn't have a Billing Department that knows how to collect payments so they out source it, now that is funny.
Revenue: $5.629 billion (2021) and is estimated to be worth $25 billion.

From EAs web site.

Consumer Purchases
Residents in the United States, Canada or Japan contract with Electronic Arts Inc., 209 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065, USA. Residents in any other country, then this Agreement is between you and EA Swiss Sàrl, Place du Molard 8, 1204, Geneva, Switzerland (CH-660-2328005-8).

You pay EA USA or EA Swiss not some stupid collection company.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

LMAO I never said EA was a Bank or a CC Company but you are trying to say that a company as large EA doesn't have a Billing Department that knows how to collect payments so they out source it, now that is funny.
Revenue: $5.629 billion (2021) and is estimated to be worth $25 billion.

From EAs web site.

Consumer Purchases
Residents in the United States, Canada or Japan contract with Electronic Arts Inc., 209 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065, USA. Residents in any other country, then this Agreement is between you and EA Swiss Sàrl, Place du Molard 8, 1204, Geneva, Switzerland (CH-660-2328005-8).

You pay EA USA or EA Swiss not some stupid collection company.

Even if you pay EA USA or EA Swiss it still goes via the Merchant Company that sits in between and operates Credit Card transactions, then into their Bank. EA may initiate the Billing, and hit the collect button, the transaction then goes through the credit card system. And you've now explained the Swiss connection - so as I said, it's just most likely a referencing error on the transaction, which are all added by scripts anyway. OR. Global Collections EA help CA was down one day, and being part of the same organisation - Global Collections EA help CH decided to help out and make the transaction work.

 

[HRH Liz]

Even if you pay EA USA or EA Swiss it still goes via the Merchant Company that sits in between and operates Credit Card transactions, then into their Bank. EA may initiate the Billing, and hit the collect button, the transaction then goes through the credit card process. And you've now explained the Swiss connection - so as I said, it's just most likely a referencing error on the transaction, which are all added by scripts anyway.

What is this Merchant Company you think magically sits out there collecting money for who knows who. EA Bills my Bank/CC directly and my Bank/CC pays EA directly there is no stupid middle man, what you do not think that a Multi Billion Dollar Company is so stupid as to not know how to get money from a Bank or a CC Company and have it go directly to their Bank Account, you must think that EA is very stupid. Do you pay all your bills to this mysterious company? Are all the companies that you do business with so stupid that they do not know how to do a money transfer from your account to their account that they need a middle man who charges them money to do this service. You must think CEOs all over the world are stupid. Provide a Link to this Global Company.

 

[Pawain]

Do you realize how many things are outsourced now?

These billion dollar companies pay someone for all kinds of things. Including billing and collecting.

I have a niece that handles paychecks for large corporations.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

What is this Merchant Company you think magically sits out there collecting money for who knows who. EA Bills my Bank/CC directly and my Bank/CC pays EA directly there is no stupid middle man, what you do not think that a Multi Billion Dollar Company is so stupid as to not know how to get money from a Bank or a CC Company and have it go directly to their Bank Account, you must think that EA is very stupid. Do you pay all your bills to this mysterious company? Are all the companies that you do business with so stupid that they do not know how to do a money transfer from your account to their account that they need a middle man who charges them money to do this service. You must think CEOs all over the world are stupid. Provide a Link to this Global Company.

Here is a link to the full list - I am UK based, so this is a list I recognise, you may have different in the US.

Compare 100+ UK Payment Processing Companies & Merchant Services

There are now well over 100 companies in the UK that provide merchant services, accounts and/or card payment processing services to businesses both big and small. We look at each of these in some detail below to help you make an informed decision. If you want to narrow down your choices, we can...

merchantmachine.co.uk

Number 14 - Global Payments - used by HSBC - Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation - one of the biggest Global banks in the world.

Unrivaled Payments Expertise | Global Payments

Global Payments Inc. is a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions delivering innovative services to our customers globally.

www.globalpaymentsinc.com

EA clearly need a global reach, HSBC gives that - the worlds 6th largest multi trillion $ public company. Pretty mysterious

HSBC - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

These are the Merchant Companies that sit between your payment method, and EA's bank, and make the transactions happen.

Yes I do pay all my bills via these mysterious companies - every single one of us does - who uses a credit card - or an online platform. All the companies in the world are indeed so stupid, because these are the companies that set up the platforms, and operate them.

 

[Pawain]

Many banks don't handle their own bill pay. The company they use has good sorting. I'll get checks from different banks in the same envelope.

So banks pay another company to write checks. And why wouldn't EA use outsourcing for collections. They don't have to give benefits to those people.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

Many banks don't handle their own bill pay. The company they use has good sorting. I'll get checks from different banks in the same envelope.

So banks pay another company to write checks. And why wouldn't EA use outsourcing for collections. They don't have to give benefits to those people.

It's not that they are even outsourcing - the only direct way for you to make payment - is if you do a direct transfer into their bank account.
EA would then receive 1 million separate little transactions per day, that would actually kill them - they could not have an accounts team that could handle that, it's not efficient use of anyones time.

In the case of Online Platforms, or Credit Cards - Merchant Companies sit in between, and make it all work, taking the money, and putting it into EA's bank in large bulk sums.

 

[HRH Liz]

Here is a link to the full list - I am UK based, so this is a list I recognise, you may have different in the US.

Compare 100+ UK Payment Processing Companies & Merchant Services

There are now well over 100 companies in the UK that provide merchant services, accounts and/or card payment processing services to businesses both big and small. We look at each of these in some detail below to help you make an informed decision. If you want to narrow down your choices, we can...

merchantmachine.co.uk

Number 14 - Global Payments - used by HSBC - Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation - one of the biggest Global banks in the world.

Unrivaled Payments Expertise | Global Payments

Global Payments Inc. is a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions delivering innovative services to our customers globally.

www.globalpaymentsinc.com

EA clearly need a global reach, HSBC gives that - the worlds 6th largest multi trillion $ public company. Pretty mysterious

HSBC - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

These are the Merchant Companies that sit between your payment method, and EA's bank, and make the transactions happen.

Yes I do pay all my bills via these mysterious companies - every single one of us does - who uses a credit card - or an online platform. All the companies in the world are indeed so stupid, because these are the companies that set up the platforms, and operate them.

Seriously you link
Leading Software Solutions and World-Class Expertise from Global Payments a Software company that develops programs so you can make payments and collect payments
Then you provides a link to an article that is about companies like PayPal and such.
and your 3 link is for a Bank and a Bank does what a Bank does it sends money and receives money in support of it account holders.
So you think that the Banks that EA has their accounts in can not receive money or transfer money without going through a 3rd party, now that is funny.

So alls one need do to crash the world economy is take down the center hub of a massive wagon wheel and the world will collapse

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

Seriously you link
Leading Software Solutions and World-Class Expertise from Global Payments a Software company that develops programs so you can make payments and collect payments
Then you provides a link to an article that is about companies like PayPal and such.
and your 3 link is for a Bank and a Bank does what a Bank does it sends money and receives money in support of it account holders.
So you think that the Banks that EA has their accounts in can not receive money or transfer money without going through a 3rd party, now that is funny.

So alls one need do to crash the world economy is take down the center hub of a massive wagon wheel and the world will collapse

We aren't just talking about making and collecting payments, we are talking about doing it on a massive worldwide scale - billions of micro transactions from many types of payment to many sources.
With regards to Credit Card and Online Platforms, you need a Merchant account for this, and the Merchant companies help run it, and link to the banks, they often sit in the middle.
Companies like Paypal, Amazon, and Sage Finance software for example (or such a vested interest) - and the Credit Card companies, have such huge experience in this area in terms of sending and receiving money online, that they have developed their own systems, they are the experts, they now sell that service onwards as an extra string to their bow.
What EA will have done, is develop their online account/subscription portal, then used a company like Global Payments to help link it all up to the bank. Because - EA do not run the credit cards, or the payment platforms - they are using the platforms of others - for example, if I pay by Barclaycard - my transaction will go via EA account page ->via Barclaycard -> via Merchant account -> into EA Bank account. Roughly speaking. That's my best guess, not being in their finance department. If I pay by American Express it will go via EA account page -> via American Express -> via Merchant account -> into EA bank account. If I pay by Paypal, it will go EA account page -> Paypal -> Merchant account -> Bank. One of the reasons you can see for the Merchant Account, is they collect up all the different payment types from one source {UO subscription page} {EA Online Store} before it hits the bank. Otherwise, every single day, again, EA will get hit by transactions from every single different Global payment type, and again, they don't need that.

 

[HRH Liz]

We aren't just talking about making and collecting payments, we are talking about doing it on a massive worldwide scale - billions of micro transactions from many types of payment to many sources.
With regards to Credit Card and Online Platforms, you need a Merchant account for this, and the Merchant companies help run it, and link to the banks, they often sit in the middle.
Companies like Paypal, Amazon, and Sage Finance software for example (or such a vested interest) - and the Credit Card companies, have such huge experience in this area in terms of sending and receiving money online, that they have developed their own systems, they are the experts, they now sell that service onwards as an extra string to their bow.
What EA will have done, is develop their online account/subscription portal, then used a company like Global Payments to help link it all up to the bank. Because - EA do not run the credit cards, or the payment platforms - they are using the platforms of others - for example, if I pay by Barclaycard - my transaction will go via EA account page ->via Barclaycard -> via Merchant account -> into EA Bank account. Roughly speaking. That's my best guess, not being in their finance department. If I pay by American Express it will go via EA account page -> via American Express -> via Merchant account -> into EA bank account. If I pay by Paypal, it will go EA account page -> Paypal -> Merchant account -> Bank. One of the reasons you can see for the Merchant Account, is they collect up all the different payment types from one source {UO subscription page} {EA Online Store} before it hits the bank. Otherwise, every single day, again, EA will get hit by transactions from every single different Global payment type, and again, they don't need that.

Are you serious? why would any of these people use a 3rd party, A Merchant account. How about your Paypal Account to EAs account or American Express to EAs account do you seriously think that the bank that EA uses in incapable of accepting payments from AE or Paypal please use that gray matter GOD gave you. Those Merchant accounts that you speak of, which by the way PayPal was one of them (guess you didn't even read your own links) charge a fee for their service and if you think you are not going to pay for that then you really do need help.

These are the 4 largest Banking System in the US: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China is the largest in the world and you seriously think all of these banks are totally incapable of processing millions of transaction on a daily basis. I would be willing to bet that one of these banks has an EA Account that holds their money.
Does the NY Stock exchange (largest in the world) which does 2–3 million trades per day use one of these Merchant accounts.
You think that this Merchant account is able to handle this volume but the worlds largest bank is not, yea right.

 

[Pawain]

These are the 4 largest Banking System in the US: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo

I get checks from customers using those banks bill pay. So they have their bill pay outsourced. Or they are really just 1 bank cause the checks come to me in the same envelope.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

Are you serious? why would any of these people use a 3rd party, A Merchant account. How about your Paypal Account to EAs account or American Express to EAs account do you seriously think that the bank that EA uses in incapable of accepting payments from AE or Paypal please use that gray matter GOD gave you. Those Merchant accounts that you speak of, which by the way PayPal was one of them (guess you didn't even read your own links) charge a fee for their service and if you think you are not going to pay for that then you really do need help.

These are the 4 largest Banking System in the US: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China is the largest in the world and you seriously think all of these banks are totally incapable of processing millions of transaction on a daily basis. I would be willing to bet that one of these banks has an EA Account that holds their money.
Does the NY Stock exchange (largest in the world) which does 2–3 million trades per day use one of these Merchant accounts.
You think that this Merchant account is able to handle this volume but the worlds largest bank is not, yea right.

Bank of America Merchant Services - to put it into your language - they used to use First Data, - Number 10 on my list I gave you.

Bank Of America Merchant Services Review

Should you use Bank of America merchant services? Read our review of Bank of America’s credit card processing to learn the truth.

www.merchantmaverick.com

To take a quote from there;
"Bank of America Merchant Services (BAMS) is the merchant services division of Bank of America (BofA). Now, you might expect that a company as large as Bank of America would handle all payment processing in-house. However, that’s not the case."

I've already explained how Paypal and Amazon crossed over - so they appear in 2 parts of the equation - Online Platform, and Online Merchant Account provider. They are just so huge globally they can - it is also directly in their interests to, it is control of the vertical supply chain. It is not in the interests of EA - being an expert in Gaming, is nothing to do with Global Moneyflow.

I think any bank account is incapable of receiving 1 million transactions per day, and then being able to financially account for them, yes - especially if they come from say 100 different methods of payment, and say 100 countries.
What would you think if you got a statement with 1 million transactions on it? Per day.

So one last attempt, because you really seem to have issues grasping the concept.

Bank transactions - direct transfers, cash, cheques = dealt with by the bank.

Credit Card Transactions - Credit Card companies are not owned by the bank specifically - separate entity, separate system - use a Merchant account to group together all the credit card transactions - then filter consolidated figures to bank.

Online Platform Transactions - again, Online companies are not owned by the banks, they have a separate payment system - use an Online Merchant account to collect millions of micro transactions from different payment providers, sources and currencies, then filter consolidated figures to bank.
{One $10 transaction here has to be recorded 1. going through the online platform 2. coming off the customer, 3. to the Credit Card company (say American Express), 4. going through the Bank account and 5. in EA's financial records.
ONE transaction. There are billions. What causes the difficulty, is the amount of payment providers, and the amount of countries. Making sense of all of that, is what is difficult. The online platform deals with 1. Merchant accounts deal with steps 2 and 3, banks deal with steps 4, EA finance deal with step 5.

Additional.
JP Morgan Merchant Services.

Six ways to get the most from your merchant services provider | J.P. Morgan

Find out what you need to know about your transaction volume across payment networks to negotiate better rates, collaborate for success and build value with your customers.

www.jpmorgan.com

Chase Merchant services.

Chase Merchant Services Reviews & Complaints

Overall, Chase Merchant Services scores much better than most credit card processing providers of its size. Business owners are encouraged...

www.cardpaymentoptions.com

 

[Stinky Pete]

If you are taking credit card payments of any sort, you have a merchant services account. It's how AMEX, VISA, MasterCard, and Discover get paid. Every transaction has a value determined by the risk of the transaction and the type of card being used. It costs a merchant more to take a payment that was manually entered into a machine than one that was swiped for example. A card that gives you cash back costs more than one that doesn't, where do you think that money comes from? The payment processor is responsible for determining the risk and ultimately the cost of the transaction. AMEX, VISA, MasterCard, Discover, and JCB (only in Japan) require all transactions on their cards to be processed this way. All debit cards issued from a bank that I am aware of are backed by one of these companies as well. You likely won't find any credit/debit card in the world that isn't. There used to be one called Pulse, but they were bought out by one of the main 5 many years ago.

It seems like there are a lot of card processors in the world but really there isn't. They get bought up by one another all the time. Examples of these companies include Global Payments, RBS WorldPay, First Data, Mercury, and Vantif. There are also a lot of merchant services providers that act as middle men to the processors, (ie Square, PayPal, and QuickBooks GoPayment) they usually offer flat rates on transactions to make your merchant services bill easier to understand and more predictable and some places find value in that even though it is always more expensive. But they too use payment processors as well. Those 5 card providers need to make sure they get paid for every transaction and it would be impossible to do without the processors in the middle because there are just so many places that take cards.

If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask. I have sold merchant services for several of these companies and the point-of-sale equipment used take and process payments for many years. I could even go deeper and talk about the companies such as Datacap who are in charge of the actual software that allow these transactions to happen. There is a lot more that happens when you swipe your card than most people realize and it's very complicated.

 

[Captn Norrington]

If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask. I have sold merchant services for several of these companies and the point-of-sale equipment used take and process payments for many years. I could even go deeper and talk about the companies such as Datacap who are in charge of the actual software that allow these transactions to happen. There is a lot more that happens when you swipe your card than most people realize and it's very complicated.

I have a question. So as you said, each card and various factors costs the merchant different amounts, and I assume that's why some places refuse to take American Express or Discover. What about specific types of cards within the Visa/Mastercard etc. umbrella which cost merchants more than usual in cashback?

For example 2-3% cashback is pretty standard now, but there are some higher-end cards that can give you up to like 8% cashback. Are the merchants just forced to lose 8% of their sale every time someone with that card happens to come in, or can they say "We accept Visa....but not that specific 8% Visa card."

It must kinda suck as a merchant to encounter customers who buy a lot with high-end cards, since they lose double or triple in cash back fees what they would on a normal customer.

 

[Stinky Pete]

What about specific types of cards within the Visa/Mastercard etc. umbrella which cost merchants more than usual in cashback?

It's the price the merchant pays to have high end customers. Typically those high cashback cards are for specific types of merchants. You might get 6% at gas stations but all merchants who accept that card share in the high cost even if the customer doesn't get the Cashback at their stores. So the gas station might only pay 4% for that transaction but so does the restaurant where the cardholder only gets 1.5% Cashback.

It must kinda suck as a merchant to encounter customers who buy a lot with high-end cards, since they lose double or triple in cash back fees what they would on a normal customer.

That's why a lot of businesses choose to use a more expensive but somewhat more consistent account. Processing fees can vary wildly from month to month depending on your card mixture but like Square charges 2.6% + $.10 per transaction on regular card-present transactions, most businesses do similar amounts of transactions a month so that amount, though more expensive over time, is easier to budget.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

I have a question. So as you said, each card and various factors costs the merchant different amounts, and I assume that's why some places refuse to take American Express or Discover. What about specific types of cards within the Visa/Mastercard etc. umbrella which cost merchants more than usual in cashback?

For example 2-3% cashback is pretty standard now, but there are some higher-end cards that can give you up to like 8% cashback. Are the merchants just forced to lose 8% of their sale every time someone with that card happens to come in, or can they say "We accept Visa....but not that specific 8% Visa card."

It must kinda suck as a merchant to encounter customers who buy a lot with high-end cards, since they lose double or triple in cash back fees what they would on a normal customer.

The Merchant does charge all their costs on to the customer, and as you say - American Express used to be the classic expensive one refused by many places.

If you read the Merchant Reports, their charges are made up of about 3 sets of charges that they pass on to the customer {Their own fees, the fee's of the card providers, and the interchange fees of the various banks the transaction may have even had to go through} - and yes, sometimes the customer notices it - queries it, then refuses to use Amex because they are so expensive.
Having said that, my more recent experience is they have got more competitive recently. {Interchange fees were my worst bugbear, you have zero control or explanation over these}.

Being FD of a company that dealt with truly global transactions including China, maintaining control of these costs was important to me, so I've read these reports in detail, to try and understand them, to keep costs down.
I've had many tactical discussions with Merchant Providers, to maintain a good cost structure.

It ultimately kinda sucks for the actual business itself - and you try and guide your customers into paying by various other means, but sometimes, you have no choice, options are limited.

 

[Stinky Pete]

The Merchant does charge all their costs on to the customer, and as you say - American Express used to be the classic expensive one refused by many places.

If you read the Merchant Reports, their charges are made up of about 3 sets of charges that they pass on to the customer {Their own fees, the fee's of the card providers, and the intercharge fees of the various banks the transaction may have even had to go through} - and yes, sometimes the customer notices it - queries it, then refuses to use Amex because they are so expensive.
Having said that, my more recent experience is they have got more competitive recently. {Intercharge fees were my worst bugbear, you have zero control or explanation over these}.

Being FD of a company that dealt with truly global transactions including China, maintaining control of these costs was important to me, so I've read these reports in detail, to try and understand them, to keep costs down.
I've had many tactical discussions with Merchant Providers, to maintain a good cost structure.

It ultimately kinda sucks for the actual business itself - and you try and guide your customers into paying by various other means, but sometimes, you have no choice, options are limited.

Dealing with merchant services providers is the worst. Any time you want to change providers, the first thing they ask you for is a copy of your statement. That statement is about the most confusing document a business has to deal with. It is done like this intentionally so that the merchant and other merchant services providers have a more difficult time making comparisons and drawing up quotes. When I was selling the service and trying to get a customer to switch my guidelines (set by the processor themselves) were that you can't underbid their current provider by more than 0.25%. That is pretty typical throughout the industry. It's not easy to even figure out how much $0.25% is, much less explain that to the customer. Once you have a quote together it has to be submitted to the processor for underwriting where they make sure you aren't coming in too much cheaper than they were paying before. Often times, the rate is higher than what they were paying because neither the salesman nor the customer can figure out what they were paying. Then you get angry customers calling a month after they switched because their bill is higher this month than it was last month and you were supposed to be cheaper. The truth is, nobody knows what your card mix is going to look like so nobody can really guarantee they will be cheaper than the last guy. If you have a brick and mortar business (probably other types as well) you are being courted constantly buy merchant services providers, all of them saying they are cheaper than the next guy because the pretty much all are. Luckily, when I was doing it I was selling point-of-sale systems as my primary business so I had the upper hand as in: "If you want to use this POS system, this is the merchant services provider you will use." My advice to people who are charged with the responsibility of changing processors is to change as often as your contract allows since their prices are based off of your previous provider's prices and they're always trying to come in at 0.25% lower. If you switch often enough over the years you can actually get the processors fees down to almost nothing but the interchange fees are what they are and processors have no control over them. To make matters even more confusing, interchange rates change often, so the rate that your processor is charging you can be as low as it can get but the bill still fluctuates greatly month to month.

 

[Stinky Pete]

can they say "We accept Visa....but not that specific 8% Visa card."

I forgot to address this question. It is in the agreement with your processor that if you accept VISA you have to accept all VISA cards. Also included in your agreement is that you are not allowed to charge a surcharge for taking a card. You can, however, offer a discount for cash transactions. It seems a lot of government agencies are exempt from this rule though.

Another interesting thing about credit card processing is charge backs. When a customer calls their credit card company and says they didn't authorize a charge, it's actually a big deal. The merchant is always going to eat the charge but the processor sees it as a security issue with the merchant. Too many charge backs in a given time period and your processor will cancel your contract. I have seen it happen.