• International Billing Alternatives – Premium Phone Billing

    Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Billing Solutions | Tags:

    In the last article i wrote in respect of international billing options we took a closer look at the SMS Billing method and its pitfalls and benefits when charging our surfers for access to our sites. In this article we will take a look at another option we can offer our international surfer base – Phone Billing.

    Phone Billing – What Is It?

    Phone billing, as the name would suggest is a method of applying a ‘charge’ to a surfers normal land-line telephone. This charge is often around the cost of $35 (US).

    Once the surfer has called the premium rate number displayed on your websites join page, they are given a code to enter into a form, again, this form could be on your join page or on a separate site.

    Phone Billing – What Are The Costs.

    To be perfectly honest with you this is all dependant on to many variable factors to give you a good solid answer. However, as mentioned above the standard cost would seem to be in the region of $35 (US) but, this can often vary depending on factors such as the country in which the surfer is calling the premium rate line from, How much the surfers telephone company charges for a call, How much the paysite charges for access, How much the premium rate phone line provider charges, etc etc.

    Generally speaking however, the cost to the surfer is almost always made into profit in your pocket, if a call costs $35(US) you will almost certainly make $35(US) from that surfer minus a small percentage (depending on the provider) again however, this figure may vary slightly.

    Phone Billing – Overview.

    As with SMS Billing, Premium Rate Phone Billing offers a good alternative for your international surfers to access a paysite however, this doesn’t come without its drawbacks. Unless your members area is updated regularly and is of high quality you are going to make $35(US) approximately of each surfer unless, that is, they decide to call the premium rate number again for access to your site for another month.

    That said, if you do not want to offer your foreign surfers the option of having credit card or debit card access to your sites Premium Phone Billing would almost certainly be my second choice to make money from them at the present time.

    Article written by Lee