By Tom Terranova

Now celebrating its twelfth anniversary, Epoch leads the way in providing innovative merchant services for webmasters. Although an ever-increasing number of webmasters now depend on Epoch, relatively few know much about the company’s history. For a quick refresher course on Epoch’s past — and the future of  third party billing —  I recently spoke to Rand Pate, Epoch’s Corporate Communications Liaison.

When was Epoch founded?
Epoch was born in 1996 at the hands of two life-long friends from Alabama. Although there have been other partnerships along the way, the two men who started it all are still at the helm. They've built a reputation based on honesty and integrity; always remembering that above all else we are a service organization. Our headquarters are now in Santa Monica, California.

What is Epoch’s primary mission?
All of our systems are proprietary. They were built in-house and custom developed for our one core competency: processing transactions online for subscription-based websites. Within the last few years we’ve also implemented custom billing models for Video-On-Demand and CamCharge for webcam sites.
How does Epoch compare to other third-party billing companies?
Epoch is the world’s oldest running IPSP serving the adult space. We were not the first, but the few who came before us are no longer in business. In the beginning, Epoch thrived on volume, although that also proved extremely challenging. We learned through a trial by fire and survived, which I believe gave us an edge. The majority of our corporate staff has been with us for many years.

What were some of the milestones for Epoch during the past 10 years?
The industry has gone through a lot of changes. From a billing perspective, banks have certainly become a lot stricter in relation to online merchants in the high-risk areas, including sites delivering digital content. Notably, the credit and chargeback thresholds are much more stringent than they were in the earliest beginnings of online commerce. Now, IPSP's hold even more worth than in the earlier years due to well-established banking relationships, a proven track-record which establishes security and capability, and our years of experience dealing with fraud.

How did you come to join Epoch?
I came to Epoch in July of 1998 after graduating from a computer programming school in Los Angeles. Oddly enough, I never wrote a single line of code for Epoch. When I came on board they were growing very fast, so there were lots of areas that needed help. Having a background working for larger corporations, it was easy for me to recognize many of these areas and to find ways to make things work better.

What did you do prior to Epoch?
I moved to LA from Tennessee in 1990. Prior to working with Epoch I had worked for ABC news in college, and had also worked with the Disney Corporation and Viacom, just to name a couple. I even worked as a freelance photographer in Los Angeles and photographed events for Vanity Fair as well as movie premiers and the Academy Awards.

Can you tell me about the Island Gathering that Epoch co-hosts?
The annual Island Gathering (IG) in Curacao is now in it's 8th year and it’s the perfect mix of business and pleasure. It’s co-hosted by Epoch and 123resourcing.com and draws the top decision makers in the adult entertainment industry. The Gathering is limited to 150 attendees and the attendees can forge relationships and make deals by the pool in between sailing, diving, snorkeling, touring the island on ATV's, and enjoying elaborate meals. The IG has always been a place where people can let their hair down amongst their peers. Knowing someone from a tradeshow floor is one thing, but getting to really know him or her on an island excursion is completely different.

How will the third party billing industry evolve in coming years?
Although there’s certainly room for competition, I believe we’ll continue to see a shrinking pool of processors. Consolidation is a natural progression in any industry. It’s also quite likely that companies who have attempted to operate under their own merchant accounts will start to find value in using an experienced third party biller.

How does Epoch work to stay ahead of its competitors?
Competition is good and experience is invaluable. Epoch has always maintained that our business plan is to protect the interests of our clients who have long-term strategies. So in one sense our longevity in the industry is a major factor for our success. But innovation is the fuel for keeping ahead of the competition. That's why Epoch offers more features, more currencies, more languages, and more tools than its competitors. Our technologies are constantly improved upon to ensure that our services are optimized giving Epoch an edge in areas where other companies simply cannot compete.

What new services can we expect from Epoch in coming months?
We recently launched a new website and we’re constantly tweaking our stats and services to make them more user friendly. EpochStats now offers a host of features that were a direct result of listening to affiliates and reading industry boards to understand the features they needed. Several new options were not previously available at Epoch and many are not available at any other billing provider. And we do have an exciting new product launching soon that we hope to introduce before the end of the year — so stay tuned!


   

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