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VISA and Mastercard Crack Down on Web Merchants


Beyond the Despair

By Alexis Gutzman
April 21, 2000

The proper place to direct merchant ire is at the four Congressional Committees that govern consumer protection and banking:

• The House Committee on Commerce''s Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection
• The House Committee on Banking and Financial Services
• The Senate Banking, Housing, And Urban Affairs Committee
• The Senate Commerce, Science, And Transportation

Perhaps "ire" is too strong a word. I spoke with the spokesman for the House Committee on Commerce''s Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection, Eric Wohlschlegel, who told me that the issue of Web merchants losing merchant accounts was "on the radar" of the subcommittee, but it was not yet a real issue. He indicated that the jurisdiction for this issue would be shared between his committee and the banking committee. I also spoke with the spokesman for the Chairman of the House Committee on Commerce''s Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection, Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-LA). He said that while there''s no time for action this year, it "could be an issue next year if it''s a problem for small businesses online, but we''ll wait until there''s a hue and cry."

Put Up or Shut Up
If you''ve read many of my columns, you know how much I hate whiners. If this affects your business, rather than forwarding useless chain mail, do the adult thing and contact your representative by phone or fax (all reports are that e-mail is weighted much less heavily than phone or fax in Congressional offices - it''s just too easy to send).

The answer lies in the current laws on the books. Congress is not unsympathetic to your problems, and is waiting for you to tell them where it hurts (I warned Mr. Wohlschlegel that you would). This column gives you everything you need to do something about a situation that could potentially shut down the Web to many, if not all netrepreneurs. I''ve given you the laws; I''ve even given you the Web sites of the committees so that you can find the phone numbers and fax numbers of the Representatives and Senators who have the power to swing the pendulum in your favor. What are you waiting for?

(Tune in next week for a column on Alternative Payment Methods - I did mention that the Congressional route would be slow.)

Alexis D. Gutzman is an E-commerce Technology Author and Consultant and author of The HTML 4 Bible and ColdFusion 4 for Dummies. She holds a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs of the University of Texas, and she always knew that education would come in handy some day. She can be reached at agutzman@internet.com

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