Epoch Worldwide Payment Solutions

Epoch, a technology company based in Santa Monica, California specializes in international payment solutions for merchants based in the United States and the European Union.

Founded in 1996, Epoch is a fully approved Internet Payment Service Provider (IPSP) as recognized by the credit card associations, (a PCI compliant Level-1 Service Provider) and a leading innovator of web-based billing for domestic and international online markets. 

Epoch provides merchants with customized billing services by accepting payments on their behalf, eliminating the need to obtain and manage their own merchant account and customer service center. By centralizing the payment process Epoch is able to drastically reduce a merchant's exposure to fraudulent transactions while accepting more payment types than a typical merchant would have access to.   This vastly increases opportunities in markets around the globe where less traditional payment types are more often used.  

 

Billing Options For Your Sites

- For Merchants -

Epoch offers multiple Billing Options for Multiple Business Models

Epoch has billing options to fit your business needs.  We specialize in subscription or membership billing but we also cater to different types of billing models for sites offering digital content. 


One Time Billing
You may charge your customer a one time charge for each individual sale.  This works well for a fixed length membership model or to sell specific amounts of content.  And your customer doesn't have to be concerned with recurring billing or cancelling a membership.  

Recurring Billing
A monthly subscription model is a convenient billing method for certain membership sites.  Your customer is billed each month and can remain a member for as long as they want, or cancel at any time.  

One Click Billing
For loyal customers who return to your site, we offer an option that allows you to make offers for additional services or content without the need to reenter their payment information.  Customers simply verify their wish to make the purchase and they are billed on the payment type used in their initial purchase.
 
Per Unit Billing
Per unit billing is great for sites that sell credits or minutes for access to content.  If you need to sell units we can easily accommodate you.  

 
Contact Epoch today to learn more about the many options we can provide for your sites.

Don't be a victim of fraud. Know the scams. Use sites you trust.

::: SCAM ALERT :::

If anyone contacts you by phone, email, or any other method and claims to be a representative for Epoch, do NOT respond to them in any way.  Under no circumstances should you give any of your personal data including credit card numbers, to any one who contacts you unsolicited.  If you do you will get ripped off. 

Epoch does not contact anyone asking for personal information.  You could be asked for partial information if you were to proactively contact Epoch with a question regarding a charge, but even then we do not ask for compete account numbers. 

Protect your debit and credit card numbers from fraud.  Use them only on sites that you trust and when the site is secured.  Epoch has been a trusted payment service provider, in business since 1996.  We are fully compliant with all Payment Card Industry rules and accredited by the card associations.

When shopping online, always look for security features from your browser.

Make sure the site begins with https:// and not http://

 And if you believe your card number might have been compromised and used to make a purchase you did not approve, and was processed by Epoch, contact us any time and we will be happy to help you. 

Epoch.com customer service is available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 days a year.

Toll Free: 1-(800)-893-8871 or Worldwide 1-(310)-664-5810

What do online merchants look for when choosing a payment service provder?

- For Merchants -

There are many payment service providers out there.  Choosing the one that works best for your online business is important.  You need to balance performance, security, support, flexibility, features, and at the end of the day... find the one that will help you make the most money. You want to find an established company that is PCI compliant and helps you balance risk management with optimum throughput.  Some considerations are: 

Types of Cards and Payment Types Accepted 
Epoch accepts many forms of payment and the list continues to grow.  For a complete list of the local payment types accepted at Epoch click here.

Cost-per-Transaction
Epoch does not charge a per-transaction fee, nor is there any fee for declined transactions.  Our processing fees are percentage based and adjusted for volume.

Reserve Withholding -or- Security Deposit
Payment Service Provider's typically have a reserve requirement.  It can range anywhere from 3% to 10% based on several factors.  Epoch does not require a security deposit and we do not withhold any of your funds as a reserve.  

One-time Costs
Epoch does not charge an application fee, or set up fee.  There are no one-time costs to set up an account with Epoch.  There are annual fees that must be paid to the card associations however, as is the case with all Payment Service Providers. 
 
Monthly Recurring Costs
There are no monthly maintenance costs with Epoch. 

Regions Where You Can Accept Transactions 
With the exception of countries, regions, or entities designated by The Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"), Epoch accepts transactions worldwide. 

Multi-Currency Options
Epoch provides conversion for 59 different currencies. 

API Availability
Epoch provides several APIs to address integration needs of all types.  If you have a specific need that we have not yet addressed, we will work with you to find the best solution. 

Customer Support
Epoch's customer service is available 24/7/365 in multiple languages via phone, email, and instant chat.

Time Required For Integration
Integration is easy.  Once you submit your agreement and the site is found to be compliant with all card association rules, you can begin accepting transactions within hours.

Technical Support
Our technical support team is available 24/7/365 and is located in-house and never outsourced.  Most of the members of our team have been with us for many years, and each understands the intricacies of integration.  We have an excellent record for turn-around time and resolution.  We're always open.


If you have any questions for us, give us a call.  310.664.5700 or  888.627.3888

Or write to Sales@Epoch.com.

Why is it better to process with Epoch than to get my own merchant account?

- For Merchants -

“High Risk” merchant accounts can be difficult to obtain and are expensive. Banks require substantial reserves that may not be returned to the merchant for many years, while Epoch does not require any reserves (typically between 5-10% of transactions with banks or other service providers).  Moreover, individual merchant accounts cannot offer the full range of premium features that Epoch does, and do not include complete back-end affiliate tracking and transaction cascading systems.

Perhaps most importantly, Epoch’s clients receive the benefit of its risk management department, 24-7 customer call center and 24-7 merchant support for no additional fee. The team at Epoch constantly monitors our clients’ portfolios to ensure that their accounts remain in good standing with the card associations. The cost for a merchant to recreate these services would be substantial, and if a merchant is unable to remain within card association guidelines for consumer disputes it risks being permanently banned by the card associations from accepting credit card transactions.

Lastly, using our service adds goodwill to your site as Epoch is a well established company, processing online transactions since 1996.   We never forget that we are a service organization and we work to ensure that our clients and their customers are provided courteous and professional service. 

To learn more about us please visit Epoch.com.  

How do I cancel my membership or subscription?

Does the descriptor by a charge to your account indicate Epoch?

If so, the easiest way to cancel a membership or subscription is to use our online purchase finder to identify the charge and cancel it online. You will receive an e-mail to the address you entered upon purchase confirming that your membership or subscription has been canceled and that you will no longer be billed.  If you cannot use the form due to insufficient information, please contact us so that we can locate your membership/subscription and cancel it. 

If you don't know your order ID, have the card number handy when you contact us, but note that an Epoch representative will not ask you for the entire number.

We are here for you 24 hours a day, to help you with any questions and to assist you in managing your online subscriptions.  Multilingual support specialists are available.  Contact us by chat, phone, email, or use our online search tool.  The choice is yours!

• Use the "Purchase Finder" to find or manage your purchase
• Send an email to billingsupport@epoch.com with your question or request
• Use our instant chat feature and get a live agent right away 
• Phone us to speak to a live representative at any time
• Request an agent to call you at your convenience

          Toll Free: 1-(800)-893-8871 or Worldwide 1-(310)-664-5810


Customer service is available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 days a year.

Epoch's Fraud Prevention & Risk Management

- For Merchants -

Fraud protection and risk management are the most important components of online billing.  Epoch uses a variety of processes to minimize fraud while ensuring that your good transactions make it through to approval. 


Epoch uses a multi-layered approach to minimize fraud while maximizing transaction throughput. The first component of that system is pre-transaction filtering. This is the front-end of our gateway, and it is comprised of a sophisticated network of tools we utilize before a transaction is authorized.  This process is dynamic and has been developed in-house and refined for over 17 years.  The second component of Epoch’s fraud reduction program is post-transaction analysis. This back-end work provides a feedback loop to our pre-transaction filters to ensure we accept as many transactions as possible while minimizing fraud.

To learn more about us or to inquire about obtaining an account with us, please visit Epoch.com. 

Need help with your password?

I don't remember my password. How can I retrieve it?
 
If you require a password to access a website for which you have purchased a membership or subscription, you may use our Personal Purchase Finder to retrieve it.  Additionally, your password was sent to your email at the time of the purchase, so you should be able to retrieve it in there.  Or, if your password has stopped working please use the Purchase Finder to refresh it.



We are here for you 24 hours a day, to help you with any questions and to assist you in managing your online subscriptions.  Multilingual support specialists available.  Contact us by chat, phone, email, or use our online search tool.  The choice is yours!

• Use the "Purchase Finder" to find or manage your purchase
• Send an email to billingsupport@epoch.com with your question or request
• Use our instant chat feature and get a live agent right away 
• Phone us to speak to a live representative at any time
• Request an agent to call you at your convenience

          Toll Free: 1-(800)-893-8871 or Worldwide 1-(310)-664-5810


Customer service is available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 days a year.

What is a Member or Subscription ID?

Tips for managing website purchases:

A Member or Subscription ID is a unique identifying number that corresponds to the membership/subscription that you have purchased. You will receive your Member/Subscription ID immediately after the purchase of a membership/subscription via the e-mail address that you provided on the payment page. You should always maintain a record of your Member/Subscription ID and should use this number in any correspondence with a Billing Support Representative. With this number a Billing Support Representative can view your membership/subscription history, the time it was purchased, the charges made, as well as the payment information used for the purchase.



We are here for you 24 hours a day, to help you with any questions and to assist you in managing your online subscriptions.  Multilingual support specialists available.  Contact us by chat, phone, email, or use our online search tool.  The choice is yours!

• Use the "Purchase Finder" to find or manage your purchase
• Send an email to billingsupport@epoch.com with your question or request
• Use our instant chat feature and get a live agent right away 
• Phone us to speak to a live representative at any time
• Request an agent to call you at your convenience

          Toll Free: 1-(800)-893-8871 or Worldwide 1-(310)-664-5810


Customer service is available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 days a year.

Do you have an unknown charge from Epoch?

Epoch is a Payment Service Provider for thousands of internet merchants.  If you receive a charge from Epoch, it was for an online purchase from a website where we are the payment processor.  Each time a purchase is made with our services, an email receipt is sent to you which includes information about the purchase including the amount charged, what the purchase was for,  and information for customer service and billing support.

Many times people forget about purchases they make, or, they do not read the terms of the purchase or the information clearly provided to them at the point of sale and in the email confirmation.  Alternatively, they may simply not have taken note that Epoch was the name that would appear on their billing statement when they made their purchase.  For these reasons, there are those who go to complaint boards, etc..  who think they've been the victim of a scam when in fact, they have not.  Epoch employs ethical best practices and is an approved payment gateway that is fully compliant with all Payment Card Industry (PCI) regulations.  We are also accredited by the Better Business Bureau. 

In the rare instance that your card information was compromised and used to make purchases processed by Epoch, your are urged to contact Epoch immediately for assistance.  If your card was indeed compromised, the unauthorized user had to know some information about you to get the card approved through Epoch's gateway.

Banks have rules about how much money can be "reversed" in a situation like this.  It is the responsibility of the cardholder to examine their statements and identify any errors or erroneous charges.  If your card was indeed compromised there may also be other purchases made with other merchants by the person who used the card.  In a case such as this you should contact your banks fraud department and have that account closed and get a new card issued immediately.  The longer you wait to to do this the more liable you become for any charges made.  Monitoring your statements and expedient reporting of any unknown charges is the responsibility of the cardholder. 

Our billing support services are available 24/7/365.  Feel free to contact us anytime with any billing related questions you may have.  We are always happy to help.

For more information about how to resolve a complaint, please see this post. 

Epoch's Responsive Payment Forms for Mobile Devices

For Merchants:

More and more people are getting to your site via a mobile device and this represents a significant and growing percentage of your sales.  With the introduction of our newest payment form, we believe we can help this trend translate to an even greater boost in mobile sales.

Our version three (V3) payment form is the ultimate payment interface for mobile devices.  V3 has all the same great benefits of our highly developed Smart Payment Forms.  There are two features that set version three apart.  First, V3 has an updated, more modern look.  It has a fresh design and a very clean interface that is well suited for smaller screens.  Second, it employs bootstrap technology allowing it to scale into tablet and smartphone browsers as well as desktop browsers (including IE7) via responsive CSS.  V3 looks great and even adapts to portrait or landscape orientation automatically.  It works just as well on a desktop or laptop and is really the best solution we've found for mobile devices.  It simply makes the mobile purchase experience very easy.

Epoch's responsive V3 payment form is available to all Epoch clients and is incredibly easy to implement by adding a little more information to your linking code.  Simply go to any of your payment form strings and add &version=3 to your linking code in the URL.  Alternatively, clients may ask Epoch tech support to make V3 their default payment page, thus avoiding the need to change any links at all.  V3 performs equally well on desktops as it is a device friendly page.  It is not necessary to use separate templates for desktops versus phones and tablets. 


V3 is an option available to any Epoch client who wishes to take advantage of it. 

You do not need to contact us to implement the new form.  But if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with us at any time. 

Epoch - A Payment Industry Icon Since 1996

Since 1996, Epoch has been a pioneer in online billing for subscription-based media as well as other qualifying digital content.  Many of the largest and most popular entertainment sites in the world incorporate Epoch as their primary billing service of choice due to our experience, expertise, and ethical standards which have become the benchmark of the PSP (Payment Service Provider) industry.

Consumer inquiries and merchants looking for billing solutions may reach us at Epoch.com.

If you are researching a charge to your account and would like to speak with one our support
agents, please call us.

USA and Canada Toll Free:  1 (800) 893-8871
                                    Fax:   1 (310) 315-5164

USA and International:       +1 (310) 664-5810
                                   Fax: +1 (310) 314-5164


Or visit our site where you can chat with us online,
send us an email, or request that an agent call you.

Contact Us

A Note About Privacy

Epoch is committed to respecting your privacy and recognizes the need for appropriate protection and management of any personally identifiable information ("Personal Information") you share with us. In order to provide payment processing, billing, customer service and fraud detection services (collectively "Services"), Epoch collects and uses your Personal Information.
 
Online and off-line privacy is constantly evolving and Epoch plans to take all reasonable efforts to maintain up to date and effective privacy standards and practices. You may also contact us at legal@epoch.com with any questions or concerns that you may have.

For more on Epoch's privacy policy, please visit https://epoch.com/en/privacy.html

How do I stop Epoch.com from billing my account?

We are here for you 24 hours a day, to help you with any questions and to assist you in managing your online subscriptions.  Multilingual support specialists available.  Contact us by chat, phone, email, or use our online search tool.  The choice is yours!

• Use the "Purchase Finder" to find or manage your purchase
• Send an email to billingsupport@epoch.com with your question or request
• Use our instant chat feature and get a live agent right away 
• Phone us to speak to a live representative at any time
• Request an agent to call you at your convenience

          Toll Free: 1-(800)-893-8871 or Worldwide 1-(310)-664-5810


Customer service is available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 days a year.

Simple and Intelligent Billing

A seamless purchase experience

So, you were able to get the customer to your tour and your excellent site design persuaded them to make a purchase.  Now you need your billing company to make the payment process swift, easy, intelligent, and with as little friction as possible. The fewer clicks and decisions your customer has to make, the better.

The philosophy behind Epoch's Intelligent Payment Form is simplicity through technology. Our payment form automatically reads the surfer's browser to determine what language to present. A second seamless but important feature involves presenting the appropriate payment types based on your customer's location. Additionally, the payment page will determine the default currency type to be displayed. Automating these consumer decisions translates to fewer clicks, less friction and fewer abandoned sales resulting in a greater number of successful transactions.

These are just the basics of Epoch's payment form, but already exceed what you find at many if not most pay sites. Consider that the payment form is your cash register and arguably the most important part of the process when converting your surfer into a paying customer and you'll understand the importance of having the best service you can find.

Our form also provides merchants with lots of flexibility and customization options while maintaing the highest standards of security and compliance with all card association rules.

Additional products may be offered from the payment form to increase sales. Full disclosure of pricing and terms is always clearly shown in your customers currency which helps ensure fewer credits and chargebacks. You may also present alternative pricing for specific regions based on a fixed amount or a percentage increase/decrease of your default price points.

What looks very simple actually has a lot of thought and technology built into it. Not just design, but science and art. Our payment form is fast, effective, and offers features designed to address global markets in multiple languages, currencies, and payment types.

Although we specialize in subscription billing, we've developed what we feel is the best payment interface available for pay-per-unit billing. When you consider all the factors that go into Epoch's payment forms, it just stands to reason that making Epoch your primary choice makes you more money. 

 

Epoch – a truly international payment service provider

Epoch has been providing award winning online payment solutions since 1996. As an experienced ecommerce pioneer, we continue to lead the way in innovation and flexibility.

We help you get the most from your traffic by offering the very best payment solution available anywhere. First, we offer more alternative payment types than other processors, enabling you to reach more customers around the world. Then, we streamline each transaction by presenting a custom payment form for each individual customer, automatically detecting their geographic location and browser language, and presenting the form in their preferred language and local currency.

Our form also recognizes your product type and displays only those payment options that are most beneficial to your offer, be it a one-time transaction, a per-unit sale, or a recurring billing sale. Lastly, only the payment options available to the specific region of your customer are displayed, keeping the form in ideal presentment and avoiding confusion.

Automating these functions translates to fewer consumer decisions, less friction to completion of the sale, and decreased abandonment rates. You simply capture more sales with more payment options by giving your customers more ways to pay.

Webmasters utilizing our payment solutions are not required to have or maintain their own merchant account and, unlike other billing companies, we do not require a reserve or security deposit (which ranges between 5% and 10% of sales with other PSPs). Epoch provides a complete merchant solution which includes acceptance of all major international card brands* and an ever-growing number of local payment options accepted around the globe.

All Epoch accounts include our state-of-the-art billing solutions, expert risk management, 24/7 technical support, 24/7 customer service, affiliate tracking and management, optional APIs, and a suite of custom designed marketing features. There are no hidden fees and no maintenance fees.

Contact us today to learn more about how making Epoch your primary billing company can help you maximize your sales with technology driven results in today's highly competitive marketplace.

* With the exception of American Express which has disallowed processing of MCC5967 transactions since 1999.

Merchants: Subscription Billing for Digital Content

There are many examples of subscription based services for virtual content. These are services where you pay an incremental fee for access to various kinds of media.  With advancements in technology and bandwidth, more and more we are living in a world of virtual content.  Of course cable service providers have been around for decades and are a perfect example of paying a recurring fee for media services.  More recently, specialty companies like NetFlix for movies, Hulu for TV shows, and Spotify for music have gained popularity for their ease of use, use-anywhere mobility, and access to continuously available content on demand.

Established in 1996, Epoch is a global leader for internet-based subscription based billing for digital content.   Subscription billing presents its own unique challenges as does digital content.   We are the most experienced payment service provider in this space.  Our services are 100% PCI compliant and we are fully accredited by the card associations and the Better Business Bureau.

If you are a merchant in need of subscription billing services or other types of billing models, we would love to talk to you about your options. Feel free to contact us any time.
 

If you are a subscriber to a service that we bill for and have questions about your bill, feel free to contact Billing Support  24/7/365.