BetOnline Shady Banking Policies (6% Fee and is not Clear)

[pokerprop]

I posted about this at SportsBettingSites.org a while ago and was neither here nor there in terms of a complaint just a heads up saying BetOnline is now charging 6% on credit card deposits.

Anyways seeing this this SBR thead and learing how this policy was implemented I think this is rather fucked up.

Player Complains he got charged 6% fee and had no idea about it. Was a long time player who has deposited many times so wasn't expecting this. SBR quotes it in the rules so fine (but rules you have to go digging for). BetOnline rep responds as follows:

Hi sharpcat,

We actually do inform you about the deposit fee on the deposit page in the cashier. If you have a look below the 'Deposit to my Account' button you'll see the information that we will apply a fee.

With regards to you not being able to access the page anymore. Please PM me your details and I'll look into it.

LOL that image is pretty fucked up. There is no link to these rules, just some small fine print not everyone is going to read and a buried thing in rules page (not linked) saying we keep 6%.

This is deceptive and the logical reason is BetOnline doesn't want to scare people off (because most their competitors are not charging fees) so they rather suck a deposit off them and when they complain say "fuck you it's in the rules".

I consider this "deceptive business practices" and "deceptive pricing". I have no issue with the fee, but plenty of issue with the deception. The way Bovada does it adding the 4.9% on top and showing what you will be charged is fine. It is clear and on the confirm screen and you have no doubt about what it is you are purchasing. The BetOnline way is to just use fine print to skim of 6% and point to the strategic place it was mentioned and say see told ya so.

[KevinMcC]

Do they charge both the players and the affiliates now too?

[stillshadow]

I agree that it isn't right not to clearly disclose any extra fees that are being charged. However, I do know that they're going through some processor issues at the moment so perhaps this is a temporary issue while they get the better processors in place? In the meantime they really should fix this if they're going to charge the fees.

I really think it is ill-advised of them to even consider charging fees at this point to put them at a disadvantage to almost every other competitor, aside from Bovada. Unfortunately, the conversions already aren't stellar at the moment so I can't imagine this is going to help. Perhaps you can chime in here, Stephen?

[pokerprop]

They're a sportsbook and player value for US sports bettors are at an all time low. I mean obviously as a player and affiliate I'd prefer everything was free etc. but in this market do what you have to do and cut back when you have to cut back makes sense. Just the fee is 6%. You have go navigate their site find the rules, scroll through them to find this out.

What's wrong with showing a person exactly what the charge is and let them know what's being added to their account what the fee is right on the final screen to click confirm. To me this would be like going to Amazon.com ordering something seeing price is $138.00 clicking confirm and it says thanks for your order. Then I check credit card bill and it was actually $147.00 when asked why they tell point me to fine print that says check our terms and conditions for fees (no link) which I can navigate around and find linked on some other page.

You have to navigate around to even find what the fee is. This doesn't make sense. It's highly deceptive and reasonable logic suggest deception in the intent. Beyond that I don't care. Charge 60% I don't care - I'll tell people not to play their because the fee is too high, it's a free market though set the price however you'd like and let potential clients decide. Where it becomes unethical and an issue is when you try to trick people into thinking the price is something it is not, and that's what I see happening here.