A global payments technology company
Winning the Cross-Border
Global Domain Name Game
PYMNTS.com Report
The business of global domain names is, well, global - so why so the cross-border complications?
Desleigh Jameson, the CEO of Instra, a 15-year-old global domain name registrar, shares her unique
cross-border business challenges and how she overcame them.
Instra and
BlueSnap
Ace Domain
Name Trading
Instra, based in Melbourne, Australia, provides an
extensive domain name service to a global market.
The company’s portfolio covers the gamut, from the
dot.coms and the dot.DEs (Denmark) to high-risk
sites such as gaming and triple-X adult websites,
which other companies don’t want to touch.
Instra’s reach is extensive, supplying and promoting
generic and country code top-level domain names
in 250 countries to individuals, corporations and
resellers. Think GoDaddy where GoDaddy might
also be a customer in the domain resell market.
The business of cross-border domain name
trading can be beset with compliance issues and
confusing billing systems. But the partnership
between Instra and BlueSnap, a global payments
company specializing in online payment processing,
has handled the challenge with aplomb. Desleigh
Jameson, CEO of Instra, discussed the successful
partnership with Karen Webster.
Instra’s Early Priorities
Compliance is an issue when a company is trading
online and across borders, but the bigger priority for
Instra was finding a way to manage the myriad of
currencies that it receives from global transactions
on a daily basis and how to settle these funds. If
funds are handled improperly, the company has to pay
extra fees to convert the funds. Another priority was
compliance, as the company had to be sure that it
was trading appropriately. Finally, providing flexibility
for customers was key to scaling up.
High Transaction Rate, Low Transactional Value
Transactions on Instra’s clients’ websites can be
anywhere from $10 to $5,000, but most are around
the $50 mark, according to Jameson, which implies
a high transaction rate with low transactional value.
There are a bunch of different
currencies coming back to
us, but we don’t want all this
currency and then have to
convert the following week in
order to pay overheads.
– Desleigh Jameson, CEO of Instra
Instra buys its products from all over the world and
transacts in many different currencies. Because of
the characteristics of the business, Instra needed the
ability to route to local acquirers in order to increase
conversions. Jameson told Webster, “There are a
bunch of different currencies coming back to us,
but we don’t want all this currency and then have to
convert the following week in order to pay overheads.”
Compliance
When the company was acquired by a U.K. company,
it faced new compliance regulations, specifically
OPEC sanctions. Trading online, the company had to
be sensitive to cross-border trading requirements.
According to Jameson, “In New Zealand and Australia,
we are subject to a really light version of compliance,
but our banks don’t talk about it ever, it’s just not on
the radar.” Instra had to change to ensure it didn’t
accidentally trade across a border it didn’t intend to
and with someone whom it would rather not trade.
BlueSnap ensured that Instra never had a bad
transaction because it managed the complexities
of cross-border trading, such as shipping for physical
goods or download capability for digital services,
complying with tax regulations in different parts of
the world, and ensuring that the checkout process
was optimized for local payments methods,
currencies and languages. Thanks to BlueSnap,
Instra avoids calamitous transactions in an
environment where, according to Jameson, “it is
so easy for people to mask where they are coming
from and who they are.”
Simplifying Payments for Resellers
Instra wanted to find a way to work with resellers.
According to Jameson, “We wanted a platform or
website that could easily adapt so that if a company
wanted to start selling domain names the next
day, Instra could scan a website for the customer
overnight and plug them into a whole audience.” But
the company needed an invoicing system that made
sense and was simple.
We wanted a platform
or website that could
easily adapt...
– Desleigh Jameson, CEO of Instra
BlueSnap helped Instra to develop a clear and
easy billing system. Because each customer of
Instra is using the same system, the same
infrastructure and the same security, there is
nothing to be fixed, and the client needs to focus
only on its customers’ credentials.
The simplicity of the system, Jameson told Webster,
meant that BlueSnap was able to provide a contract
within a day that Instra put in front of a new client
whose website they were just about to roll out.
Clients were wowed because they did not have to
wait for a 20-page document detailing the
infrastructure and security specifications.
Metrics
Instra measures the success of the partnership by
the innovation and ideas spawned as a result of an
effective tech team. Jameson cites tech team efforts
to reduce payment failure issues and new ways to
recognize outdated expiries on cards as tangible
evidence of the partnership’s success.
Instra and BlueSnap’s partnership has come up
with a new way to work with customers, particularly
the resellers of domain names. The success is
attributable to prioritizing potential roadblocks,
simplifying the work required by clients and
providing flexibility for consumers.
Source: pymnts.com/news/cross-border-commerce/2016/instra-bluesnap-domain-name-trading-service-melbourne/
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About
BlueSnap
BlueSnap is a global payments technology company that optimizes global, mobile checkout and drives higher
payment conversions percent for eCommerce merchants worldwide. Their Powered Buy Platform fuels the
growth for businesses eager to serve the global consumer and take advantage of the incremental sales
opportunities that they represent. Learn how BlueSnap is fulfilling its promise to eliminate friction and
convert more shoppers to buyers worldwide at home.bluesnap.com.
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