| Premium rate sms |
| You may well have seen sms SHORT CODE numbers on the TV for voting, buying ringtones, entering competitions, taking small payments etc. Have you ever thought that YOU could use that sort of service in something you do? As with all things 24X, it is very simple and we can help you with expert advice and give you very simple options. You don't have to a be a programmer either, we have systems for everyone to use. We can tell you where to find the legal Dos and Don'ts of premium rate sms and how to avoid some of the common mistakes. |
| With a short code from 24X you can bill mobile phone users for any service you provide. Dedicated Short Code Expensive, take 6-8 weeks to setup, have a minimum contract of 12months with 6 months payments in advance. The advantage of a dedicated short is you get to see everything anyone sends to it. This gives you the option of unlimited keywords. For example Is you owned a dedicated short code of 80000 and ran a 'Beautiful Baby' competition you could ask people to vote for baby X by sending X to 80000, if they wanted to vote for baby Y, tell them to send Y to 80000. Simple but expensive to setup and run. Dedicated Keyword 24 to 48 hours to setup, monthly contract paid in advance, £100 setup. All the features and ability to bill a mobile phone but the user must type your 'keyword' first. For example Is you owned a dedicated keyword of BABY on a short code of 80000 and ran a 'Beautiful Baby' competition you could ask people to vote for baby X by sending BABY X to 80000, if they wanted to vote for baby Y, tell them to send BABY Y to 80000. As long as they type BABY first you get whatever they type after baby. e.g. X or Y. |
What amount do you wish charge the user's mobile phone? Regardless of what you decide, either a dedicate short code or a dedicate keyword, you need to decide what tariff you want to bill the mobile user, e.g. 25p, 50p, £1, £1.50 etc. This is amount your users will be charged. What you will get as a payout from the networks is contained in this document which you can download by clicking here. |
Fraud As you will have the ability to bill people's mobiles everytime you send them a special billing message fraud must be prevented - and it is. 1) No mobile can be billed without it first Txting a message to your short code/keyword. 2) No payments are made from the network until after the amount has appeared on the user's statement and they have had time to dispute it 3) A disputed amount will always be withheld. 4) Multiple disputed amounts could lead to legal action and heavy fines - up to £250,000. |
| Help and Advice When you have been in this industry since day one you learn a few things so it's worth giving us a call for a friendly chat before you spend a fortune. For rule and regs. about premium rate sms a good place to start is the industry watchdog site PhonePayPlus. |
