Dmoz’s sad merchant services category

Dmoz is something that webmasters either hate, love, or just don’t care about. There has always been a lot of speculation about Dmoz editors abusing their privileges and only adding sites that they have interest in. Another major problem with Dmoz is that many categories are edited by business owners, who are somewhat less than likely to list their competitors in their category.

I was looking at the dmoz merchant services category this morning, and I have to say that it needs a lot of work. I have personally attempted to become an editor for the category on several occasions, but have so far been unsuccessful. While I can accept that some meta-editor at dmoz may not think that I am worthy to be an editor for dmoz, what is upsetting is that the editors for the category are absolutely worthless. I have emailed the editors of almost every category on multiple occasions pointing out sites that no longer exist, hijacked and redirected websites, sites in the blatantly wrong category, sites that haven’t been updated in ten years, and a multitude of other problems. Some of the problems have been corrected, but many are still blatantly there.

So if any dmoz editor that has any control over the merchant services category happens to see this post, here’s the major problems in the main and the card processing categories, (for anyone else if you don’t care about or know what dmoz is, you probably want to stop reading here).

Top: Business: Financial Services: Merchant Services

Note to editor: Almost every card processor also provides electronic check services as well. They shouldn’t be listed in the main category just because their submission said something other than credit card processing on it.

Avanti Merchant Services -> Needs to go in the card processing category. Also google, there are over 1600 hidden words at the bottom of the page.

Cardservice International, Inc. -> Needs to go in the Card Processing category. If FDMS is in there, believe me Cardservice should be in there as well.

Commercial Banking Innovations -> This website doesn’t match the description, and I find it hard to believe that this site is dmoz quality.

Gotmerchant.com -> Should be in card processing category.

Nochex UK -> Should be in card processing.

Paybutton -> You have got to be kidding me. There is no way that this is a purely editorial add to this category. This site is crap!

Vantage Card Services -> Should be in card processing.

Top: Business: Financial Services: Merchant Services: Card Processing

This category is still extremely messed up.

This category is only for those companies that have registered as an ISO/MSP of Visa USA and Mastercard International.

The editor really needs to understand what this means because a good number of these businesses are not registered ISOs.

Adult Merchant Services -> Hijacked website now advertising porn.

Asia Debit -> Shut down by MasterCard.

AVPS -> Hijacked site that is now for sale.

BankCard America Merchant Services -> This is an agent for United Bankcard. This is not an ISO and therefore should not be in this category.

Bridgeview Bank and Trust -> This is a bank and not a card processor.

Business America Services -> If they are a registered ISO they are not properly displaying it.

Card Tech Merchant Services -> Wrong description. Website redirects to different company.

Charge Online Now -> Affiliate site for Charge.com

Chase Merchant Services ISO Group & Chase Paymentech Solutions, LLC -> Same company. Should not have more than one listing in the same category

Concord EFS -> Now owned by FDMS who already has a listing in this category. This link is outdated and should be removed.

Global ePoint, Inc. -> This domain is owned by another company and has nothing to do with merchant services.

Groupe Ingenico -> Provides processing equipment. Does not provide card processing services.

Merchant Services Bergen -> Site is completely unavailable.

MoneyLine -> Goes to a blank website.

Oasis Technology -> Website is unavailable.

Pay Quickly -> A sales rep for ipayment. This is not a registered ISO and should not be in this category.

SCS Processing Solutions -> This is not an ISO or sales agent. It looks like a hijacked or bought domain, with a bunch of advertisements on it. It also has 477 hidden words on the bottom.

TransActive Ecommerce Solutions -> This is a sales agent, not an ISO, for Skipjack Financial Services, who has a listing directly above it.

Transecute India Pvt Ltd -> This is just a payment gateway and not a card processing provider.

United Processing Corporation -> This website hasn’t been updated in seven years. That’s not quite a sign of quality.

Ok, I’m not even being picky here. This is absolutely ridiculous, and it degrades the industry that it is covering. If I actually go by dmoz’s quality guidelines, I could easily remove half the listings that aren’t blatantly messed up. I wont even get into the other categories, but they are all just as bad. It’s not any wonder that dmoz is dying. I’m surprised that dmoz is still being used by google for the google directory. 7/18 listings in the top category and 21/62 in the card processing category are completely wrong.