Truevo Payments review: a Maltese acquirer for adult sites

Truevo’s rules for adult merchants

Eight obligations apply to every adult content merchant. No search term may suggest minors or non-consensual content. Every complaint must be reviewed and resolved within seven business days, and illegal content removed at once. Anyone depicted can appeal for removal, and content comes down if consent cannot be established.

The merchant sends a monthly report of flagged content and takedowns to Truevo. On request, it gives Truevo seven days of access to everything behind the paywall.

Sites with third-party uploads

Sites that accept content from others face four more rules. They need a written agreement with each content provider, separate written consents for recording, distribution and download, and age checks against government ID. All uploads must be reviewed before publication, and live streaming is only allowed with real-time monitoring.

Truevo as a licensed acquirer

Truevo Payments Ltd, Maltese company C 62721 based in Birkirkara, is authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority as a payment institution and listed in the European Banking Authority register. It acquires card payments directly and also offers pay by link, subscription billing, in-app payments, card payouts and in-store payments, with Apple Pay and Google Pay.

What Truevo publishes about fees

Truevo lists every dispute fee in its terms and keeps its processing rate for the quote. An unsecured Visa card-not-present chargeback costs €12, Mastercard dispute administration €15, and Mastercard chargebacks of €1,000 or more 1.25% of the amount. Taking a Visa dispute to a scheme ruling costs €250 plus a €500 scheme fee, and a compliance case another €500.

On the settlement account, a rejected payment costs €5, an investigation €20, and a dormant account €20 a month.

Chargeback thresholds

Visa’s standard threshold is 0.9% of sales and 100 chargebacks a month, with fines passed on to the merchant above it. Mastercard monitors a merchant from 1% and 100 chargebacks, and fines from 1.5%.

The Truevo reserve

The reserve can be a fixed sum or a rolling percentage of settlements, set and increased by Truevo whenever it sees fit. Truevo may use the funds as it wishes, including as security with the card schemes. They stay locked for six months after termination or the last delivery, then may take another two months to be released. The adult page still promises “low rolling reserves”.

Minimum term and leaving

The agreement runs for two years, then renews for one year at a time. Either side can end it with one month’s notice, but Truevo may charge an unpriced termination fee if you leave within the first six months.

Settlement currencies

The terms list eighteen settlement currencies, from Australian dollars to Swiss francs, with payouts from 100 units of the currency. The website advertises only EUR, GBP and USD. Truevo sends daily or weekly statements depending on the settlement schedule.

Truevo claims to win over 90% of chargeback challenges on its adult page, and 99% on its online payments page.

Strengths and limitations of Truevo Payments