04/06/09. Interview with the admin of xChanger

Hi guys! Today I’m very pleased to have an interview with one of the co-owners of the latest online e-currency exchange program to start up in this most competitive area of the online investment industry. Granted it’s a break from the usual interviews I get with HYIP and Autosurf admins, but frankly I find things like this to be far more interesting. I hope you agree and enjoy this as much as I did. His name is Andrei and as outlined in his first answer many of you who participate in online money-making forums may have heard of him. His new exchange service is called xChanger and having tried it out myself on a number of occasions now, I can personally vouch for the quality and value of the service and the support. I contacted Andrei and asked if he might spare some time to tell the regular readers of MNO about what he has to offer and was truly delighted when he agreed with such enthusiasm!

As I’ve always said in the past when I manage to land an occasional interview with someone not directly involved with investment programs, don’t underestimate the value of the information contained here. If you are tempted to stop reading now because you do not have the opportunity to profit directly by investing with xChanger then I urge you to reconsider. If you are serious about making a proper decent standard of living from this business then it is absolutely vital that you familiarize yourself with every aspect of it, and that includes this one.

“1. Hi, Andrei. Please introduce yourself to the readers of Money-News-Online and tell us a bit about your background in the online investment industry.

Hi Paul. Long story short, since 2005 I started looking for ways to make money online (who didn’t?) and among other industries found the autosurf industry as well. I have started from zero. I never put any real money into online money. Never. And I intend to keep it that way. At least I know that if I lose something it’s virtual money after all that I never psychically had. I’m your usually surfer/hyip player. I love to play these games and I’m quite successful at it. Anyway, the industry has changed a lot since I first started. Oh, almost forgot, you can find me by ‘syber90′ username in all money-making forums. Some of you might already know me.

2. So maybe now you can tell us all about your site? What exactly is xChanger and of what practical benefit is it to the typical investor? Also could you tell us about what kind of technical experience or qualifications you have that enable you to run xChanger?

xChanger is an e-currency exchanger that deals with LibertyReserve, SolidTrustPay and StrictPay at the moment. About benefits, ‘the players’ (this is how I call those who ‘invest’ in autosurfs or hyips) evolved during the years and now they are more cautious about what Payment Processors they use, where they keep their money, since the quite recent events with the closure of several payment processors (stormpay, compactpay, ceptrust, e-gold, e-bullion, altergold and others). This is where we enter the scene, we help you move funds quickly and efficiently between payment processors.

What makes me qualified to run xChanger? Well, I own and run multiple sites, mostly in the entertainment and services industry long before launching xChanger.

3. A quick look at, for instance, the LibertyReserve website and their list of e-currency exchangers would hardly indicate a shortage of them. What improvements can you bring to the table? What are you offering that I can’t get from already established names? Do you think the new exchanger will be successful and able to compete with those other well established ones?

Yes, you’re right. They are lots of LR exchangers, but not many of them offer exchanges between LR, STP and SP. In fact, there are only a few offering STP and SP as exchange options. Proof that we are and will be successful is the response we have already gotten from the industry. I can tell you this, that at the moment of writing we already have nearly 200 members and we are a little over one month old only. I consider this a success already.

4. There remains a certain controversy, albeit both exaggerated and undeserved in my opinion, about the original incarnation of xChanger. How do you comment on that? What exactly is the difference between that version and the one you are running today? Do you think it was the right decision to re-launch the project under the same name given its past history?

Yes, there’s been some controversy and we have expected that. I’ll explain what this controversy is about as some of your readers might not know or be aware. Basically, I have been accused of being Roger (admin of Aggero) who also ran Xchanger.biz. Yes, the script is the same since the programmer is the same (Gotenks). There are dozens of programs running on the same script, but that doesn’t mean that all of them have the same person behind it. The script has been improved and it’s being improved on a weekly basis. We’re working right now on a more complex members area. We didn’t re-launched anything, we opened a brand new service, yes, using a much more improved version of the former script used on Roger’s defunct exchanger.

5. Who else is involved here? Tell us about them and their backgrounds in the industry? What roles do they play in the day to day running of xChanger?

We are 2 people behind it. Me, and the programmer Gotenks. Don’t know how I could best describe Gotenks but many of you might possibly have heard of him before. He’s a low profile player, you won’t see him posting very much in the forums. But he’s a skilled programmer.

I’m the one processing the exchanges and handling the support part of the site and he implements my and his ideas into the script. We’re equal partners in this venture. Whenever I won’t be available for some days in a row he’ll be the one processing the exchanges.

6. Getting down to the practical side of things, what payment processors are you currently handling? What are the fees you charge for transfers between each and how long after I request an exchange can I expect it to be completed? By the way, do you currently have minimum and maximum levels that you accept for exchange?

We currently deal with LibertyReserve, SolidTrustPay and StrictPay. About fees (you can see them on the homepage under ‘Current Rates’ box), we offer the lowest fees in the industry for exchanges between LR, STP and SP. I challenge anyone to find better fees than ours. Exchanges from LR are completed as fast as I get them. For STP and SP we need to check with the payment processors about the validity of transactions since they’re not a ‘get paid, stay paid’ PP. Anyway, the exchanges shouldn’t take more than 24 hours on business days and 24-48 hours on weekend days. Our customers can confirm this. The minimum to exchange is $10 and the maximum is $500 per 24 hours for STP & SP exchanges and there’s no limit for LR exchanges.

7. Why can’t I make an exchange without becoming a member? Please tell us more about the different membership levels and what the difference is between them. How is any particular level more or less suitable to the individual needs of different types of clients?

We like to keep track of exchanges better. We have 3 membership levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Basically, the higher your membership is, the faster your exchanges will be processed (for STP & SP as LR exchanges are processed within 24 hours for all levels) once you’ve established yourself with us. Still, the exchanges are processed as quick as we possibly can. The maximum you can exchange with us is $500 per 24 hours for STP & SP exchanges and there’s no limit for LR exchanges (of course, as long as your exchange is not more than our reserves in that specific PP). After 2 successful exchanges, your membership will move to Silver Level and after 3 successful exchanges you’ll move to Gold Level.

If you like to exchange more than your current level allows you to, please contact us and we’ll see what we can do.

8. As you just said I know you are accepting three payment processors currently: SolidTrustPay, StrictPay and LibertyReserve. Why only these ones? What about AlertPay or PerfectMoney? Do you plan to accept more payment processors for exchange in the near future?

We have tried to add AlertPay and we were in talks with them for a while but we weren’t able to meet their ‘minimum requirements’ which were a bit ridiculous in the first place in my opinion. But who knows what the future might bring? We’re also thinking of adding PerfectMoney but we are still brainstorming on this issue and on weather if it’s really needed or not. We might add it for testing purposes and if there’s a demand for it, we’ll keep it.

9. I suppose you might not be the right person to ask this but based entirely on your own opinion why do you think AlertPay is so resistant to online exchangers? Especially as they operate from the same legal jurisdiction and subject to the same laws as SolidTrustPay who don’t seem to have any such problems with this.

I have asked the same thing myself. It’s not impossible to be an AlertPay approved exchanger but it’s definitely hard. They’re willing to work with you if you meet their requirements. Right now, financially we don’t meet their minimum requirements. But, we don’t exclude AlertPay from the list of possible additions to our exchanger in the future.

10. Does your xChanger have some any kind of official approval from LibertyReserve, StrictPay or SolidTrustPay? Are they even aware of your existence?

Yes, all payment processors we deal with are aware of our existence. Prior to launching xChanger we got our accounts verified with SP and STP. We’re working closely with these 2 payment processors to offer a safe environment for all our customers as well as the payment processors themselves. We are also listed in StrictPay merchant directory under ‘E-currency Exchangers’. We’re also working to get an ‘X’ account from LR but we need at least 5 months of top-notch service among other things.

11. Give us some information now on the security of the site. How safe are the transactions? Where is the xChanger site hosted? Is it safe from possible hacking attempts?

All the site files are encoded and passwords are encrypted in the database. We’re also hosted on a secure server.

12. What kind of customer support do you have for your clients? What is the best way to contact you if any problems arise or if I don’t fully understand something about how it all works?

We offer customer support via e-mail trough the support system and Live Chat. I’m on GMT +2. The best way to contact us is through a support ticket as this way we are able to keep track of things much better.

13. What are the ways that you’re going to promote your program? Do you have some advertising budget or will you be relying more on word of mouth?

Word of mouth is the best advertising you can get. And if this is happening it means that your customers are pleased enough with your service to recommend it to others. We’re happy with the results we’ve got so far.

14. Do you have a referral program for existing members and if yes how does it work?

Yes, we do. It’s not fully working right now but I promise it will be in the near future. Right now, you’ll get an email whenever someone sign ups using your link letting you know about it. Once the referral system is in place, you’ll be able to see how much money your referrals exchanged and what is your commission. So, when the system will be ready you’ll be able to withdraw the commissions you made even before the system was in place. We already keep track of everyone’s referrals.

15. How would you rate the experience overall of running an online exchange program compared to your other business activities, either online or offline?

When you deal with others people money it’s never easy. We try to keep it as simple and fast as possible. I ran other websites and projects but none of them require so much dedication as running an exchange business. You need to be available to your customers, you must answer their inquires, you must deal with different situations and with different people. Of course if you want to be successful.

16. And finally tell us about any future plans to expand and improve the exchanger and the quality of the services provided.

We’ll try to offer more exchange options by adding more payment processors in the system. We’ll raise our capital and need to find an efficient way to never be short on a Payment Processor reserves. When we are, you’ll see promotional offers from us. We also try to offer the lowest fees in the industry regarding the PP’s we use. We are open to suggestions and we try to offer the most friendliest and reliable exchange system that exists out there. We’re committed to make xChanger the biggest exchanger in the long run.

I want to thank you Paul for this privilege of answering your questions. I hope it wasn’t boring for your readers. Take care everyone!”

Many words spring to mind here but “boring” certainly wasn’t one of them! In fact it was one of the more entertaining ones recently. I hope this turns out to be a huge success for Andrei and Gotenks, and I think they’re off to a pretty good start already. And despite the number of e-currency exchange services already out there, they have proven that there are still huge gaps in the market with a lot of services not being supplied and a lot of potential customers whose needs are simply not being catered for. I for one think xChanger will be a great asset to the industry. Only time will tell of course but they’re already approaching the whole business from a fresh angle and they’re rates are very very competitive. The best available for their particular service in fact.

That’s all for the moment guys! I’ll just thank Andrei for his time and remind you I’ll be back later with all the latest news and reviews from around the industry. So stay tuned!