Who Can Become A Member Of The DRF?

"The DRF brings together a strong mix of retailers and providers in an open learning environment.  The DRF is unique in the payments industry in its focus on retailer education."

Charlie Wilson
Senior Business Leader
Visa Inc

Merchant Member

To be considered a Merchant Member of the Direct Response Forum and to attend DRF2010 you must be employed by a merchant company that conducts its business with customers in a card not present environment (e.g., by phone, mail, internet, subscription, etc.).  The Executive Committee in its discretion and by majority vote will determine the substantiality of any company's merchant business to determine whether they should be a Merchant Member or an Associate Member of the DRF.

Anyone who attends our annual forum is considered a member of the Direct Response Forum. There is no limit to the number of Merchant Members from within the same company who can join or attend the forum.

The professionals who attend our forum represent a broad range of disciplines including; Accounting & Finance, Call Center Operations; Cash Management; Catalogue & Fulfillment Operations, Chargebacks & Disputes, Consumer Fraud, Credit Card Operations, Credit and Collections, Consumer Payments; Customer Service; Financial & Technical Systems, Loss Prevention Managers; Marketing or Risk Management.  Annually senior executives as we as front line operations managers attend the forum thereby offering a depth and breadth of knowledge that is unavailable outside our forum.

Associate Member

A limited number of non-merchant attendees, referred to as associate attendees, are also invited to participate in the educational process at the forum. Associate attendees bring expertise and important perspectives that enrich the exchange of best practices between peers. However, in order to ensure that the forum remains merchant focused, there are limits placed on the number and profile of associate attendees.

Here are the basic guidelines for associates:

Associate organizations must have at least one DRF merchant as a customer who is attending the forum OR be invited by the board to speak at the event.

Associate attendees must be responsible for operational, technical, functional, merchant support activities or be policy specialists.

The DRF is not a place for sales, marketing or business development professionals, since sales or promotion is not a part of the forum.Associates can learn more by reviewing the Forum Attendee Guidelines. Cooperation with these guidelines is greatly appreciated. The DRF of Directors strives to be fair and consistent, while still meeting the objective of maintaining a 'merchant focus' at the forum. Associate attendees and their companies participate in the DRF at the discretion of the DRF Board of Directors, who reserve the right to limit or refuse attendance.

Attendee Definitions and Guidelines

When registering for the DRF, registrants must classify themselves according to their employers' profile.

These are the categories and definitions used to guide this process:

Merchants’ primary business model is direct to consumer goods or services in a Customer Not Present (CNP) payments environment with liability for disputes and chargebacks. Merchants have no restrictions on the number of attendees allowed.

Associates encompass all non-merchant companies. Here are the qualifications to participate:

Associate companies must provide evidence that they are doing business with at least one DRF merchant who is in attendance at the forum or the associate must be invited by the board to speak at the event.

Associate attendee’s primary role within their organization should be within the operational, technical, functional, merchant support; and/or or policy specialist domains (as opposed to sales and marketing or new business development).

Associate attendees and their companies participate at the discretion of the DRF Board of Directors who reserves the right to limit or refuse attendees.

Acquirer Associates are Card Association members or agents who enter into Merchant Agreements and who, directly or indirectly, pass the initial sales transaction through Interchange and represent the merchant in chargeback processes.

Card Company Associates establish the consumer and merchant rules and establish and maintain regulatory compliance for all parties in the payment scheme. The recognized companies in this category are American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard and Visa.

Alternative Payment Provider Associates include transaction tenders (not bank card) such as internet wallet, deferred billing, ACH, electronic checks, etc.

Service Provider Associates are all other companies and consultants whose primary business is providing of goods and services (other than those defined above) to the CNP industry (e.g., consumer authentication or fraud screening tools; consulting services; e-commerce hosting, development or integration etc.).

The DRF Board of Directors reserves the right to determine the classification and fee of all forum registrants.