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Opening new adcenter/adwords accounts & the cards you use - IMPORTANT (12)

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Hey guys,

Just thought I'd share this little bit of information. Some of you probably know this but others might have missed it and continue to wonder why accounts with new cards are getting banned.

Credit cards are all structured to follow specific formats.

Mastercard

Digits 2 & 3, 2-4, 2-5, or 2-6 are the bank number depending on whether digit 2 is a 1, 2, 3 or other.

The digits after the bank number are the account number.

Digit 16 is a check digit.

Visa

Digits 2-6 are the bank number.

Digits 7-12 or 7-15 are the account number.

Digit 13 or 16 is a check digit.

American Express

Digits 3 & 4 are the type and currency.

Digits 5-11 are the account number.

Digits 12-14 are the card number within the account.

Digit 15 is a check digit.

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The reason it is important to understand this information when using new cards is to understand that it isn't always the FULL card number that is banned or flagged by a particular system, but rather your account number.

Take for example my American Express business card. I have my primary business card and 3 supplemental cards, all with different names (but linked to the same account).

After having an AdCenter account banned, I figured I would just open up a new account with one of the other cards I had. Each account I opened (on totally new computers, different mailing addresses, different names, different cards, etc) ended up getting flagged and shutdown shortly after opening the account - even when the only campaign I had setup was a local charity or animal shelter.

After spending some time trying to figure out if they had some kind of system to determine whether or not accounts were owned by me, I did a little research on the actual card numbers and saw that even though I was using new cards, the new card numbers all shared the same account number. The only thing that was different were the last 4 digits (sub-account identifier) which AdCenter probably didn't pay attention to anyway.

This is why people suggest getting a new card at a new bank, etc. Because you want a TOTALLY different account number.

In reality, you don't necessarily need a card at a new bank - you just need a card with a NEW account number. In this case you can work with your bank and determine the easiest way to get a new account number. In most cases, it's just opening a new account.

American Express for example has no problem with you opening additional cards (under the same business / same guarantor) in order to have "separate account numbers."


Hope that helps save some of you guys a bit of a headache moving forward!

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Killer post - definitely going to save this tip!

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Thanks for that but I pulled out my visa and found it's not the case...

I just deactivated my old card and got a new card. The first 9 digits are exactly the same and the last 7 digits are completely different.

you said "Digits 7-12 or 7-15 are the account number."

not sure why that's not the case with my visa card...

maybe they have different rules based on different situations??

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It actually could still be the case, it just may be that the first 2 digits of your new account number are the same as the last one.

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Just remember, the BIGGEST thing when setting up a new account is to make sure you DON'T point any ads at the same server you used in previous accounts!! That's what fucks most people!

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Are you referring to the same VPS server? What about a dedicated server on a diff IP address? Is that any safer?

Thanks

Gary

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If you point your destination URL at a domain hosted on the same server as a domain you were using when you got banned that's never a good idea. Different IP address is a must in my experience.

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I've opened a new hosting acct as this is one thing I havent tried yet.

When you opened your new acct did you have to call adcenter? If so, were you concerned about your phone number?


Illya

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I wasn't concerned about it but if you are then why not get a Pay as You Go SIM card and use that number?

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Great info here!

In regards to using a different phone number, you can always get an account with vumber.com where you can get a new phone number for $9.95/month. You can then forward that number to your actual cell # so that you can still take calls to verify accounts, etc. You can also get unlimited phone additional phone numbers for $3.95/month each. So you could have a separate # for each of your accounts. Vumber also allows you to select your area code for each # (so you can even match up area codes with account addresses in different states).

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skype calls FTW!

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I have done the same thing with American Express and have gotten approved on Adwords after having an account banned. I was surprised actually because I thought Google would figure it out and ban me on my other accounts.

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