profile

Country Snapshot: Greece

Sometimes referred to as one of the "Club Med" group of countries and now an adopter of the euro, Greece has made headlines in recent months after riots erupted in several cities after police shot dead a teenager in the capital, Athens. The country also has been paralyzed as Greek farmers demand compensation for low commodity prices.

Greece historically has been a country highly in favor of payments in cash. However, prior to the global credit crisis, the banking system went through significant development and growth and encouraged consumers' steady shift toward noncash purchases and payments.

The increasing number of new products, intense competition between banks — which brought about extensive offers in the large credit cards range — the expansion of the network of accepting merchants and the recent technological developments aiming at secure transactions all drove growth of cards. In Greece, credit cards are almost synonymous with debit cards.

Furthermore, the use of the Internet is becoming common, with 3.8 million Greeks, or 35 percent of its 10.7 million population, having access to the Internet. E-commerce is experiencing promising growth, especially among young consumers. But fraud, such as skimming and card cloning, remains a concern in this market.

Greece has a developed pay-per-call market, with call tariffs ranging from €1.42 to €3.55 per minute. OTE, the former state monopoly, is the main player in fixed-line telephony. Since the liberalization of the telecommunications market, OTE has been slowly losing market share to other telecom operators such as Vivodi, Q-Telecom, Tellas and Forthnet. Greece has four mobile telecom companies: Cosmote, Vodafone, TIM and Q-Telecom.

As for what turns them on, the term "Greek love" has long been used to refer to the practice and, in modern times, sometimes is used as slang for anal sex. So you might want to focus on that popular niche if you are to convert your Greek traffic into cash.

But remember that English is not their native language, so communicate with these surfers in Greek. Thankfully, your picture depicting a gaping butt needs no translation per se, and luckily the term "anal" doesn't either. But when it comes to the important bit — paying you — ask them to do so in their language, not yours.

If you operate a paysite, your billing providers should be able to provide you with geo-targeted scripts to help you do this. If not, you should consider switching to those that do.

As webmasters, we all have profited big-time from globalization thanks to the web. With a little time and effort, we take our brands global with relatively ease and, more importantly, make more money from Greece and elsewhere in the process. The world really is our oyster.

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

opinion

Understanding the FTC's New 'Click to Cancel' Rule

The Federal Trade Commission’s new “Click to Cancel” rule has been a hot topic in consumer protection and business regulation. Part of a broader effort to streamline cancellation processes for subscription services, the rule has sparked significant debate and legal challenges.

Corey D. Silverstein ·
opinion

Key Factors for Choosing a Merchant Services Partner

Running a successful adult business requires more than just delivering alluring and cutting-edge products and services. Securing the right payment processing partner is essential to maintaining a steady revenue stream.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

Identifying and Preventing Transaction Laundering

Recently, a few merchants approached me after receiving compliance notifications from their acquirer about transaction laundering. They were unsure what it meant, and unsure how to identify and fix the problem.

Cathy Beardsley ·
profile

WIA: Alexis Fawx Levels Up as Multifaceted Entrepreneur

As more performers look to diversify, expanding their range of revenue streams and promotional vehicles, some are spreading their entrepreneurial wings to create new businesses — including Alexis Fawx.

Women In Adult ·
opinion

Navigating Age-Related Regulations in Europe

Age verification measures are rapidly gaining momentum across Europe, with regulators stepping up efforts to protect children online. Recently, the U.K.’s communications regulator, Ofcom, updated its timeline for implementing the Online Safety Act, while France’s ARCOM has released technical guidance detailing age verification standards.

Gavin Worrall ·
opinion

Why Cyber Insurance Is Crucial for Adult Businesses

From streaming services and interactive platforms to ecommerce and virtual reality experiences, the adult industry has long stood at the forefront of online innovation. However, the same technology-forward approach that has enabled adult businesses to deliver unique and personalized content to consumers worldwide also exposes them to myriad risks.

Corey D. Silverstein ·
opinion

Best Practices for Payment Gateway Security

Securing digital payment transactions is critical for all businesses, but especially those in high-risk industries. Payment gateways are a core component of the digital payment ecosystem, and therefore must follow best practices to keep customer data safe.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

Ready for New Visa Acquirer Changes?

Next spring, Visa will roll out the U.S. version of its new Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP), which goes into effect April 1, 2025. This follows Visa Europe, which rolled out VAMP back in June. VAMP charts a new path for acquirers to manage fraud and chargeback ratios.

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

How to Halt Hackers as Fraud Attacks Rise

For hackers, it’s often a game of trial and error. Bad actors will perform enumeration and account testing, repeating the same test on a system to look for vulnerabilities — and if you are not equipped with the proper tools, your merchant account could be the next target.

Cathy Beardsley ·
profile

VerifyMy Seeks to Provide Frictionless Online Safety, Compliance Solutions

Before founding VerifyMy, Ryan Shaw was simply looking for an age verification solution for his previous business. The ones he found, however, were too expensive, too difficult to integrate with, or failed to take into account the needs of either the businesses implementing them or the end users who would be required to interact with them.

Alejandro Freixes ·
Show More