Visa Launches PayPal Alternative

An anonymous reader writes "Visa has entered the micropayment processing space with payclick, a pre-paid hosted service that will compete with the likes of PayPal. Payclick is aimed at teenagers purchasing online content like music and games where the value of the transaction is likely to be less than $20. Like PayPal, payclick is an online money repository that people can pay into with a bank account or credit card (Visa or MasterCard) and then use the funds to purchase products online. The service was developed and launched in Australia with a view for global markets. PayPal integration is not there yet, but parents can monitor the amount of funds their under-18 children have to spend online. For e-commerce sites, an SDK is available for payclick integration."

they need a trendy name

[circletimessquare]

something vaguely absurd, fun-loving, and suggestive of a shiny happy web future

how about... hmmm... something unique and original:

flooz!

or

beenz!

(for those of you lucky enough not to live through the debacle of the dot-com crash:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flooz.com [wikipedia.org]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beenz.com [wikipedia.org] )

Anything is better than Paypal...

[Anonymous Coward]

No matter how limited or simple it is at the moment, I'd rather wire money through my friend the ex-Nigerian prince, before using Paypal again.

They aren't thieves, or crooks, but they are a company with HORRIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES, and go completely unregulated, thanks to lack of oversight from any meaningful government agency.

So yea, any competition in this space is a welcome idea.

Fail

[perrin]

I wanted to keep an open mind, even though going by previous ventures anything labelled "micro-payments" seem doomed to failure. So I went looking for information. But there is hardly any useful info to be found, at least not on their home page. The link that advertises "selling digital content easier and faster" for vendors leads not to any information... but to an email address. Yay for simplicity!

Also, take a look at their page for sellers. Would you buy from this shady looking guy [payclick.com.au]? What are these people thinking.

Re:Careful not to load it up too much

[sortius_nod]

Nah, $2-$5 is micropayments. Play any of the new EA games or D&D Online, you buy points then they deduct it. Even Xbox Live/PSN can be counted as micropayment systems.

Then you have iTunes, Amazon, etc with music, I've never seen anything for $0.05.

Actually, I don't think I've seen anything for sale for $0.05 in some time, on the net or in physical form. Even eBay sets a minimum at $0.99.

I have no idea where you got $0.05 from.

Re:Competition

[Spad]

Credit card *processor*

Re:Here they go again...

[Lumpy]

Paypal is a mess simply because it was designed to screw customers from day one. they worked like hell to make sure they operated outside banking rules where there are laws protecting people and their money. Paypal can steal all your money and you cant do crap about it because they are "not a bank"

People who are suprised by paypal problems simply dont pay attention or dont read what they agreed to. I've had zero problems with paypal for the past 11 years only because I know what they are, what their rules are and I play inside their ruleset. You have to play by Paypal's rules or they will go home taking their ball and your ball, chair, couch, ipod, and keys to your bank account.

This is the same for any BANK you might use. Learn their rules carefully. Because they also take joy in screwing you.... Just deposited a $5000.00 in cash at 9:00am if I write a check at 3:00pm the check will bounce. because they process debits before payments as a lump at 12:01am the next morning.

Banks love screwing people this way.

Re:Competition

[Anonymous Coward]

Visa is not a processor. They do virtually nothing but license the Visa brand to banks and card issuers and skim a percentage off the top of every transaction. The banks do all the work. The merchants take all the risk.

Re:they need a trendy name

[TheRaven64]

Note that one of the problems with Beenz was that operating a parallel currency is illegal in a lot of the world. One of the new laws that snuck in in the EU last year (or possibly the year before, I lose track) changed this, explicitly making it legal throughout the EU. Somewhat surprisingly, this did not receive much news coverage.

Re:Bloat

[TooMuchToDo]

Most cards' grace period is now only 25 days. And the interest starts accruing from the purchase date, not the end of the grace period. Avoid credit cards if possible, as all their benefits are wiped out if you slip up once.

Re:Bloat

[FuckingNickName]

Most cards' grace period is now only 25 days.

Really? My statement date for my Visa+Mastercard account, for example, is 15th of the month. So, if I buy something on 15th, I get until the statement on the following 15th plus 25 days. 56 days.

And the interest starts accruing from the purchase date, not the end of the grace period.

If your card isn't fully paid off every month, yes.

Avoid credit cards if possible, as all their benefits are wiped out if you slip up once.

If I don't remember - which I do - then my calendaring software reminds me. And, as a last resort, I have a Direct Debit set up to automatically pay the minimum amount - this is managd by the same bank which issues my card. I could make it the whole payment amount, but because I have a secondary card holder the funds come from multiple places.

But yes, if you are terribly disorganised, you might want to get a credit card anyway while your salary+credit's good, then just not use it until you've learnt to organise your life better.

Excepting where you wish to remain anonymous - then cash wins, as always.

Re:Bloat

[The_mad_linguist]

Don't pay the minimum amount. Always pay at least one cent over it.

The credit score calculation has a binary "did this person pay only the minimum amount" as part of it.

Re:Careful not to load it up too much

[nacturation]

Nah, $2-$5 is micropayments. [...] I have no idea where you got $0.05 from.

Get off my lawn:

http://web.archive.org/web/19970601153143/http://www.millicent.digital.com/ [archive.org] (as low as 1/10th cent)
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20011223.html [useit.com] ("In addition to true micro-payments, some sites might have midi-payments ranging from 20 cents to a dollar, and perhaps even maxi-payments of several dollars.")

Sorry, but I regularly purchase $2 to $5 items on my credit card. Calling that a micropayment is ridiculous.