Paysafecard

Paysafecard is an electronic payment method for predominantly online shopping and is based on a pre-pay system. Paysafecard is based in Vienna, Austria and has been in existence since 2000. The company is represented in Germany, Austria, Spain, Greece, Great Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia and Slovakia. Since 2006 paysafecard has been involved with the eTEN programme and promoted by the European Union.

Advantages

Buying with cash at online stores is gradually becoming more commonplace with the emergence of services like Paysafecard. Historically, most web shops have only accepted card payments for online purchases. For the majority of online consumers, card payments are simple and convenient, while web shops are reassured by obtaining an immediate payment authorisation from the consumer's card issuer.

However, many consumers are concerned about entering their financial details online while shopping, and in some cases consumers simply don't have a credit card to use online. In these cases the ability to use cash online can be benefical to web merchants and their customers.

How it works

In order to purchase a Paysafecard in the UK, customers pay cash (£10, £25, £50 or £75) at paypoints and receive a 16 digit PIN. In other countries Paysafecards are mostly available at newsagents, petrol stations, chemists or kiosks. When paying in an online shop, the user enters the 16 digit number and the amount tendered is deducted from the amount purchased at the paypoint. For larger sums it is possible to combine up to ten Paysafecard PINs. The webshops offering paysafecard as a payment option are mainly online games, music download sites and telecoms.

External links

• http://www.paysafecard.com/en/
• European Union - project description
• http://www.prepaidforum.org/

References

• Párhonyi, Róbert, study on micropayment systems: http://www.simpleweb.org/nm/research/results/publications/parhonyi/parhonyi_2ndgeneration@i3e2005.pdf