‘Charge’ by Phone
Credit cards have been seen as the key to making the potential bonanza of online sales a reality. But not all Internet shoppers are comfortable sending information via the public Net, and an estimated 35% of them don’t even have credit cards.
Seattle-based ECharge has come up with an alternative payment system, which was being shown last week at the Internet Commerce Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, to solve some of those problems by allowing Internet shoppers to “charge” their purchases to their local phone bills.
To buy an item online, a shopper clicks on an icon that launches a small Java application. The program automatically disconnects the shopper from the Internet and dials a 900 telephone number.
Through a process similar to caller ID, the buyer’s telephone number is recorded and the purchase placed on the phone bill. No personal information is transmitted via the Internet.
Because of rules controlling the use of 900 telephone numbers, only digital goods and services can now be sold through the service. The company plans to roll out an 800 service in the next few months that will allow shoppers to buy tangible goods such as jackets and books.
ECharge makes its money through a transaction fee, ranging from 6.5% to 8.5%.
About 30 Web sites are now using ECharge, including CBS SportsLine (https://www.sportsline.com), the Counting Crows fan site (https://www.countingcrows.com/) and the InfoSpace directory service (https://www.infospace.com).
