|
Home
Lebenslauf
Paymentanbieter
Payment-Glossar
Buchempfehlungen
Wetten-Publikationen
Marktreport-Wetten
Payment für die Wett-Branche
Payment for the betting industry
Payment-Publikationen
internationale Lastschrift
(Pago Report 2005)
Kreditkarte
Lastschrift
& Adressprüfung
Komplettsysteme
mCommerce
& Premium-SMS
PayPal
Debitkarte
ePassporte
Digital
Right Management
T-Pay
Internet Payment Service Provider
eCommerce-Publikationen
Online
Shopping
Elektr.
Marktplätze
Regionaler
Marktplatz
HTML-Hilfe
(1996)
Branchenreports
multi-level-marketing
Casino
Sportwetten
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Kontakt
Stand Juni 2005
|
In the
last few years, the internet has developed into an important international
economic area, facilitating worldwide presentation and trade in products,
services, and content at low cost.
From a merchant's
point of view, internet business is attractive because it permits him to
address markets he would be unable to reach in the "real" world—and at
reasonable cost. Customers appreciate the easy price comparison and the ease
of purchase of products on the internet.
The Internet
Economic Zone has grown in many ways in the last few years to its current
status as a worldwide, secure and voluminous trading platform. Only a few
years ago, the Web was mostly reserved for product presentation. Actual
purchases were more conservatively structured: an order would be sent by
email, but payment was made in one of the three traditional ways: cash on
delivery, payment in advance, and (for existing customer relationships)
payment after receipt of a bill. These payment methods (originally
established for mail-order business) are termed offline payments.
Meanwhile, however,
numerous online alternatives exist with which products and services can be
marketed worldwide, even or especially with respect to regional constraints.
Products and
services can be divided into two major categories: digital products, which can
be delivered via the internet, as well as memberships and subscriptions to
publications or internet services, and physical products to be delived by
post. In the latter case, delivery is made to a postal address and the
postman confirms through delivery the receipt of the wares. For digital
products on the other hand, delivery is typically immediate, and the delivery
address is the customer's email or IP-address.
Since the end of the
new-economy dream of free service, these services are increasingly billed.
Regardless of the payment method involved, the merchant must be able to check
his customer's identity, and confirm delivery of the product to be prepared
for possible refusal to pay. For this purpose the merchant applies so-called
"fraudtools" to prevent deception and other methods to verify the customer's
identity.
|
Type of wares |
Units |
Delivery |
Fraudtools |
Authorization |
Payment methods |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Micro <€10,- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Premium-SMS
Dialer
Prepaidcard |
|
|
|
|
Age verification
IP-check
BIN-check
MCC-Code |
Telephone-PIN
Money-transfer PIN
Credit card PIN
SMS-PIN |
|
|
Time |
Access /
Membership |
|
digital wares |
|
|
Macro >€10,- |
|
|
Piece |
Datei per
Internet |
Credit cards
Direct debits
Money transfers
eWallet |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
physical wares |
Piece |
Post |
Address check
Scoring |
Postman |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Physical products
are usually delivered to local customers, but national borders hardly exist
for digital products, which can be delivered via the internet and used on a
home PC. Such products can only be acquired with payment methods which are
actually available to the final consumer.
In choosing among
payment methods to accept, the merchant must evaluate the costs of each method,
and security and certainty of payment.
Online merchants can
offer their customers one or more of the following payment methods:
Credit card
The credit card is
currently the only really international payment method, combining worldwide
acceptance by merchants with widespread use among customers. Many credit card
owners use their cards for internet purchases. From the merchant's point of
view, payment via credit card is ideal: the combined low cost and relatively
high certainty of payment make credit card sales attractive. Payment is
checked in realtime; if approved, then the merchant can immediately arrange
delivery of the wares or access of data in a secure environment. From the
merchant's point of view, credit cards are the perfect internet payment method.
Adult-business
merchants or gambling-providers, however, have problems obtaining an
appropriate credit card acceptance contract, or must accept that American
credit card holders can not pay via credit card to a casino code 7995.
An international
internet merchant must be able to offer his customers payment via credit card,
but that will not be enough for all potential customers. Many customers
either don't have credit cards for various reasons (credit-rating, cost,
etc.), or simply refuse to pay by credit card via the internet on account of
either security concerns, or considerations of anonymity.
Direct debits
In Europe, the most
common payment method after credit cards is the direct debit, which can be in
one of two forms.
Debit order: the
account holder gives his bank written authorization for a particular payee to
deduct money from his account.
This
method is irrelevant to internet business, since (besides the differing media)
it requires the prospective purchaser to send an appropriate authorization to
his bank before it will guarantee an internet payment.
Collection authorization: in this case the payor provides the merchant
written permission to debit funds for a specified purpose from his account.
The Banks
involved may demand to see this authorization, though in practice this hardly
ever happens.
For
this method, payment is credited to the merchant's account provisionally: he
can not actually dispose of the funds until they have been credited from the
payor's bank.
Besides rejection of
a direct debit on account of insufficient funds or invalid account, the payor
can also peremptorily reject any payment within 6 weeks after it was debited
to his account, in which case the entire transaction is rolled back. Such a
reversal is described as a "rejection". A status message on account of
insufficient funds or invalid account is generally delivered within four
workdays; a rejection however can occur anytime up to 6 weeks after payment.
At 67%, direct
debits are the most significant internet payment method in Germany. Any
German with his own bank account can pay by collection. There are currently
70 million German accounts qualified for collections. Since almost every
German has an account, collection authorizations are the most generally
available means of internet payment.
Collection
authorizations are not so common in Austria as in Germany. There, about 28%
of internet payments are direct debits, although they are increasing rapidly.
42% of Dutch internet payments are direct debits—where, in contrast to the
6-week rejection period common elsewhere, the customer must reject a debit
within 35 days.
With 56%, Spain
follows Germany closely in the use of direct debits. There the customer's
national ID number is also required to authorize such payments. Payment by
direct debit is also gaining market share in the UK, where it has only become
available in the last few years. There the customer must explicitly authorize
his bank to allow direct debits to his account, but this is standard procedure
for new accounts, and old accounts can be authorized at any time. In the USA
direct debits are known as ACH payments or direct payments, and are used by
about 43% of all households.
Collection
authorizations are not offered in Norway or Switzerland. Instead, they have a
booking process where the customer completes and signs a form for the
customer's bank. The bank then checks for an appropriate authorization before
executing any incoming debits. This procedure is cumbersome and only
practical for constant payments to the same merchant. Internet payments are
effectively restricted to memberships, or loading a virtual account with a
casino or bookmaker.
The advantage for
the merchant lies in the certainty of credits received. Rejection of the
debit is almost impossible, and this is reflected in the minuscule percentage
of reversals. In Norway, for example, the customer receives a statement of
direct debits to his account around the middle of the month and then has two
weeks to ensure covering funds are available, or to reject the debit as
unauthorized. No rejection is possible thereafter.
|
Country |
Germany |
Austria |
Netherlands |
Norway |
Switzerland |
Spain |
UK |
USA |
|
Process |
Collection
|
Collection
|
Collection
|
Debit order |
Debit order |
Collection
|
Collection
|
Collection |
|
Prevalence |
64% |
28% |
42% |
5% |
5% |
56% |
16% |
43% |
Various payment
services today offer, in addition to debits for collection authorization,
automated capture of the payment rejections. The merchant is informed daily
about rejections, allowing him to immediately close a rejecting member's
access. Firms like WebTrade.net offer the merchant in addition to simple
reporting of rejected debits, dunning and debt collection via local debt
collection agencies. In the event of a payment rejection, the customer is
informed by email that he can settle the matter by a simple bank transfer of
the original amount plus the direct-debit rejection fee to an appropriate
account. If there is no reaction to the email, two letters from an attorney
follow, as well as several telphone calls.
The most important
countries for payment by direct debit are Austria, Belgium, France, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK.
Prepaid cards
Prepaid cards are a
special variant for the internet. These are cards purchased either in a shop,
or directly over the internet, for either a single merchant, or for many. For
the customer, prepaid cards offer the advantage of absolute anonymity, for the
merchant that of guaranteed payment. The disadvantage of prepaid cards from
the merchant's point of view are high payment fees (up to 15%) and a
relatively limited customer base. This payment method, however appears
predestined for micromayments (< €10). Only Paysafecard and Micromoney (a
Deutsche Telekom product) have so far established themselves in
German-speaking countries.
eWallet Solutions
EWallet solutions
are a novel and very popular payment method. These are virtual wallets which
the customer either pays into directly, or with which he registers his
preferred payment method. If a payment method is registered, then payment is
made either by credit card or direct debit, in accordance with the customers
wishes. When the customer pays from his eWallet, the amount due is debited
either to the eWallet credit balance, or the registered background account and
credited to the merchant.
In the German market,
T-Pay, Click& Buy from Firstgate, and Webcent from Web.de have established
themselves foremost for micropayments. The best known participants in the
international market are ccard.net, Click2Pay, epassporte, Firepay,
Moneybookers, NETeller, and PayPal.
EWallet solutions
have another attractive feature in the internet, that thay can also receive
payments. EWallet users can exchange payments among each other, and merchants
can pay funds into eWallet acocunts. EWallet thus represent a significant
alternative for such international payments as a German buyer's auction
purchase from an American seller, or to pay out winnings or commissions.
Payment from these
accounts is made either by bank transfer or check. Some providers offer
eWallets with ATM-cards, permitting cash withdrawal at over 900,000 cash
machines worldwide.
Bank
transfers are treated as payment-in-advance and are gaining on eWallet
solutions in the internet.
A merchant can
regard a bank transfer as a guaranteed payment which is generally credited to
his account two to three days after the transaction was initiated.
WebTrade.net maintains accounts with numerous European banks to receive
payments for its merchants and forward such to their accounts. The merchant
is thus freed from the necessity of establishing a subsidiary in each country
in which he wishes to accept domestic payments.
However, the
merchant is only informed about funds received when his house-bank's statement
is available, which can be two to three days after the payment, which is a
distinct disadvantage with regard to traditional internet business. Standards
are being developed however, by which a bank transfer over the internet can be
recognized by the payment system in realtime, triggering immediate despatch of
the wares purchased. In Germany, such a solution is currently offered by Pago
as "Online Überweisung [bank transfer]", and in Austria as "eps" (e-payment
standard).
One widespread
international payment system is Western Union. Cash deposits at Western Union
counters anywhere in the world enables the payee to receive the money at any
other Wester Union office, or to have his account credited.
Summary
Despite the
international character of the internet as a market for goods and services,
many merchants today still restrict their offers and payment methods to the
national level. But especially for digital goods, which can be delivered and
received via the internet, national restrictions are largely irrelevant.
Credit cards are
still the only international payment method that is actually available
worldwide. But when a customer has no credit card, or refuses on grounds of
security to use it on the internet, or a merchant can not obtain a credit card
acceptance contract, then alternative payment methods become necessary for
internet trade.
Merchants who can
not or do not wish to establish a worldwide net of banking relationships in
order to offer their customers alternative payment methods, can simply buy
international payment processing services such as WebTrade.net's International
Collect Service from a payment service provider. Currency conversions are
provided automatically: if a Swiss customer wishes to pay a Norwegian merchant
by direct debit, a Currency Converter module computes the payment in both
currencies, the customer's account is debited in Swiss francs and the merchant
is credited in Norwegian crowns.
Thus Payment Service
Providers are ideal partners for merchants who wish to market their products
in Europe as broadly as possible; they simplify access to new markets without
up-front investments, and offer competitively priced back-office services
ranging from automated direct debits, processing payment rejections, to
dunning and collection services.
|
|
