Thursday, August 30, 2007 Website gives cardless way to buy online
THE system of online payments for purchases made on the Internet has always been limited to credit cards and checks. This is not anymore true.
HappyBuyer.org is offering people who don’t have credit cards the ability to purchase items or services online.
HappyBuyer.org is the only cash processing company on the Web, said president Dick Detering who is based in Cebu City.
Detering said cardless buyers can pay at any Western Union Bank outlet for online purchases.
While the service is free for merchants, buyers have to pay a 10 percent service fee with a minimum purchase cost of $10 to HappyBuyer.org.
To enjoy the service, merchants need to place a link on his/her payment page to the homepage of HappyBuyer.org.
“Approximately 90 percent of the world population (currently 6.5 billion people) do not have credit cards,” said Detering.
“That’s 5.85 billion people without a credit card. About 10 percent of this group, which is equal to 585 million, regularly try to buy online. They hope to be able to pay on the Internet with cash but in most cases they can’t. So online merchants miss out approximately 585 million potential buyers.”
Detering also said about 25 percent of online credit card payments are declined for all sorts of reasons, which would mean that merchants are missing out on an additional 162.5 million potential buyers.
“All together, Internet-based companies are missing out on about 747.5 million potential buyers,” he said.
Commercial websites could substantially increase sales by accepting cash on their websites in conjunction with credit cards, he said. (PR)
