Last week I asked you to design the online payment system called edream you wanted as I regularly hear readers complaining about the services ( or lack of them) offered by e payments companies like moneybookers, paypal, e gold, loom, and the rest. In response, Sean over at franchise pick; a blog I never tire of reading, responded with a killah post not to be missed, with his usual wit and humour.

http://www.franchisepick.com/franchisepickcom-announces-esean-payment-processing-system/

So here’s the question, if you were to design the e payments system that you want and need, what would it look like?

What services would it offer that you are missing now?

How would you improve on existing options offered to customers?

What limitations that you presently have to endure would you do away with and what would you replace them with?

Lets call it e dream

The prize? a deposit of seed money into your a paypal account in your name to start your new business. Yes you heard right! seed money into your own account.

Now rumour has it that Sean is pretty confident of winning this and are you going to let him?

So send yours in today guys your best ideas for a payment system.

The prize will be awarded at the end of July. get yours in!

So write to Moneypenny under comments below, or to my soon to launch blog www.wisequeen.com and let’s have your e dream e payments blueprint. The best one will be voted on and will win a prize of seed money into a paypal account!

Moneypenny

This is a kind of unofficial poll to find out which online payment company is rated best.

These are the criteria:

1. ease of use, functionality and options.

2. service level, charges/cost and market share.

3. security, support and reliability.

4. ethical, regulated and financially sound company.

So which online payment company does these best for you.

Leave a comment and tell us your experience for the benefit of our readers.

Moneypenny

The April issue of  DGC mag featured an article on the growth of the online payment company web money, and since we have been focusing on paypal, moneybookers and others this month, I thought it would be interesting to see how moneyweb shapes up, and what features they offer compared to the others, I covered in my last post.  Do you have a money web account? Write and tell us your experience with them.

 Thankyou to Mark at DGC mag for content and graph. http://www.dgcmagazine.com

Webmoney Shows Huge Growth In 2007

This month Webmoney Transfer announced their 2007 annual numbers and included some additional company information. The digital currency giant, continued to experience tremendous growth through out 2007.

The number of new account registrations in their system passed the 4 million mark during 2007 and looks like it will soon pass the 5 million mark.

In the past year, 1,440,000 million new customers joined the Webmoney system.

The total number of customer transactions (turnover) for the past twelve months exceeded $3.33 Billion US dollars.

They transacted more than 27,000,000 million individual customer payments.

Last but certainly not least, even their mobile service showed excellent growth. Webmoney Keeper Mobile now services almost 170,000 users.

A brand new version of Client application – WM Keeper Classic 3.6.0.1 is now available for download from the their web site. This popular company has experienced dramatic growth each year since their start in 2001.

http://www.wmtransfer.com/

Paypal at present has over 120 million customers that use its services. Customers ranging from large companies who do thousands of transactions to individuals who just want to occasionally send and receive money on line. So how does paypal measure up to the banks we have been using for 100’s of years?

Well, at first glance, Paypal may seem to be the cheaper option. Yet payments are levied by paypal to receive or (bank) money. Converting from one currency to another will also cost you money, so what are the advantages over a traditional bank? Good question!

Accessibility may be one, although most major banks have been offering secure online banking for 10 years now, where money can be sent and received, accounts can be paid and payment orders arranged. So who needs Paypal.

Well for some transactions it may be cheaper. The one advantage a freelancer has, is that they can see imeadiately that someone has paid them, as they get an e mail, and must accept the funds. No checking at the bank.

 However, if I banked online, I could check after 48 hours that the swift payment had arrived. The person sending the funds can even arrange for my bank to phone me when the funds arrive.

I mentioned in a previous post, that for companies with multiple payments to make, it may be easier to send money to JohnSmith @yahoo.com, than to know and record all the banking co-ordinates for each person. That’s about it in terms of advantages as far as I’m concerned. So how has this company grown to have  over 120 million customers worldwide?

Well, initially they targeted the very people they are now getting tough on: those who don’t want to deal  with banks or credit card companies because of a bad credit record, dirty money or tax avoidance. Certainly at the outset these customers were “untraceable” and no one asked them how they made the money they were sending or receiving. However, eventually Paypal as a legally registered company, were also obliged to ask the same questions banks have been required  to ask customers for many years now. Of course there are many other non-regulated online payment companies, who don’t ask these questions and still operate by giving their non-traceable clients a payment card to access their cash, and who compete in the same market as Paypal.

So for freelancers who work online and may need to receive a salary ( they do not neccessarily want to spend it all buying things online), they have to have a normal bank account to receive money into when they need it, that’s traceable. A credit card  to secure the paypal account, is also needed, so that’s traceable.

So what are the advantages to their 120  million customers?

Paypal made their site more secure than others this year as the link shows.

http://www.bizzia.com/paypal-security-key-paypal-hangs-out-the-no-phishing-sign/

Pay pal also  recently added the paylater feature to attract ex credit card users. Be sure that they won’t advance you money that is not backed by funds in your account, and that a check will be done on you first.

http://www.thepaypalblog.com/weblog/2008/05/a-new-way-to-pa.html

But what are the real advantages to having a Paypal account?

Tell us digitalmoneyworld readers, what are the advantages for you over a bank account held at a traditional regulated bank? Leave your comments.

Moneypenny

This link on Paypal customers and their payment preferences, ties in rather nicely with a theme we’ve had here on digitalmoneyworld in the last week. That of security, and in particular, data security with any online payment system.

Weve spoken about scams, both with traditional banks in my last post, and also companies like moneybookers and the spammers and scammers that try to steal  your information.

The golden rule in protecting yourself here seems to be “think twice before you give out your personal information“.  How safe is it?  Where will it be used and stored, and most important, is the company/person  asking for it actually who they say they are?

http://www.elanso.com/ArticleModule/KeKeUfVIPKUfGJW6NOVIONIi.html

Moneypenny

According to the twitter and newspeak I hear, spammers and scammers are getting evermore present even after the biggest spammer of all time was arrested. One has to use firefox to try and weed some of them out. If you belong to google groups, yahoo, facebook or where-ever, and lets face it, most of us do, you’ll get scam mail, lots of it.

So how do you protect yourself? Because people really do fall prey to these scams.

Number 1 rule  

Banks do not contact you by e mail. If you bank on-line, you have a password to enter the system and that’s part of your security, and so give it to no-one, the bank won’t and can’t ask for it, ever.

If you see a message like the one below, which seems to be “on your side”, read the whole thing and think for a minute before you respond. They are just posing as “security fans” to try and lure you into trusting them and giving some info: e mail address, home address, postal code which they can sell on or use to seal your identity. So a criminal who can’t get a fixed address or telephone number and post code, can operate using your details.

Dont fall into the trap of thinking: Well I’ve never had a lot of money in my account so they aren’t after me. Data is money for them, without it they can’t operate.

 Rule number 2 ” Never put your real date of birth on anything online,unless it’s  a secure banking site that has a copy of your I.D., ( we have to trust the banks with this, although we may not want to, we have no choice as I said in my last post).

Read and take care!!!!!

Attn: Beneficiary

    RE-Immediate Release of £3.1 Million to your designated bank

    In line with the recent Directives from the British High
Commission, Board of Directors of Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Co-operation
(H.S.B.C) in conjunction with the International Monetary Funds (I.M.F) for our
Bank to transfer without delay, the sum of £3.1 Million (three Million
one Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling) to your designated bank account
in this Quarter.

    Henceforth, you are required as a matter of urgency to contact this
Office immediately and also forward your present banking Particulars
where this funds will be transferred to and send 1st and 2nd pages of
your International Passport for Identification purposes for Final
Endorsement and Approval of this Fund.

    Finally, expecting your urgent response to these regards, so that
we can effect transfer accordingly.

    Delay is dangerous.

    Dr. Martins Woold Jr.
    International Transfer Department.
    Direct line +447024021151

Dear NatWest Bank customer,

We have implemented security measures consistent with our internal information security practices to help us keep your information secure. These measures include technical and procedural steps to protect your data from misuse, access or disclosure, loss, alteration or destruction.

One of these security measures is NOF (NatWest Online Form) to help us to keep your personal and banking data up to date.

You should complete NOF on a regular basis.

Please complete NOF using the link below:

http://online.natwest.com/NOF/startupdate.aspx?refererident=0164046924087817665993760912833371466688146657074005&cookieid=7060161820575

NatWest Automated Mail Service. Please do not respond to this mail.

 This one could be posing as protection but actually be a scamer trying to get you to trust them for later when they approach again, expecting you to then give your account details.

So I repeat

Banks don’t make approaches by e mail. If you bank online theres a secure platform for that. If there’s a problem on your account that’s urgent, they will phone you, if not they will just write to you.

Banks never ask for your pin, they are not allowed to. Please be careful! people get scamed out of their money every year because they fall prey to the latest scam.Last year when they caught the biggest spammer of all time in the states and took him out of the way, it was expected that it would reduce spam mail and scams, but others have taken over and filled the void imeadiately.

Here’s the link if you want to read the history of the spammers arrest.http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/10/topten.shtm

Yours in money

 Moneypenny

If the account is to be used for higher volume transactions, then an identity check which is in two parts, must take place.

My own personal paypal account was made secure as mentioned previously, by the addition of my credit-card details ( which somewhat defeats the purpose of having a pp account). Nevertheless, this done, it is now not sufficient to secure the account.

The identity check requires the filling in of a form on-line, requiring physical address, birthdate, company name, and vat/ tax no.  All details, that many will be unhappy to hand over, due to identity theft on the net and management of this sensitive data by Pal pal. ( who of course promise not to share it with anyone).

Then one feels that should be sufficient, but no there’s something else, after being told this will suffice, another window comes up saying that there’s one final step. The final step being, you need to upload or fax through your drivers license, ID card or other photographic proof, such as a passport.

Well, I don’t know about you, but this always makes me nervous. How will my data be treated? Banks have had data breaches, so I’m almost certain Paypal could have the same sooner or later.

There isn’t much choice out there, Paypal has the Euro market pretty much sewn up.

Any other suggestions will be welcome, leave a comment for the benefit of our readers.

Can some e currency veteran comment on this? Are the requirements the same for e bullion and similar payment co’s.

Lets discuss this digital moneyworlders!

Yours in money,

Moneypenny

 Well done Benson for setting up the donation  link for Burma. hopefully all you bullion traders will donate some of your returns to those who have lost everything, and let’s hope they open up the borders to help. 

 Today I’m including a post I made before about online payment companies. For those that think I’ve been after them, heres what I said two weeks ago:

There are surprising demographics. It is not only those who don’t have a credit card, or  who are cautious about putting credit card details online. More companies are using it to pay suppliers or freelancers who do work for them. Its a good way for a company to hold some funds in an account for that purpose, thus removing all those movements from the  regular bank account. The simplicity of sending money to  “joesmithsmoney” is a lot easier than getting the iban codes, swift addresses and coordinates for numerous international bank accounts. More people use Ebay to purchase things large and small, everyday, then there’s secondlife, and amazon, and online gambling, its endless…. they may not want to insert credit card details for many reasons. ( no I don’t work for them or get any kickbacks. Although if after reading this, any of you efinance companies begin to feel  overwhelmingly generous towards me…. go ahead, double my balance, I dare you.) 

Many people, on various forums I have visited, have many axes to grind with paypal and others, who they say won’t give them their money back when they want to close the account, or withdraw funds. (See previous blogs written by Mark and Benson.)  I myself have had no problems with this. I do have a nominated bank account however, to empty funds into, so I can get the cash.  I also secured my  paypal account with my master card perhaps this helps, I don’t know how though, perhaps because im traceable though my bank.

On-line payment companies have been offering cards to draw money at ATMs, or to use as a charge or debit-card, for some time now. I think it rather depends where you live, when it comes to the security of these, as some are very bad and others Ok. Anything based outside of regulated U.S.A. or Europe could be a risk, check the fine print and rules about disclosure. But don’t quote me on that, again just an opinion.

A nominated bank account is kept within your paypal  account, and should you want to empty some funds into your bank account, you request this. I normally wait 5 days for an international transfer into my bank, I wait till I  simply have to, there are no charges for this. Although I do pay when receiving funds into Paypal.

 If you need to close your account, this can  be accomplished with a  nominated bank account. Simply request it. I haven’t tested this, as I don’t want to close mine and open it again. Please give me feedback if you’ve had a problem closing, and I’ll research this more. There are hundreds of threads on paypal-forums and e bullion ones about this, so Google it.  Next post.. investing in e currency.

Yours in money,

Moneypenny

Quote for today:  “If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. If you owe it a million pounds, it has a problem!” JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES

 With my last post, I’ve been investigating how possible it is to build a business with a computer, globally. Products can be services - after all. In the ninetes, the idea of basing yourself anywhere and doing business online was born.  Millions of people work this way now, without any formal office structure, comprising billions of dollars in trade. Articles on the boom of mothers working from home have been featured on the web and news this week, so I thought I’d look at some ways you can build this on-line working environment. Here’s a marketing opportunity on-line to look at setting up an account, it’s free and relatively simple.

Alibaba.com is the world’s largest B2B online marketplace, with more than 3 million buyers and sellers from over 200 countries across 39 industries.

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/servlet/page/static/campaign/landing_page_buyers_sellers?tracelog=ibd_us_ymarketplace07_02

For Buyers

Gain full access to over one million products

List unlimited purchase requests online and let supplies contact you

Utilize advanced communication and trade management tools

Get up-to-the-minute trade news and industry insights in our Community Channel

For Sellers

Reach millions of new buyers worldwide

Get your own mini-site with unlimited product listings in our search results

Utilize advanced communication and trade management tools

Get up-to-the-minute trade news and industry insights in our Community Channel

The following is a letter from Bernard von NotHaus dated today:

I sincerely regret to inform you that about 8:00 this morning a dozen FBI and Secret Service agents raided the Liberty Dollar office in Evansville.

For approximately six hours they took all the gold, all the silver, all the platinum and almost two tons of Ron Paul Dollars that where just delivered last Friday. They also took all the files, all the computers and froze our bank accounts.

We have no money. We have no products. We have no records to even know what was ordered or what you are owed. We have nothing but the will to push forward and overcome this massive assault on our liberty and our right to have real money as defined by the US Constitution. We should not to be defrauded by the fake government money.

But to make matters worse, all the gold and silver that backs up the paper certificates and digital currency held in the vault at Sunshine Mint has also been confiscated. Even the dies for mint the Gold and Silver Libertys have been taken.

This in spite of the fact that Edmond C. Moy, the Director of the Mint, acknowledged in a letter to a US Senator that the paper certificates did not violate Section 486 and were not illegal. But the FBI and Services took all the paper currency too.

The possibility of such action was the reason the Liberty Dollar was designed so that the vast majority of the money was in specie form and in the people’s hands. Of the $20 million Liberty Dollars, only about a million is in paper or digital form.

I regret that if you are due an order. It may be some time until it will be filled… if ever… it now all depends on our actions.

Everyone who has an unfulfilled order or has digital or paper currency should band together for a class action suit and demand redemption. We cannot allow the government to steal our money! Please don’t let this happen!!! Many of you read the articles quoting the government and Federal Reserve officials that the Liberty Dollar was legal. You did nothing wrong. You are legally entitled to your property. Let us use this terrible act to band together and further our goal – to return America to a value based currency.

Please forward this important Alert… so everyone who possess or use the Liberty Dollar is aware of the situation.

Please click HERE to sign up for the class action lawsuit and get your property back!

If the above link does not work you can access the page by copying the following into your web browser. http://www.libertydollar.org/classaction/index.php

Thanks again for your support at this darkest time as the damn government and their dollar sinks to a new low.

Bernard von NotHaus

Monetary Architect