I have really enjoyed my short sojourn here as your Moneypenny on DMW and thankyou to those who wrote in with your appreciation and comments, and humour and especially big thanks to those that I helped to avoid money scams. Usefulness is a personal goal of mine that many bloggers share. Fear not I ‘ll be covering more of the same about all kinds of money on www.wisequeen.com

with more un-common sense, money issues, business, startups and life advice

along with my new wineblog which beat Dr Vino this week in ratings!!! We are on our way people! hang on tight for the journey of your life.

My un-common sense blog on biz advice, finance, money of all kinds, and the rules of life, launches on August 1st and you can click now for a taster www.wisequeen.com Come to the launch party, you’re invited.

Please leave any comments, questions or donations to my paypal account for my new startup. I’ll be entertaining you here till then.

Moneypenny.

Last week I asked you to design the online payment system called edream you wanted as Here on www.digitalmoneyworld we 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 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 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

 A new application on facebook  from Moneybookers which is based in the U.K. was launched, Moneybookers is one of the largest money transfer services online with over 4.6 million worldwide customers.

While Moneybookers promotes it as a “social fundraising” application, all of the normal Moneybookers money transfer services will be available inside the application.

The application will expand Moneybookers’ ability to extend their reach by offering their services to the millions of Facebook users. It appears that the fee structure for the Facebook application will match the current Moneybookers fee structure

One drawback that I see is that  logging directly into Moneybookers or PayPal when  sending and/or receiving money is more secure than within Facebook so many may not feel comfortable logging in via another application. Im sure this will open up a whole can of worms as far as the scammers go, as we have already seen on the Fake moneybookers scam ?   which has numerous comments worth reading. What do you think  good or bad, would you use it?

Yours in money,

Moneypenny

Last week there was a bad rumor briefly circulating about the digital currency Liberty Reserve. Like most rumors this one turned out NOT to be true. However, this type of information seems to linger around for weeks and months on forums. I think its very important to correct the false items and expose these type of rumors as incorrect.

Liberty Reserve digital currency is very strong, wisely built around the Costa Rican jurisdiction plus the web site security measures are top notch.  Here is what their own blog had to say about the rumor.

10-19-07 We have received a few e-mails regarding a rumor that our offices were raided by the authorities. This is a falsehood and is likely an attempt to discredit us by our competitors. We advise everyone to check our website and this blog for the only complete, accurate and up to date information.

Unfortunately, this is likely not the last time you will hear all sorts of “news releases” on blogs, forums, or e-mails.

There are no M.L.A.T* treaties signed, or otherwise established between Costa Rica and the United States. HOWEVER, there are M.L.A.T* and cooperation agreements established and in force with the governments of the United Kingdom, Panama and many other countries. Unlike Liberty Reserve, which is registered in Costa Rica, any company that claims to be registered in Panama, United Kingdom or in any of the countries on the M.L.A.T* list is in fact in danger of being raided by US authorities and are just as vulnerable to unfair seizures as e-gold.

As you can clearly see, we stand behind our product, our service and our dedication to this business. We are proud of the outcome and the feedback that we receive from our customers.

Thanks Michelle for that update.

Dear Mr. GDCA President,

I have been writing and blogging lately about the possible or alleged recent issues regarding e-Bullion. I feel, as do many readers, it is important to determine whether these possible issues are rhetoric, a few unhappy agents or possibly big events that will effect the industry as a whole… I now see that the GDCA has posted a warning regarding e-bullion at: http://gdcaonline.org/content/news.html

In that warning it states that :

“….E-bullion.com closes and/or freezes accounts without any court order or reasonable justification, sometimes freezing customer funds forever.”

• Please present proof of these events by showing the closed account documentation and any correspondence with e-bullion regarding that account and its closure.
• Please comment on why e-bullion closed the account or accounts, any justification e-bullion presented or did not present.
• Please provide your opinion as to why e-bullion has taken this action.
• Please provide evidence of e-bullion seizing or freezing account holder funds and not returning them as stated in your comment/warning above. Who had their funds ’stolen’ or has stated they had funds seized?
• Please show me the evidence of a rumored investigation by the USSS, because I heard a rumor they were going to be bought by Donald Trump. Rumors are not fact and have no place in an industry ‘warning’ without supporting information. Provide me these facts or the person openly commenting about an ongoing investigation being conducted by an agency of the US government.
• Please provide me copies of any complaints from users that the GDCA may have received regarding e-bullion for the past two years.
• Please include e-mail or other documentation so these can be verified by me.
• Please provide me any exchanger opinions or complaints which you have documented regarding the policies and terms now in use by e-bullion.

You should know that I have already been in touch with Mr. Joseph Hamilton, CISSP Chief Technical Officer, e-Bullion.com, on several recent occasions regarding these stated rumors.

Its my firm belief that resolving any problem whether minor or serious can be accomplished by logical discussion and clarification of facts, not rumors and flaming.

I would appreciate it if you can comment here below this post at your earliest convenience, whether you can or will produce the above requested material to me via email. All other comments and questions are welcome. Feel free to remove any personal or financial information from these documents. After hearing from you, Mr. Hamilton of e-bullion will again be contacted for his comments, he is available and reaching me just fine.

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Mark Herpel

You will probably never see Amazon or Overstock.com accepting eCache as a method of payment, however, more and more old school digital currency users are spending DBCs (digital bearer certificates). With the e-gold community still rocking in the wake of recent indictments, creative minds are now making moves towards more serious privacy.

Do you want to learn more about eCache? Then get ready to be confused….

Although it sounds simple enough, this is not your ‘fathers’ digital money.

What is eCache? Plain and simple its anonymous digital cash. Just like the fancy green & black paper you have in your wallet, which offers no attached receipt stating where it came from, eCache is 100% anonymous. The only difference from your paper money is you can access and transfer eCache online anywhere in the world. It is entirely 100% digital and the ’serial numbers’ of the ‘cache’ [money] change as it moves.

Their their web site states.

“eCache is a payment system based on Digital Bearer Certificates. It is truly anonymous because we have no accounts, no know-your-customer, no public frontend or anything else that could identify you.”

eCache works on the IRC system. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) So don’t be alarmed when you arrive at a URL like this one, https://ffij33ewbnoeqnup.onion.meshmx.com/index.php?session= that is a page from the actual eCache web. So don’t get excited when you find just a place holder page at http://www.ecache.com/

Each DBC (Digital Bearer Certificate) is unique and it works just like a digital banknote. When you receive a DBC, you first go to the eCache Interface to ‘reissue’ and/or ‘verify’ it. When you ‘verify’ you find its value and authenticity. When your reissue one, the original DBC you received is destroyed and a new one is issued for you. If you ever get the ID already spent error, you know that someone already reissued the certificate and it will never again hold value.

Just like trading in some of your small bills for the Benjamins, you can also ‘combine’ your DBCs. Once again visit the eCache Interface and you will be able to enter up to five DBCs of the same currency - receive a one new certificate and automatically destroy the old ones. Also, just like breaking a big bill, you may also ’split’ a large DBC into smaller ones using the same method as above, pressing the ’split’ button and reversing your action.

eCache has two different types of currency: COW and GG. COW is the play money and is just used for testing, it has no value and they will give you some COW to try out their system.

The GG currency is where real value is held. Each GG is worth one gram of fine gold. The actual gold behind GGs is held in a safe deposit box at an unknown location. eCache is not transparent about where the gold backing is kept or who audits the value. This fact may be difficult to understand for some new users (myself included). Eventually, they plan to include an audit process of their assets on hand to satisfy users feeling security. In the mean time, Raven Escrow holds a deposit of around 20 gold grams which is maintained as a safety net for users in the possible event of fraud.

So while eCache is not yet a household name, Digital Bearer Certificates are making a name for themselves and gaining wider use and exposure as this tumultuous e-currency year unfold.

For any of you online pro regulation activists who stand ready to complain that child pornographers and terrorist are using eCache, you should probably read these sections from eCache’s TOS.

Terms of Service
eCache does not have a physical presence and no law that we follow other then ethics. Since our money is anonymous digital cash, there is not much we can do about abusers.

Wow !

(Q) How many types of payment can ClickandBuy deliver to a European customer? How about a customer in the US ? Asia ?

First off, whenever we enter a new market we immediately offer the standard credit and debit payment types. In addition to this, we offer over 40 additional localized payment methods in Europe . So for Europe and the US we offer a very rich breadth of payment solutions which include credit, debit, eChecks, online money transfer, offline money transfer and Bill2Phone capability. We are currently on pace to roll out South America and Asia in FY07 with another 30 countries and 50 payment methods.

(Q) What do you consider to be the strongest characteristic of your company’s merchant program?

The strongest characteristic of our company’s program is that we always find new and creative ways to help the merchant make more money. This could be done through many different payment methods or by using our free eCommerce consulting services, which helps the merchant with betters ways to construct the eCommerce portion of his or her website.

(Q) Can you tell me how your ClickandBuy’s fees compare to your competition?

Our fees are competitive and are fair. Our fee structure is totally transparent. Our Clients never find hidden fees or surprise costs on their invoices. Our business practice is very simple; we only make money when our Client makes money. Our success is tied to our Client’s success, so we are very Client focused on what will make our Clients successful.

(Q) Earlier this year, Intel Capital invested venture capital funds into ClickandBuy, is there an advantage to having partners like Intel Capital beside the additional funds? I understand that close association will create a real global partnership between the two companies. How will that help ClickandBuy expand internationally?

Institutional investment is a testimony of the faith the investment community has in ClickandBuy. When viewed through the eyes of who is investing, one can quickly imagine how strategic these partnerships are for our future growth. Intel Capital’s investment into ClickandBuy will help us expand into Latin America and further into the United States . The investment gives us an opportunity to build out our infrastructure, which will enable us to provide a large suite of payment services.

(Q) Tell me more about this recent announcement of WestLB AG and ClickandBuy launching the first Europe-wide pilot project on the future Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Specifically what does that offer that is not already offered on the Internet?

To put this into context, Click andBuy was born in 1999 in a very fragmented EU economic environment (various currencies etc). Through this environment we were forced to become very technically and financially savvy to conduct business under these confines. The SEPA pilot-project is our opportunity to bring our industry expertise to bear for the benefit of the end user and merchant. The end goal is to dramatically reduce the administrative costs and complexity of doing business throughout Europe . We are uniquely positioned to make this goal a reality!

Until now companies and private persons in each member country have had to comply with a variety of legal frameworks in the payments field. Going forward, payments can be effected more easily and more cheaply throughout Europe via SEPA. Under the model project, WestLB and ClickandBuy will simplify European payments settlement at an early stage. The aim is to significantly reduce the administrative costs of companies operating throughout Europe .

(Q) If a new merchant signs up today for a ClickandBuy account does that merchant instantly gain access to new markets? What do you mean by new markets? What size markets are we talking about?

We expand markets in two ways; geographic and demographic. Geographically you gain immediately get access to our solution world wide for no additional cost. We don’t charge by currency or language, so a merchant can immediately begin to penetrate new geographic markets quite easily with ClickandBuy. We work hand-in-hand with out Clients to immediately take advantage of ClickandBuy’s reach to maximize their eCommerce initiatives cross-border. Demographically we enable those online Guests don’t want to use credit and debit cards. These online Guests are more likely to shop online and buy offline. By offering alternatives such as eChecks or Bill2Phone, we turn those lookers into bookers by providing a payment option that appeals to their unique need.

The new markets we are talking about include geographic markets. For U.S. companies, they have access to over eight million European consumers who buy goods and services online, and for European companies that want to start selling digital content in the U.S. , ClickandBuy enables them to do so.

(Q) Does ClickandBuy offer multicurrency accounts? How many currencies are currently supported?

We offer over 15 different currencies with South America and Asia coming in FY07.

(Q) In early March, ClickandBuy announced its plans to offer a secure person-to-person payments system for the European market. Can you tell us more about this program, along with the cash voucher program also?

We will not unveil the person-to-person payments system until the summer of 2007, but when we do, people will be able to send money to one another, and we will not charge a transaction fee. The cash voucher program allows a consumer to walk into a seven eleven type of store and receive a voucher with a code on it. When the person goes online, he or she can use that code to receive online content.

(Q) When will the phone billing system commence operation in the United States and will that be nationwide?

The Bill2Phone option is currently available nationwide to 80% of the US market via ClickandBuy. We are currently in negotiations with large telcos to carry the ClickandBuy brand on it.

(Q) Do you accept any type of casino or sport book operations?

We don’t in the United States , but we do in Europe .

(Q) What is ClickandBuy’s secret to success?

We bring the long tail of eCommerce to our Clients while driving additional means of online revenue. We help drive bottom line revenue via a combination of our multi currency/lingual platforms, fraud engine, flexible offer management, cost effective and customizable online reporting tools and real time access to account status for both the merchant and online consumer . Our secret to our success is understanding that merchants need a custom-made eCommerce solution for their websites. The merchant gets constantly consulted on what he or she wants to accomplish. We discuss placement of the eCommerce portion of the website, and we talk about the different types of payment options available. (i.e., monthly subscriptions, pay per click or pay per minute.) As an outsourced payment platform, we are more than a payment processor. That’s another secret to our success. ClickandBuy offers live customer care and an active fraud server, both services are bundled into our service and don’t cost extra.

(Q) Are there anymore new products on the horizon for ClickandBuy?

We have a PSP product coming out this month. PSP will allow merchants to offer ClickandBuy new registrants to just enter their email addresses instead of registering all of their information to ClickandBuy.

I would like to thank Mr. Jame Nigri and Mr. Stuart Ginsberg for taking time to answer my questions.

Part 1

Online payment specialist ClickandBuy LLC has offices in New York , London , Zug , Switzerland , Cologne , Germany and India . The company offers an advanced Internet payment and billing system. Their product is considered a full-service solution for e-payments, with an emphasis on the more complex offerings of digital assets.

As an ASP solution, ClickandBuy can support the most flexible possible offers. Merchants can present such diverse offers from subscription (user can upgrade/downgrade their selection themselves), Pay Per View (streaming or Video on Demand), Pay per Time (access to digital assets for any period of time the merchant chooses), affiliate offers (large membership groups like Costco or AAA can receive special pricing) and micro payments for single downloads. All of these offers are supported across 40+ different localized payment types world wide, including of course the common debit and credit payment options.

The system is simple to use, very inexpensive for merchants (low fees) and offers easy to understand client account statements.

First launched in Germany in late 1999 , the company is a household name throughout Europe . In addition to standard credit/debit, ClickandBuy specializes in ‘localized’ currencies and language support. Considering that only 30% of EU citizens use credit cards online, localized currencies are a key pillar in any online eCommerce strategy. ClickandBuy’s growth has been explosive, as seen by the recent investment of such institutional investment firms like Intel Capital. In FY07 alone ClickandBuy is adding 50 more payment types and 30 more countries across South America and Asia to add to the US market growth.

This interview is with Vice President of New Media Jamy Nigri and Stuart Ginsberg from ClickandBuy’s public relations department.

(Q) What can ClickandBuy merchants sell online? Digital content and services.

Anything. Although we started in the area of digital content, we are starting to move into the hard goods area.

(Q) From a merchant point of view, why should I be using ClickandBuy for online sales of my products?

ClickandBuy allows more ways to pay than any other company. Quite simply, enabling more payment types allows more ways for an online consumer to purchase and enables merchants to make more revenue through eCommerce. The key to ClickandBuy is that we enable incremental non-cannibalized revenue in existing markets while seamlessly allowing merchants to expand internationally via our multi language/currency platforms. Behind this functionality we combine an event driven, sophisticated fraud engine with the industry’s only multi lingual Contact Center . We like to call it combining high tech plus high touch!

As a full service ASP, ClickandBuy provides more than payment processing. We help companies with live customer care, access control multicurrency as well as provide our patented active fraud server. ClickandBuy, which offers multiple payment options, multiple currencies and multiple languages, is easy to implemented and can be used within hours and not days. Our payment methods are flexible and include ways for the consumer to pay for goods and services online in a quick and easy manner.

(Q) Are all purchases made in real time and is there the possibility of chargebacks?

We offer all of the common payment types in real time. For instance, a game merchant, through ClickandBuy, can provide in game payments where the consumer continues to buy new weapons or virtual coins without ever leaving the game. It depends on what the merchant wants to do. An added value to ClickandBuy’s is that we also offer localized payment types that can only be processed in coordination between a sophisticated fraud server and Contact Center . Some of these payment types, due to the very nature of their characteristics are post paid payment types. While there is always a possibility of charge backs due to the varied types of charge back possibilities, in EU alone ClickandBuy maintains an overall charge back rate of around 1%, with the industry norm being near 8%!

(Q) US online merchants are a bit different than their European competition. U.S. merchants are used to convenience and multiple payment options. I’ve heard ClickandBuy referred to as basally a “plug and play” system which is what US merchants will most likely require. Is your system as easy as it sounds, where a merchant can add it to their web operation and instantly offer new methods of payment to their clients?

ClickandBuy is the easiest way for a merchant to quickly offer multiple payment methods (domestic or internationally) within whatever technical confines a merchant may operate, all with global Contact Center support at no additional cost! We accommodate “plug and play” type functionality that simplifies a merchant’s life! For global brands that have tighter restrictions on how their brand translates into the buying experience, we customize the experience so that the consumer stays within the ‘brand experience.’ When you become a ClickandBuy client, you are free to focus on your core business.

(Q) How many online merchants do you now have using ClickandBuy?

Over 8,000 merchants

(Q) Is there any close competition to ClickandBuy’s online payment service? Who?

Yes, PayPal.

(Q) As a brand new ClickandBuy merchant entering your market, what size consumer base of clients can I expect will be shopping my merchandise?

We have close to nine million subscribers who use ClickandBuy internationally.

(Q) I understand Apple iTunes is a ClickandBuy merchant. That is a huge online operation. Out of all the payment processors, why did Apple iTunes chose you? What advantages do you offer to them?

Apple iTunes chose us over our competitors in Europe due to the fact that we offer over 40 different localized European payment methods that are essential to eCommerce success. Since credit cards are not that popular in Europe (only 30% of all Europeans use credit cards), Apple iTunes needed a payment system that would maximize the buying opportunities of digital assets. Between localized payment methods and the ability to bill content to one’s home telephone number, we bring more commerce opportunities to Apple iTunes than any other provider. To highlight this point, France has Carte Bleue, which is more popular than American Express. If companies, such as Apple only offer Visa, Mastercard or American Express, then they are missing millions of European consumers.

Continued…

Processing online gambling payments is illegal for any US company. We’ve all read about the UIGEA (.pdf) and I’ve posted about the perils of this before. But now….the feds seem to be taking a closer look at Linden Lab for their role in the ‘payment processing’ in Second Life’s virtual casinos!

Yes, its true, Osama Bin Laden is still walking around a free man, but according to Cnet News, the Federal Government, by way of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern California, seems to be pondering whether Second Life could be considered in the wrong by ‘processing’ virtual money transactions for their online virtual casinos!

Ginsu Yoon, who is Linden Lab’s current vice president for business affairs, said “We have invited the FBI several times to take a look around in Second Life and raise any concerns they would like, and we know of at least one instance that federal agents did look around in a virtual casino.”

Yoon said the company was seeking guidance on virtual gaming activity in Second Life but had not yet received clear rules from U.S. authorities. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern California declined to comment.

Most people will agree that since players can exchange Linden Dollars for actual US dollars that gambling with Linden Dollars in any one of Second Life’s hundreds of casinos offering poker, slot machines and blackjack …might actually be a crime. Consequently, would Linden Lab, who handles transactions for the Linden Dollar may be considered ‘processing payments’ for online gambling.

Attorney Sean Kane, a legal expert on the issues of virtual worlds at New York’s Drakeford & Kane had this to say, “If you’re buying money on the Lindex (a virtual currency exchange) and utilizing it for gambling purposes, Linden could have a much higher level of responsibility,” he added. “If they would be found in violation, that’s difficult to say, but I can see a much stronger case being made.”

PLEASE……….aren’t there better ways for governments to spend valuable law enforcement resources than going after a $1500 dollar a month virtual money virtual casino? Next I’m going to read that Second Life Casinos now have to be licensed out of Belize or Costa Rica to offer action!

Wow, digital money and virtual money are just so new to the world I suppose that any part they plays in online commerce will always be suspect.

All month long I am going to be taking a closer look at Webmoney Digital Currency. Their growth in the past several years has be extraordinary and I want to find out why.

• What is Webmoney doing to have such a positive effect on their sales and customer base?
• Where is Webmoney expanding their markets and capturing new users?

I’d also like to compare the WM business model to other digital currencies to find what how they differ from older or more ‘western’ currencies. It should be an exciting and informative month. Stay tuned.