Our last post discussed Bill Me Later, a payment option growing in popularity as credit card use declines. Another possibility to consider is eBillMe, which is designed for the 84 million online banking users in the United States. eBillMe allows users to pay cash onlne while keeping their financial information private. After selecting the eBillMe option, buyers log on to their bank’s website to pay for their transaction as they would any other bill.
Merchants benefit from lower transaction fees of 1% to 2%, and no fraud liability.
It remains to be seen whether eBillMe, Bill Me Later, or something else will emerge as the dominant alternative to credit card payments. What’s clear is that as credit card use declines, merchants need to expand their payment options. Indeed, some independent research projects that these new payment alternatives will account for nearly one third of all online sales within the next few years. It looks like there’s a lot to gain and little to lose by trying out some of these new payment possibilitie.
