The Blog For Entrepreneurs

I love the web from a shopping point of view. Being a man I have the gene embedded in me which requires anything shopping related to be painless and quick… anything else is just plain torture. Thus the Internet, for me, is shopping heaven. I can sit at my desk sipping coffee, idly browsing safe in the knowledge that when something takes my fancy I just pop in my PayPal details or credit card and something either magically appears at my door a few days later or, even better, is delivered to my email in minutes.. Job done..

I therefore feel for all those people who do not have credit cards for whatever reason. Getting anything done on the web must be the biggest pain in the rear that has every been. The alternatives of ‘coupons’, that generally are only accepted at certain stores, don’t solve the problem and ‘pre-paid debit cards’ don’t fulfill the instant gratification because of delivery times up to a week and charges of usury proportions for set up.

What is a guy to do? Tag along with the girlfriend or wife to the store and accept his lot? No, gentlemen, the day is saved and you can get some browny points with the missus too. Here is a step by step plan for you to avoid the shopping terror and score points with your beloved.

- Visit www.checkoutwithcash.com and look up where your nearest Western Union is and get a simple payment code.Tell the girlfriend/wife you would like to go into town with her when she goes shopping. (Make it look genuine)

-Make your excuses to pop around to Western Union pay up to $500 onto the payment number you got at www.checkoutwithcash.com

-Smile sweetly at your girlfriend/wife for the rest of the day.

-When you are home visit www.checkoutwithcash.com visit the activation part of the site, input the code given by Western Union and wait…

-Open your email and revel in the fact you now have a ‘virtual debit card’ that is accepted at 99% of all Internet stores..

-Go Banzai shopping on the web..get that gadget delivered, by that PlayStation game on Ebay.. all safe in the knowledge that your days thoughtfulness will probably get you laid, as well as your lovely new virtual card.

Yep, a virtual debit card

checkoutwithcash.com has developed a system that allows you to pay cash into a Western Union to a specific number which then generates a code, go back to the checkoutwithcash.com site and you are delivered your virtual credit card replete with number, svc code, expiry date and name. We have seen the rise of the pre-paid debit card and now, I am sure, we will be seeing the rise of the online virtual card.

The leap from offline to online cards is a natural progression and it may be a signal that ‘virtual’ payment methods are on the rise, the technology for which has been talked about for many years, such as mobile phone payments etc. Of course, this particular business has started during the ‘perfect storm’ for such methods. Bad economic conditions, lack of credit and massive discounts in online stores.

Now here is the bit that may help those of you who have online stores

Firstly you will be aware that there are millions of Americans (this service is only available in the States at present) who cannot buy your stuff but may want to because they don’t have a credit card. Secondly I am sure you know that you will lose a lot of business from declined cards. To solve both of these issues you could promote the use of check out with cash to gain and retain these customers.

Have a look at some of the creatives for saving declined card users and promoting paying by cash.

Basically, if you want to have a chance at keeping users when they have had their card declined (and let’s face it, these are red hot prospects) choose a declined card image from the page I just linked to like to and add in your logo at the top. Create a new page for the ‘declined card’ page and redirect your payment system to land on this page (as apposed to the deafault page) when a card is declined.

Even if this simple change creates one new sign up a month that would otherwise have been lost it will have been worth the few minutes you spent creating the option. It also goes some way to giving value to people who usual are me with a sullen ‘Your card has been declined, come back later’ or words to that effect. Basically not only does a user feel bad because their card has been declined, (come on, we all know how that feels) but with your normal declined page you make the user feel worse.

By using this method I guaratee you will make sales you would normally have lost.