Saying privacy concerns might be a major factor in the chargebacks that cause adult and dating Websites to lose their merchant accounts, privateIcard has been rolled out by First Privacy Financial.
This product, the company says, will let site members shop with no one else know what they buy or how they pay for it, a program including a virtual Debit MasterCard and additional benefits worth over $200.
And, unlike other membership pay cards adult and dating surfers can buy for anonymous online shopping, privateIcard is reloadable daily up to $200, through any institution accepting MasterCard, according to president Jerry Klein.
"We put some thought into it," Klein told AVNOnline.com. " I see all these private or closed-loop debit cards only good at specific sites and they can't be reloaded, they can only be bought for a finite period or amount of money. With the reload feature you can walk in with our deposit slip, with cash in pocket, and load the card. And, again, it's not a closed loop. It's a MasterCard [debit], it's virtual, or for $5.95 if you really need a plastic card we'll send you a plastic card. But it can be used anywhere."
Klein said the privacy in shopping issue was one of the paramount factors in the product's development, and the chargeback issue went hand in hand with it.
"It's like the old days with the 900 number---they can reverse it because they can," said Klein, whose background includes direct markeing (he developed the original Sesame Street "Big Bird Book Club"), electronic mail (he was the first reseller for MCI Mail), and interactive voice response (he founded the first such service, PhoneBase). "They can't with a debit card. It works for both sides. The merchant wins and the conusmer wins, they have a way to buy something online and pay for it without anybody else knowing."
Klein expects others to try similar ideas "as soon as we poke our head above the sand," but it won't be easy, since privateIcard has a patent-pending privacy solution application, and it took eighteen months for the new idea to sell to its first support bank (Bank of America) and checking company (Ace Checking), as well as showing credibility as a MasterCard reseller.
"We looked at all the eraser software and features and built an online version of it, you can use it without any download," he said.
privateIcard may also have uses beyond the adult Internet, Klein said. "There are several big companies that don't even allow you to open an account during the day, and obviously with [privateIcard] you can do that," he said.
For more information, visit privateIcard on the Web.
