OPW INTERVIEW - Nov 15 - Facebook uses prepaid cards. Cupid.com as well. Why? Because people’s credit is shaky these days, there’s a sizable unbanked market, and some people just plain don’t want to use their credit card for a dating site. I discovered PaysafeCard at the last iDate. Here’s my interview with the GM of PaysafeCard. (PaysafeCard are a client of Courtland Brooks)
Who are your top customers?
Cupid.com and Facebook.
How do prepaid cards work?
The PaysafeCard works like a lot of pre-paid cards. We issue a card with 16 digit pin code which are sold at retail for cash and redeemed online. It works just like cash on the Internet. We don’t charge any fees, we don’t register customers.
So how does it work for Facebook for example?
If you were to buy Facebook credits you would go to the checkout screen and you would see a bunch of payment options such as Visa or Mastercard and you would also see the PaysafeCard. You would then click on the PaysafeCard and see a couple of options. If you’re new to Paysafe you can type in your zip code and it will give you a list of the closest locations where you can use the card. If you already have a PaysafeCard then you enter your 16 digit pin code.
Where do they get the cards from?
PaysafeCards are available in 28 countries - Europe, US, Mexico, Argentina. There are 350,000 points of retail such as Paypoint in the UK and 7/11 in the US. We work with top shelf distribution partners in every country we are in and we make sure our PaysafeCard vouchers are convenient and local.
What’s your commission?
Prices have come down as is always the case with market pressure. The reality is that the PaysafeCard processing is higher than credit card processing, typically between 10-15%, but we are a lot less expensive than mobile payments for example. All payments are guaranteed with no chargebacks so it’s less book keeping and accounting. Just like paying by cash on the Internet.
What are the best practices that you would recommend for the Internet dating industry? How should prepaid cards in general be applied?
You need to look at your payment mix. Lots of payment options are out there. If you’re only after credit card customers and repeat billing then you are only swimming in a small section of the pool. There a plenty people who have reservations about recurring billings or sharing personal information online. You need to have multiple payment options, not too many that you scare the customer away but an adequate amount to give the customer the ability to pay. We think having a cash option, which we are, really does attract a large segment of customer base. We have seen 10-30% increase in sales just by offering a cash option.
We have you listed in our payment processors spreadsheet that we issue. You can find that on OnlinePersonalsWatch on the left hand bar. In a nutshell how would you describe PaysafeCard as being distinguished from other prepaid card providers?
We have a couple of differentiating factors. First, we don’t charge any fees so if you want a $10 PaysafeCard then it will cost you $10 and when you redeem it you get $10 of value. Secondly, we don’t register customers. We are not an e-wallet so the customers who want to retain privacy and not share personal banking information can do so with us.
Several times I had suggested to Online Dating Companies wanting to enter (or already in) the Latin American Market (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru) to offer pre paid cards as the primary option of payment.
Latin Americans do mostly not have credit cards. The ones who have credit cards, do mostly not use them for subscriptions to avoid automatic rebilling and identity theft. More than 70% of people who own a cell phone, are pre-paid clients. They do not receive bills, they charge credit in their cell phones by 2 methods: Acquiring pre-paid cards at kiosks/drugstores or via virtual charge at kiosks/drugstores/supermarkets or at any place with a PosNet terminal (Banelco or Link)
Badoo offers to pay using SMS via your cell phone, but there were (several) complaints about up to 8 hours of delay from when you send the SMS and your profile is set in top visibility.
Posted by: Fernando | Nov 15, 2011 at 09:41 PM
Fernando, that's encouraging. We're operating in Argentina and Mexico and look to work with more dating sites in Latin America. Our prepaid cards settle in realtime so you won't experience a delay like you noticed with a mobile payment.
Posted by: Neil | Nov 16, 2011 at 08:01 PM
"The PaysafeCard works like a lot of pre-paid cards" - so whats the differentiator?
"Type in your zip code and it will give you a list of the closest locations where you can use the card" - use the card or get/refill it?
15%? Seems very high, how does that compare to other cards?
Anonymous mobile payments are going to be remarkable if someone can pull that off. Pre-paid is a nice in-between solution for a few years.
Posted by: Datinginsider | Nov 18, 2011 at 07:17 PM