I love to shop online. I hate crowds, hate wasting gas by running all over town, and love the option of comparing prices at different stores, without ever leaving my house.
I also don’t use credit cards. That’s always been a slight concern to me, because if someone got a hold of my debit card number, my checking account could be drained, before I realize there’s a problem.
Fortunately, someone is paying attention to those of us who like to shop online, yet don’t use credit cards. Late last year I was contacted by the VP of Marketing at eBillme, a payment service for online shopping. Intrigued, I talked to him on the phone for a while to see what eBillme me is all about.
How eBillme works.
- Shop at a site that uses eBillme.
- Select eBillme as your payment option at checkout.
- eBillme will email you a bill for the sale.
- Log into your bank account and set up eBillme as a payee, and use your online bill pay to pay for your purchase.
- Once you pay eBillme, your purchase will be shipped.
The thing I love about this service is you don’t enter your financial information on the store website. You pay for purchases just as you would any other bill you pay online, so it’s totally safe and secure.
The list of stores that offer eBillme as a payment option is growing. Stores include Tiger Direct, Buy.com, and Shoe Buy.com. Though major retailers are not accepting eBillme yet, I really hope they catch on and start offering this valuable service soon. With people crunching their budgets and giving up credit these days, it’s important to have secure payment options for those who don’t use credit cards.
Is eBillme a type of service that you’d consider using? Why or why not?
Photo by SqueakyMarmot.
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I don’t understand you’re fear of credit cards. I don’t like to carry cash + use credit cards for 95% of purchases. I pay my balance at the end of every month, so I never have any fees. A benefit to my credit card is I get 5% off of gas and 1.5% back on everything else. This usually amounts to an extra $15-30 dollars for me per month… money which gets shared between my wife and I for our hobbies.
@joel – It’s not a fear of credit cards. But I am working at getting out of debt, and I have used credit cards irresponsibly in the past, so I cut them up. Not to mention I got burned pretty bad by Citibank while paying off said credit cards. I don’t trust credit card companies at all. Even if you do everything right, they can change the rules on you in a heartbeat (like moving the due date around, making you late with your payment…which is what happened to me). So I prefer not to use them. And I think it’s great that eBillme is addressing the portion of the population that chooses not to use credit cards.
Lynnae, I’m just like you when it comes to credit cards. Irresponsible use when I was young led to me paying off debts now that I’m older. I now work on a cash only basis. I have one emergency card that I save for true needs, which don’t come up often, thank goodness! I shop online too. Thanks for the information about this new site. I’m definitely going to look into ti.
I like this idea!! I’ve cut up my VISA (once I got a zero balance) and am paying off my MasterCard but am wanting to get away from using the card altogether and using cash and debit. I’ve been doing well using an awesome budget program since December and am starting to feel like I’m on my way to being more responsible and aware of my money.
Thanks for the link and blog post! Hopefully other retailers will jump on board soon too.
My biggest problem with services like ebillme is that the website you want to purchase from must support it. You wouldn’t be able to buy at all from sites that don’t.
Another option for everyone is a feature that PayPal has. If you install the PayPal Plug-In, you can generate a “secure card” or a virtual mastercard/debit card which will debit from your account. The “virtual” mastercard is only good for a few hours, so chances of someone got a hold of your debit card number, they wouldn’t be able to do much damage. The great thing about the paypal method is the website only need support credit cards, no additional services. The biggest issue with it is that you have to have a balance in your paypal account, and transferring money to your paypal account can take 2-5 days.
It sounds a lot like PayPal. Like Joel was saying, but almost everyone accepts PayPal and its fast and secure. If you use the e-check method with paypal it will take 2-5 days, but you can use your debit card as well and it is instantaneous, just like a credit card, and its still secure.
Hi
Thanks Lynnae for posting about eBillme and for those who posted comments.
Just want to expand more on how it works, eBillme is not like any other payment option, for a couple of reasons, first the security of it, and second for the added benefits it provides. When you pay with eBillme you pay with money you have in your bank account using online bill pay, so its like paying any utility bill.
Because you pay with online Bill Pay, your transaction is not only secure, its anonymous, meaning no one, not eBillme nor the merchant have access to any of your account numbers or permission to withdraw money from your account. We don’t collect card or bank account numbers, and we don’t draw from your account, the customer is in total control of the payment and their information.
Some of the benefits, we offer include our buyers protection program with our transactions. Some of the elements of the program are Best Price guarantee, Satisfaction guarantee, etc… For example if you buy something with eBillme and find it cheaper within 90 days and you let eBillme know, we will give you the difference back.
Thanks
Samer Forzley
@sforzley
Hm, definitely sounds interesting. I’ll have to check it out for the company I work at. Having had my credit card used online by someone else, I’m definitely more weary about the sites I visit and buy from.
Good option for those who don’t want to use credit card and like online bill paying.
However, I won’t use it as I don’t use online bill paying.
I’ll stick with cash and a credit card paid off in full every month.
Guess it’s just what one is comfortable with.
It is a type of service I would use. I am slowly cutting out all credit card use so this would be great. I have also used “Bill Me Later” and that has worked well. I’m guessing the two are similar.
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One thing I like about Citibank is you can generate a virtual credit card number to use for online shopping. After using the number you can cancel it, so no one else can use it.
I hadn’t heard about this service, thanks for the post. I don’t use credit card haven’t for about 10 years.
Hi good article. I have never heard of this company nor have run accross it in my many dealings onine. I do use paypal extensively and have never had a single problem with it. I do have my debit card on their records and also my account is a merchant account. Having a merchant account allows me to recieve their Paypal debit card so I can use that for any funds I have in paypal or simply transfer funds to our bank account. (paypal debit card is free and works just like a bank debit card). Also as mentioned you can use the virtual debit card which is as described.
As a merchant I believe that adding the service of eBillme would be another option for buyers to use any of my sites. So I will be definely looking into it.
Also for those who are afraid of paypal you can rest assured the merchant never sees your credit card or bank card information at all. Never, zilch, nada.
Dan
interesting service. Online shopping is undoubtedly becoming more secure, safe, and easy. I use the Internet for just about everything and Im glad to see service providers that make it easier for us.
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eBillme lets me pay with cash, not give the merchant any of my financial info and i love the fact that i can be shopping online and not have my purse/wallet with me and still checkout- ie i log into my bank everyday (log in info is in my head like it is for most people) so i dont need to have my wallet with me everytime i am shopping online-love that. Also, if I but a digital camera for 200 and then find the same camera for 150 i can file a claim and ebillme will refund the difference. For people who have no credit cards or have decided not to use them any more it is the best way to shop online……….also, the merchants that take eBillme always have great promotions if you checkout using ebillme like shoebuy just had a $20 off coupon
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