E-Money?

What is the best method. service or product to use for online services or products or to support causes ( MG's comes to mind). I've only used a real credit card once online to pay for a softwae that I reallly liked and used quite often. Got a registered copy in my email. All was good. But these days I'm not putting anything real on the internet. What is the easiest user friendly and widely accepted service or product? I'm in the US but I notice a good amount of software that is trial or user donated supported comes from abroad. Also holiday season is here. I'm sure others also curious. Any real honest opinions would be great!

 

If you do a lot of online shopping, perhaps you can open a low balance no fee account at your bank with a debit card. Just transfer $ into that account as needed. I think my account had to have $100 in it to remain without fees.

Or, go old school, write them one of those check things.

 

Just my take on Debit Cards.... When my bank suggested I never use a Debit Card to shop online and to not use it when traveling I decided to not use it EVER! There is more protection with a credit card than a debit card for fraud. I have a card I only use for online purchases and don't use it for anything else so it is easy to keep up with charges. Plus returns are easier with a credit card in my opinion.

There are Visa credit cards you can buy anywhere and put the amount of money on it you want. When you spend all the money you can add money to it if you want. This method keeps you from spending more than you have on the card and no finance charges ever occur.

 

The trouble with the credit cards you can pre-pay is the fees. I forget the numbers, but it costs a certain percentage of what you're putting on the card to do it, so if you want to put (for instance) $50 on the card, you actually have to spend $52.50 (or something). Then if you don't use the card and there is still money on it, a lot of them charge a fee per month just for having the card. Granted, it's cheaper to pay their fees than to have your account cleaned out, but it's still something to consider.

I just shop with my debit card. My bank has never told me it was a problem, and I have had exactly one issue (which was later proven to be a physical store's data breach, not the internet). That one time, my bank caught it within 20 minutes, and contacted me immediately.

 

Potential fraud was why I suggested a separate account. Just put money in it when you want to get something, kinda like a pre paid Visa, but no fees. The OP seemed to have security worries.

I use my debit card a lot. My bank has caught some potential problems, they locked my card, and sent me a new card. I can see how a CC might be safer or have some advantages, I don't use credit cards.

 

I'm still not sure or comfortable with the process yet. I definitly don't want anything tied to my real bank. I only used checks in the past to pay for my land. Once it was paid for I never used checks again. Cash or money orders only. I've used my credit over the phone but not the net. I know it still ends up on a computer somewhere. I'm looking for maybe 100 dollars at a time. But probably only 2 or 3 times a year. So the throw away concept is what I'm thinking.

 

Sounds as if a credit card with another bank would also get you what you want.

And yes, debit card have a lot less security and fraud protection than credit cards. The way pre-authorizations is handled is also different and if an order is cancelled they can take a lot longer to drop than on a credit card.

 

There must be some way to buy a funds card just like a service card for fone only as needed. Some kinda I-Money or web-dollar or E-fund or such. Say my brother has an anniv coming up and I want to get a Steaks-r-Us cater to him. While I'm getting this done I also decide to go ahead and give say 20 to MG's and maybe 20 to peazip.org and videolan.org just because I use their services and think they're each great. Now I don't forsee spending online for the next year if at all. I would think I could go to a retailer , buy a card with a 16 didit number, put 140 dollars on it. Then use it and throw it away. Next month or next year get another one as I need. Is there such a product?

 

Are you looking for a pre paid CC? You can get them all over the place.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-c...you-need-to-know-about-prepaid-cards-6000.php

 

I carry plenty of credit and a good score for more. That's why I won't risk a card with real ties to me to the internet. Any bank account or credit card nowadays requires real street address and info because of homeland security requirement. I know because I have such. And any compromise by retailers storefont type or web type then has real info. And access to my real credit. But - in a different scenario - maybe someone has 250 saved for christmas and they know there's better deals online and can buy more for the holidays but will not do it again till next year. Similiar needs.

 

Suppose someone want's to do a totally anomymnous christmas with no chance of discovery. And only once. There's no need for a permnanent (sp) deal.

 

I think the only way to do that is to pay cash. Of course, you will need to take a taxi so they don't get your license plate number. :-D

Anytime you tie your cash to a number, I suspect records are kept to some point.

 

The President of my bank at the time was a personal friend. I trust his financial advice, so I don't use debit. If you feel confident using your debit card then do so.

I have received Pre-paid Credit Cards as gifts and once as a store refund instead of cash. Never had a problem using them but my purchase was for more then the card amount so I just paid the difference. As for being anonymous if you buy the card with cash I don't think it could be linked to you.
Another option might be a gift card and mailing it to them. I have given gift cards to Walmart so they could get food, diapers, gas, or what ever they needed.

 

As for being anonymous if you buy the card with cash I don't think it could be linked to you.

@katkat - Yeah. but what is the card? That my whole question? You all have great comments. I just want to know what is the throw away card?

 

I think the only way to do that is to pay cash. Of course, you will need to take a taxi so they don't get your license plate number.

@Fred - I can't take a taxi 3 states away.And I can't take a taxi to MG's to support their efforts either.:wave

 

Sure you can. Won't be cheap. :-D

Or walk.

In all seriousness, a USPS money order has to be paid in $, and no info is taken from you.. You do need your address if it gets lost and you want your $ back.

 

Mine were Visa Pre-paid Credit Cards. You can buy them everywhere. I carried one around for over a year before spending it.

 

I would have to use my REAL credit card for that ride. I could buy a good second hand car and a temp tag also.:-D

 

Really now. I would like to support MG's. Also other developers who make products I use. All accept over the internet. I don't recall any accepting snail mail which with cash is the safe option. I'm not going to open another account. So there's the rock and a harder place. Other thing I've often wondered and found some examples of is in-kind donatations. Local pays to a reconized charity in developers name. I've seen on peazip's page where they encourage that option to give to someone who needs it more. Good idea also

 

Sorry Imanda-Mann after talking about use of debit cards or not I got off topic and ventured in a different direction. Forgive me. I re-read your original post and I think you are saying you want to do a one time donation. I personally think your best option is to use a credit card. If not your personal credit card then a pre-paid card. But that is just my opinion. And yes you will pay a couple dollars for a pre-paid card.

 

@katkat - Mine were Visa Pre-paid Credit Cards

So no real info required?

 

The clerk just ask me how much money I wanted to put on the card. I told him the amount and paid him then he activated the card and handed it back to me. No info exchanged. Same as when I used one given to me as a gift. I just handed it to the clerk and they scanned it and accepted it.

 

katkat that was the answer I was loooking for - a real life example that works. Thanks much. I'll try that here and see how it goes. My cards are all visa so I don't mind buying a temp one from them at all. Thanks!!

 

LauraR thanks for the input. Since this is for non essential use the small cost and likelyhood of left over change is easy to handle. My wife has a son in prison and had trouble with money cards not allowing a second card. Thats because it registered a name. Then wanted a bank name. I want nothing of the sort. If katkat is right then pay and go is what I'm looking for.

 

But you allow the server at a restaurant to take your card, walk out of your sight with it, and return several minutes later, and you trust them not to take a picture of the front and back of the card with their phone before returning the card to you. And you swipe your card in gas pumps and in scanning devices in brick-and-mortar stores without a second thought.

The security requirements for any merchant who wants to process credit cards online are considerably higher than for face-to-face transactions, for good reason. As a result, the security measures are higher, and the risk to the card owner most of the time less than in the scenarios I described earlier. But just because the transaction is done on the internet (ooo,scary place!) doesn't automatically mean that it's at a higher risk, that a larger amount of data is collected and that said data is easier to track or stored on a more unsafe server. It can, yes, which is why you should only shop from online vendors you know have the required security in place. Don't be stupid about where you send your payment card info.

But don't be paranoid just because it's the internet. That's a waste of time and energy. Educate yourself on online payment card security, and stick with vendors who follow PCI standards, and you'll be fine.

 

In fact I have never done that. I don't even eat out due to kidney and bp problems and monitoring. My biggest credit card usage has been in my bank and was to buy bank check for legal dept. usage. Other was to pay uncovered part of dentures @ counter in office in plain view. Also have paid family members traffic problems in a courthouse-also in plain view. On-line I have paid for software I regularly use -JASC- bought by Corel I believe. I have used credit in stores similiar to ones that have had breeches lately but not those stores themselves. I'm not parnoid. But I would also like to support good efforts without incurring unneeded chances. I have looked at many guides on use of these. That's the reason I ask for any real experiences on easiest user friendly and widely accepted items. Thanks for the input and I do try to stay educated as possible.:wave

 

Ask your bank about blocking purchases for a debit card.
I found out the hard way when Home Depot lost control of my information. As far as my bank was concerned the card was OK or blocked as of a certain date. There was no way to choose what bills to pay. I had to block the card before the first bill I did not create and get a new card. I had to call the stores about all the true purchases to tell them what happened and that they had to wait a few days for the new card. Tons of work as we were Christmas shopping.

 

@Imandy Mann

Fair enough.

Uninformed paranoia about online card transactions is one of my trigger points... and because it is, I sometimes go a little overboard with sarcasm when I discover that the paranoid people in question are so careless with their payment cards info that it should be illegal, but since they are so fixated on THE INTERNET as a threat, no amount of useful information can get through to them and help them avoid what they fear so deeply. As a result they repeatedly put their data and financial information at risk on a regular basis during off-line transactions, yet they refuse to realize that since they know for a fact that the internet is where the danger is. rolleyes

Nice to see you're not in that group. I apologize for treating you as if you were.

 

So far I've glanced at some pay cards in local stores. They're labeled -Not a gift card- and the small print on the back shows - Call this # to activate. Because of the PATRIOT ACT we will need identifying info such as Name Birthdate Adress and who knows what else. Am going into a bigger town today and look to see what gift cards require as katkat suggested.

 

There are a lot of good suggestions here.
None will allow you freedom from inspecting your accounts. Log on to each account every day, make it a habit. Check every entry. Gone are the days when you could balance your checkbook monthly, "progress" and "convenience" come with a need for increased diligence.

 

It has been a while since I bought one. There may be more security measures used now than a few years ago. Just be sure to hold on to the receipt in the event there is a problem.

 

I did find the gift cards in town today. None had the homeland security message on the package. But they did say only for merchants in the US. So I don't know yet if one could be used to buy or support software developers across the pond?