Virtual Credit Cards

Improving Online Shopping Confidence on your web site

The rise in online fraud cases is rather alarming, considering the economic reliance we now have on the Internet shopping business. The consumer certainly faces a risk, but the web site owner is always at a far greater risk. Informing your customers about solutions will not only help your web sales, but allow the customer a worry free shopping experience, boosting consumer confidence. That is where Virtual Credit Cards come in.

A Virtual Credit Card, is just what it sounds like, it is a card which doesn't really exist. Just about every bank, and credit agency, offer these types of accounts for free (those that don't, should).

The way it works: When your customer decides on an online purchase, instead of using their normal (physical) credit card, they transfer the purchase amount to a Virtual Credit Card, and then use the Virtual Card Number for the purchase. If that sounds easy, well it is, and since the VCA is almost always empty of funds, there is nothing to steal. An unauthorized purchase attempt is spotted almost instantly by the bank, since there is no reason for the card to be Declined, a declined purchase flags the bank or credit agency that something is amiss.

To make shopping online easier, the customer normally has the option to put into the account $200 or $500, depending on what they feel they might spend in the near future, and then start their shopping. The safest method, as mentioned earlier, is to wait until the sale is complete, and have the shopping cart total, before transferring the exact amount over to the VCA, always keeping the VCA account balance at zero.

This is a great topic for any web site newsletter, and you should probably bring it up to your customers about once a quarter. While mentioning Virtual Credit Card accounts before the sale, my hinder conversions on your web site, Newsletters are a perfect venue for putting out this information.

Read More about Virtual Credit Cards on these Referance Sites: