Gingerly I placed my credit card between the scissors' jaws, closed my eyes and squeezed. It was a relationship that just had to end: in two years, my credit balance had crept up, then soared, and finally "maxxed out" at an ugly four-figure sum. I am one of those people who never should have been given a credit card, and it was with some relief that I gave my flexible foe the chop last week.
The only niggle was how I would now pay for those holidays at ryanair.ie, that out-of-print book at amazon.co.uk, or, if I felt like it, some booze from oddbins.com/ireland? The vast majority of commercial transactions on the web require use of a credit card, and people who choose not to have one, or who are denied one because they are too young or have a poor credit record, are finding the so-called global marketplace is more like a closed shop. Furthermore, many people who do own credit cards are reluctant to buy over the Internet for fear of their card details being intercepted online and used to make purchases elsewhere.
Alternative payment systems may now be on the way, many of them coming from the most morally objectionable groups in the Internet industry: pornographers. Despite regulators' efforts to limit the impact and reach of pornography, it is one of the web's few commercial successes, and this isn't the first time its sellers have led the way in Internet technology (see panel).
Three weeks ago, the sex industry's money-making run was dealt a major blow when American Express, one of the world's largest suppliers of credit cards, announced it was breaking off payment agreements it had with porn companies on the web, as transactions with sex sites were causing too many disputes between the card company and its customers.
Such disputes are widespread and often arise from embarrassment, according to one site administrator. Surfers can be confronted by a partner when the monthly bill arrives and subsequently deny visiting any porn sites. Taking the customer's side in online disputes, the credit card company usually cancels the payment and ends up losing money in administration charges. Now the "adult industry" has formed a lobby group to communicate its concerns to the credit card companies. American Express is discriminating against their businesses, they claim. But Amex insists it will not change its mind, and in the meantime the pornographers are looking at alternative payment methods.
One way of paying that originated in the sex industry in the US might prove attractive to customers wishing to make secure, non-credit card payments for products on the web. Called ChargitDial, it works on the basis that not every Internet user has a credit card, but nearly all dial up using a telephone line. Payments are charged to your telephone bill.
To make it work, a site selling goods or digital information includes a "dialer", a piece of software which visitors to the site can download free of charge in a matter of seconds. Then, clicking on the dialer, buyers are disconnected from their internet service provider (ISP) and diverted to a local premium-rate phone number. Once the customer has downloaded the information or bought their product, they are disconnected and given the option to reconnect to their own ISP.
This system is still used in the pornographic industry. Visits to two UK-registered sites told the story of its transition from backdoor payment method to respectable financial instrument. The first site, run by "a proud member of the Adult Webmasters Association" points out that ChargitDial is "ideal for the sex and adult market". "With ChargitDial," it promises, "you can maximise the revenue potential of your site, whether you are selling pictures, membership's [sic], video or information." By contrast, the site of Global Internet Billing, the developer of ChargitDial, is a slick, corporate affair. Director of the company's sales and marketing arm, Andrew Montague, insists that only a small percentage of his company's business still comes from "adult sites".
He distances his company from the site of the "proud member of the Adult Webmasters Association", emphasising that it is run by an independent agent whose content GIB does not directly control, and that he is now targeting the mainstream commercial sector with a number of alternative billing products. Montague points out that because the dial-up method charges for time spent connected to a premium-rate number, it is more suitable for digital transactions - music downloads, webcasts, access to network games, charity contributions, software upgrades or financial data - than for hard goods such as books, T-shirts or CDs. His company has already struck deals with music companies and bands wishing to sell music over the Internet and is in negotiation with portal sites who are keen to generate income by charging for certain types of content viewing.
ChargitDial can still involve paying a hefty bill every month or two. For those wishing to make smaller payments on a once-off basis, Global Internet Billing offers a prepaid card with a number concealed behind a scratch-off panel, much like the top-up phonecards already available for mobile phones. The cards, soon to be available in newsagents and other shops in the UK, would allow users to make small-value purchases - books or CDs - without revealing their name or credit card details, and is expected to prove especially attractive to younger users who cannot obtain a credit card.
Prepaid cards might encourage people who are afraid of divulging personal details over the web to do business, but their use is limited at present to branded sites. A card licensed by the Spice Girls, for example, could be used for purchases on their own website - although the system could be expanded to allow generic cards to be used for purchases across several sites. But until these methods are more widely adopted by "e-tailers", the easiest ways to get goods and services are to pay by credit card, commit online fraud, or make a trip to the shops, which - despite all you read about e-commerce these days - do still exist.