A Simple Online Payment System

February 28th, 2006

Internet users in Nigeria have one problem. They can’t make online payments. They need to pay for subscriptions, services, e-books, etc. Mostly, they have to wait for a relative abroad to make purchases and pay for simple services like an online library subscription. A couple of people in the US saw this as a problem worth solving.

Introducing, Graphcard. How does it work? Really simple. Graphcard acts as a means of payment for Internet users who don’t have access to traditional credit cards. Graphcard members can convert their fund to online Non personalized Visa prepaid debit cards to pay for services online.

One of our consultants, who actually hosts and manages this site for us, tells us in the following interview what he does with Graphcard;

Makemoneylegallyonline
What are the things you do with graphcard

Consultant
I actually stumbled on graphcard through a web hosting service I once used. (I really needed my own personal hosting service instead of a third party service. I didn’t have a credit card to pay online so I settled for a less functional service provided locally because they accepted cash payments). Now, I pay for my web hosting service every month with visa debit cards issued to me via my graphcard account. I also pay for domain names for various clients on Yahoo. I paid for the domain name and web hosting service for makemoneylegallyonline.com with a graphcard issued Visa debit card.

I also pay for e-books, some subscriptions, like real media superpass and an online content service.

Quoting Whatisgraphcard.com;

“Graphcard has a cool feature that allows members to convert their Graphcard funds into an online Visa card. This is accomplished by simply purchasing a virtual card using the funds from one’s Graphcard account. Graphcard then allows the account holder to view card details such as the card number, expiry date and CVV2 code via their secure 128 bit SSL encrypted website. The virtual card does not have personal information such as names and enables Graphcard account holders to shop online as they would with a traditional credit card but with the added benefit of anonymity”.

Makemoneylegallyonline
We understand you can sign up for this service at Graphcard.com. After signing up, how do you fund your account?

Consultant
Funding is a bit of a challenge. Especially if you are loctaed in Nigeria. The easiest way is to have someone else with funds in his/her graphcard account transfer funds to your account. But it’s not very likely that you no someone like that. So, what your other option? Western Union Money Transfer! You can fund your account by transfering money (US dollars) to a graphcard representative and you account will be funded in 3 - 4 business days.

The other oprions are Bank Wire and Through a graphcard reseller.

Makemoneylegallyonline
Are there sites where the VISA gift card is not accepted?

Consultant
Yes. Amazon.com will accept the card but will not process the transaction. That means the card is rejected right? I tried loading some credit into my skype account with a VISA debit card once. The payment system rejected the card becuase the transaction originated from Nigeria. Maybe because of the large number of credit card fraud originating from these parts.

The cards are available in $25, $50, $100, $200, and $500 values. So the purchase you can make is limited. I think this is a feature to control fraud. I’m not sure.

But I’ve used it for several months now and I’m not regretting signing up with graphcard. You can sign up now at graphcard.com. It’s free.

Entry Filed under: Online Payment Systems