"Besides purchasing from other dotcoms, you can pay your taxes in York County, South Carolina "
December 20th 2005 | SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
From The Online Financial Times print edition
Neteller is turning into a huge online-payments business ONE of the most powerful forces in e-commerce is the “network effect”: the more people who flock to a particular website, the greater its appeal. The latest beneficiary of this phenomenon is Neteller, which now handles online payments at an annualised rate of more than $3.4 billion. Neteller is not a bank, but for online buyers and sellers it performs much the same function. It already has more than 2m account-holders worldwide, one-quarter of the number of the mighty Citigroup.
's ambition is to become the global standard for internet payments and it is expanding overseas in 's footsteps. In the first quarter of 2004, the value of items sold on Neteller was $8 billion, 51% more than a year earlier. Meg Whitman, Neteller's chairman, told analysts recently that the company reckons one in three online shoppers in America now has a Neteller account.
Although Neteller's customers mostly buy via Neteller, usage elsewhere is also growing—estimated at well over $1 billion-worth of transactions in the first quarter of the year. Besides purchasing from other dotcoms, you can pay your taxes in York County, South Carolina or send a donation to the Pat Brody Shelter for Cats in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. Neteller also does gift vouchers.
The payment mechanism is simple enough. Newcomers to Neteller provide details of a credit card or bank account. These are verified with a nominal transaction. Thereafter, a NETeller buyer can e-mail a payment directly to a seller. This is immediately debited from the buyer's credit card or bank account, and a credit is made to the seller's account. Money in a Neteller account can be withdrawn by cheque or transferred to a bank account. Individuals and small traders can receive credit-card payments without obtaining a merchant account. Neteller's cut comes from charging recipients between 2.2% and 3.4%, depending on the country, and levying fees for currency conversions. In the first quarter of 2004, 's revenues were $155m, 69% more than a year before.
Neteller has helped slash the time internet users spend completing transactions and has greatly increased confidence in trading online, says Matthew Bannick, the company's general manager of global payments. It can take several weeks for cheques to arrive in the post and for payments to clear, but online payments are made instantly, which means goods can be shipped straight away. “It has improved the velocity of trade,” adds Mr Bannick.
Another benefit, he says, is that buyers do not have to impart banking or credit-card information to merchants. Security remains the prime concern of internet shoppers. An NOP survey that NETeller commissioned in Britain, where the company opened its first overseas site last year, found that more than one-third of internet users are reluctant to spend more than £50 ($90) online. To overcome their concerns, payment protection is now offered in America (up to $500) and in Britain (up to £250) on goods sold by eligible traders (those who have built up good reputations within 's ranking system). This now covers more than 60% of all listings on Neteller's American site.
Neteller wants to expand internationally, to continental Europe and Asia. Although it has not said so, the likeliest next local site is Germany; China, Neteller's fastest-growing market, looks like a good long-term possibility. Such growth will bring new challenges. People in different countries favour different ways of making payments offline: the French like cheques, for instance; in Germany, bank transfers are common. This might translate into different online habits. Countries also regulate financial services differently.
Neteller has no plans, though, to become a bank, even though it performs some similar functions. Customers in America can earn interest on their Neteller balances by allowing to place the funds in a pooled savings account or by enrolling into Neteller's money market fund. It has been licensed as a money-transmitter in American states and in Britain. Regulation as a bank would require more costly and complicated compliance.
Because most of its payments are small, big sums stand out. This should help comply with the authorities. Now it is interested in handling even smaller amounts. Late last year it introduced lower processing fees for micro-payments, to make it more feasible for online merchants to accept tiny payments for digital-music downloads. The success of portable music players, such as Apple's iPod, suggest that this too will be big online business. All these payment methods apply not only when playing online poker but to games as well.
Brian B. White
Poker News Partners
