The I-Cash Card from InfiniCash is the NEW e-commerce.

History of E-Commerce
E-commerce is any business transacted online, including transactions conducted over the Internet, either by consumers purchasing goods and services, or directly between businesses. The financial aspects and facilities have evolved as a result of the development of historical payment methods and technology.

The first step on the road toward e-commerce transactions was the introduction of the credit card. Consumers and businesses had to accept and trust this new method of both paying and collecting on accounts handled by a third party. Credit cards are now one of the primary methods of payment for consumer and business purchases in the world. Approximately 50% of North American consumers own at least one credit card.

In recent years the debit card has become a common method of payment. Consumers and businesses trust that their financial information is secure while being transmitted between retail businesses and financial institutions. The typical consumer makes approximately 45.6 ATM transactions per year. Canada has one of the world’s strongest ATM markets; 85% of Canadians over 18 have a debit card, with all of the transactions that occur in Canada in one year reaching 1.3 billion. This clearly demonstrates a confidence in electronic transactions, a familiarity and comfort with card technology, and an expectation level of convenience.

Once consumers gained confidence in these electronic financial transactions, the next logical step was to allow their account and private information to be transmitted over the Internet. Despite the fact that nearly $140 Billion in e-commerce is estimated to be conducted in 2004 (In 2002 e-commerce accounted for 1.5% of total retail sales, or $43.4 Billion), primarily using credit cards, confidence in existing systems for online financial transactions has been slow to develop, and continues to be a growing concern for consumers.

Internet businesses conducting e-Commerce face a major roadblock: secure and trusted payment methods - security for the Merchant, and trust for the Buyer. Overall, 92.4 percent of all respondents age 18 or over in 2002 expressed some concern about the security of their credit card information when or if they buy online – a statistically insignificant change from 94.4 percent in 2001. Fraud, credit card theft, and identity theft are very serious and real threats to Internet credit card users; 50% of credit card holders have stated that they will not use their cards to make online purchases.

This fear of fraud and identity theft is a hot topic for discussion in PC Magazine. “It's those users whose machines become part of the networks of bots that harvest information. As more of this goes on, it may actually have a chilling effect on people's willingness to go online," says Spafford, "so it'll have an indirect effect on businesses, many of which depend on on¬line markets. If users are afraid to put their credit card numbers online because threats of viruses or spam get too much, they won't do it."

“There are very few riles in place governing how the data that is collected on you can be used. Privacy is often taken for granted as an inherent right of every citizen, but in fact the U.S. has one of the weakest privacy protection schemes in the developed world. The European Union, Canada, and Japan all trump us in terms of privacy. "The U.S. is at the bottom of the heap," says Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego. "We're a patchwork of laws with gaping holes." Yet while protections for private information lag, the technologies that can collect and sift through this data are getting more effective and cost-efficient. There's a huge business in data aggregation and analysis-collecting all the little chunks of personal data sitting in databases around the world and putting them in one big database, which can then be accessed by anyone with any interest in your life: the government, prospective employers, landlords, insurers, and banks.”

Security for the Customer
The solution is a method of payment that does not transmit any personal information, including bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and personally identifying data. The major barrier to this has been the fact that all of the existing payment methods require the consumer to actually pay for their goods and services after the purchase, either with a credit card or through a bank account.

The I-Cash Card solves this problem by allowing the consumer to pre-pay for the goods by purchasing a value-tracked card. The card's information, not the consumer's, is transmitted for each transaction, providing an anonymous and secure payment method.

Security for the Merchant
Merchants are just as concerned about security and credit card misuse as consumers. Merchants are suffering significant profit loss due to fraud. “Meridien estimates that Internet payment fraud will grow from $US1.6 billion worldwide in 2000 to $US15.5 billion by 2005.” Chargebacks are an increasing source of profit loss, as well. “Excessive chargebacks can lead to steeper fees and, in severe cases, loss of (merchant) card-acceptance privileges. For Web businesses operating on thin profit margins, even small fee increases can be detrimental to the bottom line.” They are desperate for a safe, secure, and inexpensive solution.

The I-Cash Card provides the solution by virtually eliminating fraud; if the card is valid (and this is ensured by the copyrighted userid and password verification process), the merchant will get paid. Chargebacks are also eliminated; the purchase is prepaid, therefore the customer cannot dispute the charges after the fact. Merchants are protected.