News

Wipit offers cash solution for e-commerce

July 24, 2012

Who says you can't buy stuff on the Internet with cash? Pasadena, Calif.-based Wipit Inc. has announced the launch of a web payment service that lets consumers pay cash at merchants' websites (traditional, mobile and WAP) — and do it in real time.

The company's new solution is prepaid and works similarly to the its existing mobile in-app service: The consumer creates a Wipit account online, then goes to a participating Wipit merchant, who accepts funds and "loads" them into the customer's Wipit account.

The consumer is then able to buy from participating online merchants, using money in the wipit account. The prepaid approach means that the merchant receives immediate payment, while the customer avoids having to go to a retail agent to complete a payment transaction after every Internet purchase.

Users can prepay their Wipit accounts at 10,000 nationwide reload locations. Two online merchants that have added Wipit payment are Canta Y Llama and Eskuche, sellers of Latino music and audio products, respectively. Wipit said its prepaid cash service presents an ideal way for online merchants to serve Latino customers, who heavily favor cash and prepaid payment.

"There is an incredible opportunity for merchants to engage this massive consumer market that wants to buy online, but prefers to pay with cash, and who have been largely underserved until now," said Richard Kang, CEO of Wipit Inc.

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