Comments on: Amazon Invests in Bill Me Later

By: Loan Calculators Australia

Loan Calculators Australia — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:29:26 +0000

Loan Calculators Australia…

Comments:…

By: Ruben

Ruben — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:21:59 +0000

I’ve used Bill Me Later for a couple of years now with no problems. I don’t know what is up with all the ID theft paranoia. Yes, it is just a b-day and last 4-digits of your SSN to “make a purchase” but there still is an approval process. It still must be cross-referenced with databases and credit reporting agencies. You then have to register on the BML website, once approved, and you have the option of paying with your bank account. I’ve done this for 2 years now with no problems. It’s great to see AMAZON becoming a part of it.

By: zel

zel — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:48:55 +0000

The more choices, the better …
Though i will prefer credit card, its good to have
another option if I dont want to give my credit card number
to “unknown site”..
I have tried bill me later once as they were giving me 90 days
no payment option, and i paid my bill online(dont trust
via post).

By: » Amazon.com Invests In Bill Me Later; Online Bill Payment Market Heating Up || Pulse 2.0: Web 2.0 Reviews & Profiles || » Blog Archive

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 06:32:13 +0000

[…] terms were not disclosed, but the company has $200 million in funding capital according to TechCrunch. Bill Me Later investors include Chase Paymentech, Azure Capital Partners, First Data Corp, […]

By: nemrut

nemrut — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:15:45 +0000

..this could be hugefor the walmart crowd..unfortunately it suffers from poor user experience.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:47:33 +0000

Hmmm… isn’t this the business model that credit card companies use? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to simply use your own credit card instead of a middle man who acts like another virtual credit card?

Jon

By: Rosie Escobar

Rosie Escobar — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:34:41 +0000

Bill Me Later is an interesting service. There is little risk to the retailer, and that payment type actually results in much higher average orders sizes. However, the down side is that the retailer could disappoint some customers since BML requires a pretty high rating to get approved for that financing (and that is what it is, financing). There is some cool things a retailer can do with that service, though…. things like 90 days same as cash, etc,…

I thought amazon tried BML back in the day, but then took it down. Does anyone remember that?

By: Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:23:29 +0000

Bad concept!

By: AA

AA — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:21:35 +0000

@ #23

Agreed. The company I work for treats last 4 of SSN just like full credit card numbers. Even though the standards are spotty when it comes to partial SSN, we feel that the broad use of last 4 as a proof of identity warrants protecting them as well as a full credit card or bank account number. Afterall, you can always have a bank re-issue a card, but it would be nearly impossible to get a new “last 4″

By: Otis Gospodnetic

Otis Gospodnetic — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:12:07 +0000

Shaws@11 + codehaus@16 — last 4 SS# digits + DOB let them uniquely identify a person in one of those credit report databases.

It also means this works only for U.S. consumers…bah.

By: Social security

Social security — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:09:08 +0000

Advice… Never give out four digit social security. I wonder how many stupid people give out personal information where companies and organizations can access your life and health.

By: Marty

Marty — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:54:47 +0000

So, the real question is what does this do to Amazon Payments? Does it combine with Bill Me Later, compete with them or what? See article posted here on Aug. 1.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007.....e-checkout

By: RG

RG — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:49:35 +0000

the Bill Me Later website says users have Zero Fraud Liability and don’t have to pay for any unauthorized charges.

By: RG

RG — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:43:11 +0000

I’ve tried those one time use credit card numbers and there are problems when the website asks for the three-digit security code. I have had a lot of headaches about that. I’m going to look into Bill Me Later some more to see about fraud and security. I’ll post what I find out.

By: AA

AA — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:28:50 +0000

Sorry, I just don’t buy it. ID theft seems way too easy and who knows how a dispute will be handled with an also ran. PayPal works for me especially now that they have the plugin that generates one use credit card numbers.

One time credit card numbers seem nearly bombproof. I would venture to say I could safely buy a .xxx domain name off a Romanian IRC channel without breaking a sweat.

By: Monica

Monica — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:03:13 +0000

The key to Bill Me Later is that credit is approved per transaction. So you don’t have a credit line - you only borrow the amount you need to complete the purchase. I’ve used it several times and find it much more secure than a credit card because you never give out your credit card number online so no one can steal your account info. Then they send you a bill and you pay it, very similar to buying a magazine subscription.

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:00:07 +0000

Sorry, but NO WAY I would use this. I don’t want to give any personal info to yet another company if not absolutely necessary and I see no problem with using a credit card, paypal, etc.

By: codehaus

codehaus — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:26:19 +0000

@11, thats exactly what I was wondering!

the last 4 digits + B-day … there must be overlap there.

By: TechTownNC

TechTownNC — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:23:05 +0000

So is this like applying for a credit card? If so, it will hurt people’s credit scores, just as every new credit card you get lowers your credit score, though usually only temporarily. I am really curious about the point that #3 brought up - What the heck is your relationship with Bill Me Later?

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:13:42 +0000

Another key to bill me later….don’t pay them back to fast. I have excellent credit and used them to buy a TV, then came into some extra money before the due date and paid it off…now they won’t approve me.

By: damon

damon — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:03:46 +0000

The key to BillMeLater is really for the retailers, with credit cards the retailer pay 3-5% to the credit card company, with BillMeLater, the fees to the retailers are in the 1% range.

By: Roy

Roy — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:48:15 +0000

We use it at work, and compared to some other merchant services (I’m looking at you, google checkout), it was pretty simple. We had a little hickup getting a dev account, but once we were live, it’s been smooth sailing.

But I’m programming, you’d have to find a marketing guy to see if we make more sales or the like because of it.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:43:06 +0000

@2 Otis — any idea how they could get a credit score from the last 4 digits only of the Social (plus birthdate)? I’m with Eric — I’m curious what info they can get from that.

By: hmm

hmm — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:34:21 +0000

I have encountered many Maryland startups at various conferences… interesting

Anyone else notice this?

By: Mikebl

Mikebl — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:24:17 +0000

This is identity thief’s dream!

Also, if you use this service, you increase your chances of getting collection agency on your case if the bill gets lost.

My suggestion: stay away!