Contents   Introduction   Consumer wallet   Vendor server   Broker server

See Also   The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet   Alternative Payment Solutions   Fraud Prevention Tools   Top Tools to Help You Boost Customer Service   iV-Caller Verification Service   Make Your Price Sell!   FindWhat.com   Make Your Knowledge Sell!   HumanClick   Netship   iFulfill.com   Nexchange   Nothing But 'Net   Netwhistle.com   Bigstep.com   Make Your Site Sell!   AWeber   GoTo.com   Constant Contact   WebAdverts   PersonalStore   SiteInspector   LinkExchange   ClickTrade   Safe   eCHARGE   MilliCent

The wallet software is a hefty 4.5MB download and this takes about 20-30 minutes over a 28.8K modem. Wallet software is currently only available for Windows 95 and NT (Intel) operating systems. Once downloaded the self-executing file installs quickly and easily. Configuration is automatic for Netscape's Navigator 3.0 and above and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.02 or above. Other browsers can be used but these need to be configured manually.

The next step is to load the wallet with some vendor scrip. In the live system, this would involve selecting a broker and using a credit or debit card to buy scrip. However, in this trial a dummy broker is used to automatically load the wallet with $10 of free scrip.

Paying for purchases is simple. At a participating vendor's site the customer simply clicks on a link to purchase an item and, depending on how the user has configured their wallet, the amount is either automatically debited from the wallet or the user is asked to confirm the purchase.

The main advantages for consumers is that they no longer need to give their credit card numbers to multiple Web sites, or maintain accounts and passwords with hundreds of vendors. They need only to select a primary broker, purchase $10 or $20 of scrip typically with a credit card, and then they can securely surf the Web to make their purchases.