A payclick account – which can be funded from any Visa, MasterCard or bank account – enables consumers to pay online without sharing personal details or financial information with sellers.

Part of Visa’s global innovation strategy, payclick has been developed to respond to the needs of consumers and sellers of lower priced downloadable content. Analysis undertaken by Investment Trends indicates that there will be some $646 million of online micropayments (online transactions under $20) in Australia during 2010 across the online gaming, music and micro retail sectors1

Today, Big Pond Games, Big Pond Music, Flexischools, Habbo, iTunes and Kids Help Line were announced as the first sellers to accept payclick.

Chris Clark, General Manager Visa, Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, said: “Visa has been making ecommerce payments as safe, reliable and convenient as possible since the advent of online shopping. With global ecommerce continuing to grow at more than 10 percent2 annually, payclick continues this process. We know consumers seek convenience, security and value when shopping online – and payclick offers a secure way to pay.”

Greg Storey, General Manager, payclick, said: “payclick is designed to meet growing consumer demand for digital content, such as music, games and movies. payclick accounts are suitable for the different needs of family members, including those under 18 years old..

“We are providing a solution for sellers to monetise their content and services. We see payclick’s potential to expand their market reach and unlock new revenue streams. We are confident payclick’s benefits will inspire many more online sellers to explore how our system can help them connect with new customers.”

For consumers, payclick offers:

• payclick provides consumers with a single, commonly accepted account – one password to authorise purchases from a range of sellers
• The ‘Sponsored Account’ feature enables parents to set up accounts for their teens, allowing them to buy online safely and securely while parents control the amount spent and monitor purchases
• The choice of how to fund their payclick account, using a Visa, MasterCard or bank account
• Once an account is set up, the customer clicks the payclick button on participating merchant sites and enters a password to authorise their purchase
• An automated top-up function to transfer funds to the account on a regular basis
• A detailed transaction history that helps users track their online purchases
• Express purchasing options that help further streamline the buying experience

For sellers, key features include:

• payclick is a new, easy way to pay, with accounts suitable for the different needs of family members including under 18 years
• payclick has been developed specifically to make selling lower priced digital content easier and more profitable
• payclick provides increased security and efficiency by managing all sensitive card or bank account information
• payclick has automated dispute handling to resolve issues quickly and cost-effectively.