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PayCento Links Micropayments and Social Media

April 4, 2012
Credit|Debit|Prepaid|International|Emerging_Technologies
Accepting card-based micropayments is not cost effective for many businesses as discount fees substantially reduce profit margins. Media websites have typically avoided this problem by using subscription-based pricing to increase their average ticket or subsidizing free content with advertising revenues. PayCento is a Belgium based startup that provides micropayment processing services to enable online content providers to charge per article, downlaod, page view, etc. From Rueters:
"We want to make it economical for the merchant, for the publisher to offer something at any price point, that means both at 10 cents, at 5 cents and at 1 euro," Pieter Dubois, the company's 41-year-old founder, said.
Users fund a PayCento account linked to a social network and can make payments with a single click, similar to "Liking" or "Sharing" an item on Facebook.
"Those social identity networks also are really identity providers ... so we piggyback on that," Dubois said.
PayCento has not published a rate structure for merchants, but will have to compete with a number of well capitalized online payment providers including PayPal, Google Checkout and Checkout by Amazon. PayCento is seeking to raise $5 million dollars in venture capital funding.
Click here to read more from Rueters.

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