My company and website is in the U.S. and many of the site users who
get paid through it (it's an online marketplace) are in many other
countries. Rather than paying them through Western Union and PayPal
(which is the current method), I would like to offer my site users the
ability to receive payments from our company, via a debit card that I
would mail to them.  We would credit the card over the internet via
internet banking and they would withdraw it from any ATM in their
country.  That way they could get their payment instantly, and cheaper
than other methods.

2 other websites are already offerring this capability...iKobo.com and
ExactPay.com.  They do it through the VISA Electron debit card and
Mastercard Maestro debit card products.  Unfortunatley these products
are not available in the U.S....only abroad.  I saw references on the
VISA site to Asia, for example as a place where these products are
available.

So my question boils down to this:  I would like to have a list of
banks that could provide this service to my U.S. company.  The bank
should be in a reputable banking country (for example, Hong Kong would
be reputable, but Indonesia would not be) and be a reputable, well
known bank.  I would like to know what these banks would charge for
the different aspects of the service (new card, ATM withdrawl, each
deposit we make, etc.).  If my company would have to do anything
special to use the service (like register the company in the country
in question) then I would like to know that too.

Please let me know if you need any clarifications.

---

Clarification of Question by lookingforanswers123-ga on 29 Jan 2005 20:34 PST

I just found another place where a similar service is being offered on
the web for your reference:
https://paydirect.yahoo.com/PD/ui/us/fp/worldCard-ui.pd?prsID=.
It's through HSBC, but unforrtunatley they closed down the service on
Nov 22, 2004 to new people.

---

Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 04 Feb 2005 08:37 PST

Dear Looking For Answers, 

Could you please check if Orion fulfills your requirements? It is
located in Cyprus, an EU member, so it is a reputable company:
Orion Cards
<http://www.orioncards.com/>

check out www.netspend.com

Their service sounds close to what you're looking for.

Thanks for the reply.  Hmm..I checked them out, but their website
doesn't have much information. For instance their ATM finder works on
zip code, so do they only send in the U.S. and not overseas?  Also,
their rates would have to be comparable to IKobo.com and they would
have to offer co-branding.


So I sent them this email:
----------------------------
Do you have a Netspend product that would meet the following need?
My company and website is in the U.S. and many of the site users who
get paid through it (it's an online marketplace) are in many other
countries. Rather than paying them through Western Union and PayPal
(which is the current method and expensive and/or slow), I would like
to offer my site users the ability to receive payments from our
company, via a debit card that I would mail to them.  We would credit
the card over the internet via
internet banking and they would withdraw it from any ATM in their
country.  That way they could get their payment instantly, and cheaper
than other methods.
----------------------------

I will let you konw what they say.

Ian

Hello politicalguru-ga.

You asked:
>>Could you please check if Orion fulfills your requirements? It is
located in Cyprus, an EU member, so it is a reputable company:
Orion Cards <http://www.orioncards.com/>

I checked it out...that is VERY interesting.  The basic concept is
there.  And yes Cypress would be a very stable location...nice job in
that regard too.

I reviewed their website and the 3 problems with meeting the
requirements for them might be:
1) individuals versus business
2) branding the card
3) rates

1)Their website seems to be more focused towards invididuals sending
money, so they may not allow businesses like ourselves to use it.  We
have had this problem on some other general payment websites such as
Remit2India.com, etc.. so that is why I know about it.  I have asked
them...I'll let you know the answer.

2) No mention is made of being able to brand the card with our name on
it...at least not on the website.  Part of this may be their marketing
towards inviduals who wouldn't want this, versus businesses who would.

3) Rates: They are almost twice as expensive (7%) as Ikobo (which is
4%)...so that is not competitive...but perhaps they will offer a
discount for volume.

So this is what I wrote to them to find out more:

===========================
>>Hello,

I have a question?can the Orion cards be used for a business rather
than just for personal accounts?

Second, can you offer competitive pricing for volume (for instance I
see that www.Ikobo.com offers 4% for the same service...can you match
this)?
I anticipate (based on surveys) that the # of people from my site who
would want this feature (instead of Western Union which is
inconvenient and expensive) would be about 500-1,000 initially. I
anticipate that approximately $100,000 USD -$500,000 USD /year would
be sent but at this point it is difficult to gauge accurately, as it
depends on the amount that would be charged them.

===========================
I left the branding issue aside for the moment as the other 2 were
more important, and didn't want to explain it if they didn't offer
this to businesses.

I'll let you know what they say.

Ian Ippolito (RAC)