Smart Tools for Smart Buyers

Paying in Private

Still feel uncomfortable about sharing your credit card number online? PrivateBuy, a new service from Ecount, allows you to shop in complete privacy at any online retailer that will accept MasterCard and will ship goods to a nonbilling address.

You supply your credit card number, name, and other information at sign-up. PrivateBuy then gives you a 16-digit MasterCard account number, an alias, and a fictitious billing address that's tied to the account. When you shop online using this number, the Web site has no clue as to the true identity of the buyer. Slick.

E-Tail Details

You pay $4 each time you add money to your PrivateBuy account, which can hold up to $1000 at a time. Ecount says that it keeps your credit card and other ID information on a secure server offline.

Achex and E-cash, free services slated to launch this fall, debit your checking account to pay for Internet purchases. Achex lets e-tailers receive funds directly from any checking account that accepts direct deposits. The first time you visit an e-merchant that accepts Achex payments, you sign up, entering your name, address, bank name and routing number, and two pieces of information for authenticating your identity into a secure form that only Achex sees. After that, you just select the Achex payment option and enter your user ID, password, and memo information (if any) to include on a viewable, printable electronic receipt that looks like a check. Shoppers can track their account activity via an electronic register at the Achex Web site. As of mid-August, Webvan, 1-800 Flowers, Peapod, and 17 other merchants had signed up to accept Achex payments.

E-cash users must download funds from a linked account at a participating bank into a "wallet" application on their PCs. The money takes the form of certified digital currency, bearing serial numbers but not the individual's checking account number, which ensures anonymity. When you buy something, the wallet app transfers the payment due to a participating merchant's "cash register" application. E-cash's U.S. partners had not been announced at press time.

Internetcash is aimed primarily at cash-only customers and at security-conscious shoppers who frequent such specialty stores as the Sunglass Hut and Overstock.com. You can purchase Internetcash in $10, $20, $50, or $100 debit cards at designated brick-and-mortar stores. To activate a card, you go to the Internetcash site and enter a 20-character ID located under a scratch-off label on the card. Afterward, you can shop at any of the 120 record, clothing, game, and other sites that accept Internetcash. So far, the cards are available in only nine states. But you can fund an account with a credit card--say, if you want to give Internetcash as a gift.