A Prepaid Card for Pleasant Online Shopping Experience

In 2020, the world’s e-commerce sales are estimated to cross the $4 trillion mark. This staggering amount is nowhere near the limit, as more people purchase services and goods online, without any need to go outside. The numbers of wire transfers and voucher transactions do not compare to those made with good old banking cards.

Almost half of these card transactions are executed with reloadable prepaid banking cards. This financial instrument produces such enormous numbers thanks to being extremely simple and straightforward in its terms and usage, while maintaining a high level of safety.

What are Prepaid Cards?

As opposed to credit cards and some variations of debit cards, the balance on a prepaid card can only be positive and reflects the money you loaded onto your card before. Hence, there’s no interest at all. Service providers make profits from the small fees on your transactions and, naturally, provide you with the most comfortable options to top-up and pay with your card. This being said, prepaid cards often support much more money transfer options together with ATM and POS operations, as opposed to classic banking cards.

Since the service provider doesn’t incur any risks with this type of business, there aren’t any credit or background checks, so the paperwork for obtaining a new prepaid card is minimal. Prepaid cards are often issued by all sorts of financial service companies, big retail brands, airlines, transit companies, and so on. They are so simple and secure to use that even Nigerian ID cards are, in fact, prepaid Mastercards!

Prepaid Card for Online Shopping?

The most popular variation is a prepaid card for online purchases. It is a standard convenient card, but it has plenty of options for instant top-up right before your purchase, in addition to fast processing of wire transfers. For instance, SatchelPay will process an incoming SEPA Instant Payment transfer from any of the eligible 31 European states in less than 10 seconds. A SWIFT transfer will be settled in just 3 to 5 days.

Not only does a separate card increase the safety of your main account, but it also can not be drained in case it somehow gets hacked, although the latter is practically impossible. In the age of ever-evolving online fraud, this is a valuable addition to all other present security measures like CVC and 3D Secure.

How to Use a Prepaid Mastercard Online?

Physically, a prepaid card is absolutely the same piece of plastic with the same payment functionality as any other card. In order to make payments with it, you will need the card number, your name, expiry date and CVC from the backside; these requisites are necessary to pay online with any type of card. Your online purchases will be processed within seconds, again, just as with any other payment card.

Although it is intended for online use, you can still use it for shopping in brick-and-mortar shops and withdraw your money at ATMs in any point of the world.

How to Order a Prepaid Card Online?

Thanks to the absence of background and credit checks, getting a preloaded card online is easy from almost any part of the world. In most cases, you will only need an ID and a proof of address to apply for a prepaid card online in Europe. SatchelPay only needs a few business days to process the application before giving you access to your new checking account and sending you the card.

Thanks to a unique IBAN, you will be able to top-up your new prepaid Mastercard online, so that it comes to you fully loaded and ready to use right after the activation.