uKash - spend cash on-line

Lindy

I was buying more SkypeOut credit and relunctantly was going to use my credit card. I noticed something called uKash on their site. It is for people like me who never like giving any personal details on-line.

What you do is go to a store, give them up to £100 (I think that is their limit) and in return you get something that looks like a till receipt with 9 numbers on it. You then use these numbers online to buy. Nothing else required! The website is: https://www.ukash.com

It is a brilliantly simple idea!

The downside of it is that it is in it's infancy. I cannot find a list of places where you can use it, so I think it must be very limited. Also to buy your uKash might be a bit difficult in very rural areas. You can go to their site and type in your postcode to get a list of stores. I live in the country and thought it would be impossible for me to find one near my house, but a mini Spar showed up as selling uKash one mile down the road in our small village of one store. When I went there to buy £10 worth they had no idea of what I was talking about. They got the owner in who did not know about it either. Turns out the woman who worked there looked on a machine in the shop and it said uKash. I was their first customer. It was so easy to buy and so very easy to use online.

I would love it if this caught on and went worldwide!

Lindy

Sorry 19 numbers, not 9.

This give you a better idea about uKash:

http://www.ukash.com/EN/customers/company_information.html

spring85195

Not sure about the ukash, I use paypal which shield my card number,etc from the merchant.

grumbler

Lindy wrote:

... for people like me who never like giving any personal details on-line.

There is Cahoot Free safer system for online spending for such people ...

Lindy

As far as I know, both Cahoot and Paypal want you to put your credit details online. That is exactly the point! I do not want to give out my details on the web.

MPH80

Hi Lindy,

Cahoot offer something called the 'webcard' which generates a one-time CC number for you to use online which links back through their systems to your main credit card.

It's much more widely accepted than UKash because it's simply a visa card.

The big problem with these new payment solutions is that they take time to become established and until they do - they are overly difficult to manage.

Personally, knowing how the encyrption works online - I'd much rather trust a website encrypting my number than having a peice of paper which has no ties to me other than I bought it with the cash.

That's the really big hole in their solution - if the 'receipt' containing the ukash number gets nicked - you've lost the cash! At least if my card is stolen I'm not liable for the losses after I've informed the company.

M.