A survey of UK attitudes to mobile payments reckons that £3 a time is the sweet spot for topping up wallets, with 65 per cent of you looking forward to pay-by-tap. Paying for the privilege of adding credit to a purse was the option selected by 34 per cent of respondents to the survey, which was carried out by marketing …

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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:15 GMT Anonymous Coward

Doomed to failure

Various companies have been trying to push eCash systems for at least 20 years now. It has never been successful and it never will be because there is no market for it. There is no benefit to the consumer of such a system.

It will never replace cash or debit card because it has the disadvantages of cash, and the disadvantages of a debit card and the advantages of neither. It's a stupid idea and the only people that want it are the suppliers who plan to make money by skimming every transaction or top-up.

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1. Monday 3rd October 2011 12:08 GMT Bruno Girin
  
  If you were right then the Moneo system that has been around in France for several years would not be the success it is. A typical use is to pay at parking metres in the street: no need for loose change and more practical than a full chip+pin transaction (or the phone system you can find in some areas of London for that matter). Any situation where you have automated payment systems that deal with small amount would benefit from it. Paying in shops is more debatable.
  
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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:15 GMT Richard Tobin

Did they understand the question?

Perhaps they thought they were being asked how much they would want to top up each time.

Unless they report the questions actually asked, the results are worthless.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:15 GMT Boring Bob

Rubbish

I bet the 300 people they questioned work in marketing in the electronic wallet industry. "And do you think most people will be willing to pay more than 25p to charge their wallet?" "Of course I do otherwise my job makes no sense and the company I work for is bankrupt"

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1. Monday 3rd October 2011 10:31 GMT bitmap animal
  
  At Broing Bob 10:15
  
  I think inadvertently you've hit the nail on the head there. Suggesting that if they asked the people whose jobs depended on it if there should be a charge.
  
  You suggested that if there is no charge then they would go bust and therefore there would be no service available. So to have the service you have just shown that there does need to be charging.
  
  (I'm not for it, just trying to get people to understand you can't have anything for free)
  
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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:16 GMT Inventor of the Marmite Laser

Yeah Right.

On the basis that anyone signing up will get stuffed with yet more junk marketing; I'd readily agree to paying three quid a pop to top up, but only if I can bill my time for reading (or otherwise) any marketing drivel I receive from them of people they've sold my name to and dealing with it as I, in my sole opinion, see fit, for five quid a pop.

Pucking Farasites.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:18 GMT Mike 68

Yo Dawg...

I heard you like to pay, so I'm charging £3 to put money in yo wallet, so you can pay while you pay!

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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:18 GMT Anonymous Coward

Stupidity Tax

Here is you sign. Go forth an tell everyone who really stupied you are.There also should be national database of all stupided people. They views do not matter as they are stupided.

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1. Monday 3rd October 2011 15:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Wow
  
  Seven spelling mistakes in just three lines. You certainly told all those stupided people.
  
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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:19 GMT Dan 55

Nope

At the moment there's a commission per transaction that the trader has to pay accepting payment by debit or credit card which is fought over by various parties.

However many involved in the e-wallet chain (mobile manufacturer, operator, bank, Visa/MC, etc...) can fight over those same scraps themselves for their payment method. The sweet spot for topping up an e-wallet for the end customer is 0p.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:19 GMT Robert E A Harvey

Next it will be the sneezing tax, I tell you.

Bollocks to this, I'm going to stick to cash.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:20 GMT Pete 2

Ask a londoner

A lot of people already have what is in effect an e-wallet. It's the oyster card that they use to keep the cost of travelling round the metropolis at a level somewhere between obscene and merely extortionate. If you want to know what people who actually use an electronic card to pay for goods and services would be willing to pay simply to keep money in their account, just ask anyone touching in or out. Try suggesting tho them that they should pay three quid just to top-up and then duck, sharpish, as a fist shaped reply tells you the answer.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:24 GMT HaplessPoet

I really worry about some people.

Who in their right mind would pay to spend their own money?

It's as if, when faced with a survey, they don't want to appear cheap!

But instead they prove themselves to be idiots instead.

Struth!

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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:32 GMT The BigYin

Sod right off

Here is how much I will pay to top up my e-wallet: £0.00

Any more and I won't use it.

I realise I pay a fee for using Credit Cards (3%-ish, included in the price and the Card companies lobbied heavily to prevent shops from offering a discount for cash) but at least a Credit Card gives me protection from dodgy traders (which is why I only pay by CC on-line).

What benefits do I get from an e-wallet? Other than having my privacy further raped and bank balance gouged once again.

Just like non-free cash machines - fuck right off. Robbing bastards.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 10:41 GMT TerryB

God save the Queen

The world of finance, don’t you just love it? A world populated by lazy little fuckers who seem to think that your money is theirs.

Personally I think we should all be doing our best to support the Queen and that nice anonymous stuff that has her head on it and a promise from the Bank of England to pay you on demand.

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1. Monday 3rd October 2011 12:09 GMT Yet Another Commentard
  
  technical aside
  
  The "pay on demand" means that the Bank will swap an old tatty, out of date, ripped etc note for the same value of sterling. You can't go and get your gold back.
  
  So if you find an old £1 note that the shops won't take, go to Threadneedle Street and they will happily swap it for a nicely printed new one. If it's one from 1797 they will give you a £1 coin for it, but you would be an idiot as the antique value would be much higher than the face value. Weird. Last time I checked, there was no charge for that service.
  
  Then again, cash is simply an interest free loan from you to the Bank of England, so you are paying for that too.
  
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Monday 3rd October 2011 11:25 GMT djs

Let me tell you a story. A long, long, long time ago we had this thing called "paper money" and you could receive it from a "hole in the wall". There was a complicated arrangement where some of these things charged you for dispensing paper money if you didn't have the correct magic icon on your magic token.

People bitched like you wouldn't believe about this.

Now there's a much simpler arrangement where only a few machines charge you money and they announce how much in big letters on the screen. Also, it's not that much.

It seems to me that some people do not wish to learn from the past. In the meantime, I'll stick with good old fashioned paper money. It's a lot harder to steal than any of the high tech alternatives.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 11:26 GMT Anonymous Coward

eight pence shops currently pay on every Chip & PIN transaction.

It's much more than that for small businesses with a relatively small number of

card payments. You have to hit a fairly hefty number of transactions to get the

average down to 8p.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 12:08 GMT Anonymous Coward

Lets get some real results for this survey to go back to them with.

I've set up a real survey here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9SDKBC8

I will post the results at the end of the week. Let's see if they match up .... somehow I doubt it.

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1. Monday 3rd October 2011 12:51 GMT Deaths Pirate
  
  And if you would be so kind as to vote this up and share it so we have a larger percentage of survey takers I would be most grateful.
  
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2. Monday 3rd October 2011 14:57 GMT Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
  
  Are you taking the urine??????
  
  I answered "No" to Q2 but I still have to answer Q3
  
  3. If you did, or had to, answer 'Yes' to question 2, how much do you think you should pay to use your own money?
  
  Less than 1%
  
  1% - 5%
  
  5% - 10%
  
  A flat fee
  
  Other (please specify)
  
  I filled in the other box and it won't accept it!!! You’re the dickhead that created the original survey, aren’t you......
  
  1 1
Monday 3rd October 2011 12:08 GMT HP Cynic

The fact the there was no option to say "I'd pay nothing" speaks volumes about the veracity of this tiny survey.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 12:12 GMT welshie

Can someone explain to me why having a contactless payment card built into my mobile phone is any better than having a contactless payment card in my wallet?

Now can someone explain to me why I would want all the aggro of having to keep topping it up?

Now can someone explain to me why I would want to be charged for the priviledge?

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Monday 3rd October 2011 13:23 GMT SpaMster

Rip Off

So if i want to buy a TV worth £1000 using this, i'll have to pay an extra £170 on top of the price just for the privilege of using the service?

I'll just use my card thanks!

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Monday 3rd October 2011 13:24 GMT Graham Marsden

"paying nothing wasn't an option"

In other words, the survey was rigged to *only* get an answer of "how much are you willing to pay?" not "are you willing to pay at all?".

I'm sure if there was a "paying nothing" option, that would by far have outstripped all other options.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 15:51 GMT scrubber

And the survey says...

The reason you get these stupid results is because those of us clever enough to know that a service can't be too cheap are the ones who tell survey takers in the street or on the phone to fuck right off and stop wasting our time. It is only the gormless arseholes who do the survey and this is the result you'd expect from them.

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1. Monday 3rd October 2011 16:10 GMT Stuart Elliott
  
  As you say
  
  Anyone with half a brain cell is on the other side of the street when someone with a clipboard is in the immediate vicinity.
  
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  1. Monday 3rd October 2011 19:49 GMT Anonymous Coward
    
    But... but... but...
    
    The other side of the street is where the chuggers gather.
    
    Packs of them, clipboards and insincere smiles at the ready waiting to ask if you'd like to set up a direct debit to pay for clean water for an abandoned panda in an unvaccinated minefield.
    
    It's hell on the mean streets I'm telling you. Hell!
    
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  2. Monday 3rd October 2011 23:51 GMT Uplink
    
    If I see someone with a clipboard, and they spot me, I stop to talk to them. And I talk to them. And I talk to them. 20 minutes later I'm still talking. And I'm not going away, but I'm not giving in either. They're not giving up either until they come full circle and run out of things to say. Then they send me on my way. But I know that in those 20 minutes they didn't get anyone else chugged.
    
    It's interesting to see them insist that I give them my card details (secret number on the back as well) even though I insist I'll go on their website to make the donation.
    
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Monday 3rd October 2011 19:49 GMT Anonymous Coward

£3!?!?!?!?!?

Calm Down Dear

It's only the price they have plucked out of thin air in order to give their "service" a perceived value.

Then, when they lower the price to say....£1.50 or have a "Free Friday" or something, all you sheep will be falling over each other to give them your money because your tiny brains will see it as good value.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 19:50 GMT pctechxp

Prepaid cards

Tried three of these myself (including O2 Money which was free to O2 customers) but got pissed off at having to pay a top up fee or in the case of O2 Money some companies not recognising the card number

All ended up unused in my desk at home and I just use my debit card.

As for booking fees, it's time we boycotted those charging them.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 19:52 GMT N2

The survey shows

That 316 Richard Craniums, thats dickheads to the unwashed, are happy to pay £3.00 for stuff all

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Monday 3rd October 2011 19:53 GMT Richard Porter

(paying nothing wasn't an option)

It's the only option. The vendor will use nfc if it's cheaper than accepting cash.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 19:53 GMT fearnothing

What I want to know is, how the hell do they expect us to remember what we have on the card? If I put £50 on one of these things and then go on a bender, my balance in the morning could be anywhere between £0 and £20, and I wouldn't have the foggiest. I'd have to go outside and walk a block or so just fo find out how much cash I have as opposed to simply emptying out my pockets?

Beer, obviously.

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Monday 3rd October 2011 19:53 GMT fearnothing

... Or I could just use whatever wallet function they build into the handset to find out. < 3 hours sleep fail.

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Tuesday 4th October 2011 00:28 GMT Anonymous Coward

I can see how the banks will solve this, charge £3 to load your e-money, or pay £3.50 to get it from the ATM.

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