** New Online Payment Services Debut

This week brings the debut of two online payment systems that make the same point: Credit cards are an imperfect solution for E-commerce.

ECharge Corp. USA is testing eCharge Net Account, which is expected to launch later this year. It'll offer consumers a revolving line of credit for online shopping and deduct full or partial payment from their bank or checking accounts. Signed up already is MP3.com, whose customer base of music downloaders is arguably less ingrained in the use of credit cards and more open to options.

"Everybody keeps talking about solutions to handling micropayments online and alternatives to credit cards," MP3.com marketing executive VP Steve Sheiner says, "but this seems like the first business model that handles small transactions." Besides its infamous stock of 600,000 free music files, MP3.com also sells CDs and other products -- and the number of purchases made on the site is growing.

ECharge chairman Ron Erickson says that by moving customer data offline, to its own servers, and cutting out the credit-card settlement system, eCharge can offer merchants rates between 0.5% and 1% lower than credit cards and full data on what customers buy.