> GOOD MORNING! Today is Sept. 20,

   > and this is...InformationWeek Daily!

   [snip... impute your own quote marks below, since I'm lazy]

   ** 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.

   [end snip]

   The last paragraph is the significant one.