A series of conversations this morning on our chat line along with this infographic published last month got me thinking about how many vendors are allowed to bill my credit card with any kind of regular frequency. Remember when eCommerce was first starting out and many folks said no one would use their credit cards for any online purchases? Seems so quaint now.
So here is my own tally:
Monthly subscriptions:
- Vonage
- Netflix
- Hosting provider EMWD.com
- Boingo wifi access
- Condo fee
Irregularly Purchased items:
- Amazon
- Apple/iTunes
It isn’t a long list, on purpose. Yes, I would like more convenience with vendors to store my credit-card credentials, but I just don’t trust them. And I buy a lot of stuff online: almost all of my airline tickets and concert tickets for example. But I don’t store any of the credit card info.
What about Google? They are trying to get more people to give them their credit cards when they sign up for new Gmail accounts. (It is still an option.) I didn’t give them my credit card information before and I won’t now.
One of our reporters has taken this to an extreme, and doesn’t do any online shopping whatsoever. I think that is harsh. And others amongst you might have a longer list, or are more trusting.
What about you, do you have more or less the same pattern?
